plethora-proofing my resume, any tips?

larniegrl · Feb 10, 2012

I floated to 4 very different MedSurg specialty units on my last assignment. They include:
-Orthopedic/Medical, 41 beds
-Neuroscience/Neurosurgery, 21 beds
-Chemotherapy/Oncology/Surgical, 41 beds
-Telemetry/Renal, 42 beds
Nobody likes to read a wordy resume, and I feel that anyone with a brain can figure out what my duties would have been on each floor, given the type of specialty in the title of the unit.
-Would it be necessary/beneficial to write a VERY brief description of each unit on my resume? OR....
-Write an overall brief summary of my general duties as travel/float nurse, then list the units without individual descriptions?
Penny for your thoughts? Thanks!

I've been using a skill based resume, instead of chronological. It makes more sense to me, based on the varied locations and units I've been too in a month. It also doesn't look as wordy...you can google search for resumes specific for RN's.

NedRN · Feb 11, 2012

It depends on what you use your resume for. For a staff position, more detail is acceptable. For a commodity job like travel, the more concise, the better. The goal is to get the interview, right? A one page resume is much more powerful for that purpose than a 2 plus page resume. The manager has a stack of profiles to go through and one that makes a clear concise picture of your experience and skills is the best.

I've been traveling for 17 years and I am still able to list all assignments and a snapshot couple of sentences of my strengths on a single page. When I first started traveling, I also had a one page resume, but there was more detail. Later, I had to remove things like education but that is how careers develop anyway. When you first start with little experience, education and unrelated jobs have to take center stage, but as you gain experience and a proven track record, education and small details no longer matter. You worked 10 years ago on a neurology floor? Who will really care?

I also use a single page skills checklist. Again, you really just want to present a snapshot to the manager so she can determine if you are close fit for her needs or not. You might miss a specific, but that can be dealt with in the interview.

Mind you, many agencies will not pass through your original paperwork and reformat everything to be consistent with their own paperwork. This was one of the most frustrating things when I first started traveling, and often it was clear that the manager had no idea of my experience or skills (amazing to have still gotten the interview, but travelers were once in high demand). Since few agencies share the profile they actually send to hospitals with you, the interview can be a bit awkward if they have either enhanced or de-emphasized your history and skills and you don't know what the manager is seeing. If you create a really excellent profile on your own, it can be worth seeking out agencies who pass it along as is, or bypass the agency altogether and submit it directly to managers you know have a desirable assignment. Then you can choose your agency and negotiate from a position of strength!