Resume - Getting Ahead of Myself Here

[apeter]

I officially start my nursing classes in 2 weeks. However, I'm thinking way ahead of the game right now in regards to resumes since I'm doing a career shift.

I've been wondering what to do about mine when the time comes. I have never been in the medical field. I have admin/office experience and teaching experience since my other degree is in education. My resume though is quite awful in regards to how it looks since I am a prior military spouse with numerous jobs all over the place.

Ideally, I'd like to find a job in the medical field while in school to get my foot in the door - or even volunteer work. Something medical that could be put on my resume. When it comes time to graduate and look for jobs - would it be weird or unacceptable to basically start over with a brand new resume with only medical experience on it? Or would I have to keep my crappy all-over-the-place resume and just add to it? Anyone ever run into this?

[llg, PhD, RN]

My advice is for something in the middle -- neither extreme. You need to account for that period of your life on your resume or it will raise questions/doubts and you should want credit for the things you learned during those jobs. I suggest you group things together as in "5 years of clinical/administrative experience prior to nursing" and/or "2 years of elementary education experience" .... or ...."4 years of clerical/administrative work and 1 year of secondary education experience prior to nursing school" type of entry on your resume.

Such an approach is honest, let's them know of your experience (and skills) in other fields ... but doesn't emphasize the short-term nature of those jobs. You need to "sell them" as something positive in your life or at least as something you are not ashamed of. If you act as if they are shameful, then it makes you look like a loser. But if you can acknowledge them in a positive way, you look like a winner.

Also, a lot of employers want a full list of previous employers ... and will find them if they run a full credit check on you. So you NEVER want to be cause lying or hiding things on a resume.