Resume critique request c:

[piggypop]

My story is that I was working on a med-surg unit for a few months, but I recently resigned because it was just too much for me to start with. I honestly tried to stick the job out, but I couldn't. So I have three months experience and not a whole lot of genuine experience to write of while I search for new jobs.

Anyway, here I tried to highlight some of the experiences I did gain at my first job, while pointing out my student experiences and past career. Unfortunately, I don't feel I have enough to let my resume leak to two pages, but this is just a tad too long.

First, I combined my Objective and Skills Summary sections to just the Objective at the top to A) put it together and B) not waste space with "I want a job with __ etc," as suggested on another site. tl;dr - I just let the objective space be a highlight of clinical skills to save space.

I know that I can cut some of the silly clinical sites out, but I just have them all listed here so I can modify with whatever jobs I may apply for.

I was also thinking of cutting out the tutoring job altogether, as while it's relevant, I don't find it really as relevant as anything else on the page, and it would definitely cut down the resume to the proper length.

Any thoughts? Specifically I'm looking at my objectives section. I tried to list everything relevantly but it just seems so... wordy? Unless it's okay? As you can tell I'm not really sure so any help would be appreciated! Thank you! c:

*Also, I cut sensitive information from this resume, in case it's not readily obvious.

Name, RN / contact information listed at top

Objective

Learned nursing skills applied in clinical settings to deliver assistance to clients with illness or life changes. Development of patient assessments, multitasking skills, decision-making skills, and therapeutic communication, on cardiovascular-pulmonary unit. Read EKGs and documented with electronic medical records daily.

Worked with variety of age groups as a student including infants, children, women of maternal age, middle-age clients, and elderly.

Previous utilization of leadership, decision-making, and personal interactions as manager and experienced resource. Hard-working, reliable, and compassionate with clients and coworkers.

Education

A University, (location)

Bachelor of Science in Nursing, (date)

Cumulative GPA: (above 3.5)

Honors: Dean's List, (dates); Member, Xi Delta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, graduated A University with Magna Cum Laude

Relevant Coursework: Healthy Aging, Selected Topics in Nursing (Clinical Practicum), Advanced Clinical Simulation in Nursing

Clinical Experience: Clinical Rotations

• Visiting student nurses
  
• Med-surg unit A
  
• Med-surg unit B
  
• Psych location
  
• School for children with intellectual disabilities
  
• Maternity unit
  
• Pediatric hospital
  
• High school
  
• LTC center
  

Work Experience

Hospital, (location)

Registered Nurse, (dates)

• Responsible for care of patients daily on a cardiovascular-pulmonary focused medical-surgical floor. Collaborated with other healthcare professionals to provide competent care. Communicated with patients therapeutically and provided education as needed.
  

Restaurant, (location)

Deli, (dates)

• Member of food preparation team. Direct customer interaction in take-out services.
  

Waitress, (dates)

• Excellent customer service provided to individual tables at restaurant. Multitasking skills required to provide service to multiple clientele.
  

Tutoring center, (location)

Tutor, (dates)

• Tutored Anatomy and Physiology students and basic algebra for Academic Development Program students.
  
• Challenged students academically, taught study skills, and assisted students to work together in a learning environment.
  

Miniature golf course, (location)

Associate, (dates), seasonally (summers).

• Cashier and food server. Provided excellent customer service. Worked for grounds maintenance.
  

Manager, (dates), seasonally (summers).

• Delegated tasks to employees. Direct customer interaction related to satisfaction and/or concerns. Made final decisions including those related to dissatisfaction and customer safety due to adverse weather.
  

[T-Bird78]

Don't go to two pages if you don't have two pages worth of experience. Drop the objective--your objective is to be a nurse, they know that. Emphasize your clinical skills and computer skills at the top, then put your relevant work history in reverse chronological order, making sure to highlight what skills you used and learned with the jobs. Since you're a new grad, put the clinical rotations under the education heading because that won't technically count as work experience. Only add previous employment if it was a long-term, stable job that shows you have longevity with employers. They want your relevant experience and if your resume catches their eye and they call you for an interview, or you're doing online applications, you will have space for more job history if they require it.

[nihaojailan]

Agree with the poster above, drop or revise your objective. Drop the summer jobs. Any certifications? BLS? ACLS etc etc? add them they're important. Any skills that can help on the floor? eMR charting, EKG reading, assessment skills? add them. References if space permits.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

In the context of a resume, "Objective" means, "Where I want my career path to take me" (short-term)(Save the "CRNA school/FNP/rule the world" for later. You want them to hire you, so don't tell them you plan on working a year and then splitting. Look like you mean it.)

So listing what you have done totally needs to be under "Experience."

Name BSN RN/address/contact info including email (and lose the "[email protected]" -- get a professional-sounding email for free from gmail or something)

license number/state

certifications if any

Objectives: Gain experience in care of complex medical patients / Progressive experience in care of pediatric surgical patients / Broad experience in general adult medical-surgical nursing / Progressive experience and responsibility in the care of cardiopulmonary diseases / whatever. Pick one. Be prepared to tell them why at your interview. What captured you about this field? What turned you on? What fascinated you when you first learned about it?

Experience (not "work experience"): Lose the waitressing and minigolf. Make your list more of the things you've learned and tried and less of the chronology of your every working moment since high school :) This is where you put:

Patient care as one of three RNs on 32-bed cardiovascular-pulmonary unit on 12-hour night shifts (or whatever). Developed nursing plans of care based on assessment and delegated to LPN and UAP staffers.

Strengths:

Multitasking, decision-making, therapeutic communication.

Proficiency with EKGs (12-lead, rhythm strips), cardiovascular assessment

Proficient with electronic medical records (name the system you used-- maybe they use it too, or have heard of it).

Student experience with infants, children, women of maternal age, general adults, and elderly.

Leadership, decision-making, and personal interactions as manager and experienced resource.

Hard-working, reliable, and compassionate with clients and coworkers.

Post-graduate educational offerings:

ACLS, offered by .... , dates, expires date

Delegation and management seminar, date, offered by ....

Attended inservice education on arterial blood gases, ABC programmable IV pumps, XYZ hemodynamic monitoring, HIPAA, benzodiazepines, and end-of-life care

Does that help?

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

I'm another fan of dropping the objective except in the rare case that an employer requires one. I've looked at lots of resumes and I've never, ever been intrigued by anything in an applicant's objective.

[piggypop]

Thank you! These comments have been extremely helpful in where I want to revise this resume!

I guess my one question is that there have been comments to delete the "summer jobs," but as my actual nursing work experience is very limited (i.e., one job for three months). They were both long-commitment jobs, and the mini-golf job reflects manager experience, IMHO. The restaurant job I actually stuck with throughout the school year at the end of my junior and through most of my senior year of school. The only job I was really thinking of deleting was the tutoring job because it's not very useful in proving much of anything, I think.

But I think I'll go ahead and delete the objectives and replace with skills as appropriate, and probably delete the tutoring job if needed (which is most likely).

Thanks again everyone! You all gave me just what I needed. c:

[mclennan, BSN, RN]

And, read my latest post "bad résumé/good résumé RANT" - I am on a hiring committee and detailed in that post exactly some things we look for (and things that get your résumé tossed). Good luck.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

You can mention the non-nursing jobs at your interview as examples of your ability to stick with something, and make note of whatever customer service, time management, prioritizing, or leadership skills you learned while you were there that you expect will be transferrable to your new nursing profession. Nobody expects a new grad to have a lot of nursing experience. :)