Please is anyone willing to critique my resume!!!

[tlc2u]

yesterday a coworker offered to look over my resume. she said i should reduce the amount of job description i have provided and leave the recruiter wanting to know more so they will call me for an interview. here is a copy of my original resume. have i provided too much or too little information? is it too "boring" or are resumes in general going to be boring as it is just listing the information? what would you do to improve this?

sally smith 456 my st. › anytown, usa h: 234-567-8910 c:234-567-8910 [email protected]

_______________________________________________________

offering: ten years of medication administration ››› first aid & cpr

infection and bbp control, hipaa, seizure care, fire/emerg preparedness, & daily documentation

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

objectiveto become an outstanding licensed practical nurse within your organization.

education

practical nursing degree [color=white]...................licensed practical nursing school [color=white]............2007 – 2009

associate degree arts/science [color=white].......[color=white].my state community college [color=white].....................2002 – 2004

community college honor society [color=white].........magna cum laude graduate [color=white].....................honor's list

state high school graduate [color=white].......................class rank 11 [color=white]......gpa 3.536

license

licensed practical nurse [color=white]..................state board of nursing [color=white]...............................2010-2012

experience

direct support staff [color=white]............................company, inc. [color=white].............................................2000 – present [color=white]..........................

cared for adults and children with disabilities and mental illness.

float to 12 work sites. communicated well with all team members.

assisted with hygiene, grooming and activities of daily living.

administered medications, monitored effects and documented.

assured all next day medications were on hand. reordered when low.

responsible for controlled substance count per shift.

assessed for signs/symptoms of illness, reported findings to nurse.

monitored for seizures and provided seizure care and management.

commended by supervisor for excellent, detailed written communication

staff excellence award recipient.

patient care provider [color=white]..........................any state medical center [color=white].................(summer) 2005 –2006

floated to units. provided care to meet comfort, hygiene, and safety needs of patients.

obtained specimens, weights, vital signs and blood glucose levels.

assisted with bath, oral care, shaving, toileting, dressing, hair and skin care.

assisted with feeding patients, mobility, and oral suctioning.

assisted nurse in prep for procedures, documented on computer.

maintained flow sheets, i/o. maintained tidy patient rooms.

performed ekg and bladder scans.

nursing school experience [color=white]..............various locations [color=white]................................................2007-2009

medication administration -- colostomy care -- vs, wts, bs, i/o’s

oxygen therapy monitoring -- tracheostomy care -- ng and oral suctioning

d/c catheters, jp drains, iv’s -- specimin collection -- central line dressing change

iv fluids and monitoring -- discharge teaching -- wound care & packing

nursing home, med surge, telemetry, peds, women’s health, maternal newborn,

l&d, psych, orthopedics, oncology, or, er, outpatient surgery, cath lab, pacu, mri,

ct scan, ekg, eeg, colonoscopy, hypertension clinic, community and school nursing…

certifications

bls for healthcare provider [color=white].............american heart association [color=white]................................200909/2011

medication administration [color=white]...............company, inc. [color=white]......................................................2000-12/2010

hipaa/fire/emerg.prep/seizure [color=white].......company, inc. [color=white]......................................................2000-12/2010

first aid and cpr [color=white]............................... american red cross [color=white]............................................2000-12/2010

volunteer [color=white]... nicu parents support - state hospital [color=white]..cub scout den leader/boy scout asst.

activities [color=white]....sunday school teacher, [color=white]...................... cub scout day camp assistant [color=white],,,,,,,,,,,,,1990-2008

[color=white],,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,homeless care [color=white],,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,annual food drive

any advice for improvements would be very much appreciated.

sincere thanks,

tlc2u

[sheronep, MSN, RN]

I would change your style to bullet form for your job descriptions. Also you need to give more information about your clinical experience. You should list where you did your clinical, for how long, and the duties you were involved in. Also no abreviations or initials for anything. You need to write our CPR - I know tedious. The part about skills offering - that should be under additional skills or incorporated with the job you received the skills at.

Good luck.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

get a book on resumes particularly that focus on health care or nursing. there are some really good books out there that you can borrow from a public or academic library. such books helped me to develop a resume just before i graduated from nursing school that impressed all of my interviewers. gl! :)

[tacobarlass]

I would suggest changing your objective. The one you have now is all about YOU, not THEM. What can you offer them? Also, you have the "Offering" items listed at the top and then they are listed again later. Do you want them on the resume twice? Good luck!

[birdcage]

McGraw-Hill has a resume and cover letter book that is specifically for nurses. As a matter of fact, I think it's called Resumes for Nurses or something similar. :) You might want to find a resource like that to guide you. I know how important a resume can be.

That book helped me a lot and I got it from my nursing school library so I didn't have to purchase it.

Resume writing is a skill all it's own. Good luck.

[Calixan]

Ugh, I'm so mad. I posted a whole paragragh and it didn't post. I'm gonna have to walk away and type it all again when I get back. Ugh, I hate when this happenes.

[Calixan]

You didn't have to write a cover letter or resume in nursing school? That is one of our assignments in our professional nursing class. Well anyway, from my perspective, your resume looks a little "crammed" to me. Kind of wordy. You have the same thing basically listed in your offering section as you do under certifications. So maybe take some of that out? Is a offering section really needed? I think you should put more of your clinical experience rather than having an offering section since you have your certification, job descriptions, and your objective. That should tell them right there what you have to offer. Speaking of job description, I agree with your co-worker. It's a little much. Maybe instead of putting (I help with baths, shaving, brushing teeth, etc) Maybe put I assist patients with ADL's, or if you want spell it out and put activities of daily living and that will cover it all. Another suggestion another person put is having bullets. It makes your resume look more organized that way and be sure to line everything up straight.

This is just a tad off subject but I had an interview this past Friday and when I walked into her office, she had my resume pulled up on the computer and she was impressed by it. I think that is actually what got me the call to come in for an interview. She told me they had never hired New Grads in the ER (this is a level I trauma hospital) and said that I would be the first they had interviewed and I'm still in school. So that being said, having a great/neat resume is really important. It got me an interview and now I am waiting on a call to offer me the job.

Good Luck with everything!

[Calixan]

Oh sorry, two more things. Under "nursing school experience" you have some things with a coma and some things with a dash. You need to do one or the other and be consistent. Second thing is why do you have Experience underlined and then you have School experience? Does that need to be underlined too? On my resume I think I have all my school related stuff under education. Maybe move it to under education and put "clinical experience".

[RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN]

Sorry, but in all honesty, I do not like anything about the resume. You can hire a professional to type one for you.

There are too many things present in this resume that need

to be changed. Just a few examples of what I see wrong....this is my opinion.

1. The "offering" section. This doesn't need to be in here. Anybody in nursing has CPR, Hippa, Documentation, etc. You need to leave this out.

2. The numbers 2000-12/2010.....I do not understand this, are these dates? Like the year 2000 to the month/year of 12/2010. If so, you need to be more consistent.

3. Wound care & packing.....leave the packing out, that is part of wound care.

4. Assured all next day meds "ordered when low", SCRATCH this.

These are just some examples of what I don't like, there are many more. You seem to be listing that you're assisting with various area's of care which could be addressed by saying just Activities of Daily Living.

Google medical or RN resume examples. Or you can look at certain job openings and use descriptions they have posted.

Here are some examples, be sure to scroll down to see various examples.

Nurse Resume Samples Free sample resumes - EZ Rezume

Sorry, but I really think you need to start completely over and scratch this, it's just not good. Best of luck to you.

[Calixan]

I was thinking the same thing but didn't feel right saying that since I'm still a student. This resume just seems to be scrambled and not very orderly at all. You know they sale templates for resumes that you can download to your computer and you just have to fill in the blanks. Maybe you should consider buying one of those?

[schroeders_piano, RN]

Having been in nursing management in the past, I reviewed numerous resumes. I would have thrown yours in the trash immediately. I'm sorry. Not trying to be harsh, but your resume just doesn't say professional to me.

My suggestions are to drop the objective and offering statement. Your objective.offering should be covered in a cover letter that is specific for the job you are applying for. HR personnel will tell you that objective statements are no longer needed.

As far as listing clinical experience while in school, it really isn't needed unless you had a specific clinical experience such as an internship/externship or preceptorship. Everything you listed under nursing school experience is typical for nursing schools. Nurse managers want to know clinical experience that is untypical such as a 40 hour preceptorship in SICU, etc.

Also, putting the high school you graduated from is fine, but it is not necessary to list your rank or gpa for high school. To be blunt, as a nurse manager I could care less about what you did in high school. I'm concerned with your nursing program.

I would suggest bullet points and using a consistent format for each work history entry (ie not one regular print and then the one under it bold print). Always write a cover letter specialized to the organization where you are applying highlighting your strengths and why you want the job. If it is an online application that doesn't have a place to upload a cover letter, make your cover letter the first page of your resume.

[RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN]

Here is another good example --

RN Resume, Resume for RN Nurse, Sample Nurse RN Resume