Creating my first resume with no experience

[Skyy86]

Hello

I will be graduating May 2014 and I am currently working on my first resume.

I am having a hard time figuring out what to put on it because I have no experience in healthcare. I have read that less is more, and to just put dates and titles. Any suggestions or examples?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Thread moved to nursing resume assistance to elicit further response. Good luck. Check FAQ threads in this forum for tips.

[eyesopen_mouthshut, CNA]

livecareer.com has a free resume builder, but you have to pay to print it out or email it to yourself... I use it when I want to refresh my resume but I have writer's block... you can select from different career categories and there are already things written in by people... it's a really neat tool build a resume. I didn't pay for it, I just created a resume, and then in Word recreated it and edited it to my liking (different font, formatting, etc.)

Hope this helps!

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

What is stopping you from getting experience? You have a year until you graduate. You have time to get a job as a nurse's aide or volunteer at nursing homes.

[Bayat]

Did you go through clinicals? If so, then you gotten some experience.

Unless a hospital requires a certain number of months of experience, remember you did get clinical experience in school, so you should emphasize that in your applications. It may not be considered really adequate by some, but it does count as experience. Your resume should probably provide some detail about your clinical experience -- think about things that you did such as monitoring IVs, assessing patients, pre-operative preparations, patient education. Your passion for nursing should come through which will help your resume stand apart from the rest. The resume should show that you are an eager learner, and comment on your professional progression as you went through school -- gaining facts, experience, knowledge, and yes perhaps some wisdom along the way. Think about how you think about things now compared to back when you applied to nursing school.

The best managers look for a combination of technical enthusiasm and the maturity to deal with the sometimes difficult tasks of working with patients, a diverse staff and exacting physicians.

Hospitals want to know what types of clinical rotations you’ve been through, and where you did them. So listing clinical rotations will demonstrate your experience base. To make it even stronger:

• Emphasize areas in which you have special interest.

• Highlight elements that distinguish you from others doing similar rotations. Did you excel in particular aspects of your work? Examples include establishing rapport with patients, meticulous attention to detail in suturing, or responding well in crisis situations.

[mul7371]

Thanks so very much for the tip! Awesome site and great resource for $3!!!