Elevate Your Nursing Career
Each job is different. Every person is different. Every resume is unique. A
nurse's resume does not need to meet the same requirements as an
engineer resume or an architect's resume.
Regardless of the position you try for, your resume is your most important sales tool. It is literally your foot in the door. It would be wise to take the time to figure out what the reader - your "sales" target - needs to know about you and what he is really looking to find in you.
The resume comes before the hiring manager even sees your face. Neither voice nor face will get a chance to perform if the resume doesn't give him plenty of reasons to ask you to come in for an interview.
Nursing is a competitive profession, so if you want to have an interview, do what it takes to make that resume awesome. Here is how a
professional resume writer would approach it for you.
1. CREDENTIALS
Let's get the most basic information dealt with first. There are specific credentials you require in any health care field, and nursing is no exception. Those credentials will be a lot more demanding if you are applying for an OR, ER or ICU position than if you are applying for a spot in a nursing home.
Regardless of the specific position, credentials are the first thing HR staff look for before deciding whether to read any more, so get make it easy for him to find them.
If you scored well on the NCLEX exam, you might also want to include that on your resume.
2. EXPERIENCE
As in any other field, experience makes a difference. It is ideal to show what you are capable of, not just make unsubstanbtiated claims about your abilities. You can see that "experience" is not just a list of positions you have held over the years. Give some meat, some detail. What kind of facilities were there, how big was it, what were the specialties, what challenges did you face there?
Anyone you are competing against can rhyme off titles of previous employment. Think about what makes you stand out, how you excelled, how you gave better-than-expected care, how patients and families reported positive experiences because of your efforts.
3. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Experience also encompasses such such characteristics as:
- How you have handled difficult patients and panicking or demanding relatives.
- How you managed things in a crisis, keeping a cool head, protecting the patient, etc..
- Your attention to detail, especially at the end of a tiring and stressful shift (this is crucial for someone handling meds and keeping track of everything in the patients' charts).
- Your stamina, because it's not easy to work on your feet for eight or twelve hours a day.
In fact, more important than "experience" in the traditional meaning of the word, is your character and your ability to manage stress, fatigue, multitasking and details.
4. CUSTOMIZE
Nursing is not a single profession. Many nurses specialize in one type of nursing or another - and each one requires a different skill set.
For instance, when applying for an ER job or even an OR or ICU position, you have to demonstrate clearly that you have proven to exercise sound judgment and keep performing to 100% under stress.
If you seek a position in a nursing home, you should emphasize more the empathic, caring side.
Now you know what to do. Blow them away with your well-thought-out nursing resume, and get your foot in the door for your next career move.
