Having a hard time with resume

[RNmom08]

Hi there. Well, I made it... I am going to graduate in December and will take the NCLEX ASAP after that. Right now, I am looking for a job (they encourage us to start looking now as nursing managers know that new grads are ready to work). I am trying to come up with a resume for myself (I do my husbands and can make him look like a genius!) but I am having a tough time doing so. I have already talked to the lady at our college and she handed me some sample resumes but never really helped me brainstorm for my own qualities.

Here's where I'm thinking I'm lacking:

I have been a stay-at-home mom since 1997. I have not had "normal" jobs. My husband and I managed apartments for about a year and then got away from it simply because we didn't want to be known as "slum lords" in our community. We live in a small town and the company we were working for would do NOTHING to fix the apts up inside or outside. They were all about making $$ without regard for tenants. We felt that was wrong and quit. Other than that, I worked at a gas station as an attendant from Aug 1996- Jan 1997 when I became a stay at home mom when our daughter was born. Before that, I worked as a telemarketer from March 1996-August 1996 when I left there for more money at the gas station and then from April 1995-March 1996 i worked at another telemarketing firm when I left that place to go to the other place for more $$.

As you can see, nothing is too impressive on my work history. I have been an excellent student since I started going back to school. I slowly started me prereqs in August of 2003 and started nursing school in the fall of 2005 and have gone straight through without having to retake any of the nursing courses or any courses for that matter.

I feel so insufficient and worthless on paper. Does anyone have any ideas? Do I just leave out my crappy work history? Any ideas are very appreciated. TIA!

[llg, PhD, RN]

My question is for llg:

I am in the same situation, very little work experience. My instructor told me to list on my resume where I did my clinicals each semester. For example: Semester 1 Oncology ABC Hospital; Semester 2 OB/L&D/Peds XYZ Hospital, etc. What do you think of that?

Thank you

I wonder how much experience your instructor has in being a hiring manager for a hospital. I've never talked with ANY hiring mangers who wanted to see that stuff on a resume. We all know that you had basic clinicals like every other new grad. We only want to see those student experiences that are different, special, or particularly relevant to the job for which you are applying for.

But don't underestimate yourself and neglect to include things that DO make you stand out from the other applicants ... such as volunteer work or pariticipation in school activities, scholarships, awards, or any special project or preceptorships, etc.

List you regular school experiences on a separate sheet of paper so that they can be reviewed if desired ... but they don't clutter up the heart of your resume.

Read this thread. The advice applies to you, too. Also read the link provided by NRSKarenRN.

[RNmom08]

Wow. Thank all of you for your responses.

Also, I do not by any means feel that my "job" with my kids is insignificant. Honestly, being a responsible parent is THE MOST important job in the world IMHO. However, no matter what I feel about that, that is something that I have been told many times not to put on a resume besides the fact that family status may prejudice some to be against hiring a mom of 5. All I was saying is that my past work hx on paper makes me feel insignificant because I didn't feel it made me shine so to speak. Maybe I'm just too humble, my husband says I don't give myself enough credit - he's probably right. That's one of my downfalls I guess.

Thank you all for your suggestions and off I go to create an awesome resume for myself thanks to you! THANKS AGAIN!!!!

[karmyk]

I would put down for your experience all the clinical sites that you visited while you are in nursing school, (we were told by our instructors that hospitals like to see where new grads do their clinicals and it is legal and acceptable to call it "experience.").

I'd like to echo this suggestion... also, if you get a chance to speak to a nursing recruiter from the hospital you're applying to, you can ask them what they look for in a resume. During a nurseweek nursing job fair, the recruiters from some hospitals I'm looking at specifically recommended that I list all of the sites for my clinical rotations (from med-surg to my preceptorship)... so I adjusted my resume accordingly.