Advice on beefing up resume for military program

[tmcolema]

Hey guys, could you give me some advice? I have been an LPN for the last 15 years. I have finished my AA and am taking the last 3 pre-requisite classes I need to apply for BSN program. I am planning to apply for the Navy Nurse Transition Program early next year, I have already spoken with a recruiter. In the meantime, I need to get volunteer experience as well as leadership activities on my resume.

I was the President of my Student Nurse Association while in nursing school but that is the extent of my leadership activities. Can you guys give me some ideas of things I could do that would look great on my resume? Im open to anything.

[Sw88tpea, BSN]

Something that I think really beefed up my resume was volunteering with the American Red Cross, especially in their Armed Forces department. I did this while in school and was able to take advantage of some great training opportunities from the disaster response department-Advanced Disaster Life Support, Advanced Burn Life Support, Psychological First Aid, etc. Every base has American Red Cross volunteers that work there everyday. In the military you see them, you know them, and you appreciate them. Whoever reads your application will too.

I also completed a student advocacy project which sounds as cool as it was. Doing a project r/t patient advocacy would be a great addition to your resume.

I was a 'mentor' for the Big Brother Big sister program in my local area and a volunteer 'team member' for the Relay for Life event at my school.

Also it's really important to have a good answer to the question 'Why do you want to be in the Navy?' When you get in everyone asks why you joined. It's important to spend some time with this and really develop an answer for how you became one of the 1% of Americans to serve in the Armed Forces. What innate qualities brought you here and what do you have to offer? Keep these things in mind when writing your personal statement.

Good luck! Go Navy!