[Princess74]

Karen,

Thank you for the sites. I will bookmark them, I'm sure that I will find them helpful

The nursing program that I'm starting in does have a resmue class, in fact we can not graduate if we do not have an acceptable, professional resmue.

[RainDreamer]

Karen, thank you so much for posting all that great advice and the links, I bookmarked them all. Thank you! And thank you to everyone else for all the great advice!

I'm probably one of the only May graduates that doesn't have a job lined up yet. I wanted to wait until I got back home, so I could start looking and go in person to inquire and talk with recruiters.

Now I'm just scared to death and just don't know where to start with writing my resume, eeeek! I have a couple questions though. I'm looking at a certain new grad program that I would love to get into, but I don't meet their GPA requirement. I am still planning on applying though, do you think that's inappropriate? I meet all the other requirements/qualifications, but I had a really bad semester a couple years ago and it hurt my GPA.

Another question I have is do I need to be listing all my clinical experiences on my resume? I saw this mentioned in another thread and the answers were conflicting ..... some said no, some said yes. What do you all think?

Thanks everyone!

[fethahed]

Originally Posted by llg

As someone who has read a lot lot of resumes, applications, etc. and done lots of interviews ... I wholeheartedly agree with the previous posts in this thread. In fact, as coordinator of a nursing student extern program, I have decided to emphasize job hunting, career planning, and employee skills in our extern classes as opposed to offering a lot of physiology and nursing care classes. The applicants who "do it right" really stand out from those who don't know how to make a positive impression on a potential employer.

Here is another tip for resumes:

Do NOT pad your resume or try to make school experiences look like employee experiences. I've seen a lot of that -- and it makes a very bad impression. It makes me think the applicant is sneaky, someone I can't completely trust. No one wants to hire a person they can't trust.

llg

what do you mean by PAD your resume?

[CseMgr1]

Originally Posted by mattsmom81

With a nursing shortage that is 'real', wouldn't one would think recruitors would be less picky? Just another reason to doubt the hoopla about a 'nursing shortage', and see it for what it really is: an excuse for understaffing.

Yes, and I have been through quite a few interviews where it was blatantly obvious that the recruiter had already made up his/her mind as to who they were going to hire...before I even arrived. Grrrrr.....!

[madwife2002]

Very interesting and informative thread. Thank you for information on resumes, we do something called Cirriculum Vitae CV for short, here in UK but apparently they do differ slightly from the US and I will need to do one at some point in the future. I also read with surprise re interview thank you letter. A couple of questions I would be grateful if you could answer please.
1) Do you thank them for getting the job or just for being interviewed?
2) Is a thank you letter expcted for all kind of jobs in US
3) Post interview how long does it take to get job offer? Does this take hours,days, weeks?

When we interview in UK majority of the time you let them know by late afternoon or the next morning.

[bluesky]

Originally Posted by NRSKarenRN

look at your RESUME!!!


I've been reviewing resume's for open positions in my department and can't believe the resumes I've received: misspelling, words crossed off, no cover letter, including personal information about family life. Please don't send a resume if you have NONE of the job qualifications, unless your cover letter has explanation eg enrolled in education program etc.


I was taught in LPN and BSN program how to prepare a resume. Is this a lost art being skipped??

Also agree with our bb members that calling facility and finding out who is department manager, then forwarding your resume to them along with HR is great idea.

I work in smaller organization than hospital but has taken me over two months to get open positions advertised and three weeks to get resume's sent to me...those that sent to me directly have interview same week.


Check out:

Resume Writing and Interview Tips for Nurses from Univ. of Pennsylvania:
http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerser...dbookindex.html

Sample Resumes

Resume Writing by Donna Cardillo RN--lots of advice:
http://www.dcardillo.com/articles.html

Resume versus CV - what’s the difference?
Resume versus CV: Which Is Right for You?

Questions Interviewers Ask - Boston College
Difficult Interview Questions + a few answers


YOU are interviewing the hospital too:
From Hospitalsoup.com:
Questions for Management Positions
Questions to ask the Employer

AACN: Hallmarks of the Professional Nursing Practice Setting
Where is the top nursing voice in the organization? Are nurses represented in key committees and in governance? Request organizational chart
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/pnn/hallmarksbrochure.htm


Healthcare Resume and Interview Tips ... Polish your interviewing skills with our Virtual Interview, which contains common healthcare interview questions

** Healthcare Resume Readiness Quiz
Are you confident your resume will make it to the yes pile? Take our Resume Readiness Quiz for healthcare pros, and see if your resume passes the test.

Perfect example of nurses eating their young.

[caroladybelle]

Originally Posted by mattsmom81

With a nursing shortage that is 'real', wouldn't one would think recruitors would be less picky? Just another reason to doubt the hoopla about a 'nursing shortage', and see it for what it really is: an excuse for understaffing.

Sorry, but I disagree.

If someone is not careful with something as important as a resume for a professional position, how careful are they going to be with their language/spelling/grammar on the job or in front of the patient?

I have had to deal with units that use written shift change reports. It is a nightmare to follow some nurses because of their lousy spelling and poor handwriting. It is embarassing that some of these errors are on the patient's permanent chart...it makes the nursing staff look like idiots.

If Nursing is to be considered a "Profession" and not merely a service job, it must do everything in its power to behave professionally.

We are not talking rocket science or absolute perfection, but a reasonably readable correct resume. The type of grammar that most of us should have learned by sixth grade should be sufficient. Yet, very few applicants seem to be able to manage even that.

And, no, just because there is a shortage does not mean that we should accept applicants that do not meet very basic requirements. Logic like that is what moves legislatures to permit "certified medication aides"...."we do not have enough nurses so let's toss in a bunch of lesser qualified aides to just get the job done".

Nursing involves a great deal of professional communication. The employer's assessment of that begins with the prospective employee's resume and application. If their communication skills fail to pass at that level, why would an employer even try to hire the individual.

[caroladybelle]

Originally Posted by bluesky

Perfect example of nurses eating their young.

Excuse me?????????????

Requiring professional nurses to behave as a professional when seeking a job is "eating our young"?????

Expecting nurses to demonstrate a very basic knowledge of grammar, spelling, punctuation and writing..things taught in elementary school... is "eating our young"????

Maybe if schools are graduating fifth graders to take the NCLEX, we would be eating our young.

Expecting professional standards from professional nurses - if that is not acceptable to the young, perhaps they need to be eaten.

[llg]

Originally Posted by caroladybelle

Nursing involves a great deal of professional communication. The employer's assessment of that begins with the prospective employee's resume and application. If their communication skills fail to pass at that level, why would an employer even try to hire the individual.

I agree completely. The job application, resume, interview process is the applicant's big opportunity to show the prospective employer who they are and the quality of work they will do if hired. If you show them that you do bad quality of work, you can't reasonably expect them to hire you.

llg

[llg]

Originally Posted by fethahed

what do you mean by PAD your resume?

The expression "padding your resume" means to lie or to exaggerate things on your resume to make yourself look like a more qualified than you really are. While few people actally tell ourright lies, many people exaggerate a few things in an attempt to make themselves look good.

For example: Someone might spend 1 afternoon doing some volunteer work and then list it as if it were a long-term activity. It may seem like an innocent exaggeration, but it IS a form of lying -- and when a potential employer sees that sort of thing on a resume, it makes them question the applicant's trustworthiness. If they're not being "up front" about these sorts of things, will they also be a sneaky and "borderline honest" as my employee?

Another common example is the listing of school clinicals as if they were jobs. There is a big difference between spending a little time somewhere as a student and actually having a job there. If you don't think so, read some of the threads about being a new grad! If students feel that they should list student experiences on their resume, they should clearly identify that they are student experiences, not jobs.

About putting student experiences ... I suggest only putting those student experiences that are particularly relevent to the job for which you are applying within the body of your resume -- clearly identifying that they are student experiences, of course. Then, if you want to list ALL of your student experiences, do so on a separate sheet of paper. In the body of your resume, you can say something like, "Please see the attached list of student clinical experiences." That way, the reader can look them over, but they don't bog down the reader with a bunch of irrelevant experiences.

Remember: EVERY nursing student spends at least a few weeks in med/surg ... peds ... OB .... psych ... community health ... etc. The prospective employer knows that anyone who went to nursing school has done these things. What the reader wants to know are things like, "What has this applicant done that is unique and/or particularly relevant to the job they are seeking?" "Is there anything in the applicant's past that shows that they have a special interest in the type of work they are applying for?" So, that's the kind of information you want to highlight in your resume.

Make that type of information stand out and get noticed. Don't cover up your uniqueness with by burying your special qualities within a long list of routine, typical experiences that are irrelevant to the job.

If you don't have any special qualities ... have never shown any interest in the type of work you are applying to do ... and/or have never gotten any experience that is at all relevant to the job you are applying for .... then THAT is what you need to focus on before you apply for the job.

Good luck everybody,
llg