Recent RN New Grad Would Love Your Professional Input On My Resume!

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Dec 15, 2014

No new grad resume should be two pages. Your skills listed are basic nursing skills and just appear to be a filler. Skip clinical rotations except capstone. All nursing students do the same basic clinical rotations. You can keep the details in a portfolio to show at an interview. Same with your personal qualities. They are fluff and don't add much to a 2 page resume. Perhaps include in your cover letter

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Dec 15, 2014

^ What she said! ^

Every new grad has the same skills you list, they are expected and should not be included. Same with all the rest of the "experience" you list for school work....they are expected.

A category for Qualifiications and Skills, as you have it, is not helpful to your resume; saying you are punctual and have a genuine desire to help others is useless: it is a very basic expectation of any applicant for an RN position. The computer skills you list are also basic and unimportant to list.

I wouldn't eliminate actual employers in the past; it will show a good work history and ability to hold a job for an extended period of time. EXCEPTION to that would be menial jobs, short-lived ones, that have no value because they can't demonstrate the aforementioned work ethic, etc. Details of the job, descriptions, are mostly unnecessary too: the employer can easily guess at what you did if you list a retailer and a common job at that retailer. The only thing of importance was that you held that job for xx years, as the typical person reviewing this resume already knows what you did there.

Your resume, once those cuts are made, will be well within one page.

Good luck!

FinallyRNStatus, BSN · Dec 15, 2014

Thank you for replying. Yes I agree, I've always been told to keep a resume within one page, only two with extensive experience. However my instructor said it should be two pages, so I'm getting conflicting information. If most my skills are expected what skills as a new grad will make me stand out? How can I highlight qualities that give me appeal over the next new grad resume?

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Dec 15, 2014

I have no idea why your instructor would suggest it should be two pages. Someone with plenty of experience might need two pages, but even that's discouraged. Think of it this way: do you want the person reading your resume to be instantly bored and skipping to the end so they can finish it up already?

I wish I could tell you what would make you stand out as a new grad on your resume; the best you can probably do is make CERTAIN your page looks clean: easy-to-read font, professional formatting. Nothing says "throw me out" like bright colors and unprofessional graphics. Spelling is perfect, grammar is perfect. Speaking as someone who has had to read many--and put many on the "don't bother" pile--it's safe advice :)

Sometimes the suggestion is made to get ACLS, but honestly it's easy for employers to have you do once you start (IF you are talking hospital, of course). And if you don't use the knowledge because you're too new--and don't have a job!--then that certification becomes useless pretty fast.

Networking is key: if you know anyone who knows anyone, and they like you, have them put in a good word for you. Or on the facility's application, where it asks how you learned of an opening, use the name of someone who matters (with their permission, of course).

Hopefully you have a strong work history, because that will be more useful in determining if you're of use to the facility than much of anything else. They know they will have to train you; they want to know that you're a sound investment :)

Tenebrae, BSN, RN · Dec 15, 2014

i would look at your non nursing jobs and see what skills could potentially cross over into nursing.

Hospital 10 Nutrition Care Assistant
Town, State September 2011- March 2012
Provided compassion care and service to patients while attending to their meal requests with keen attention to prescribed dietary restrictions and food allergies.

Firstly the form is compassionate care not compassion care. Sounds picky, the head of my nursing school told us she chucks resumes that have spelling or grammatical errors in the bin

outline your role and skills involved. The prospective employer wants to know about your skills, eg adaptability, how you do under pressure, conflict resolution skills, any nursing specific skills you may have gained from other jobs etc

FinallyRNStatus, BSN · Dec 15, 2014

RNsRWE you make a sound argument! I can't disagree. I'm assuming what you mean by strong work history is more than what my resume can show. Perhaps employer and clinical references that can vouch for the quality of my work and professionalism?

Tenebrae thank you for pointing out my misspelled word. (opps) It's a dangerous thing to be revising your resume at 4am with no sleep. Grammatical errors certainly won't be in the the final draft before I hit submit. I'll be running it by several people for proof-reading. Thanks for the advice on incorporating skills learned from other jobs. I'll work on that.

Loo17 · Dec 15, 2014

I was told not to include license numbers on a resume. I think if you cut out the clinical skills as suggested and format so it is one page in length it will be a great resume. You will stand out with your awesome cover letter.

WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 15, 2014

I work in HR so I can give you a little insight on the 2 versus 1 page resume. I never read past the 1st page, and none of my colleagues seem to either. I've usually made my decision to call you or not by the end of the first page.

We skip right over the clinical skills and placement section, usually. Sometimes we check to see if you did rotations in our hospital. Everyone out of nursing school has those same skills, so it doesn't set you apart. I hate to say this, but I skipped over everything before your capstone and only glanced to check your degrees. You can emphasize your clinical skills, rotations, etc on a cover letter but most HR employees only skim those, too.

We can receive hundreds of applications for each position. We only spend about 1-3 minutes on a cover letter/resume before we move to the next. That is just something for you to consider.

You'll need to sell your past (non nursing) experience and highlight what it will bring to your nursing career. You need to emphasize anything that gave you leadership experience, problem solving skills and critical thinking skills, customer service, and employee relations. I always look for a strong work history in new grads.

**typing on my phone if there are any errors. Sorry!

BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN · Dec 17, 2014

I agree with the above, keep it short and simple. We don't expect a new grad to have nursing skills or experience, unless you've worked as a tech/CNA/EMT/MEDIC you probably don't have any skills that make you stand out and that is okay. We do look for previous leadership skills, conflict resolution skills and an overall good work history demonstrating responsibility and accountability. Believe it or not working as a server is great experience to be an ED nurse! You learn time management, prioritization, customer service, how to work under pressure, and work well as part of a team. Keep it to one page, network if you can and meet some ED nurses, techs, medics, secretaries etc that can put in a good word for you! Good luck!

RunBabyRN · Dec 17, 2014

I disagree that you shouldn't pursue ACLS- I have had interviews that would not have happened without it. Same goes for my NRP. Any and all certs you can afford to obtain, do them. They WILL help you stand out. Maybe not to all managers, but to some. Look at ACLS, PALS, and TNCC if you have interest in ED. On job postings, it will often list any required or preferred certs. Most ED jobs here require all three of those certs, and ideally CCRN, but you have to have experience for that.

Definitely go over your spelling and grammar with a fine-toothed comb. I have also been a hiring manager (in retail) and even there, I would dismiss a candidate with those kinds of errors. We're all human, and one error won't usually land you in the round file, but a few or more show a lack of attention to detail, something that you cannot lack as a nurse! Show your resume to your friends or family who are good with this stuff, too (aka nit-picky people!.

Ditch your skills sections (two is definitely excessive), and put some of the objective stuff (drains, trach care, etc) in your med surg description if they are appropriate there. ALL student nurses administered meds and documented in a timely manner. Same goes for O2- if you haven't handled a NC, I doubt you went to nursing school!

All of the subjective stuff should be in your cover letter. This is where you keep in the fluff- that you're punctual and advocate for your patients and such.

I TOTALLY agree about relating your old jobs to nursing. Problem solving? Time management? Multi-tasking? I bet you've done those a time or two. Your current descriptions are too fluffy. Your resume should be very objective, hard data. Keep things like managing and training, but really, the rest of it should all be redone. The work history itself is good, though- you demonstrate some longevity, which is important.

You can easily get this to one page with some tweaking.

For your certs/license, put the expiration date, rather than the issue date. Put them up by your education, too.

Ditch the objective. I think they know you want to be a RN at their hospital. :)

I would not include venipuncture if you have not actually pierced someone's skin. I wouldn't even list it unless you are very proficient at it. Really, skills I wouldn't even focus on too much, because as a new grad, it's unlikely you can do many of them independently. Plus, managers can have you trained to do that stuff. They can't teach you how to stick around for a long time, or how to be compassionate, or how to be kind. That's what they really want to see when they meet you.

Yes, it's okay to use very common abbreviations like you listed. I didn't see any that were unclear. HR people know what ICU stands for. :)

FinallyRNStatus, BSN · Dec 18, 2014

Loo17 - Thank you for the advice and encouraging words. I will make sure my cover letter helps me stand out!

BeachyRN2Be - Thank you for taking the time to comment. I love hearing tips directly from someone in HR! I will be cutting it down to 1 page and highlighting skills that show leadership, critical thinking, employee relations and customer service through my past employment history.

BrnEyedGirl - I LOVE hearing that serving experience is a good career to lead to ED. I think that is one reason I would prefer to be a ED nurse, I've always had jobs where I'm constantly busy and working under high pressure! (Although, many could argue all floor nurses have equally demanding positions. I need to make some ED RN friends.

RunBabyRN - Wow thank you for taking the time to post so many detailed answers to my questions. Yes I have noticed a few hospitals that list PALS and ACLS are required to apply for their ICU/ED nurse positions, so I agree it can help. As far as the skills go, I'm definitely getting the overall opinion is I wouldn't have graduated from nursing school if I didn't know those basic skills already. I did move my license/certifications to the top and will change to expiration date. I will cut the nursing objective and concentrate on job skills that carry over to nursing.

Thank you all so much for your input! I think my nursing instructor who looked over my resume was being too nice. Nice doesn't land me a job unfortunately.