International Physician - include in RESUME?

[meesarjarjar]

Hi fellow RNs!

I am a licensed RN as well as an international medical graduate (physician) from abroad. I have never worked as a nurse and am looking to earn some cash while preparing to apply to medical residency.

My question is: Would it be a good idea to include the fact that I'm a physician from another country in my resume? Would it make my resume look better or take away from it?

When answering could you kindly include your position (for example, hiring manager) and the reason for your opinion.

Thanks in advance for all your input! Cheers!

[kaylee.]

Yes its a significant part of your work history! Ask yourself, did this role influence you and bring tons of valuable skills and experience? If yes, then it would be crazy to leave off!

[meesarjarjar]

Hey Kaylee, sounds like a no-brainer when stated that way haha. Thank you for your input!

[CoolKidsRN]

Congratulations on your high achievements however, I have to disagree. As a nurse manager, I've seen multiple resumes and applications with international physician experience. Though you are an RN, there are several concerns. 1) Are you going to leave our organization in less than a year to pursue residency? 2) Will you be able to stay within your scope of practice? 3) Will you be able to take direction and follow directions? I would be very careful on how you disclose this information both on a resume and during the interview process. Good luck with your future endeavors.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

CoolKids brings up some very valuable points.

It seems like leaving it off your resume could come back to bite you. Most hospital job applications require that you list all prior degrees; you'd either have to list it, or risk having your offer rescinded (or even being fired) if your manager discovered that you'd omitted that information.

You say that you never actually worked as a nurse. If you leave med school off of your resume, you'd appear to have a weird, long employment gap from nursing school to the present, which I'm sure would come up during your interview (assuming you could even get an interview due to said weird, long employment gap).

Furthermore, you'd be in a strange position because you'd technically be a 'new grad' nurse, having never worked as a nurse before. New grad positions are pretty competitive, and managers expect a return on their investment; some hospitals even have 'pay back' contracts if you leave a new grad position in less than 2 years (anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000).

I think that it would be a mistake to leave it off of your resume, but realize that you may actually be at a distinct disadvantage applying to nursing positions given your history. As CoolKids said, I'd be prepared to address these concerns very tactfully in your applications and interviews.

Best of luck.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

Leave it on your resume and consider applying to clinical research assistant jobs, the hiring manager is often the physician principal investigator. A physician may be more open to hiring someone in your situation than a nurse manager.

[meesarjarjar]

All your input and experience are greatly appreciated.

Since last commenting, I've applied to a variety of nursing and even nursing assistant jobs and included medicine in my resume. I will be looking into research among other jobs.

Thank you!