Your steps to apply

Dental Assistant
Veterans Health Administration · Iowa City, Iowa · Closes in 28 days

1 Check you can apply
2 Resume and documents
3 Apply on USAJOBS
4 After you apply

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1 Check you can apply You are here

Who can apply: Internal to an agency, The public.

The job is open to the public, but you must be a U.S. citizen to apply. Current permanent VA employees and current permanent federal employees of other agencies are also eligible.

Experience: Six months of experience that shows you can do the work or are familiar with it qualifies you at GS-3. Higher grades need 1 year of experience at the next lower grade level: GS-4 needs 1 year at GS-3, GS-5 needs 1 year at GS-4, and GS-6 needs 1 year at GS-5.

Education: Completing a 1-year dental assistant program accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) qualifies you instead of experience. For GS-4, 2 years of education above high school that include a CODA-accredited dental assistant program qualify. For GS-5, a full 4-year course of study that includes or is supplemented by a CODA-accredited dental assistant program qualifies. Experience and education can be combined.

Licenses and certifications:

Radiologic competence certification, such as the Dental Radiation Health and Safety Examination (a temporary appointment is possible if not yet certified)

Experience can be paid or unpaid, volunteer work included: if it matches the duties, it counts. The full rules are in the announcement.

2 Resume and documents

Write a federal resume for this job. For each job you held, give the month and year you started and ended, your hours per week and what you did, using the words of the experience the announcement asks for. Many announcements accept resumes of up to 2 pages: check this one.

Resume ready: dates, hours per week, duties Long-form resume or curriculum vitae (CV) (required) Transcript if you use education to qualify Written answers to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) on a separate document (recommended) DD-214 if you claim veterans' preference Certification or license documents, if you have them SF-50 if you are a current or former federal employee

3 Apply on USAJOBS

Closes in 28 days (December 1, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).

You sign in to USAJOBS with a Login.gov account, answer the questionnaire and upload your documents, then you submit. Answer the questionnaire honestly: your resume must show what you claim.

How they rate you: You are rated on how well you meet the qualifications, and the VA may check references. Eligible applications are referred in this order: current permanent VA employees at the facility, other permanent VA employees, current permanent federal employees of other agencies, then all other applicants. Your answers and documents are verified, and errors or missing information may lower your rating or make you ineligible.

Apply on USAJOBS ↗

4 After you apply

In USAJOBS, under Applications, you can see where your application stands: received, reviewed, referred to the hiring manager or not, then selected or not. It can take a few weeks.

For the interview, prepare three examples with the STAR method: the Situation, the Task, what you did (Action) and the Result.

If they choose you: a tentative offer, then a background check, a security clearance (Other), then the final offer with your start date.

Tips for this job:

Your long-form resume or CV must show dates and hours per week for each job, so be clear and specific.
If you use education to qualify, include your transcript, or the education may not count.
Submit the full application, including the online questionnaire, by the closing time of 11:59 PM ET; you are responsible for making sure it is complete.

Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.