Your steps to apply
Dental Assistant
Veterans Health Administration · Hot Springs, South Dakota · Closes in 6 days
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1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public.
This job is open to U.S. citizens and to current permanent federal employees of other agencies. Current permanent employees of the facility, including CBOC employees, should apply under announcement CBSY-13103260-27-AP instead.
Experience: For the GS-6 full performance level, you need at least 1 year of experience at the GS-5 level that shows the core skills for that level. The basic requirement is six months of experience that shows you can do the work or are familiar with it.
Education: Completing a 1-year dental assistant program accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) qualifies you. You can also combine education and experience. Schools must be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Licenses and certifications:
- Radiologic competence certification for dental X-ray work, such as the Dental Radiation Health and Safety Examination, or a temporary appointment until you earn it
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.
3 Apply on USAJOBS
Closes in 6 days (November 9, 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 your application meets the qualifications, and your experience and documents will be verified. Missing information or errors may lower your rating or make you ineligible.
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, then the final offer with your start date.
Tips for this job:
- Describe your dental assistant experience clearly and specifically, because the VA will not assume anything about it.
- If you use a dental assistant program to qualify, include your transcript with your application.
- Plan for the drug test, the flu vaccine requirement, and the REAL ID rules for onboarding.
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