Advice needed about writing resume

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi,

I made a huge career change when I chose nursing. I was in Human Resources for a good majority of my professional life, (not in healthcare). I made the transition to nursing school very well and have excellent grades both in theory and clinical. My problem is I have no related work experience to put on my resume.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how they would approach resume writing? I thought I would start with an objective, and then follow that with a summary of qualifications i.e.: gpa, speaking spanish, management skills. Would anyone disagree with that?

Any opinion and advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Specializes in L&D.
Hi,

I made a huge career change when I chose nursing. I was in Human Resources for a good majority of my professional life, (not in healthcare). I made the transition to nursing school very well and have excellent grades both in theory and clinical. My problem is I have no related work experience to put on my resume.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how they would approach resume writing? I thought I would start with an objective, and then follow that with a summary of qualifications i.e.: gpa, speaking spanish, management skills. Would anyone disagree with that?

Any opinion and advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I think your ideas would be excellent and also I think state what your clinical experience is.

Hi,

I made a huge career change when I chose nursing. I was in Human Resources for a good majority of my professional life, (not in healthcare). I made the transition to nursing school very well and have excellent grades both in theory and clinical. My problem is I have no related work experience to put on my resume.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how they would approach resume writing? I thought I would start with an objective, and then follow that with a summary of qualifications i.e.: gpa, speaking spanish, management skills. Would anyone disagree with that?

Any opinion and advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sounds good to me and maybe if you have time you could do some volunteering at a hospital. That always looks good on a resume. I've also heard that in some cities, volunteering a certain amount of hours is necessary to obtain a job in nursing.

Specializes in Float Pool, ICU/CCU, Med/Surg, Onc, Tele.

I'd put my prior experience there, in all its glory. Be proud of it!

Emphasize the parts that will make you a better nurse / employee than the other applicants whose resumes they'll see, but don't downplay your experience. Think how much more "rounded" you are than a (no offense intended to anyone) 20 y/o nurse with no work experience! You're a new grad, of COURSE you don't have "relevant" nursing experience. That won't count against you, I promise.

With 40-whatever days til graduation, in my opinion you don't have time to volunteer. Focus on finishing school, passing the NCLEX, and getting a job! Best of luck to you!

Question: Since you have HR experience and I don't, maybe you can answer this... I had heard several years back that objectives on resumes are "out" (because it's "obvious" that you want the job you're applying for, and therefore the objectives are redundant), and it's now more desirable to just present your information in a way that will make them want to interview you. You can "sell" yourself and fill in the details more thoroughly at the interview. True? Not true? Thanks!

We had to turn in a resume for a grade at the end of nursing school. We were told to include clinical experiences from school.

Since I'm looking for a new job, i've been reading up on resumes. I have read in several places to omit the "objective" for a variety of reasons. I've always disliked writing the objective, so I tossed mine. I'll be glad if it stays gone. :)

I have a suggestion for a book for writing your resumes. It's called Real Resumes for Nursing Jobs by Anne McKinney, you can get it from Amazon. It shows you how to write resumes and cover letters, how to highlight your clinicals in the resumes and how (for those of us who had other lives before nursing) to incorporate those skills and strengths into the resume and make it meaningful. I've got 4 or 5 books on resumes for nursing, this one is by far the very very best book I've ever seen on it. I use it to write resumes for others.

Question: Since you have HR experience and I don't, maybe you can answer this... I had heard several years back that objectives on resumes are "out" (because it's "obvious" that you want the job you're applying for, and therefore the objectives are redundant), and it's now more desirable to just present your information in a way that will make them want to interview you. You can "sell" yourself and fill in the details more thoroughly at the interview. True? Not true? Thanks!

Nurse Weasel,

Being in HR we would get 100's of resumes on a given day. People need to remember that the HR person is not just hiring for one position but several. I realize the objective is a personal preference, but you may be kidding yourself to think an HR person will read your whole resume. By having an objective you know immediately what position the applicant wants. i.e.: to obtain a position in a pediatric clinic, to obtain a position in an acute care setting, to obtain a position in the ER. It can be frustrating for an HR person to have to sift through your resume and figure out who/what you're all about. Again, it's a personal preference, and my own opinion. Good luck! Thanks for the post.

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