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The Interview
Under no circumstance whatsoever do you do a working interview
for a dentist without being paid. They are charging the patients
and earning money off your work, and you should be paid a
normal wage for the time that you do your working interview.
The only case I would not expect to be paid is if I work on
the dentist or a staff member as part of the interview. Believe
it or not, a lot of dentists are cheap. I've heard of some
that do working interviews with hygienists, some half day,
and some a full day in length and they don't pay the RDH because
it's an "interview". That’s bogus and if a
dentist does that to you, it’s a sure sign that they
are a cheap ass, they can walk all over you, and that they
will do it even more when you are hired. If a dentist tells
you they want you to work a half or full day as an interview
without pay, tell them to shove it and you can tell them AndyRDH
said to shove it too! I bet his attitude changes then! I knew
of a dentist who was so cheap that he had four separate hygienists
doing working interviews the same week. Well that same dentist
produced over $5000 in free hygiene production and he didn't
have to pay a single penny in RDH salaries! Just say no! If
he wants you to do a half day with no pay, tell him you are
interviewing him too and ask if you can get some free restorations.
If you are looking for work in a small town, keep in mind
that the good jobs usually are not advertised in the papers.
If it's a small area, and it's a good dentist, the job usually
gets filled by word of mouth. Hygienists like to talk and
we know when a friend or someone is looking for a job, or
has an opening. From all the thousands of hygienists I talk
to, they all say to stay away from classified ads as they
are generally placed by dentists you don't want to work for
anyway. This is not the case in a larger city, however, so
keep that in mind. Sometimes a dentist will have to advertise,
especially if it is a group practice, it may be office policy
to post the position in a paper.
Dental temporary staffing agencies are sometimes okay. I
have mixed emotions about them, and wouldn't rely on one of
them unless it was absolutely necessary. A high percentage
of dentists usually needing temp services the most are those
dentists that are in a bad part of town, have terrible equipment
and schedule every 30 minutes. That has been my experience
at least. I don't want to stereotype all of the jobs just
based on my experience so I will give it the benefit of the
doubt and at least check into it. I wouldn't commit to doing
a temporary job unless you knew the location (is it safe?),
what the schedule is like (are you double booked with no assistant?),
etc. Remember, a dentist pays a temp service a lot of money
to find you. They will typically pay $5-10 more an hour, which
goes to the temp agency, not you, because they are so desperate.
Try to do your own temping by sending out resumes and cover
letters telling what days you can work. Most offices keep
a list of people that can fill in.
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