Your steps to apply
Dental Assistant
Veterans Health Administration · Saginaw, Michigan · Closes in 9 days
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1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public, Internal to an agency.
The job is open to the public, but only U.S. citizens, nationals, or people who owe allegiance to the U.S. can apply. First consideration goes to current permanent employees of the Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center and its associated Community Based Outpatient Centers.
Experience: You need six months of experience that shows you can do the work or are familiar with it. To qualify for GS-4, you need 1 year of experience at the next lower grade level. To qualify for GS-6, you need at least 1 year of experience at the next lower grade level that shows the core skills for that level.
Education: Completing a 1-year dental assistant program accredited by CODA (the Commission on Dental Accreditation, run by the American Dental Association) can qualify you instead of experience. For GS-4, 2 years of college that included a CODA-accredited dental assistant program can qualify you. For GS-5, a full 4-year course of study that included or was supplemented by a CODA dental assistant program can qualify you. Combinations of experience and education can also qualify.
Licenses and certifications:
- Radiologic competence certification for X-ray work, such as the Dental Radiation Health and Safety Examination or an equivalent course and exam listed in the announcement
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 9 days (November 12, 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 will be rated on how well you meet the qualifications, using the occupational questionnaire and your documents. Eligible applications are referred in this order: current permanent VA employees of the facility, other VA employees, then all other applicants.
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:
- Upload a transcript or certificate for the dental radiology course, which the announcement says you must include.
- Be clear and specific about your experience, because the VA will not assume details about your work.
- If you already work at the Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center as a permanent employee, you receive first consideration.
Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.