It was only 3 weeks

Specialties Camp

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Tele/Cardiac, Camp.

I have a bit of a dilema I'm hoping you folks could help me with. Last summer I was hired for a 6 week position, but ended up having to leave after only 3 1/2 weeks due to unexpected medical reasons. It was with a very large camp so there were plenty of other nurses. I felt awful, but there was no way I could stay with my health issues.

I haven't put it on my resume since I was only there for 3 1/2 weeks, many days (6+) of which were missed due to commuting back into the city for my appointments, and only maybe about 2 weeks of which actually involved the campers since the rest was orientation. But when my name is entered into a search engine, you can see that I'm listed as healthcare center staff for them for that season in one of their parent bulletins.

My question is, should I put it on my resume anyway and just be prepared for awkward questions from potential employers? As I'm currently searching for a job, I'm concerned a potential employer could google my name (I know they have and do), see this, and wonder why I left it off my resume. I didn't leave on horrible terms, but I also didn't give any notice, and while they were kind, I don't think they were happy.

What do you suggest? Thanks in advance for your advice.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

A resume should be crafted to show your relevant worth experience. It's not a form. It's not for telling about bad experiences and mishaps.

Leave it out.

Think about how you will respond in the unlikely event that a interviewer googled your name, cross referenced your resume and thought it was important enough to bring up.

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Clarify: are you looking for other summer camp jobs, or for nursing jobs in general? If it's summer camp, you definitely need to address it--not necessarily in the resume, but at least answer honestly when asked if you have summer camp experience.

If you're just looking for nursing jobs in general, don't worry about it. No other field has any idea what summer camp nursing involves and they would assume a short-term job was either volunteer or so short it wasn't worth mentioning. They won't even question why it isn't on your resume.

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Tele/Cardiac, Camp.

I've been a nurse for several years and once I pass my NP certification exam in August will be more actively looking for a FNP job. Just trying to brush up the resume now and put out some feelers for what's out there. Kind of a preliminary search. I did work as a camp nurse the previous summer at a different camp as the only nurse and that was a fantastic experience. I have that on my resume. But right now I'm not working so I can focus on studying for my exam. Plus everyone I've reached out to so far has confirmed that they only consider candidates who already have their certification. Which makes complete sense.

I'm thinking, in my situation, the general consensus would be to leave it out. Thanks for your help Invitale and BonnySc. (:

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Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.

Many camp nursing jobs ARE only for three weeks, or less. I've met nurses who just spend one week of their paid vacation from their real job to provide their own children with a week of camp. You don't have to talk about the reasons you left your contract early. Having camp nursing on your resume is an interesting tidbit that might provide a colorful lead-in topic for the interviewer to break the ice. Have a few positive statements ready to say and then allow the interviewer to move on.

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