156 Applications and 0 Interviews

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

Dear Nurse Beth,

I am an RN with 20 years of experience, with 19 of them in women’s health (L&D, high-risk antes, OR/PACU, nursery, postpartum, a small bit of gyn). Charge nurse for the majority of my 20 years. Due to the utter insanity (aka unsafe staffing) of my department for the last 5 years as well as my recent back issues (the number of morbidly obese pregnant women these days is overwhelming!)

I’ve been trying for over a year now to get in with several major insurance companies (Anthem, Aetna, United, Humana, Cigna) doing either telephonic case mgmt, utilization review, or even part-time OB home visits. I apply to at least 3 jobs WEEKLY. I get NO interviews....not even an initial phone interview. I’ve had multiple people review my resume & cover letter and they have all said they are stellar. Any advice?? Am I TOO specialized? I am at my wit’s end.

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Dear At Your Wit's End,

How very frustrating.

If you have applied to at least 3 jobs per week for a year, that's 156 applications. Assuming you have applied to jobs for which you are qualified (for example, if it says BSN required, and you have your BSN) this is puzzling.

Usually, when you are not getting any bites, the culprit is the resume. You've had multiple people review your resume, but in my experience, most people do not know what constitutes an effective resume, or an effective cover letter. It all depends on who you are asking.

Just the fact that you have received no constructive feedback and zero suggestions for improvement is a sign that the multiple people reviewing your documents are not necessarily skilled at reviewing/editing cover letters and resumes.

You may be screened out because your application does not contain any keywords from the job description in the applicant tracking system (ATS) software. In addition to using keywords, you must individualize your resume to the organization. If you are sending the exact same resume to 156 employers, you are not individualizing your resume.

Every employer is different with a different mission statement and clientele.

The purpose of a resume is to make them want to hire you, or at least interview you. It must be compelling, concise, showcase your skills and answer the question "Why should we hire you?"

In other words, your skills need to match their needs.

Have you checked to see that your resume can be opened? Have you emailed it to 4 or 5 friends to see if they can open it without difficulty? Test on multiple browsers and smartphones. Are you using a standard font such as Times New Roman, or Arial?

Is your document titled yourname.resume.docx? Titling it simply resume.docx will help it to get lost by the receiver.

Are you addressing it to a person, or to Whom it May Concern? Today it is easy enough to find out the name of a hiring manager in the organization on the internet, web page or LinkedIn.

Hopefully, your public online profile is perfectly respectable and there is nothing to scare employers away.

For more tips on how to write a stellar cover letter, resume, and land an interview, check out my book below.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"...and your next!

[TAKOO01, BSN]

Its so hard to tell what may be happening in this situation. It can be a number of things.

Your resume may be too long. 8 to 10 years of experience and one page long is enough.

Do you emphasize your technical/computer and customer service skills? How about insurance/UM regulations and policies? Do you know anything about them? Any experience with discharges? Those are important in some types of telephonic/CM nursing.

Does your city have a Nurse Family Partnership program? They do home visits with new moms.

Have you applied for CM at any of the hospitals you've worked in? Have you kept up with any old coworkers? Let them all know what you're looking for.

Just some thoughts.

[egg122 NP, MSN, APRN]

I think Nurse Beth is on to something with the resume. However, have you reached out the companies to discuss your situation? For example, UHG has set times for clinicians to chat with recruiter about positions: https://careers.unitedhealthgroup.com/getting-hired/recruiter-chat

It may or may not help. Sometimes just getting in front of a human face can push your resume through.

Also, a lot of the corporate entities are really into values and try to hire based on if they think a candidate is a fit with those values (which is difficult to determine and can be hit or miss). It would be worth taking a look at each individual company and try to incorporate buzz words/ corporate values into your cover letter and resume when possible. It will also help on the interview if your are familiar with them as well.

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

9 hours ago, TAKOO01 said:

Your resume may be too long. 8 to 10 years of experience and one page long is enough.

Great advice. Your cover letter should be no more than 1 page long, 3-5 paragraphs. Your resume should be 1-2 pages long, not fluff, no cliches.

[Forest2]

When applying for jobs I find that I have multiple resumes depending on the position. I take off anything from my large resume that doesn't apply and then I insert the key words and phrases that are included in the job posting. I also include as many of these key words that I can in my cover letter. It seems to be working for me right now.

But, let me tell you I have put in multiple applications and good jobs are very difficult to get. Don't give up, let's hope there is a smart hiring manager who knows talent when they see it.

One more thing, there are home visits made for at risk pregnancies and that include maybe 1-2 post visits. I can't remember what this is for. but it seems that it is a grant program that home care agencies can apply for. You might look into it. Maybe if you could figure how to write for such a grant for an agency you could man the program.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

What specific CM positons are you applying to? Please provide the job titles.