So I decided to take a gap year after I graduated from university. As a pre-dental student, I decided to pursue a dental assistant position. It took me around a month to get the position, due to not having any experience at all. I remember applying everywhere and getting rejected left and right. This was until I stumbled across a dental assistant trainee position at a clinic partnered with pacific dental services. Honestly, I was desperate at this point and did not care that this was corporate dentistry.
So here is my experience from getting hired to now wanting to quit and find another job. The program has an 8-week schedule you follow. However, most likely you will not follow that. Honestly, your training mainly comes from the doctor you work with and how well your manager follows up. They promise you a starting salary as a trainee then a raise after 90 days. However, I didn't get a raise until 5 months later because management changed three times while I was there. Apparently, this is very common. Your hours are not guaranteed because your hours are based on patients. I applied full time and most weeks I am working part-time hours. Hours are based on seniority too. Since you are new they are going to send you to a different office to get hours or ask you to take the day off. So if any predental students are looking to apply for this position, the amount of money made is not liveable income.
Most likely your clinic will be “understaffed” yet not understaffed. The company does not budget too much on staff so they will watch your hours like a hawk, yet some days the schedule is so packed you feel burnt out (due to all of the same day starts). The turnover rates are very high in this company because of how disconnected the upper management and clinics are. If something happens the first to get cut in the company are always the assistants. From pay cuts to hour cuts. Yet, upper management is still getting bonuses for helping the company save money.
Honestly, I have learned a lot from working here and enjoyed working with my coworkers. I do recommend predental students to look into this opportunity because it gives you a starting point. I was also able to gain a recommendation letter from this opportunity. I wanted to share my experience here because I don't see many experiences like mine shared online. Hopefully, this will help you gain a general idea of what you are getting yourself into when you apply.