Resume and Cover Letter Help

Bayat · May 30, 2013

You got most of it there, just needed to organize the material. Look over your clinicals and see about highlighting accomplishments from your rotations. Emphasize the skills you said you can transfer from an academic to floor settings. You'll find a clue from the ad you're answering as to what the employer is looking for.

This should help get you get it together. Look it over and tailor to your actual Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

FIRST N. LAST, RN

123 Street Address * City, ST 12345 * XXX.XXX.Cell * [email protected]

Honorable Registered Nurse

Dedicated and reliable professional with a steadfast commitment to patient satisfaction seeking RN residency in a environment to utilize multidisciplinary team and transferable technical skills.

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

. . . * Thorough knowledge of all aspects of nursing, including critical procedures, operation/recovery, medication management, patient assessment, and pain management.

. . . * Personable with a positive attitude; gained experience in collaborating with nurses, doctors, specialists, and staff members to achieve shared patient goals.

. . . * Demonstrated aptitude for developing new skills.

LICENSURES & CERTIFICATIONS

Registered Nurse: New York State Board of Nursing, License # XXXXXX

Basic Life Support (BLS) certified by American Heart Association

SKILL HIGHLIGHTS

. . . * Med-surg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * Patient/family communication

. . . * Patient assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * Clinical training

. . . * Medical charting/documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * Team player

. . . * Telemetry nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * Strong medical ethic

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Bachelor of Science: XXXXX UNIVERSITY - Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01/2013

New York, NY

. . . * Magna Cum Laude

. . . * GPA: 3.7 overall / x.x in major

. . . * Dean's List, seven semesters

. . . * Relevant coursework in []

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

PRECEPTORSHIP NURSE, XXXXX HOSPITAL XXXX, New York, NY . . 10/2012 - 11/2012

Medical-Surgical/Oncology Unit, 236 hours

Worked with Registered Nurse (preceptor) managing patient care in bed unit.

. . . * Performed in-depth physical assessments on critical patients.

. . . * Monitored assigned patients, updating data on vital signs and clinical lab data.

. . . * Administered medications, instructing patients regarding their side effects.

. . . * Received and given reports regarding patients' current health status.

. . . * Reported assigned patients' condition to preceptor.

. . . * Documented assessment findings and information in patients' medical charts.

ROTATIONS:

. . . . XXXXX HOSPITAL XXXXX, New York, NY

. . . . . . . . . . Behavioral Health . . . . . . . . . . . 01/2012 - 05/2012 . xx hrs

. . . . . . . . . . Surgical Neurology . . . . . . . . . . 09/2011 - 12/2011 . xx hrs

. . . . . . . . . . Surgical Cardiac / Telemetry . . 01/2011 - 05/2011 . xx hrs

. . . . XXXXX MEDICAL CENTER XXXX, New York, NY

. . . . . . . . . . Pediatric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/2011 - 12/2011 . xx hrs

. . . . . . . . . . Maternal / Newborn . . . . . . . . 01/2011 - 05/2011 . xx hrs

Summary:

. . . * Show a progression in responsibilities during rotations.

. . . * Use action verbs to begin sentences.

. . . * Focus on the populations you have treated and include the diagnosis.

. . . * Be specific regarding treatments and give examples when applicable.

. . . * Show rather than tell your experience.

. . . * What did you learn, develop, or teach to patients and their families?

ADDITIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

XXXX UNIVERSITY, Student Worker - Art Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12/2009 - 12/2012

CVS PHARMACY, Sales Associate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/2009 - 12/2012

XXXX UNIVERSITY, Student Worker - Public Safety Dept Event Staff . . 09/2009 - 12/2012

HONORS & AWARDS

Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, Spring 2012 - Current

Greek Life Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence and Scholarship, 2010

Dean's Scholarship Award, Fall 2008 - Fall 2012

MissM.RN, BSN, RN · May 31, 2013

hi! my first thoughts:

1. "honorable registered nurse" from bayat reply - I don't love it. I kinda hate it. just say "registered nurse" shouldn't we all be honorable?? hehe. just sounds, weird!

2. I'm a little worried about your lack of paid clinical assist experience (ie, CNA home health aide, etc). I think that makes or breaks a new grad RN resume. Don't have it? go out and get it stat (though I can't recall if you said you already graduated - if so, sorry).

3. specialized skills - this was just me, but as a new grad I had done things like drop NGT's and start IVs. could you say anything like that? or maybe the patient load you had while on preceptorship. something to show the hiring manager that you have already managed 1:5 or maybe 1:4 on your own.

4. Sorry, but I don't love your objective. On my new grad resume, i didn't have one. What you wrote sounds very "nursing school" to me, and not reality-hospital nursing. Every manager will already know your objective the moment your resume hits the inbox - to get a job!

5. don't put clinical rotations under clinical experience

Really, good luck to you. sounds like you've worked hard. ultimately, as long as it's one page with no spelling errors, I think you'll be ok.

PurpleDelight · May 31, 2013

You got most of it there, just needed to organize the material. Look over your clinicals and see about highlighting accomplishments from your rotations. Emphasize the skills you said you can transfer from an academic to floor settings. You'll find a clue from the ad you're answering as to what the employer is looking for.
This should help get you get it together. Look it over and tailor to your actual Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
FIRST N. LAST, RN
123 Street Address • City, ST 12345 • XXX.XXX.Cell • [email protected]
Honorable Registered Nurse
Dedicated and reliable professional with a steadfast commitment to patient satisfaction seeking RN residency in a environment to utilize multidisciplinary team and transferable technical skills.
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
. . . • Thorough knowledge of all aspects of nursing, including critical procedures, operation/recovery, medication management, patient assessment, and pain management.
. . . • Personable with a positive attitude; gained experience in collaborating with nurses, doctors, specialists, and staff members to achieve shared patient goals.
. . . • Demonstrated aptitude for developing new skills.
LICENSURES & CERTIFICATIONS
Registered Nurse: New York State Board of Nursing, License # XXXXXX
Basic Life Support (BLS) certified by American Heart Association
SKILL HIGHLIGHTS
. . . • Med-surg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • Patient/family communication
. . . • Patient assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • Clinical training
. . . • Medical charting/documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • Team player
. . . • Telemetry nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • Strong medical ethic
EDUCATION & TRAINING
Bachelor of Science: XXXXX UNIVERSITY – Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01/2013
New York, NY
. . . • Magna Cum Laude
. . . • GPA: 3.7 overall / x.x in major
. . . • Dean’s List, seven semesters
. . . • Relevant coursework in []
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE
PRECEPTORSHIP NURSE, XXXXX HOSPITAL XXXX, New York, NY . . 10/2012 – 11/2012
Medical-Surgical/Oncology Unit, 236 hours
Worked with Registered Nurse (preceptor) managing patient care in bed unit.
. . . • Performed in-depth physical assessments on critical patients.
. . . • Monitored assigned patients, updating data on vital signs and clinical lab data.
. . . • Administered medications, instructing patients regarding their side effects.
. . . • Received and given reports regarding patients’ current health status.
. . . • Reported assigned patients’ condition to preceptor.
. . . • Documented assessment findings and information in patients’ medical charts.
ROTATIONS:
. . . . XXXXX HOSPITAL XXXXX, New York, NY
. . . . . . . . . . Behavioral Health . . . . . . . . . . . 01/2012 – 05/2012 . xx hrs
. . . . . . . . . . Surgical Neurology . . . . . . . . . . 09/2011 – 12/2011 . xx hrs
. . . . . . . . . . Surgical Cardiac / Telemetry . . 01/2011 – 05/2011 . xx hrs
. . . . XXXXX MEDICAL CENTER XXXX, New York, NY
. . . . . . . . . . Pediatric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/2011 – 12/2011 . xx hrs
. . . . . . . . . . Maternal / Newborn . . . . . . . . 01/2011 – 05/2011 . xx hrs
Summary:
. . . • Show a progression in responsibilities during rotations.
. . . • Use action verbs to begin sentences.
. . . • Focus on the populations you have treated and include the diagnosis.
. . . • Be specific regarding treatments and give examples when applicable.
. . . • Show rather than tell your experience.
. . . • What did you learn, develop, or teach to patients and their families?
ADDITIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE
XXXX UNIVERSITY, Student Worker - Art Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12/2009 – 12/2012
CVS PHARMACY, Sales Associate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/2009 – 12/2012
XXXX UNIVERSITY, Student Worker - Public Safety Dept Event Staff . . 09/2009 – 12/2012
HONORS & AWARDS
Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, Spring 2012 – Current
Greek Life Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence and Scholarship, 2010
Dean’s Scholarship Award, Fall 2008 - Fall 2012

Thank you so much!! Do you work in a HR department? This is really good...Also under "Education & Training" what does "Relevant Coursework" mean. Isn't everything I learned (med-surg, Peds, OB, psych) relevant? Also should I include the "summary" part in the end?

Bayat · Jun 1, 2013

MissM.RN:

Unless a hospital requires a certain number of months of experience, remember you did get clinical experience in school, so you should emphasize that in your applications. Yes, I know it is not really adequate, but it does count as experience (unless you're one of those that went in totally cold and suffered a bunch a patients in the process of gaining your skills).

Your resume should probably provide some detail about your clinical experience -- think about things that you did such as monitoring IVs, assessing patients, pre-operative preparations, patient education. Your passion for nursing should come through which will help your resume stand apart from the rest. The resume should show that you are an eager learner, and comment on your professional progression as you went through school -- gaining facts, experience, knowledge, and yes perhaps some wisdom along the way. Think about how you think about things now compared to back when you applied to nursing school.

And not all nursing schools would have you complete all these rotations before graduating in a timely manner: Ambulatory Pediatrics, Clinical Specialist Occupational Health, Geriatrics/LTC UR/QA, Infection Control Research, Managerial/Administrative Chemical Dependency, Orthopedics Emergency Department, Rehabilitation Hospice, Subacute Medical/Surgical, Academic Practice Public Health, Critical Care Schools/Colleges, Gynecology Case Management, IV Therapy Dialysis, Psychiatry Home Health, Sales/Marketing Managed Care, Pharmaceuticals Oncology,

. . . and more. Not only that but what any one candidate gets from the experience differs. The best managers look for a combination of technical enthusiasm and the maturity to deal with the sometimes difficult tasks of working with patients, a diverse staff and exacting physicians.

Hospitals want to know what types of clinical rotations you've been through, and where you did them. So listing clinical rotations will demonstrate your experience base. To make it even stronger:

* Emphasize areas in which you have special interest.

* Highlight elements that distinguish you from others doing similar rotations. Did you excel in particular aspects of your work? Examples include establishing rapport with patients, meticulous attention to detail in suturing, or responding well in crisis situations.

akemi2001:

The purpose of listing relevant coursework is to showcase any special electives that would appeal to an employer. Such as: Scientific Writing, Observational Methods, Principles of Teaching Applied to Nursing, Designing Intervention Studies, Qualitative Analysis, Special Topics in Nursing, Aging and Public Policy, Developmental Physiology and Pathophysiology, etc.. If you didn't have such an offering, then just leave it out.

And no, I'm not in HR. I'm helping out a nurse friend who recently lost her job and no longer had a network to fall back on after 30 years experience. The reason she lost her job has been operated on and now my friend is recuperating nicely and anxious to return to work. Until she does, I'm mostly practicing so I'll be ready when she starts actively job hunt again.

Without much ado, let me put my neck back into the noose once again, enjoy:

First N. Last, RN

123 Street Address * City, ST 12345 * XXX.XXX.Cell * [email protected]

[Letter date]

xxxx Medical Center

Human Resources Department

Address Line 1

Address line 2

. . . RE: Registered Nurse, [Ref#], [Date]

Your recent advertisement in immediately caught my eye!

Not only do I appear to be a perfect match to meet your needs (and exceed your expectations!) the position looks as though it is one in which I would thrive and in which my qualifications would be an incredible value add. The enclosed resume details my education, experience, skills and interests. Among my qualifications are the following:

. . . * Practical experience as a member of a interdisciplinary healthcare team during rotations and Preceptorship, gaining skills in patient assessment, data collection, care plan development, and medication administration;

. . . * Educational background as a Magna Cum Laude graduate has given me a solid understanding of current care methods and techniques, balanced with an ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously while maintaining a level of enthusiasm for the project at hand; and

. . . * Additional work experience ranging from sales associate to student worker taught the value of customer service and putting them first, communication skills to listen out for key facts and points in any conversation with a customer, and a motivation to improve my skills.

Though my resume is detailed and comprehensive, it cannot fully demonstrate the manner in which I have achieved success. Character, personality, and the ability to work in a team environment can be demonstrated in a personal meeting. I would welcome an interview at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your time and consideration. I am certain that I would become a valuable addition to your staff.

Thank you for your valued time,

First N. Last, RN

enclosure: resume