Creating and updating a resume for dental professionals is very important not only for applying for jobs, but also may be necessary for residency/specialty applications.
As a dental student, it is important to start writing down experiences throughout your four years. In turn, drafting a CV to keep track of accomplishments is equally important. This will save a lot of thought and back-tracking when the time comes to send CVs to potential new employers when applying for jobs. When applying to endodontic specialty programs, on the PASS there is also a section to upload an updated CV, so keeping an updated CV is beneficial in both aspects.
Within this blog post I have uploaded my current CV to help guide dental students and applicants for jobs/dental specialty programs on drafting their own CVs.
Important tips for drafting your CV:
- Keep information relevant: avoid including experiences from undergraduate university years. Most experiences should start with dental school experiences leading up to current accomplishments.
- Including a headshot can add a personal touch to the resume, versus a black and white page that may not stand out to someone who is looking at multiple PDFs a day. Adding a photo to a job submission CV can be a great touch, while having one on a specialty application isn't as necessary as most schools require a headshot submission on the PASS application (but it doesn't hurt to have a photo either way)
- Upload/send your CVs in PDF formatting
- Include your rank or GPA for specialty/residency CV submissions. For job applications, it's not necessary and may look tacky as grades don't matter in the real world.
(I have my rank/GPA included in the below CV example for those applying to endodontic specialty to help determine personal competitiveness as an applicant in the cycle)
- Formatting is huge! Make sure your spacing, headers, and font is consistent throughout. (With a fiancé that did investment banking for a year, I've learned how off-putting it is for someone reading presentations or a CV/resume when they find inconsistent formatting 😅)
- Place information in order of importance. With my own personal CV, I placed certain things higher (for example, my experiences with FIGS scrubs) because I was not a part of a ton of dental clubs in dental school, and my experience with the scrub company was a HUGE part of my dental school experience. Yes, I did have this on my CV for endodontic applications, and it was a great talking point on my interview! 😂
Message with any questions or comment within this blog post :). Happy CVing!
