CADA Tips for Finding a Job Upon Graduation

Our ultimate goal as a career school is to find you a career – or a job after you graduate. Quite a few of our students actually find jobs before they graduate. We encourage our students to start looking sooner than later, so they can become employed within a few short months max after graduating.

Resume

We help all our students with their resumes and require they turn one in by week 9 or 10, so we can edit it, suggest alterations and give it back. We want our students to feel confident about their resume, and we want them to be strong. We all know a resume is hard to impress someone with right out of school, but if you don’t have any grammar errors, and include the necessities, it is more than good enough. Keep it short and sweet. No more than one page unless you really have a lot to brag about that is relevant to dentistry. That means keep your first job of working at an ice cream shop off unless you became the manager or had a super important role that will stand out. Customer service jobs are ok to put on your resume because the fact is you will be working with patients all day. Start by picking your most recent job and go backward and know when to cut it off. Don’t forget to include all the skills you have learned and your externship details. 

Externship

This is a big deal! A lot of schools in central Ohio do not require an externship at dental offices during their program. They might encourage it, but let’s be honest – we are all busy, and if it’s not mandatory, chances are it’s going to be put off to the side. It’s a fact – our students feel more prepared after their externship and more confident about getting out in the workforce. Treat each office you observe at like a job interview! You never know if they will be hiring a dental assistant when you observe or in the near future. If you made a good impression on them, you are the first person they are going to think of. The hiring process is not easy. It’s time-consuming and costs business money with training and such. Think of it as already having one foot in the door.

Be a Go-Getter

Don’t wait for someone to come knock on your door and offer you your dream job. It won’t happen. We can only help so much as a school. We will do our absolute best to help you find a job and give you every lead that we come across for offices looking for a dental assistant. We understand sometimes location may be an issue for you or lack of full-time hours. You must start somewhere. Take your resume to different offices when you have a chance and let them know you are looking for a job and thought their office looked super nice. FOLLOW UP. If you send your resume somewhere that is hiring, follow up, and ask if they are scheduling interviews. You may need to keep working at your current job part-time if you are offered a position as a dental assistant part-time. Be as flexible as you can to get that experience to be more marketable. We were all new at one time. We were all given that first chance. There are plenty of jobs out there. Don’t give up and be persistent. You will find something!!

Contact us today to schedule a tour of Columbus Academy of Dental Assisting and find out how this school may be the perfect fit for you!!