u/Agreeable-Ground1816

I have an interview coming up and I’m nervous about explaining a 5-month employment gap. I did work during that time, but some positions just weren’t the right fit long term. I don’t want to sound negative about past jobs or employers. What’s a professional way to explain the gap while still sounding reliable and employable? I want to also mention that I didn’t put the other jobs on my resume due to toxic work environment

Hi everyone, I wanted some honest opinions because I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed and unsure if this is normal.

I’m a new grad and this is my first front desk job at a dental office. I’ve only been here about a month. When I applied/interviewed, I was told I’d be a schedule coordinator focused mainly on filling the schedule and booking patients.

Since starting, I’ve been given more responsibilities. Now I’m doing scheduling and insurance-related tasks (posting/scanning, patient accounts, etc.), and it feels like more is being added while I’m still learning.

I’m completely fine with learning insurance, but right now I’m also juggling a lot at once—checking patients in and out, answering phones, scheduling, handling referrals—and I’m usually the main one up front. It’s been hard to stay accurate with everything going on.

Recently, I got yelled at and corrected for insurance mistakes and missing a perio chart. I understand accuracy is important, but I also feel like I’m still learning while being expected to handle multiple roles at once.

My training hasn’t been very consistent, and when I ask for clarification I sometimes feel spoken to in a way that makes me feel dumb instead of supported.

The office is also going through system changes. I was present during the transition, but I wasn’t trained on the old system, so I don’t have a baseline to compare anything to. A lot of patient insurance information is still in the old system and is actively being referenced, but I was told to call patients to re-verify their insurance. Many patients were confused and said we should already have it on file. When I skipped those charts because I couldn’t verify or access the info properly, I was told not to “just sit there and do nothing,” even though I was still working on other tasks.

There’s also some tension with a dental assistant who previously handled both scheduling and insurance, and I feel like I’m often called out for being quiet and not outspoken, which makes things uncomfortable.

On a positive note, the doctor is really kind and supportive.

I don’t mind growing into the role, but it feels like I’m being expected to handle multiple responsibilities without enough training or clear systems in place, especially only being a month in, and then getting corrected when things aren’t perfect.

Lately, I also feel like my trainer is looking at me as if I’m not learning fast enough, which adds more pressure because I’m still very new and trying to keep up with everything being asked of me.