NI Dental Jobs is committed to building the best community to find dental hygienist jobs in Northern Ireland. Whether you are actively seeking out your first job, or looking for a change of scene, we want to help you on your journey.
Read on to get prepared then come back and search here
Getting your first hygienist job
Have you just graduated from your dental hygiene course? Getting your first job could be easier than you think. Where some practices will be looking for applicants with experience, many more practices will be looking for a hygienist who is the right ‘fit’ for their practice. The first criteria practices will look for is that you are competent at your job. You can demonstrate your skills to practices in many ways – these might involve showing them photos or records of patient case reports, or through references from clinical tutors. While clinical competency is important, it is equally important to show recruiting practices how you will fit in there. This will usually involve giving them a flavour of your personality, both at interview and even in your CV.
here are many things to include when writing your CV to get the best chance of landing your dream job. You should include your clinical experience so far; detailing your course and any awards or prizes you may have won (it is rare to win these things so don’t worry if you haven’t got them!). You should also try to convey your personality in your CV, explaining your background and why you wanted to be a dental hygienist (and even more explicitly why you want to work for them!). Adding information on your hobbies, interests and personal life will make you stand out, and will also help the practice envision how you could fit in to their team. In short, getting your first job (like any job really) is about coming across professional, competent and likeable!
As a newly qualified dental hygienist, often you will have hidden experience and qualities that, at first glance, don’t seem relevant to your CV, but might actually be important to recruiting practices. Many hygienists have come from a dental background having previously worked as dental nurses giving them valuable dental experience. Others have previously spent years working in other industries picking up transferable skills. Whatever your additional experience and skills, be sure to include them in your CV so practices can see all of the value you bring to the table.
Where do you want to work?
Dental hygienists are one of the few lucky people who can work anywhere, with jobs advertised everywhere from Belfast to Derry/Londonderry, out to some of our more rural locations. Aside from geographical location, dental hygienists can work in a wide variety of care settings. While most work in general dental practice, others work in the dental hospital. The nature of your job can also vary in each setting – you could end up providing routine care for patients with healthy mouths or could spend your days treating advanced periodontitis. Specialist hygienist services also exist in Belfast School of Dentistry where you can spend your days looking after the oral hygiene of patients with conditions such as oral cancer who need extra care to ensure their mouths stay healthy.
Working in dental practice in Northern Ireland will often involve working with a small team of other dental professionals such as dentists, dental nurses and occasionally dental therapists. Working in the dental hospital usually means working as part of a wider team with consultants, registrars and SHO’s, alongside dental nurses and an administrative team; you will be a part of a larger community. You will undoubtedly have more independence in practice but working in the hospital brings other benefits such as access to continuing education. Each setting carries its own benefits and trade-offs and it may be worth visiting each environment for experience to help you decide where you want to work.
Getting your dream hygienist job!
Getting your dream job is an aspiration all of us have, and the good news is that it is totally achievable. The first stage in achieving your dream job is to decide what is important to you and what that dream job is. Do you want to work in a family practice, taking care of adult and children’s teeth? Or do you want to work in a specialist or implant practice, carrying out advanced treatments?
Once you have decided on where you see yourself working you can begin to tailor your CV and development to getting there. If you see yourself working in a successful family practice, then it is a good idea to show you have undertaken further training to look after this subset of patients – this could be training in the management of the anxious patient, or of children, for example. If you are hoping to work in an implant practice, then it would be beneficial if you had undertaken courses or further learning in the diagnosis and management of implant related disease. If you can show your dream practice that you are bringing something truly useful to them, then you will nearly certainly be offered the job!
How using the ‘Work Availability’ section of our site can help increase job offers
These days most dental vacancies in Northern Ireland are advertised, however some are still filled without ever being posted. We always encourage recruiters to post their jobs online but some are still reluctant to do so. By filling out your details in the ‘Work availability’ section (this is in the My Account area) then you can post your details and then wait to be contacted by recruiters. We encourage you to write about your skills and development, along with any particular areas of interest. By filling out our information boxes we ensure that apart from your name and a contact email address no other personal information is published, and the jobseeker database can only be viewed by registered recruiters on our site. By using this tool, you can let practices know that you are actively seeking work, and you can specify the types of jobs you are interested in. The next email you receive may be your dream job offer!
Keep on top of the jobs market to find new opportunities
Check in with our website regularly and enable job alerts to ensure you stay up to date with the latest job vacancies in Northern Ireland.