Advice on how to pair-down a resume?

Nurses Job Hunt

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My resume is loooong. As I've been an RN for years, and enjoy lateral movement, I have about 5 or 6 experiences/employers to add. When you get into the details of 'job responsibilities, my resume is 3 pages. I know - way too long.

How can I 'trim the fat'? Do you ever leave jobs out? Do you only include the last one or two? Or do you trim the details of what your responsibilities were?

Any advice is appreciated!

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Step 1: Remove (or dramatically shorten) anything about your specific job responsibilities. Just list the job title, dates of employment, and employer. That is particularly true of any job from more than 3 years ago and/or any job that had a conventional title that the reader will understand.

Step 2: Remove most personal stuff. Employers don't care about your hobbies, etc.

Step 3: If it is still too long ... start combining stuff. For example, if you were a staff nurse at 4 different hospitals over a period of 15 years, say something like "15 years of staff nursing experience at 4 community hospitals. Details available upon request."

Step 4: Minimize your description of your education. You should only need 1 or maybe 2 lines per degree.

"BSN 1982 XYZ School of Nursing" Add a 2nd line only if you have something really special to say.

Step 5: Minimize any listing of committees served on, publications, presentations, etc. Make a general statement about your activity in these areas and

then say that details are available upon request.

etc.

Remember, the purpose of the resume is to get an interview. You can provide additional details during the interview. Prepare a short resume that gets their attention -- and gets you the interview. You can also prepare a long version with details to hand them during the interview.

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Specializes in HHC, Rehabilitation.

What a timely post. I had a similar problem though mine was dealing with how do deal with 2 separate license careers. Now I need to make some changes on my resume'.

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Thanks for the feedback! I have a Bachelor's in an unrelated field, should I even include that on my resume? Also, (just curious) if I've been active for 12 years and only add the past 5 years of experience... that wouldn't make hiring directors concerned about the previous 6 years?

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I wouldn't omit that first 6 years -- just don't waste a lot of space on them. That's where summarizing is necessary. Summarize the old information in no more than 2 or 3 lines -- but don't omit it.

The same is true for the degree in another field. It should take only 1 line to list it. But don't throw it out.

Combine and summarize. Combine and summarize. Combine and summarize. That is the key to taking a lot of information and presenting it in a short format.

I've been an RN for 40 years -- and I can summarize my career in one page. I don't see why other people can't. I've gotten it down to a couple of sentences for some purposes. (Speaker introductions, CNE applications, etc.)

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Moved to Resume Advice forum.

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Specializes in Pedi.
Thanks for the feedback! I have a Bachelor's in an unrelated field, should I even include that on my resume? Also, (just curious) if I've been active for 12 years and only add the past 5 years of experience... that wouldn't make hiring directors concerned about the previous 6 years?

I've been a nurse for 11 years and have 5 Nursing Jobs on my resume back to 2007. It's one page.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

Also, it's pare down. Don't shoot yourself in the foot with spelling errors.

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I've been an RN for 40 years -- and I can summarize my career in one page. I don't see why other people can't.

The reason I am unable to summarize to one page is because I have too many sections on my resume that I think should be included...Summary. Highlights. Experience. Education. Volunteerism. Awards. Certifications. Organizations.

I'm going cuckoo trying to summarize. I am really at a loss. I don't want a full 2-page resume but don't know how to get around it.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
The reason I am unable to summarize to one page is because I have too many sections on my resume that I think should be included...Summary. Highlights. Experience. Education. Volunteerism. Awards. Certifications. Organizations.

I'm going cuckoo trying to summarize. I am really at a loss. I don't want a full 2-page resume but don't know how to get around it.

Combine and summarize. "Summary" is not needed. Neither are "Highlights." That is what a cover letter can accomplish. I have never had those sections in my resume - never even seen them on nursing resumes. Certifications should not need explained, just listed. Volunteerism and Organizations can be combined and shortened under "Professional and Community Involvement." Etc.

Jobs can be combined, "24 years of inpatient med/surg experience" ... or ... "1991-2005 Medical/Surgical ICU staff nurse, 4 different facilities." ... or ..."30 years of staff nurse experience in inpatient adult med/surg, maternity, and outpatient diabetes clinic specialties" etc. "Full details available on request"

I also think that a lot depends on what you are applying for. In many cases, you don't need to get it down to 1 page. Many situations call for a few more details.

What I do is maintain a large document (now 7 pages long) that is a full curriculum vitae -- a document used by academicians that records all of the important stuff -- for all 40 years of my career. There are times when I use that, but most of the time, I pull information from that document and make shorter versions targeted to the specific purpose. Most people don't need to know that back in 1978, I served on my unit's Primary Nursing Committee ... that in 1989, I gave a presentation at a conference, etc. So that information is preserved in my vitae, but rarely used in a document that I share with anyone.

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Combine and summarize. "Summary" is not needed. Neither are "Highlights." That is what a cover letter can accomplish. I have never had those sections in my resume - never even seen them on nursing resumes.

Thank-you for all of your suggestions. I really like the idea of listing different facilities under one specialty area. That is a great idea and will free up a lot of space.

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Specializes in Pedi.
The reason I am unable to summarize to one page is because I have too many sections on my resume that I think should be included...Summary. Highlights. Experience. Education. Volunteerism. Awards. Certifications. Organizations.

I'm going cuckoo trying to summarize. I am really at a loss. I don't want a full 2-page resume but don't know how to get around it.

A lot of those sections are unnecessary. I don't have a summary on my resume. Your resume itself is a professional summary, you don't need a paragraph on top of it explaining what's in it.

I took volunteer experience off my resume. After 11 years of nursing, my nursing experience alone is enough. I don't have a section for awards or organizations and never did.

My resume is:

Experience

Education

Licenses/Certifications

That's enough.

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