Need resume advice, please!

[britt418]

I'm a newer nurse (two years of experience) applying for a new RN job in a big hospital. I left my longest-term (and first ever) RN job in May in preparation to start an NP program across the country. It was an acute care position in a very reputable hospital, in which I learned tons of applicable skills related to the position for which I'm currently applying. However, it is not my most recent job because I worked two RN jobs this summer between June and now. I spent a couple weeks as a camp nurse and also have been working a per diem job at a clinic to cover for someone on maternity leave. The per diem job will be winding down in a month, so that's why I'm applying for this new position. I have a couple things I'm trying to work out on my resume that I hope someone with more application experience can shed some light on:

1) I know resume work experience is often listed in chronological order, but that would bring this less applicable clinic position and my short stint as a camp nurse above my highly applicable hospital experience. Should I still maintain chronological order despite the fact that it would bump my better experience further down the list?

2) I didn't have a clinical manager at the summer camp where I worked and the clinical manager at my clinic retired the day I started there and they haven't hired anyone new in the two months I've been there. I have technical "supervisors" at both the camp and the clinic, but they're in more administrative roles and don't know anything about nursing. And the clinic is small enough that there are only a handful of nurses, none of which took over in an interim clinical manager role when the manager retired. It's honestly small enough that it's somewhat a free-for-all and they're content functioning at that level because everyone is really responsible. Due to all of this, I'm unsure who to list on the application when it asks about my "most recent" supervisor. I've only spoken to the supervisor at the clinic twice in two months and she is completely unaware of the nursing aspect of clinic as long as it's running smoothly. Should I list her anyway or should I read it more as a clinical supervisor role and list the clinical manager I had at my last hospital job (the one I left in May)? That manager could speak really well to my nursing abilities and we worked together very recently, even though she technically isn't my most recent supervisor.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I'd stick to reverse chronological order with the most recent job on top.

I've been a nurse for 11 years. A lot of people would say the strongest selling points on my resume are my 5 years at a nationally ranked pediatric facility and my BSN degree from a nationally known university. The fact that these are farther down on my resume has never prevented me from being noticed. My other Nursing Jobs are 2 very small employers (a local home health agency where I worked in an office with 5 other people and a small boarding school of ~100 students) and a huge national infusion pharmacy which doesn't have the most stellar reputation (not that any of them do).

I'd list who your current supervisor actually is. That doesn't mean you have to use said person as a reference.

[Amanda_NP, MSN, APRN, NP]

I agree the reverse chronological order is the way to go.

However, the way you can highlight your more relevant experience is by featuring it in your professional summary section at the top of your resume, which is essentially your "highlight reel" featuring your proudest accomplishments.

To answer your second question, I don't routinely recommend including supervisor info on resumes; you can submit a separate reference list if requested.

Good luck!

Amanda Guarniere, MSN, NP-C

Nurse Practitioner / Nursing Resume Strategist