Finally did it! Critique my resume & cover letter?

Columnist · Mar 3, 2012

Moved to Resume Help. Good luck!

MPKH, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2012

I'm not sure why you listed the nursing process in your resume...you can easily incorporate those skills in your clinical sections without listing each compoenent of the nursing process.

StudentNurzNK · Mar 5, 2012

Sorry about posting in the wrong place, didn't know there was a board like that.

The reason I listed the process was because I saw a few people that had done it, and wasn't sure how exactly to list the skills otherwise. Thought maybe it helped breaking it up into each area. How else should I do it?

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Mar 5, 2012

Generally, most healthcare facilities are going to expect applicants to have that basic skill set, so elaborating on them in your CV isn't really necessary. Your cover letter also needs to be a bit shorter and more concise; again, they're going to assume you have the caring stuff in place. Instead, I'd like to see you 'flesh out' your clinical and work experience a little more, using action words to describe your responsibilities.

For example, did you do certain skills in clinicals that made you stand out among the students in your group, e.g. were you the first in your class to become independent with NG tube insertions or central line maintenance? And be sure to list the skills you learned in your other positions that are transferable to nursing, like managing records and ensuring proper documentation procedures were followed; any supervisory or teaching experience; working with difficult clients and how you handled them successfully etc.

And, I'd get rid of the objective. It takes up valuable space and to be honest, the hiring manager doesn't care about your goals--- they want to know what you have to offer the employer.

Overall, a solid resume, just needs a few tweaks here and there. Best of luck to you!! :up:

joanna73, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2012

It looks like you have some valuable skills, but I would definitely lose the kind and caring bit. How many times do you think nurse managers read that? And using the nursing process in your resume is too consuming. They know you can do that. It's a requirement for nurses. Just focus on being more concise.