Experienced RN resume review

[Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN]

Yikes! Applying to my first new job in five years and would really appreciate some resume feedback. There's so much conflicting advice out there about what to include/not include, how to format, etc. Sorry about the formatting wonkiness, I promise it looks better in Word.

-----------------------------

Jane Smith, RN, BSN

XYZ St, London, UK / [email protected]

11111111 (US cell.) / 00000000 (UK cell.)

SUMMARY

Neonatal nurse with X years' tertiary-level bedside, charge, and precepting experience.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ABC Hospital, London, UK

Start date-present

Senior staff nurse, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), level III/IV, XX beds; teaching hospital, YYY beds

· Rotating responsibility as charge nurse for 12-20 beds within unit.

· Precept nursing students and staff nurses transitioning to higher-acuity roles.

· Promote reduction of infection rates through membership of nursing-led central line dressing change team. Helped draft guideline for management of central line dressings.

· Support trainee doctors and students of other disciplines.

XYZ Agency, London, UK

Start date-End date

Travel nurse, NICU

Provided total care to 1-4 patients depending on acuity, in tertiary-level neonatal units, primarily at ABC Hospital (start date-end date). Functioned autonomously after very brief orientation to unit. Volunteered for training in tasks considered medical jobs in the UK (e.g. IV insertion, central line redressing) to maintain nursing skills and promote timely patient care.

HGI Hospital, Los Angeles, CA

Start date-End date

Clinical nurse, NICU, level III/IV, XX beds; teaching hospital, YYY beds

Provided total care to 1-2 critically and chronically ill preterm and term neonates and infants up to 1 year old. Attended delivery and resuscitation of newborns as early as 23 weeks' gestation. Created and implemented nursing plan of care along with physician orders for full range of neonatal conditions, including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, persistent pulmonary hypertension, surgical conditions, and congenital anomalies including cardiac defects. Provided parent education on infant care. Administered medications accurately. Voted Star of the Month” by coworkers for dedicated, compassionate care.

EDUCATION So-and-so College, Somewhere

Completion date

Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, cum laude

Extra University, London, UK

Completion date

Mentorship module

LICENSURE/CERTIFICATIONS

Registered Nurse, State, exp. Dec. 2018

Registered Nurse, United Kingdom, exp. Jan. 2018

AHA Basic Life Support, exp. July 2019

UK Resuscitation Council Newborn Life Support, exp. Nov. 2019

Member, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, 2010-present

AACN CCRN, Neonatal, 2010-2013 (currently lapsed as working in UK)

SKILLS/PROFICIENCIES

Electronic medical record software (Essentris, BadgerNet); Pyxis, Omnicell; Microsoft Office, Paint.net (Photoshop analogue)

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

It looks good!

Under ABC "promote reduction...of infection rates" can you put "Reduced infection rates by (a metric) %" ? It would be stronger.

Consider bullet points under HGI Hospital, for agreement with the formatting used in ABC Hospital section, and to make your accomplishments stand out in easy visual bites. "Star of the Month" is awesome!

Instead of "Volunteered for training in tasks considered medical jobs in the UK (e.g. IV insertion, central line redressing) to maintain nursing skills and promote timely patient care" consider "Selected for specialized training in central line dressings and IV insertions" for impactful brevity.

You might want to move Licensure/Certifications to the top (prime real estate) so recruiters do not have to scroll for it. Do you have your NALS cert?

Licensure/Certifications should not include committee and professional memberships- add a section (at the bottom of resume) for Professional Membership or Affiliations.

Hope this helps and good luck :)

[Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN]

Thank you Nurse Beth, that's really helpful! I've made some changes based on your suggestions.

I recently had a phone interview based on my resume as formatted above. The managers spent a bit of time asking questions about my current unit to suss out the patient population I'm currently working with. I'd like to make it clear that it's all the same things that I did at HGI Hospital, but not sure which would be the best approach:

• Move all of the patient description up to ABC Hospital's entry, which makes most sense reading from top to bottom but would leave me with not much to say about HGI Hospital, or
  
• Phrase the first sentence in ABC Hospital as something like: "Rotating responsibility as charge nurse for 12-20 beds within unit (similar to HGI, below)." This leaves the two entries balanced, and keeps the focus on my management and upper-level skills in the ABC entry, but seems sort of informal and also upside-down.
  

Thoughts much appreciated! :)