Dental Receptionist 

(Female, Age 37) from Genoa, IL

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 37 who works as a Dental Receptionist in Genoa, IL. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Dental Receptionist
Salary $16,500
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week
Company Size (not answered)
Location Genoa, IL
Years Experience 3 years

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
I work for a small practice which consists of 1 dentist, myself and another part/time receptionist and one detal assistant. We have no hygienist as Dr. does all of this- it is a small town practice.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
patient scheduling , billing, follow up and assisting at times

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
none

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
well

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
yes I work with dr and an assistant and at times it can be hard trying to juggle others mistakes!

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
our office is set up almost like a house (ranch style) and it is a very warm and homey setting.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 2
Benefits: 8
Hours: 1
Co-Workers: 3
Supervisors: 6
Job Title: 7
Level of Responsibility: 4
The Actual Work: 5

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am
8am to 9am got in and had to check all phone /voicemail messages to make sure there were no overnight emergencies or appointments needing to be made, made calls back to get emergencies scheduled and pulled all patient charts and added them to the days schedule.
9am to 10am Made scheduling calls- getting patients in for recall appointments and follow-up calls to get patients back for necessary treatment that was previously Dr. recommended.
10am to 11am Making insurance calls to check on the status of benefits and correcting mis-coded treatments. pulling patient charts for the following days schedule and confirmation calling patients to remind of appointments.
11am to 12pm Mail call!!! attaching correct insurance EOBs explanation of benefits to the corresponding payments and posting those payments in the computer. writing up a bank deposit for DR and logging it in bank records.
12pm to 1pm
1pm to 2pm
2pm to 3pm
3pm to 4pm
4pm to 5pm
5pm to 6pm
6pm to 7pm
7pm to 8pm
8pm to 9pm
9pm to 10pm
10pm to 11pm
11pm to 12am

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
a friend referred me

What was the application process?
I filled out a short general application and had a sit down interview with the Dr.

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
I did have an interview with the Dr. and we hit it off right from the start!!

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
I was asked if I had previous experience and if I were available more hours than was already needed ( the previous receptionist had an injury and this was a spur of the moment hiring!)

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
not exactly- it was very last minute due to the other persons injury so I had to float along and figure out a lot

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
I needed to learn the sofdent software to enter codes for patient treatment

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
yes, I had worked as a dental assistant before so I had the terminology and knowledge of what to expect

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
definately learn dental coding for billing purposes

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
they must be very organized and have good people skills- it is hard to eal with people who do not understand thier own insurance and you MUST have patience

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
not neccessarily

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
come in with a clear head and you will need to focus- no room for error when in the medical field and the patient comes first!

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
I was not expecting to work at the time I accepted the job but I do enjoy it- still love to be available to my daughter

What are your current career goals?
not quite sure at this point

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
It is fast paced but I do enjoy keeping busy and there is always something to do!

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 dental assistant 2.5 years 7/h 40+ hrs assisting the dentist in various aspects of dental surgery, filling, cleaning..sterilization of instruments and chairside assisting
Prior Job 2 assistant 1 year 9/hr also dental assisting chairside helping the Dr. and sterilizing instruments

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)

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