adding skills and experience

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'm working on my resume. I have a few years of experience in my first nursing position. It is a general med-surg unit. I'm not sure what skills/experiences should be added to my resume. If the unit isn't a "cardiac" unit per se, but 1/3 to half of the patients may be on telemetry, would I list that as a skill? Are things like wound/ostomy/trach care worth listing, or are they to basic to acute care nursing?

I have no previous healthcare experience. Would/could/should I still list a previous position (that I held for over 6 years), even if it is not nursing related?

I feel like when I look at the resume building sites they include things like "collaborate with doctors, attend meetings, spectacular documentation" and other things that seem like fluff.

Would anyone be willing to help critique my resume?

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Telemetry monitoring is a skill. Not all med-surg units have tele patients. If you are ACLS certified, that is a skill (as is BLS). Trach care is also a skill, since not all med-surg units see trachs frequently. I only see them rarely and it's when I float to the respiratory unit from my surgical unit.

I think you can mention your previous position briefly since you held it for 6+ years. Others will argue with this.

When listing your nursing job on your resume, mention the number of beds, number of patients you manage at a time, and common diagnoses you see. I saw a great article on bluepipes about nursing resumes.

blog.bluepipes.com/top-10-details-to-include-on-a-nurse-resume

[RunBabyRN]

I agree about mentioning your old job. Don't get into every little thing you did, but put what you can apply to nursing. Smart wording can be everything!

I also agree about posting the types of patients you have worked with. I know on the med/surg unit where I did clinicals (I'm a new grad, but was a hiring manager in my former life), we very rarely had tele patients, as we had a tele floor, and I only had one trach patient ever. Each unit is different, so be sure to post what you've done.