Hooters as Job History...Could this hurt my chances of getting a job?

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I am in nursing school and will graduate this august and I have been applying for Patient care tech jobs for several months now and haven't heard anything. I do not have any experience working in a hospital but I figured my clinical experience and that I'm in nursing school about to graduate would make up for that. I am young so I have very little work experience. I've only had 3 jobs one as a cashier, one as a waitress/bartender at hooters, and one as a bartender in a neighborhood bar. My question is, Do you think putting down hooters as job experience is hurting my chances of getting a job? Would it be a bad idea to change it to a more tasteful restaurant like olive garden? lol I would love an answer from anyone who is a manager or does hiring and knows if that would hurt my chances? But any feedback would be great!

Specializes in pedi.
I find this post to be incredibly condescending and rube. "Everyone" here does not know that the OP should omit this info from her resume. I see no problem with putting it on her resume. I have been to Hooters, and as a woman, I see nothing wrong with it. If I was looking for waitress work I would consider working there. The girls at Hooter's are more modes than strippers or Media stars, and certainly more talented too.

HAHA...I find this kind of funny! If strippers/Media stars are your baseline, then yes...hooters is much better! I think the poster meant that it is not relevant. I would suggest at the top of your resume doing an "about me" section. Just a few sentences about you, why you are passionate about being a nurse. Since you don't have any "real" experience, this section will set you apart, and they can focus on this :)

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I find this post to be incredibly condescending and rube. "Everyone" here does not know that the OP should omit this info from her resume. I see no problem with putting it on her resume. I have been to Hooters, and as a woman, I see nothing wrong with it. If I was looking for waitress work I would consider working there. The girls at Hooter's are more modes than strippers or Media stars, and certainly more talented too.

You're responding to this scenario from entirely the wrong perspective... your own. Instead, the only important factor is how Human Resources and the Nurse Manager/Hiring will look at a Hooters waitress job. I personally do not have a problem with this restaurant chain, but it is primarily known off its "brand" of large-busted waitresses. You can argue all you want that "In your experience, it's much more than that" or whatever, but that is the Branding for the Chain, and how it is generally known to the public. If you were applying for a job anything to do with the restaurant business, this job may be pertinent to leave on your resume, but AS a Nurse, it is at best useless and at worst a detriment to your presentation. I don't see why this is even a question.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

Why put it at all? I only put work experience and volunteer work related to health care. They do not care that I worked in a Pizza restaurant a few years back; tight shirt showing off my rack or not.

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I would leave it out...it is not relevant to what you want to do at all.

It's more relevant than you think; time management, being on your feet for long periods of time, shift work/weekends/holidays, staying composed under pressure, being polite to people who are not so polite to you, etc.

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It's more relevant than you think; time management, being on your feet for long periods of time, shift work/weekends/holidays, staying composed under pressure, being polite to people who are not so polite to you, etc.

The same thing could be said for a job in garbage disposal or takeout deliveryman, I would not include either of them on a resume for a Nursing position. Not because I look down on them, but because they are not appropriate or pertinent for this position.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

probably wont hurt you and everyone has a craptastic job while going to ns.

and FYI--- dont work at olive garden. yuck. i worrked there for a while and it was ..ughhh

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You're responding to this scenario from entirely the wrong perspective... your own. Instead, the only important factor is how Human Resources and the Nurse Manager/Hiring will look at a Hooters waitress job. I personally do not have a problem with this restaurant chain, but it is primarily known off its "brand" of large-busted waitresses. You can argue all you want that "In your experience, it's much more than that" or whatever, but that is the Branding for the Chain, and how it is generally known to the public. If you were applying for a job anything to do with the restaurant business, this job may be pertinent to leave on your resume, but AS a Nurse, it is at best useless and at worst a detriment to your presentation. I don't see why this is even a question.

I agree with CaregiverGrace; it doesn't matter if some people would be fine with it; what matters is that some people wouldn't, and you don't know which group the person reading your resume will be in.

Women involved in sex work are harshly stigmatized in our society, and the sexual overtones of the Hooters brand means that this stigma extends to its employees. Just because this stigma is misogynist and irrational doesn't mean that the stigma doesn't exist. And just because you and some of the Allnurses commenters reject the stigma, doesn't mean that the stigma doesn't exist.

However, since the OP worked there a long time and had leadership/education responsibilities, it does seem a shame to not be able to take advantage of that experience. So, I would suggest that that she structure her resume in such a way that she can leave out the restaurant name without drawing attention to the omission.

To be specific, instead of having the experience section structured as:

Dates - place of employment - description of what I did

Write every past job as:

Dates - job title - more detail of what I did and the context

So, your Hooters experience would look something like:

2008 - 2010: Corporate trainer. Provided initial and ongoing training and oversight to servers at a 50 table urban restaurant.

Then in your other job entries, only name the specific place of employment if it's prestigious; leave at least one of the others unnamed so it doesn't look odd that you omitted the restaurant name in this one job.

Good luck OP.

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Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.

Perhaps you could structure your resume to include all your nursing experience first, all the clinicals you did, where, how long, what skills did you learn, etc. (Here's a tip: if your GPA is impressive, make sure that you make that one line a font size bigger to make it subconsciously leap off the page.) And then (this is what I did) after all is said and done, create a last section "Other employment" and put the restaurant experience there, after they read all the nursey stuff and established you in their heads as a nurse. A good HR person will recognize that not only do you have supervisory and teaching experience, but time management skills, experienced in working under stress on your feet for long hours with no break, and (very important in today's hospitals) customer service experience.

By the way, so there is no misunderstanding: I cannot imagine that anyone who says restaurant experience is irrelevant to nursing having done it personally, at least for a decent amount of time to get good at it. When I first started in LTC, the thing I noted with amazement is how much my brain processed the prioritizing exactly the way I waited tables over 15 years ago. I was amused at how much my old time-saving tricks and habits came flooding back. I even carried the supplement tray up over my shoulder with one hand, darting in and out of rooms serving them! My 9+ years' collective experience as a server had been invaluable to me when learning the ropes as an efficient time manager while doing my job.

I understand what everyone is saying, Hooters has a stigma, especially to those who have never visited one. But business is business, it should not make a difference where she had worked. But then again, on the other hand, there's always the prudes or insecure people who have their preconceived notions of what a Hooters Girl is, and perhaps some overweight, grumpy DON might think, "I don't want to look at that bubbly stick every day." On the other, other hand, some male who does the hiring might think, "Ooh! Let's see what SHE'S all about!" Are either of these scenarios right? Of course not. Both are discriminatory. But still, people have their secret thoughts and misgivings. I may have lost out on jobs because of my age. People also lose out bc of their race, religion or sexual orientation, even though that's a big no-no too. It's a tough world.

So I guess what I'm saying is, put your true self on paper, make it shine, and throw it out into the world and see what fate will bring you. If you throw enough spaghetti on the wall, some of it will stick. GOOD LUCK!

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

When you are job hunting, since you have no idea who will be viewing your resume, or who will be interviewing you, or who that person needs to "bounce things off of", etc., it seems to me the best strategy is to leave out any sort of off-putting information unless you must include it. It has nothing whatsoever to do with how good a Hooters waitress you were, how good a company Hooters might be, or how pleasantly they served you your wings last time you were there.

Suppose you were applying for a job in my old hometown, which has a Hooters. There is a marquee sign outside, which they would periodically change from one risqué thing to the next - ie one said "If Wednesday Is Hump Day What Does That Make Saturday?".

They would also send the girls outside to the sidewalk with Hula Hoops. Picture the motion one's hips must make to keep the hoop aloft . . fair or not, someone who doesn't know what a great waitress you are could get the wrong impression.

So someone weeding through lots and lots of applications may almost be looking for a reason to rule out more people. Why would you ever want to increase the chances of that being you before they ever get a chance to meet you?

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I was in the same situation you are in. For 3 years I was a manager of an adult boutique and before you envision sticky floors and men in trench coats, sunglasses and fedoras I must state emphatically it wasn't anything like that. It was owned by a husband and wife and geared towards couples. Think of Victoria's Secret only with toys and videos as well as all those bachelor/bachelorette novelties.

I too thought this would hinder me in getting a job but, in fact it didn't. I couldn't leave it off my application because what on Earth would I put that I did for 3 years? Instead I spun it to my own advantage. I told them that it allowed me to develop a strong sense of maturity and knowledge regarding human sexuality. If I were to come in contact with a person masturbating or having sex I wouldn't giggle like a 10 year old or freak out about it. I also dealt with a wide variety of customers from transexuals to people with foot fetishes. You never know what type of lifestyle you will encounter with your patients and you have to be prepared for that. Last week I did blood work and an EKG on a transvestite that was also a witch. The tech I was training with, when she found this out had to leave the room because she couldn't keep from laughing. Since I have encountered this many times before it was 'normal' to me and I just went ahead with what I was suppose to do and then moved on. She however could not stop talking about it to anyone who would listen and for the rest of the night I felt like I was in the 3rd grade. Again, maturity.

Also a lot of customers would come to me for advice regarding their problems and you would have to help them find a solution just as you would in patient care. For example a woman who has had a complete hysterectomy and now experiences lady partsl dryness and her doctor told her to buy lubrication so what one would you recommend? Or a man tells you he has a problem with premature ejaculation and wanted to know if there was anything available for him.

You mentioned that you were a corporate trainer there and that it was the second busiest location. I would spin all those attributes of your job just like I did with mine. If you really sit and think long enough you can make any job sound like the career of a life time it's just all about marketing it.

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Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.

Maybe this is just my chunky hips talking, but I probably would not have even chosen to work at a place with a stigma like that if I knew I was going into a profession where candidates need to be of the "highest moral standard". Teaching also comes to mind as such a profession that needs a squeaky clean work history. It's important that young people understand they need to invest one's time with a company with a name that you can say proudly. You simply can't have holes in your resume that big. That's a red flag too.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

The OP is trying to get a job as a Patient Care Tech with no hospital experience and has had no callbacks. She wants to know if "Hooters" experience could be hurting her chances. Even if the responses to this thread are not representative of the actual percentages of potential employers looking at her resume, the answer to that question is yes. The rest of this is superfluous.

Lots of CNAs encounter people having sex, masturbating, or having sexual issues and they don't giggle like a 10 year old. Being appropriate and professional when encountering these things is an integral part of the job.

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