Nurse managers and Recruiters critique my resume.

Gomer · May 3, 2005

Experience goes before education. You might also want to develop a cover letter.

Most employers will look at your application first and resume second, so if you have an application make certain to fill it out completely and include your resume.

Other than that, it looks pretty good.

Jolie, BSN · May 3, 2005

Gomer said:
Experience goes before education. You might also want to develop a cover letter.
Most employers will look at your application first and resume second, so if you have an application make certain to fill it out completely and include your resume.
Other than that, it looks pretty good.

I am a former nurse manager of a NICU, and now a stay-at-home mom.

I respectfully disagree with Gomer. As a new grad with no relevant nursing work experience, education should come first.

I wouldn't bother with the professional objective, as it is essentially the same for EVERY new grad. Objectives become more important for subsequent positions, when the nurse is looking to move into a more specialized niche such as administration, education, research, or a specific clinical area such as transport. I would use the space to expand on your student experience instead. Was this a clinical rotation or an externship? What were your duties?

Double and triple check grammar, punctuation and spelling.

"Obtaining patient's medical history" This is singular. Did you mean for it to be singular? Or plural? "Obtaining patients' medical histories"

"Instructing patients on contact lens insertion and removal training" This phrase is redundant. You either instructed them or trained them. Not both.

Overall, it looks very good. As you said, the format didn't translate very well, so I can't tell how long it is, but keep it to one page. In your cover letter, emphasize your work experience as an optician, and how that has prepared you for patient contact. Your computer skills and language abilities are important to mention as well.

When sending out resumes, I recommend sending at least 2 to each institution. One to Human Resources, which will probably garner the least attention, and one to the manager of each unit that interests you. Find out their names, if at all possible, and address your letters directly to them. Follow up with phone calls about 2 weeks later. If positions are not immediately available, ask the manager(s) if they would be willing to give you an "informational" interview. That will be a way to form an "in" with them, should future positions become available.

Good luck!

hollyster · May 3, 2005

Hi

In addition to what the previous posters have stated, the formatting needs to be aligned. Some of your bullets are done in a margin alignment and others are indented. The "certified" must be removed from the BLS. BLS is not a certification. It should be written BLS Provider mm/yyyy.

Good luck

Holly

dphrn · May 3, 2005

If you want to use a professional objective, I think the use of facility and institution is redundant. They both more or less mean the same thing. I would use facility alone.

As mentioned, I would elaborate on your experience as a student nurse.

I do not think References upon request is used any longer at the end of a resume. Potential employers know references are available if they ask for them. Use those few lines for more useful information about yourself. Maybe use a few positive adjectives (about yourself) when describing your experience.

Overall, it looks good. A few tweaks here and there and you will be good to go. I am constantly changing small things on my resume. It is an on going process.

protogeintraining · May 4, 2005

Jolie said:
I am a former nurse manager of a NICU, and now a stay-at-home mom.
I respectfully disagree with Gomer. As a new grad with no relevant nursing work experience, education should come first.
I wouldn't bother with the professional objective, as it is essentially the same for EVERY new grad. Objectives become more important for subsequent positions, when the nurse is looking to move into a more specialized niche such as administration, education, research, or a specific clinical area such as transport. I would use the space to expand on your student experience instead. Was this a clinical rotation or an externship? What were your duties?
Double and triple check grammar, punctuation and spelling.
"Obtaining patient's medical history" This is singular. Did you mean for it to be singular? Or plural? "Obtaining patients' medical histories"
"Instructing patients on contact lens insertion and removal training" This phrase is redundant. You either instructed them or trained them. Not both.
Overall, it looks very good. As you said, the format didn't translate very well, so I can't tell how long it is, but keep it to one page. In your cover letter, emphasize your work experience as an optician, and how that has prepared you for patient contact. Your computer skills and language abilities are important to mention as well.
When sending out resumes, I recommend sending at least 2 to each institution. One to Human Resources, which will probably garner the least attention, and one to the manager of each unit that interests you. Find out their names, if at all possible, and address your letters directly to them. Follow up with phone calls about 2 weeks later. If positions are not immediately available, ask the manager(s) if they would be willing to give you an "informational" interview. That will be a way to form an "in" with them, should future positions become available.
Good luck!

Yes, I agree with the above, that your most important point needs to stand out at the top. Also, regarding the objective, unless you have special requirements such as: part-time, nights, weekend option, it goes without saying. Also I would space the larger categories together, and consider some bullet points regarding skills, etc. WOW!! Great information on your resume.

spaniel · May 4, 2005

Here's my unsolicited opinion as an RN with experience dating back to the late l970's!!! You would be a god send to patients recovering from eye surgery or going into eye surgery. I speak from experience!!! I've had two corneal transplants. Ever consider Ny Eye and Ear of MEENT? Or Columbia ( now NY Presbyterian Harkness). Perhaps you're more into obtaining a wider variety of experience, but I tell you, finding a good RN who knows about eyes is VERY VERY RARE.

Nurse managers and Recruiters critique my resume.

PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVE

EDUCATION

EXPERIENCE

AFFILIATION AND CERTIFICATION

ACTIVITIES AND AWARDS

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

REFFERENCES

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