No previous healthcare related work

Nurses LPN/LVN

Published

I graduated May 2013. Took and passed my Nclex August 31th and I have been officially licensed since the 5th of September. I've applied at 50+ jobs now and I've not gotten one call back. I believe 100% that the reason for this is bc I've not had any jobs related to being a nurse or medical anything.

I've done mostly retail bc that's what's been easier to come by and simple to hold down while I was going through school.

Is there any way that I can spruce up my résumé to have an employer even glance and think twice about calling me in for an interview? I know once I have the interview I can make a MUCH better impression and boost my chances of getting the job at least 50%.

I'd prefer a clinical job like family practice or community clinic to help me gain experience then I'll float around or stay there while I go back to school next fall.

But honesty I just want to get started.

Please HELP!!

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The only relevant experience I had after graduating this past June was working as a pharmacy technician. However I had no patient care experience. I just got an offer today from a local surgical clinic that is part of a larger hospital. On my resume I tried to capitalize on things that set me out. I was second in my class of about 40, I had a 95 overall program average. I also had a previous associates degree with a 3.93 GPA, and I took part there in a honor society. I put all of that on my resume and really tried to sell myself on things to make me stand out. That's the best advice I can give! If you get an interview, be sure to ask for a card or some way to contact them and send them thank you's. I did that for all of the people who interviewed me!

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The only relevant experience I had after graduating this past June was working as a pharmacy technician. However I had no patient care experience. I just got an offer today from a local surgical clinic that is part of a larger hospital. On my resume I tried to capitalize on things that set me out. I was second in my class of about 40 I had a 95 overall program average. I also had a previous associates degree with a 3.93 GPA, and I took part there in a honor society. I put all of that on my resume and really tried to sell myself on things to make me stand out. That's the best advice I can give! If you get an interview, be sure to ask for a card or some way to contact them and send them thank you's. I did that for all of the people who interviewed me![/quote']

Wow no wonder you're a shoe in! I didn't have much time to participate in activities outside of class and clinicals. Bad living situation that forced me to work or be put out. But I'm not giving up hope.

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I had zero medical experience before nursing school, so I just emphasized the clinical hours and practicum and experiences while in school, and I put my GPA and National Honor Society on there too. Good luck!

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I had zero medical experience before nursing school so I just emphasized the clinical hours and practicum and experiences while in school, and I put my GPA and National Honor Society on there too. Good luck![/quote']

I don't have honor society and other accomplishments I feel like I should have to help me stand out without medical/healthcare experience :/

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Are you sending your resume? If you've applied to 50 jobs without a callback, have someone take a look at your resume. It could be worded odd or hard to understand. Are you talking up your clinical experience? Obviously, don't make it seem like you were running the floor while at clinicals- but talk about what you did and where you experience was. Did you do any health fairs as part of clinicals? If you have nothing but time on your hands, can you volunteer at the Red Cross or something?

If you are applying to clinics and family practices, can you go there and hand your resume in? That way people can see you, see how professional you are and hopefully ask more questions.

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Are you sending your resume? If you've applied to 50 jobs without a callback, have someone take a look at your resume. It could be worded odd or hard to understand. Are you talking up your clinical experience? Obviously, don't make it seem like you were running the floor while at clinicals- but talk about what you did and where you experience was. Did you do any health fairs as part of clinicals? If you have nothing but time on your hands, can you volunteer at the Red Cross or something?

If you are applying to clinics and family practices, can you go there and hand your resume in? That way people can see you, see how professional you are and hopefully ask more questions.

I did participate in a student health fair as part of being a member of the future nurses club at my school.

I was at my counselors office yesterday to review my résumé and cover letter and she agreed that I should play up my clinical experiences. I'm just not sure exactly how to go about adding it to my résumé without making it too chunky.

I was also told to play down my past work experience bc they're not related to anything nursing or medical. And to add a few specifics about my learned skills in my cover letter as well.

Just trying to keep my résumé under one page and easy to see what needs to be seen.

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I did participate in a student health fair as part of being a member of the future nurses club at my school.

I was at my counselors office yesterday to review my résumé and cover letter and she agreed that I should play up my clinical experiences. I'm just not sure exactly how to go about adding it to my résumé without making it too chunky.

I was also told to play down my past work experience bc they're not related to anything nursing or medical. And to add a few specifics about my learned skills in my cover letter as well.

Just trying to keep my résumé under one page and easy to see what needs to be seen.

It's no longer a hard and fast rule that a resume has to be limited to one page...in fact our class hired a résumé expert to come teach a seminar and she said its virtually impossible, especially for healthcare professionals, to put the vital stuff on there and have it be only one page, and that hiring managers are no longer nixing applicants because of a resume longer than a page.

Also, could you get a letter of recommendation from an instructor or a preceptor that was really impressed with you?

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It's no longer a hard and fast rule that a resume has to be limited to one page...in fact our class hired a résumé expert to come teach a seminar and she said its virtually impossible especially for healthcare professionals, to put the vital stuff on there and have it be only one page, and that hiring managers are no longer nixing applicants because of a resume longer than a page. Also, could you get a letter of recommendation from an instructor or a preceptor that was really impressed with you?[/quote']

That's great news? I've been making my words tiny and messing with margins, etc trying to get this thing to look proper on one page.

The letter of recommendation has already been requested I'm just waiting for them to get around to it now.

Thank you!

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