Resume advice needed!

Flatlander · Oct 6, 2014

Hi, JillS91 -- You've definitely got a good start. It looks like you've got good info on your resume. I just think it needs to be rearranged to have immediate impact.

I would take some of the key statements from your clinical experience and work experience sections (the bolded ones), and reword them for 3 to 4 bullet points or bulleted sentences under the heading, SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS. Then put that right at the top under your name. The idea here is to give top billing to your top qualifications, the things that establish your worth and set you apart from other applicants. If that impresses, they will read on... You already have statements nicely worded that you can put in your Summary.

I would leave out your top sentence entirely...everyone says about the same thing...so it's relatively meaningless. Then comes the Summary of Qualifications as described above.

If you want to do a functional resume, which is probably best in your case, you could follow the Summary section with NURSING AND HEALTHCARE EXPERIENCE. There you can put more of your clinical and nursing work experience, bulleted and worded for maximum impact (but do not exaggerate).

Do the same for other work experience in a separate section. How you title that depends on the overall type of work, and should be worded as transferable to nursing. It looks like it was LEADERSHIP, SUPERVISORY, AND ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS or something like that. Maybe the Children's Center involved other skills that transfer to nursing work? Bulleted statements should follow, again worded to highlight transferable skills to nursing. I think you already have a good start on those statements. Just move them around and reword if necessary to have impact and fit on one line each with a bullet.

Next you can list the EMPLOYMENT HISTORY AND EDUCATION SECTIONS . You don't need a job duties description after each one because you've included that in the statements above. Just add Location (city/state) and date range (years is sufficient, unless less than a year, then put month and year.) If you had honors or high GPA's put a sentence about that under your Summary of Qualifications where it will be seen immediately.

Licenses and Certs can come last. Everybody's got em. Include month and year and organization that granted them, etc.

Most important is to "just do it." It is my least favorite task, almost. Just slap it together the best you can as in "rough draft." You can always refine and refine with each job you apply to. In fact it is a good idea to reword to tailor it to each new job you apply to matching your skills to their requirements.

Finally, save your resume in a Word Document and also as a PDF. Read and re-read for errors and typos at least 5 times. And have a friend read it a few times, if possible. When applying online the PDF version will likely be accepted and not mangled by computer programs. It can also be emailed as an attachment and you know it will be received intact. The Word Document is the one that can be edited, if necessary, then changed to a PDF and saved. When sending as an attachment, make sure the title only has your name and the word "resume". It could also have the date you submitted it, i.e., "10.5.14." That will allow the receiving party to know to whom it belongs.

Be sure to read the articles and posts on allnurses.com about resumes, interviews, etc. There have been some great ones lately. Just search for them in the search box.

Good luck!

13grad71 · Oct 17, 2014

Since you do not have health care experience, Education should be on top. Then work experience goes below it. Now you need to tie in your experience to nursing. I see you worked as a team leader in a fast food bakery. So I would concentrate on customer service or customer interaction. Don't we nurses need to be great in patient interaction. Your clerical job, highlight your proficiency in accurate documentation or handling of documentation. Again, we nurses should be good in documentation right? So right there you have got some skills that you could relate to nursing.

Drop the clinical experience. That is padding. Everyone knows you had clinical experience while in nursing school.

Drop the "performed over 800 hours...." & "under RN supervision...." & "gained experience performing technical skills......" Those does not male you look good. Expand your work experience. Put in bullets and do not exceed 1 page.

License # and other certs should be at the bottom.

"Registered Nurse dedicated to providing proficient, quality patient care in a fast paced setting."

Instead of the above cliche tell us what you are trying to seek. What is your objective?

Something like....... "To obtain a registered nurse postion in hospital x New Grad residency blah blah..." something like that. Direct to the point.