my resume is a hot mess. plz help!!!!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I've been a travel nurse for most of my nursing career:

I have had 10 travel jobs in 5 years. Ten jobs with 8 different travel companies.

And I worked one full year as a staff nurse.

I'm now looking for a permanent/staff nursing position. But I'm not getting any bites. I believe it's because my resume shows every job, with every company. And this is scary to prospective employers! would it be appropriate to list my experience as "travel nurse" with the years spent as a traveler, excluding the companies/hospitals.

example:

Travel nurse (Oncology)

Various hospitals across the United States 2005---2010

instead of my current resume which looks like:

clinical one (st. francis hospital)

city/state 9-07---12-07

Procare USA (Sinai medical Center)

city/state 6-07---9-07

emergency Resource 5-06---9-07

city/state

Also, three of my former travel agencies are no longer in business. Their numbers are simply disconnected, and I can't find them anywhere on the Internet. how will I explain this on my application? Should I put their old number, or say it's been dosconnected??

Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.

I would absolutely include the words "travel nurse" in your resume. Potential employers will understand your history immediately, rather than thinking you're just a job hopper. Include the names of the employers. They may or may not call them. I've worked at a couple sites which have since gone under. Employers understand that sometimes your references will have changed numbers or gone out of business. As long as it's not ALL of your previous employers.

llg, PhD, RN

13,469 Posts

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Definitely combine your travel nurse experience into one entry on your resume. State what types of units you worked on ... the number of assignments over x number of years, etc. Then state that a complete list of assignments is attached -- and include the complete list on a separate piece of paper. As for the companies that are no longer in buisiness, state that briefly in parenthesis immediately after that entry.

That way, the list of your details experience is there for people who want to see it -- but it does not clutter up your resume so that the reader cannot get the "big picture" of your career easily.

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