Please I need everyone to come to my rescue!!!

Nurses Job Hunt

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Hi everyone,

I need help, a lot of help in building my resume. My case is a little different. I graduated in 2010 passed my NCLEX the following year but has not worked since then. My reasons are as follows. First my father passed away in 2010 shortly after I graduated and just before I took my NCLEX so the mourning and grieving period took a whole lot out of me because I was in a totally different continent from him but I summoned courage, took my NCLEX and passed! But my main reason for not volunteering or working during or immediately after my nursing school was because I had my children through Nursing school (1st child before nursing school, 2nd and 3rd through school and my 23 month old after passing NCLEX). Now I am ready to take my passion for family and humans to another level.

Please constructively criticize my cover letter and resume and make suggestions as well. It's very dry and scanty. I understand that employers do not really care about your personal story but rather what you have to offer when given the opportunity. Nursing is what I've always desired to do please help me get in and stay in. I know there are HR personnel/recruiters on this site, please everyone offer your suggestions. Thanks and I am looking forward to your suggestions.

Cover Letter

Name, address

I am interested in volunteering at your facility in the adult medical- surgical unit. I am a graduate of xxx college with anassociate degree, BLS certified by the AHA and currently enrolled at xxxuniversity for my baccalaureate degree. My experience as a nursing student at your facility gave me the courage to apply at this time as a volunteer. It will be a great place for my career building due to your exceptional way of delivering care. I look forward to hearing from you and can be reached by my phone or email at all times.

]

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

- Personable with a positive attitude;effectively communicates with patients, families, and nursing staff.

- Specialty area in Medical SurgicalNursing

LICENCES AND CERTIFICATIONS

Registered nurse in New York State, License number: Certificate number:

BLS (CPR/AED) certified by American HeartAssociation on December 2013.

SKILL HIGHLIGHTS

- Medical surgical

- Patient assessment

- Medication administration

- Medical documentation

- Upholds OSHA and HIPPA standards

EDUCATION

XXX College, Associate in Science,September 2007 - May 2010.

Currently enrolled for BSN at XXXUniversity,

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

XXXXXX Community Hospital, Address, state

]XXXXXX hospital, Address, state

XXXXXX Centre Address, state

- Preceptorship and rotations at Psych, MedSurg, renal, OR,Pediatrics, Labor and Delivery units.

- Provided bedside care, treatment and clinical documentation for the patients inmy care.

- Assisted in providing therapeutic carefor psychiatric patients under supervision

- Analyzed patient ABGs, CBC and metabolicprofiles

- Assisted with setting up administering medication through patient controlledanalgesia pumps

- performed PICC line and peripheral IVdressing changes, Foley catheter insertion and removal, Oral airway suction andwound dressing changes.

Everything I posted came out wrong. How do I fix it so that I can remove and repost the content.

Yikes! Click on the little ! triangular icon button in the lower left of your original post. It'll create a report wherein you can ask for help in reformatting. One of the moderators should be able to help.

This site doesn't allow you to post in color, nor should your resume be in color. Different fonts don't always work too well, either. When you go to post, select the A/A Icon in the top left of the control panel before you start to type. That usually helps my formatting immensely!

Name

address

email address

Phone number

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am interested in volunteering at your facility in the adult medical-surgical unit. I am a graduate of xxx College with an Associate Degree, BLS-certified by the AHA and currently enrolled at xxx University for my Baccalaureate Degree.

My experience as a nursing student at your facility (gave me the courage--cut this part; applying to a job in your field is what you're supposed to do and this implies that you're scared to do it!) made me want to apply at this time as a volunteer. It will be a great place for my career building due to your exceptional way of delivering care. I look forward to hearing from you and can be reached by my phone or email at all times.

(Have you researched the unit you're applying to? What do they brag about on the hospital website? Are they committed to decreasing nosocomial infections with handwashing? Are they patient-centered with a family-friendly layout? Find out what they pride themselves on and tell them WHY you want to work at THEIR hospital, not the one across the street).

Name, address, email

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Personable with a positive attitude; effectively communicates with patients, families, and nursing staff.

Experience in Medical-Surgical Nursing

LICENCESAND CERTIFICATIONS

Registered nurse in New York State, License number: Certificate number:

BLS (CPR/AED) certified by American HeartAssociation on December 2013.

SKILL HIGHLIGHTS

(Comment: This is going to be a dicey spot as you're a new grad 4 years out of school with no work experience. You may want to cut this section completely as you are going to be developing the skills below at your next place of employment. Also, you list a similar set of skills under your Clinical Experience section).

Medical surgical

Patient assessment

Medication administration

Medical documentation

Upholds OSHA and HIPPA standards

EDUCATION

XXX College, Associate in Science, September 2007 - May 2010.

Currently enrolled for BSN at XXXUniversity, Projected graduation date (insert here)

CLINICALEXPERIENCE

XXXXXX Community Hospital, Address, state (date)

XXXXXX hospital, Address, state (date)

XXXXXX hospital Address, state (date)

XXXXXX Centre Address, state (date)

Preceptorship and rotations in Psych, MedSurg, Renal, OR, Pediatrics, and Labor and Delivery units.

Provided bedside care, treatment and clinical documentation for the patients in my care.

Assisted in providing therapeutic care for psychiatric patients under supervision.

Analyzed patient ABGs, CBC and metabolic profiles.

Assisted with setting up and administering medication through patient controlled analgesia pumps.

Performed PICC line and peripheral IV dressing changes, Foley catheter insertion and removal, oral airway suction and wound dressing changes.

OK, I think I got some of the bugs out of your initial post, so it's at least readable here.

There are two major issues I see with your plan overall.

First, chances are excellent that you're not going to be allowed to volunteer in a bedside nursing capacity. Hospitals do use volunteers, but if you want to work under your nursing license in a Med-Surg ward, then you will need to be actually hired as a paid employee by the hospital.

Second, if you want to work as a volunteer, most hospitals have volunteer applications on their website. A resume isn't typically necessary. The fact that you are a nurse doesn't matter because as a volunteer, you might be showing visitors where to go or restocking educational pamphlets on a unit, but a volunteer resume is nothing like your professional resume.

I hope this helps!

Thank you SoldierNurse22. You're a soldier indeed.

No problem! Out of curiosity, are you leaning toward seeking employment or volunteering?

I absolutely want to be employed, however I thought it might help if I go this route.

Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Volunteer nursing in hospitals is common overseas in the Philippines. In the US nurses do not volunteer skilled nursing services in hospitals. Hospital volunteers work the greet/info desk, gift shop, make deliveries, etc but are not involved in patient care for insurance & liability reasons.

Organizations such as the Red Cross or churches that work with volunteer nurses generally utilize experienced nurses with excellent assessment & delegation skills.

As JustBeachyNurse said, in the US, that isn't common practice. You're much better off applying to a paid position in a hospital and starting to get some miles on that RN license. :)

JustBeachyNurse, I appreciate your suggestions. I'll definitely apply for the position of an RN.

Soldiernurse, I'll take all the suggestions and apply them to my resume and apply for the position of an RN, thanks.

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