I'll be serving whine at my pity party

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*disclaimer* please read this with a sense of lightheartedness. There's no finger pointing, name calling, baby nurse eating (eww..just..ew) ranting. I just need to exhale.

background info: New Grad RN, great grades, in my late 30's, two teenage girls (17 &18), second career, no real contacts in the nursing world...worked my hiney off as a restaurant manager so I could pay out of pocket for school and not be loaded with debt...(we've seen this a hundred thousand times before).

The meat of the story: I'm living off of savings, but I'm not in dire straits at the moment. I really do want to find a job (the sooner the better). So, I'm filling out applications, uploading my resume, writing individual cover letters, making some phone calls, doing some volunteer work....and keeping a spreadsheet of all the places I've contacted - so far so good. These things take time - I know (I'm patient).

The plot thickens: I review my resume every few days. It seems to be a constantly evolving work in progress. I have a couple other people eyeball it for me (for mistakes) and they tell me "looks good". GREAT! I'll start papering the entire county with my resume and maybe a few for the neighboring counties too. So I open up my resume to add something to it ans much to my dismay....ERRORS - teeny tiny ones, but they are there - plain as day :nono:. UGH! All those resumes are out there sullying my good name and I can't fix them. *sigh* How on earth am I going to convince anyone that I have WONDERFUL attention to detail if I cannot manage to hand in a resume with no typos. I hang my head in shame.

The aftermath: I have yet to feel the pain of rejection, but I know it's coming:uhoh21:. I have plenty of guinness in the fridgy just waiting for it. I'll have to re-work my resume, fire my current set of "extra eyes" and start all over.

**Note to self: fix resume...THEN drink the beer

In all honesty - I do take my future career very seriously, and I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight because of it. I will be looking into a professional resume service, or at least not ask a fellow graduate (aka: the competition) to look over my resume. Lesson learned. I hope other new grads out there can take a lesson from me. Get it right the first time.

If I have managed to hold your attention for this long, thank you. If you have any tips or advice that would be awesome. If you want to send me a nasty-gram (for whatever reason - or just cause) that's fine too. Just put nasty-gram in the subject line so I know to delete them without looking ;) If you happen to be a hiring manager in Southern California, pay no attention to that missing letter in the name of your lovely magnet status hospital

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Keep your head up!! Keep trying, send out new and improved resumes to the next job postings and just keep on truckin'! I hope the best for you, I'm sure this will be a bump in the road- how long do they keep old resumes once they discover they didn't pass the muster anyway? Its not like a manager keeps one on hand to make fun of you!?! :) I'm sure a few errors won't have you blackballed from these facilitys for life..My resume is also a dynamic work in progress, as well as my "base" cover letter which I adapt to each job posting..I just keep applying ande am hoping for the best :) good luck!!

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Keep your head up!! Keep trying, send out new and improved resumes to the next job postings and just keep on truckin'! I hope the best for you, I'm sure this will be a bump in the road- how long do they keep old resumes once they discover they didn't pass the muster anyway? Its not like a manager keeps one on hand to make fun of you!?! :) I'm sure a few errors won't have you blackballed from these facilitys for life..My resume is also a dynamic work in progress, as well as my "base" cover letter which I adapt to each job posting..I just keep applying ande am hoping for the best :) good luck!!

Absolutely!

I'm pretty sure that all the HR managers are rushing out to buy frames so they can put my masterpiece on their wall (can laugh at it every day - right?).

I did check around the house for zombies (there weren't any), then I peeked outside to see if the rapture had come to pass (It hadn't). So the world is not coming to an end - yet. I will find a job..I will find the right job.

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

Good luck! Your whine was not bad at all, and since I'm in So Cal, too -- if I overhear a hiring manager say "there's a new grad who has a top notch resume -- I'd love to hire her but I'm just not sure about these typos . . . " I'll be sure and put in a good word for you. ;)

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My little sister was looking for a job and her school's career services office "fixed" her resume. She sent it to me afterwards and SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE was a typo. The first thing you see when you just glance at it was misspelled. Thank goodness she took advantage of her career services people! :madface: Best thing you can do is put it in front of as many friendly eyes as possible. :)

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I HATE it when that happens!! I have an off the wall suggestion....put it in front of your kids. Specially whichever one may be good at their English class. They have to (if like my 18 yo) write and re-write papers, have taken the state test thing to graduate, college apps are requiring at least 2 essays, etc. etc. so they happen to be a bit of "experts" on the art of writing--fresh in their mold-able brains...I would even go so far as to say to them.....how would YOU write my resume? My cover letter, and let them have at it then. (and if your house is anything like mine, enjoy that cold Guiness and thank heaven that you have an hour or so of no eye rolling, sighing, or fresh mouth. :smokin:). Wishing you all the best!!

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

Your posting was very entertaining and showed a good sense of humor. You'll find something and they will be lucky to get you. Just wait a short time and resend your improved resume to the same places again. You never know when they will have a new need that you would fill. HR reads and tosses resumes on a daily basis so I would resend every few weeks.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

:hug:...Don't you just HATE that????? Just remember, this too shall pass.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Love your sense of humor and have a soft spot for beer dinrkers..... sent you a PM.:smokin:

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Specializes in Emergency.

Sometimes when I proof something I have read and I'm looking for typos and not grammar I'll read it backwards. That way I'm less likely to "predict" what I expect to see and don't skip over missing letters and stuff like that. Just something a proof reader told me once that works for me. Maybe it will help you too. Good Luck!!

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Your post cracked me up! You have a fabulous sense of humor and also sound friendly, humble, and down to earth. I think if you can get that crucial first interview somewhere, you'll have it in the bag. Best of luck to you.

(Some copy-editing tips IF you want them! I'm only adding them because you mentioned it!

- Put your resume on the floor and look at it while standing up. Seriously. Sometimes those glaring errors jump out at you here.

- Read everything on your resume backwards, line by line. If you have a typo in a small word, your brain will often times just scan right over it because it's expecting the word coming next. If you read each line backwords, the lines no longer make sense and errors will be more apparent.

- Check titles, headings, and all numbers separately. Make sure all dates, phone numbers, and addresses are corrected and formatted in the same way. Review each heading separately for errors.

- Read your resume and cover letter out loud. You may catch a typo you've missed.)

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

You aren't the first person to send out a resume with errors in it. You won't be the last either.

Here's a few stories that might make you feel better:

1. The career guidance counselor at my college shared a story of his first resume after college. He was so thorough. He had a dozen people proof-read it. Then he sent it out to over 100 jobs. After he had sent it out, he realized his one big mistake. He has listed his birthday as January 1st, 1872, instead of 1972. Which made him one hundred years older than he actually was. The only calls he got back on that resume made sure to ask how old he really was.

2. This one comes from my brother. He had lived in New Jersey for several years before moving to Pennsylvania for his last year of law school. He was preparing his resume to send out for jobs after law school (and you can imagine how important those applications are!). He also had people proof read it. After he had sent out a few, his girlfriend noticed a big mistake:

He had listed the address of the school as Philadelphia, New Jersey. No, that place doesn't exist.

Don't throw out that Guinness just yet though- my brother's girlfriend discovered that mistake which she was quite tipsy.

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