So I've been reading a lot of posts from new grads who can't get a job, and I must admit....I'm bummed out for them. So I thought I would try to come up with some ideas for anyone who is needing to beef up their resume! Lemme know what you think....
become certified in ACLS
have your resume looked at by a graphic designer or artsy person. I did this and it looks awesome! I had someone review it to make sure the wording was good and then I handed it off to a friend who works in graphic design and he tweeked it and made it visually appealing. Don't make it too crazy, but just something to make it stand out in a stack of resumes.
if you belong to a church, maybe you could do Parish nursing while you search for a job. Churches usually have an elderly group (our are called the Golden Gems:)) and you could probably do blood pressures or presentations on osteoporosis, diabetes etc.
I know there are some community colleges that offer critical care courses or peri-Op courses for RN's. They usually have 2 semester components The first semester is lecture and the second is clinicals. The ones around me are certified with the local hospitals, meaning they use the same curriculum that the hospital puts their nurses through and are 1 night a week, so you can still get a job if you want! A major benefit is that you can get your foot into a hospital with the clinicals and probably wont have to sign as long of a contract because you paid for the education yourself.
Join an organization!!!! If you are interested in the NICU then join the NANN, critical care ACCN, peri-Op AORN, hospice HPNA, etc. Most of these have local chapters and you can attend the meetings and network. Nursing is all about who you know, and joining an organization puts you in a room with a bunch of managers/educators/nurses from your area hospitals who work in the specialty you want. If you become involved someone will take notice and you already know them!
Universities will let you audit some classes, so why not audit a pharm or physiology class? If I were a manager looking to hire someone and you said that you are taking a masters level physiology class to broaden your nursing knowledge...well, that would impress me. You could also bank those credits and use them for a masters program later on.
Become a BLS instructor
Maybe tutoring some nursing students? Or volunteering to help out at the skills lab? That would look nice on a resume.
I dunno. Any other experienced nurses have other suggestions? My heart goes out to all the new grads who can't find work.
