Desperate (old) new graduate. Please review my resume and cover letter. Thank you!

LindseyRN86 · Aug 17, 2012

I would also in your resume provide traits about your personality---I am a hard worker, I am a quick thinker, Honest, trustworthy, friendly and so on. Also what seems to help me is putting pertinent courses I took in college.

I feel your pain, I am also a old new grad. But I am volunteering and obtaining my BSN as of now too. I just landed a job interview today!! yay! Just stay positive and keep yourself out in the open and make yourself known!! Go to the places where you would like a job bring your resume, transcripts, license and such and go to human resources or the nurse manager and tell them about the job you are interested in and why you are right for that position.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Susie2310 · Aug 17, 2012

iliketosneeze,

I just wanted to ask if you are truly comfortable with the possibility that with the information you have given, there is a chance that someone might be able to identify you. Someone recently posted an article on AllNurses that speaks of some of the undesirable outcomes that have happened to certain members when they have been identified through their posts. I don't know if you are a new member, but I know you can edit your post for a certain time if you have an unpaid membership; I believe if you want to edit your post after that time period you have to contact the help desk.

LindseyRN86 · Aug 17, 2012

Sorry posted earlier..

BellasMommyOBRN · Aug 17, 2012

My suggestion is to keep it brief and to the point. I had submitted a resume to a couple hospitals here in NY and received negative feedback from them in regards to the clinical experience from school that I listed. They didn't find that information necessary. If it were me, I would take that out. Also, list the dates of your certifications (BLS,license....).

One nurse recruiter told me that the easier a resume is to read, and the more concise it is, the more willing a nurse manager will be to look at it...(which makes sense if they have to shuffle through a lot of them!)

Good luck!!

charli_appleRN · Aug 17, 2012

I can't put my finger on it but the 2nd sentence in your cover letter does quite flow right. Maybe you should drop 'required'

strawberryluv, BSN, RN · Aug 17, 2012

Are you sure you want to reveal your information on a public website? I think you should really edit your post so nobody identifies you.

SCSTxRN · Aug 17, 2012

As a new grad, you need a skills resume as opposed to an experential resume (which is what you're trying to write here)

NAME

ADDRESS, CITY, STATE, ZIP

PHONE NUMBER PROFESSIONAL LOOKING / SOUNDING EMAIL

OBJECTIVE - Full or part time RN position.

LICENSING

RN License # 32174856 New York State Exp 5/12/2014

BLS Certification Exp 5/11/2014

ACLS Certification (if you have it)

TNCC (if you have it)

EDUCATION

Associates of Science in Nursing, SUNY Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY (August 2011) G.P.A. - ??? (if it's 3.0 or better, if not, maybe don't list it)

CLINICAL SKILLS

IV initiation, Catheter initiation, blood draws, computer based charting, medication administration, etc... (if you can't do them, don't write them)

HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE

Mentor- SUNY Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY. Volunteer Mentor (Fall 2010- Spring 2011)

ADDITIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

Teaching Assistant- Rockland Learning Center, Pomona, NY. Planned age appropriate activities for preschool children. (Summer 2006- Present)

Microfilm Data Clerk- Smooth Solutions, Lodi, NJ. Worked collaboratively with team members. Organized medical and legal documents for conversion to micrograph film. (May 2012- July 2012)

Waiter- Top Notch Catering, NY. Displayed ability to communicate effectively with clients of diverse cultural backgrounds. Provided customer services. (July 2005- Spring 2006)

COMPUTER SKILLS

Proficient with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, and various data entry software.

REFERENCES

Conventional wisdom here is to put "available upon request", but if you have strong references from some of your nursing school professors or some of the nurses you did clinicals with, and they've given you the ok to use them as a reference, you might go ahead and list them. The benefit to putting "available upon request" is you know if they want to check your references. The benefit to go ahead and listing them is you've taken some work out of the hiring manager's pool to get in touch with you to ask for the numbers. That might be a difference in getting the first call, or someone else getting the first call, to interview.

iliketosneeze · Aug 18, 2012

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to share your experiences and advice.*My only regret is not joining this online community sooner.

Regarding clinical experience.... I have been hearing 2 sides.*

1) " less is more" recommending complete omission of clinical info as a student ....as I'm sure this looks like fluff for a new graduate RN.

2) list the hospital, specialty( ei: Hospital, city, state, med/surg,date *in reverse chronological order to emphasize that my clinical experience as a student nurse were within an acute *care setting.

Further thoughts? Experiences?

SCSTxRN · Sep 17, 2012

I would not list clinical experiences unless you were an intern / extern type position. Every nursing student has nursing clinicals in school - you address your clinical acumen when you list your actual skills. As in, I would be comfortable checking off these skills in my first two days of orientation.

If, in clinicals, you took advantage of every urinary catheter or IV stick or IM injection that came your way - you list it in clinical skills.

This way, you can give the HR people a basic idea of how much training you will require in given skill sets. At the same time, if you've only started one IV or two urinary catheters, I wouldn't list them... because you're going to need at least a little coaching through the skills check off.

Inori, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2012

May i suggest, a few changes in the order of your items. I got these from recruiters, HR managers when I could get them to look at my resumes. Definetly put your title because I had one recruiter ask me so what are you LPN or RN can't tell. In a way all new grads are alike zero exp and want a job. So you must do something to separate yourself. Use expensive resume paper, send thank you letters, give weekly/bi weekly phone calls, practice interviewing so it flows. Eh NYC is so saturated so every recruiter has thier own preferences BUT i find that this format works best for most. I write 2 resumes one designed for computer scanning and another meant for human eyes.

Name, R.N. (size 16 font).

contact info

Educatoin

certfications

clinical

work/volunteer exp

nursing skills

computer skills

Associatoin memberships

language skills

I'd suggest leaving out the entire line refernces avaliable becuse well it is aailable why waste space. AND I do not include references because one if they're intersted I'd immediately fax it over and #2 I do not want my refernces contacted unless they're seriously interested in me aka call me in for an interview first. I'll bring it then. I protect my references from being unecssarily bothered because they're busy people so only employers who are willing to interview me will have access to that info, nor do i want employers to reserach me before hand :)

joanna73, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2012

I wouldn't ever say "references available on request". That's unnecessary and a waste of space. Also, your cover letter is quite generic. You want to include something in your cover letter that is going to make the recruiter want to read your resume. For example, was there a particular experience in one of your clinicals that you could highlight? Did you work as an extern? Based on the organization's values, mission, philosophy....how does that resonate with you?