Your steps to apply
Dental Assistant
Veterans Health Administration · Fort Meade, 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 current permanent federal employees of other agencies. Current permanent employees of the facility, including CBOC employees, should apply under announcement CBSY-13103024-27-AP instead.
Experience: You need at least 6 months of experience that shows you can do the work or are familiar with it. For the full GS-6 level, you need at least 1 year of experience comparable to GS-5 that shows the core skills at that level, such as dental instruments, procedures, and X-ray imaging.
Education: Completing a 1-year dental assistant program accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) can qualify you. You can combine education and experience to qualify.
Licenses and certifications:
- Radiologic competence certification for taking dental X-rays, such as the Dental Radiation Health and Safety Examination (non-certified applicants may get a temporary appointment)
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 you meet the qualifications, based on your application questionnaire and documents. The VA checks and verifies your information and may do reference checks. Missing required information or errors can lead to an ineligible rating or a lower score.
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:
- Use a long-form resume or CV; the 2-page resume limit does not apply to this job.
- Describe your dental assisting experience clearly and specifically, since the VA will not assume anything.
- If you qualify through education, attach your transcript from a CODA-accredited program.
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