Overview
All Dental Hygienists, Technicians and Therapists
-
Unavailable Weekly Pay
-
Moderate Future Growth
Dental Technicians
-
2,700 workers Employment Size
-
High skill Skill level rating
-
75% Full-Time Full-Time Share
-
43 hours Average full-time
-
40 years Average age
-
36% female Gender Share
Dental Technicians construct and repair dentures and other dental appliances.
Specialisations: Dental Laboratory Assistant.
You need a diploma in dental technology to work as a Dental Technician. Some workers complete a traineeship.
Tasks
- Dental technicians work from a mould of a client's mouth made by a dentist or a clinical dental technician, and custom-make a wide range of appliances for the mouth, including: removable partial dentures.
- Crowns (covers for broken or damaged teeth).
- Dentures.
- Removable orthodontic appliances (plates with wires to straighten teeth).
- Mouthguards.
- Splints for broken or cracked jawbones.
- Anti-snoring devices.
- Teeth whitening trays. clinical dental technicians: assess oral tissue.
- Recognise abnormal conditions of the mouth.
- Take impressions of teeth.
- Make partial dentures, full dentures and other oral devices.
- Reline dentures that are ill-fitting.
Prospects
The number of people working as Dental Technicians (in their main job) fell over 5 years:
from 2,900 in 2011 to 2,700 in 2016.
Caution: The Australian jobs market is changing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These estimates do not take account of the impact of COVID-19. They may not reflect the current jobs market and should be used and interpreted with extreme caution.
- Size: This is a very small occupation.
- Location: Dental Technicians work in many regions of Australia.
- Industries: Most work in Manufacturing; Health Care and Social Assistance; and Public Administration and Safety.
- Full-time: Many work full-time (75%, higher than the average of 66%).
- Hours: Full-time workers spend around 43 hours per week at work (compared to the average of 44 hours).
- Age: The average age is 40 years (compared to the average of 40 years).
- Gender: 36% of workers are female (compared to the average of 48%).
Main Industries
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Industries are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC 06).
States and Territories
NSW
VIC
QLD
SA
WA
TAS
NT
ACT
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Share of workers across Australian States and Territories, in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Profile
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Education Level
Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
Pathways
You need a diploma in dental technology to work as a Dental Technician. Some workers complete a traineeship.
Before starting a course, check it will provide you with the skills and qualifications you need. Visit
- My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
- AAPathways website to explore Health Industry VET training pathways.
Skills & Knowledge
Employers look for Dental Hygienists, Technicians and Therapists who are caring, compassionate and empathetic and can communicate clearly with a diverse range of people.
Filter Skills & Knowledge
Knowledge
These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.
-
Production and processing
Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.
-
Technical design
Design techniques, tools, and principles used to make detailed technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
-
Medicine and dentistry
Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.
-
Engineering and technology
Use engineering, science and technology to design and produce goods and services.
-
Customer and personal service
Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.
-
Mechanical
Machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
-
Chemistry
Chemical composition, structure, and properties. How chemicals are made, used, mixed, and can change.
-
Fine arts
Compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
-
Administration and management
Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.
-
Mathematics
Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.
-
Education and training
Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
-
English language
English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
-
Clerical
Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.
-
Computers and electronics
Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
-
Physics
The physical laws of matter, motion and energy, and how they interact through space and time.
-
Public safety and security
Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.
-
Personnel and human resources
Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.
-
Sales and marketing
Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
-
Biology
Plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, how they rely on and work with each other and the environment.
-
Economics and accounting
Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.
Skills
Skills can be improved through training or experience.
-
Quality control analysis
Doing tests and checking products, services, or processes to make sure they are working properly.
-
Reading comprehension
Reading work related information.
-
Critical thinking
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
-
Active learning
Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.
-
Active listening
Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
-
Learning strategies
Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.
-
Monitoring
Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.
-
Speaking
Talking to others.
-
Time management
Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.
-
Writing
Writing things for co-workers or customers.
-
Complex problem solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
-
Operation monitoring
Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
-
Instructing
Teaching people how to do something.
-
Coordination with others
Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.
-
Operation and control
Controlling equipment or systems.
-
Judgment and decision making
Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.
-
Social perceptiveness
Understanding why people react the way they do.
-
Equipment selection
Deciding on the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
-
Management of personnel resources
Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, and choosing the best people for the job.
-
Systems analysis
Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.
Abilities
Workers use these physical and mental abilities.
-
Near vision
See details that are up-close (within a few feet).
-
Finger dexterity
Put together small parts with your fingers.
-
Control precision
Quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
-
Arm-hand steadiness
Keep your hand or arm steady.
-
Oral comprehension
Listen to and understand what people say.
-
Visualization
Imagine how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
-
Sorting or ordering
Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
-
Categorising
Come up with different ways of grouping things.
-
Problem spotting
Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.
-
Selective attention
Pay attention to something without being distracted.
-
Written comprehension
Read and understand written information.
-
Colour discrimination
Notice differences between colours, including shades of colour and brightness.
-
Deductive reasoning
Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.
-
Flexibility of closure
See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.
-
Inductive reasoning
Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.
-
Manual dexterity
Quickly move your hand to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
-
Oral expression
Communicate by speaking.
-
Perceptual speed
Use your eyes to quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
-
Speech clarity
Speak clearly so others can understand you.
-
Written expression
Write in a way that people can understand.
Activities
These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.
-
Controlling equipment or machines
Operating machines or processes either directly or using controls (not including computers or vehicles).
-
Keeping your knowledge up-to-date
Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.
-
Monitoring people, processes and things
Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.
-
Thinking creatively
Using your own ideas for developing, designing, or creating something new.
-
Making decisions and solving problems
Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.
-
Handling and moving objects
Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, moving and manipulating objects.
-
Planning and prioritising work
Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.
-
Collecting and organising information
Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.
-
Scheduling work and activities
Working out the timing of events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
-
Looking for changes over time
Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.
-
Checking for errors or defects
Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials for errors, problems or defects.
-
Assessing and evaluating things
Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.
-
Building good relationships
Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.
-
Researching and investigating
Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.
-
Estimating amounts, costs and resources
Working out sizes, distances, amounts, time, costs, resources, or materials needed for a task.
-
Communicating within a team
Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.
-
Checking compliance with standards
Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
-
Coordinating the work of a team
Getting members of a group to work together to finish a task.
-
Making sense of information and ideas
Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.
-
Training and teaching others
Understanding the needs of others, developing training programs, and teaching or instructing.

O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 51-9081.00 - Dental Laboratory Technicians.
Work Environment
Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.
Filter Work Environment
Demands
The physical and social demands workers face most often are shown below.
-
Exposure to contaminants
Be exposed to pollutants, gases, dust or odours.
-
Indoors, heat controlled
Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.
-
Time pressure
Work to strict deadlines.
-
Using your hands to handle, control, or feel
Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.
-
Being exact or accurate
Be very exact or highly accurate.
-
Wear common protective or safety equipment
Wear equipment like safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hard hats or life jackets.
-
Face-to-face discussions
Talk with people face-to-face.
-
Spend time sitting
Spend time sitting at work.
-
Freedom to make decisions
Have freedom to make decision on your own.
-
Making repetitive motions
Spend time making repetitive motions.
-
Disease or infection
Be exposed to disease or infections.
-
Unstructured work
Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.
-
Dangerous conditions
Work near dangers like high voltage electricity, flammable material, explosives or chemicals.
-
Dangerous equipment
Work near dangerous equipment like saws, machinery with open moving parts, or moving traffic.
-
Frequent decision making
Frequently make decisions that impact other people.
-
Minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings
Be exposed to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings.
-
Teamwork
Work with people in a group or team.
-
Contact with people
Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.
-
Impact of decisions
Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.
-
Loud or uncomfortable sounds
Be exposed to noises and sounds that are distracting or uncomfortable.
Values
Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
-
Support
Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.
-
Independence
Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.
-
Working conditions
Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.
-
Achievement
Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
-
Relationships
Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.
-
Recognition
Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.
Interests
Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.
-
Practical
Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.
-
Analytical
Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.
-
Administrative
Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.
-
Helping
Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.
-
Creative
Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.
-
Enterprising
Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.

O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 51-9081.00 - Dental Laboratory Technicians.
All Dental Hygienists, Technicians and Therapists
-
Unavailable Weekly Pay
-
Moderate Future Growth
Dental Technicians
-
2,700 workers Employment Size
-
High skill Skill level rating
-
75% Full-Time Full-Time Share
-
43 hours Average full-time
-
40 years Average age
-
36% female Gender Share
Dental Technicians construct and repair dentures and other dental appliances.
Specialisations: Dental Laboratory Assistant.
You need a diploma in dental technology to work as a Dental Technician. Some workers complete a traineeship.
Tasks
- Dental technicians work from a mould of a client's mouth made by a dentist or a clinical dental technician, and custom-make a wide range of appliances for the mouth, including: removable partial dentures.
- Crowns (covers for broken or damaged teeth).
- Dentures.
- Removable orthodontic appliances (plates with wires to straighten teeth).
- Mouthguards.
- Splints for broken or cracked jawbones.
- Anti-snoring devices.
- Teeth whitening trays. clinical dental technicians: assess oral tissue.
- Recognise abnormal conditions of the mouth.
- Take impressions of teeth.
- Make partial dentures, full dentures and other oral devices.
- Reline dentures that are ill-fitting.
The number of people working as Dental Technicians (in their main job) fell over 5 years:
from 2,900 in 2011 to 2,700 in 2016.
Caution: The Australian jobs market is changing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These estimates do not take account of the impact of COVID-19. They may not reflect the current jobs market and should be used and interpreted with extreme caution.
- Size: This is a very small occupation.
- Location: Dental Technicians work in many regions of Australia.
- Industries: Most work in Manufacturing; Health Care and Social Assistance; and Public Administration and Safety.
- Full-time: Many work full-time (75%, higher than the average of 66%).
- Hours: Full-time workers spend around 43 hours per week at work (compared to the average of 44 hours).
- Age: The average age is 40 years (compared to the average of 40 years).
- Gender: 36% of workers are female (compared to the average of 48%).
Main Industries
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Industries are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC 06).
States and Territories
NSW
VIC
QLD
SA
WA
TAS
NT
ACT
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Share of workers across Australian States and Territories, in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Profile
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Education Level
Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
You need a diploma in dental technology to work as a Dental Technician. Some workers complete a traineeship.
Before starting a course, check it will provide you with the skills and qualifications you need. Visit
- My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
- AAPathways website to explore Health Industry VET training pathways.
Employers look for Dental Hygienists, Technicians and Therapists who are caring, compassionate and empathetic and can communicate clearly with a diverse range of people.
Filter Skills & Knowledge
Knowledge
These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.
-
Production and processing
Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.
-
Technical design
Design techniques, tools, and principles used to make detailed technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
-
Medicine and dentistry
Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.
-
Engineering and technology
Use engineering, science and technology to design and produce goods and services.
-
Customer and personal service
Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.
-
Mechanical
Machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
-
Chemistry
Chemical composition, structure, and properties. How chemicals are made, used, mixed, and can change.
-
Fine arts
Compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
-
Administration and management
Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.
-
Mathematics
Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.
-
Education and training
Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
-
English language
English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
-
Clerical
Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.
-
Computers and electronics
Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
-
Physics
The physical laws of matter, motion and energy, and how they interact through space and time.
-
Public safety and security
Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.
-
Personnel and human resources
Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.
-
Sales and marketing
Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
-
Biology
Plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, how they rely on and work with each other and the environment.
-
Economics and accounting
Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.
Skills
Skills can be improved through training or experience.
-
Quality control analysis
Doing tests and checking products, services, or processes to make sure they are working properly.
-
Reading comprehension
Reading work related information.
-
Critical thinking
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
-
Active learning
Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.
-
Active listening
Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
-
Learning strategies
Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.
-
Monitoring
Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.
-
Speaking
Talking to others.
-
Time management
Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.
-
Writing
Writing things for co-workers or customers.
-
Complex problem solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
-
Operation monitoring
Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
-
Instructing
Teaching people how to do something.
-
Coordination with others
Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.
-
Operation and control
Controlling equipment or systems.
-
Judgment and decision making
Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.
-
Social perceptiveness
Understanding why people react the way they do.
-
Equipment selection
Deciding on the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
-
Management of personnel resources
Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, and choosing the best people for the job.
-
Systems analysis
Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.
Abilities
Workers use these physical and mental abilities.
-
Near vision
See details that are up-close (within a few feet).
-
Finger dexterity
Put together small parts with your fingers.
-
Control precision
Quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
-
Arm-hand steadiness
Keep your hand or arm steady.
-
Oral comprehension
Listen to and understand what people say.
-
Visualization
Imagine how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
-
Sorting or ordering
Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
-
Categorising
Come up with different ways of grouping things.
-
Problem spotting
Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.
-
Selective attention
Pay attention to something without being distracted.
-
Written comprehension
Read and understand written information.
-
Colour discrimination
Notice differences between colours, including shades of colour and brightness.
-
Deductive reasoning
Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.
-
Flexibility of closure
See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.
-
Inductive reasoning
Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.
-
Manual dexterity
Quickly move your hand to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
-
Oral expression
Communicate by speaking.
-
Perceptual speed
Use your eyes to quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
-
Speech clarity
Speak clearly so others can understand you.
-
Written expression
Write in a way that people can understand.
Activities
These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.
-
Controlling equipment or machines
Operating machines or processes either directly or using controls (not including computers or vehicles).
-
Keeping your knowledge up-to-date
Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.
-
Monitoring people, processes and things
Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.
-
Thinking creatively
Using your own ideas for developing, designing, or creating something new.
-
Making decisions and solving problems
Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.
-
Handling and moving objects
Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, moving and manipulating objects.
-
Planning and prioritising work
Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.
-
Collecting and organising information
Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.
-
Scheduling work and activities
Working out the timing of events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
-
Looking for changes over time
Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.
-
Checking for errors or defects
Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials for errors, problems or defects.
-
Assessing and evaluating things
Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.
-
Building good relationships
Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.
-
Researching and investigating
Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.
-
Estimating amounts, costs and resources
Working out sizes, distances, amounts, time, costs, resources, or materials needed for a task.
-
Communicating within a team
Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.
-
Checking compliance with standards
Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
-
Coordinating the work of a team
Getting members of a group to work together to finish a task.
-
Making sense of information and ideas
Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.
-
Training and teaching others
Understanding the needs of others, developing training programs, and teaching or instructing.

O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 51-9081.00 - Dental Laboratory Technicians.
Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.
Filter Work Environment
Demands
The physical and social demands workers face most often are shown below.
-
Exposure to contaminants
Be exposed to pollutants, gases, dust or odours.
-
Indoors, heat controlled
Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.
-
Time pressure
Work to strict deadlines.
-
Using your hands to handle, control, or feel
Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.
-
Being exact or accurate
Be very exact or highly accurate.
-
Wear common protective or safety equipment
Wear equipment like safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hard hats or life jackets.
-
Face-to-face discussions
Talk with people face-to-face.
-
Spend time sitting
Spend time sitting at work.
-
Freedom to make decisions
Have freedom to make decision on your own.
-
Making repetitive motions
Spend time making repetitive motions.
-
Disease or infection
Be exposed to disease or infections.
-
Unstructured work
Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.
-
Dangerous conditions
Work near dangers like high voltage electricity, flammable material, explosives or chemicals.
-
Dangerous equipment
Work near dangerous equipment like saws, machinery with open moving parts, or moving traffic.
-
Frequent decision making
Frequently make decisions that impact other people.
-
Minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings
Be exposed to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings.
-
Teamwork
Work with people in a group or team.
-
Contact with people
Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.
-
Impact of decisions
Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.
-
Loud or uncomfortable sounds
Be exposed to noises and sounds that are distracting or uncomfortable.
Values
Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
-
Support
Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.
-
Independence
Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.
-
Working conditions
Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.
-
Achievement
Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
-
Relationships
Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.
-
Recognition
Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.
Interests
Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.
-
Practical
Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.
-
Analytical
Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.
-
Administrative
Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.
-
Helping
Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.
-
Creative
Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.
-
Enterprising
Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.

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The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 51-9081.00 - Dental Laboratory Technicians.