Resume HELP - how to use old career experience

[LagniappeRN]

I worked as an executive assistant from 1999-2007. When the economy took a nose dive I was unable to find employment. I decided to go back to school in 2009 to fulfill my dream of becoming a nurse. I recently graduated and am having a difficult time finding a job! I finally called one of the nurse recruiters to see if she would give me some advice. She looked over my resume and asked why I had no work history. I told her the school I graduated from recommended that we only put nurse related information and to keep the resume short and simple. Which I did ... She asked me to include my previous work history along with my previous degrees.

Sooooooo my problem is this: How do I create an Objective that demonstrates my desire to enter into the nursing field while playing off of my years of experience as an executive assistant.

Here is a section of my previous resume that is listed as "Core professional strengths" ... my objective would need to go before this:

Visionary and goal oriented Executive Assistant with demonstrated experience in planning, developing and implementing solutions to address business opportunities. Ability to develop strategic plans for implementation and operation of client services, product support, quality assurance and training. Initiate and enforce strict budget controls addressing company need and promotion of growth. Adept at crisis management, trouble-shooting, problem solving, and negotiating. Advance positive company image through public presentations, experienced in project and resource management and cross-functional team training.

I'm essentially trying to combine my simple "new nurse graduate" resume with a very complex and detailed resume that spans over almost 18 years.

Any suggestions???

Thanks in advance!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

No one puts an "objective" on their resumes any more. It is pretty obvious that your objective is to get a (nursing) job so that added verbiage is useless. On a nursing resume, "professional" should always refer to nursing stuff or it gets confusing to the people who will be spending that 10-15 seconds reviewing it - LOL. I suggest you simply have an "Experience" heading with jobs listed in reverse chronology (last first).. Each one with: Dates of employment, Job title, employer, and bullet points to list primary job duties As a new grad, you may also want to have an Interests heading with information about all the stuff you have done /continue to do that helps convey a positive impression of you... this would include stuff like "library volunteer, scout leader, etc"

I know it is very hard and uncomfortable to switch gears - from the experienced professional you were to the absolute beginner you are now. But no one expects a new grad to have clinical experience. New grads are hired with the expectation that they will need a significant amount of training and support to become minimally competent.

[SpunkRN]

Actually they do put objectives on resumes, even today. A contact of mine who just got a job where there are none sent me his resume and there it was. I about died because I too think duh my objective is to gain experience in nursing. He also had his clinical experiences listed which again I wouldn't think was necessary.

[troop949]

Like you, I spent several years in a previous career. I did add those previous work experiences to my resume, but tried to focus on my organizational skills, leadership, and attention to detail in those jobs. Those can be thought of as transferable skills, IMO.

BTW, I also added very brief notations of my clinicals: specialty, facility, total clinical hours, and month/date. Some don't add it to their resume, but I did. I haven't yet had my practicum, but I plan to focus on that on my resume when it's completed.