Nursing Resume/Interviews

[Kaelonnie]

I will be graduating nursing school this fall! Woot woot... I am beyond excited, a little scared, but mostly so ready to jump into my career. I was hoping to get some advice on what details are the most important to include on a nursing resume and advise on interviewing for jobs. I don't have much medical experience prior to nursing school and could really use some good tips and pointers. Thanks in advance!

[dianah, ASN]

Check out the threads in our Nursing Resume Advice forum, here: https://allnurses.com/nursing-resume-help/

Good luck!

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Your resume is basically a TV commercial on paper. The point is to sell yourself. You're a 1 person business. So you want to make sure you include skills that are relevant to nursing. When you list post jobs, make sure you address what skills are going to be useful to being a nurse. Don't wait until an interview to say you're great at multitasking, point out on your resume how your job as server required you being competent in that skill. It's all just marketing. They know you don't have healthcare experience, most new graduates in all healthcare fields have none. So what you have to do is relate your past work experience to nursing. Even being a cashier at walmart comes with skills you need as a nurse. Basic customer service skills are extremely important in a job where it's almost entirely directly dealing with people.

For the interview itself: Learn a little bit about where you're getting that interview, and ASK QUESTIONS. Ask about benefits, vacation time, pay, raises, scheduling. Ask about their turnover even. Show a genuine interest in the company. This does 2 things, it shows them that you're serious about the job, and it gives you more of an informed view on whether or not you want to work there.