just passed NCLEX RN been out of school for 4 years need help on my resume!!

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 15, 2013

This is almost unreadable. First, lose all the color and fun fonts. They seem to have gone away as I was typing this. Odd...

Objective: The prospective employer knows your objective is to get a job there. The rest of this fluff is unnecessary and meaningless. Omit this section.

Work experience: Don't bother listing any that aren't nursing related. Employers will not care if you worked in food service or cashiering.

Skills: You have no nursing experience so you can't say you have any skills in time management, patient assessment, clinical judgment, or any of that. Employers know what you do in nursing school. None of these should be here.

As to the time frame, list the dates of school and licensure accurately, and note the dates of completion for your refresher courses. You might want to ask the CA BoN about refresher courses for people in your position, not just IV and blood draws. Then you have something to show a potential employer and to discuss in your well-written cover letter. Let us know when you have that done.

wish_me_luck, BSN, RN · May 15, 2013

GrnTea, I disagree on the work experience thing. If you are new to nursing, you won't have nursing experience. If you do not list your other work experience, it makes it look like you have never had job.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 15, 2013

Have you ever hired anyone for a nursing position on the basis of cashiering and food service?

I think it invites perhaps unwelcome questions as to why she couldn't get a real job related to her education.

reagajeton · May 15, 2013

Thanks guys for your replies!! I appreciate it!!

Bayat · May 16, 2013

First, congrats on passing NCLEX and getting your license. Now you're in the old Catch-22: how to get get a job without experience and how to get experience without a job?

You, yourself, gave a clue: volunteering. Find free clinics, see about volunteering programs at the local hospitals. if allowed in California, get your foot in the door by starting off as a CNA in the hospital and work up. Also check into agency and contract work. Anything to get that foot in the door.

Your situation does raise an interesting question the group can discuss: over what period of time must pass before your clinicals become stale and unusable as a marketing point? Are there anything learned during clinicals that remain with you forever? Are there refresher type of clinicals (seminars, workshops, etc.) that one can brush up on either new skills or reinforce old ones? Can schools offer clinical only type programs for already-credential nurses? Do the various nursing associations and affiliations have continuating education programs (something akin to a USAF Career Development Course, or extension course)?

If you can afford it, take night courses to brush on your education. Not sure they're there, but something to think about.

reagajeton · May 16, 2013

Thanks Bayat! I looked into brn website to see refresher course and found only one close to my area. I contacted them immediately and they don't offer clinical only theory. Do you think I should take it without clinical? I don't know what to do right now as the nursing practice in the Philippines is different from here in terms of equipment and delegation etc.

Bayat · May 17, 2013

Sorry to hear that, reagajeton. Courious myself I did find a college that offered referesher courses with clinicals: Nurse Refresher Program: A three part program consisting of Classroom & Nursing Lab & Clinical, for RNs and LPNs who want to maintain or re-establish their active license or re-enter the nursing field, Health Sciences Institute, Montgomery College Ma . It's likely not near you, but it'll give you an idea of what such a program is like and what you need to get in such a program - esp. vaccinations and whatnot.

Regarding the place near you: You completed your boards only a couple of months ago so I reckin' your knowledge is fairly up to date. So the questions are:

Are there anything this refresher is offering that I don't know about already?

Is there a speciality among the program that I can learn and then say on my resume "I know it" even though I didn't do a hands-on?

What about the local free clinics and what they're looking for - can the offered refresher get me up to snuff then use my free clinic time (usually about one or two times per week) to gain the hands-on? (Remember the physican's rule on learning: see one, do one, then teach one - learned that from "St. Elsewhere").

On the plus side:

Is this refresher free or low-cost?

Can the refresher get me more comfortable with American medicine?

Can I network off the refresher with other students or even staff to help find the "unofficial" market?

I'm sure there's something out there for you. The American entrepreneural spirit ain't gonna let a marketing opportunity slip by like that.