Oh no! What are employers going to think of this?

[nkenn04]

Does anyone know which organizations nursing students can join that include free membership or low dues..$10. I wanted to join something realistic for a student in order to build my up resume and hopefully become involved within the limited free time I have left after both school and work. I am a second year student in an ADN program. As graduation is coming up in May, I am starting to worry that my resume will not be so impressive to employers. Aside from the nursing program, my related experience includes 3 years as a Home health aide. How am I going to fill up a stand-out page with that one related job and my ADN grad line?? If anyone has any info on the professional organizations or other resume building suggestions I would very much appreciate it!

And have a beautiful day!!

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

Don't be so worried....I am sure your school has a career services area. Go there with your information and sit down with someone to write your resume. Many new graduates of any program have not had anything other than classwork or related internships to place on their resume. This is probably the only time in which your coursework, honors, awards and professional organizations really count. Additionally, employers expect that as a first job the resume will be somewhat bare. You are fortunate with your CNA experience....it gives you a leg up in that you have hands on experience, have worked in a facility and within a hierarchy and are somewhat familiar with the day in/day out activity of healthcare personnel.

There are also many examples of school to job resumes on the internet....you'll be fine.

Maisy

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

When I was in school, my Nurse Manager told me that in all her years as a nurse, not one employer asked about her GPA. The main thing they want to know is that you have a valid nursing license--or that you're eligible to sit for one.

The market may be tighter than it was when I graduated, a few years ago, but there is still demand for nurses. I've noticed that instead of tossing unread 2-3 recruiting letters a month, I've been getting one every 2-3 months, some of which I read before tossing.

HHA experience is good, and if you have a good, non-health care employment record to boot, all the better. Think about if from an employer's perspective: if you worked at McDonald's in high school, you learned about things like showing up on time, focusing on your job while you were there, being courteous to customers. Any reasonably competent nurse with a good work ethic is going to be an asset to a unit. A brilliant, lazy, belligerent nurse is going to be a waste of space.

Don't sell yourself short.

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

Nursing and Healthcare HR is very different from the world I came from; however just because people will advise that the resume or cover letter are no big deal. I would advise you that isn't so.

Make sure you use good paper and matching envelope-not white.

Make sure you have references available during interview with ready addresses and phone numbers. Let those references know you plan to use them. This is especially true if you use that Ref available upon request. *Don't look like a dummy and not have them ready!

Use font that is large enough to read and regular-no fancy font!

SPELLCHECK!

Use a variety of words and have someone else proof read it.

I have seen 100's of good resumes and 1000's of bad ones. Nursing resumes that I have perused are usually horrible with little attention to detail, form or even showcasing the person.

Good luck...these were some added tidbits that might help.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Sorry to Kendy174 and Mi Vida Loca and to any others-I forget that these programs are open to non-nurses. No disrespect intended!!

No worries, I didn't think you were being disrespectful at all, I just thought maybe I missed something lol

[JB2007, ASN, RN]

I would have to agree with Maisy, RN-ER attention to detail is important. Right before graduating nursing school I went to the career development department at my school and had the advisors help me to put together a professional resume. I use paper that is of high quality and I am sure to pass my resume out when I interview for a position.

One time I had a nurse manager comment on how nice my resume looked and she called one of her colleagues in to look at it. I got hired on the spot for that position, so I know for a fact that a good resume will help a lot.

Also your work as a HHA will be a positive thing on your resume. That shows that you know how to do basic nursing care. Be sure to mention on your resume the skills that you have mastered vital signs, skin care, turning and positioning the patient, cath. care, team work, ect...

Good luck.

[IceStar817]

i agree with work experience is the key...

[>30yrsRN]

Associate Degree in Nursing is a R.N program

[CASTLEGATES]

On my resume I listed jobs I had before I was a home health aide. I listed home health and sitter and doc's office and even a tanning place before that. If you've got a decent GPA, add that and add some personal experience with cases. Include letters of recommendation with your resume. Tell them in your cover you've got vast (or whatever the amount) experience with patient care and you'd need a short orientation (you've got to tell THEM what you can do for them, not me me me, but what I can do for you, you, you)!

Tell them you have a keen interest in x and excel when under stress or whatever makes you good at what you did.

You've got more years than many other students, play it up! Get a reference letter from you old job and add that. Your resume can be submitted with recommendation letters and even a work reference so their work will be less (HR has a workload, too) so all they need to do is contact the reference, ask if they wrote it and yer dun!

[emnicams]

*shrug* The only work experience I had before nursing school was waitressing. And I never joined any clubs etc. All I had on my resume was 1 year of nurse intern experience during nursing school, and then my ADN. I landed a job one month before I sat for boards.

[miss_vtRN]

You can list you BLS, and list all of your clinical experience. I just finished an ADN program and my list of clinical time actually ended up looking kind of impressive for a two-yr program. That said, still haven't found a job AND I have lots of work experience! just remember, your clinical experience counts, too.

Did you do anything in high school? Baby sit, nanny, retail, anything? Under an "Other Experience" heading, you could list other things that you've done and how they've contributed to your work/people/organization skills and character...

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

All due respect, I would not say anything about only needing a short orientation. One of your criteria for accepting a position should be adequate orientation. Non-nursing healthcare experience helps, but being the nurse is different. I had seven years in healthcare before becoming an RN. For five of those, before I started nursing school, I thought I had a pretty good idea what nurses did. The longer I was in school, the less I knew. By the time I graduated, I was clueless! Well, okay, I felt clueless. But at least I had learned enough to recognize my own ignorance.

Tight market or no, be picky. No, you don't want to go in with a "me,me,me" attitude, but if you don't look out for yourself, who will. It's not all about what you can do for your prospective employer. Look for a good fit where you can both benefit.

85-90% of the time, I'm very happy with my employer. I'm very happy with my co-workers. Even at that, in many ways, this is the hardest job I've ever had.

If I weren't mostly happy, it would be impossible.

[>30yrsRN]

congratulations

Waitress is a in the "people service and public relation field" so it is great referral and would help any one changing into another "people service and public relations field/career." Waitress skills still are utilize in bedside nursing to last time I work... which was this weekend!:)