Resume Question

[cyb3rRN, ASN, RN]

Hi all. I apologize in advance, I know there are many questions regarding resumes and I have searched for questions similar to mine and had no luck.

I guess I should give a bit of back ground info before I ask my questions. I graduated last month (June) and passed my NCLEX a little over a week ago. I had a resume and had applied to different RN positions prior to being licensed and heard nothing. I have still been applying with said resume. I have heard nothing. The resume I have been using seems to me to be unimpressive (Its bad when you yourself are terribly unimpressed with your resume lol) so, today I have started working on a new one.

I had worked at a local hospital as a PCA for 7 years before quiting to take care of my grandmother who had Alzheimer's and then shortly after my father had a stroke. This leaves me with a 3 year employment gap. My mother and I are the primary care givers to my father now and he is total care...g-tube, meds, insulin, ect.

So, my questions...

How do I include this care of the last three years in my resume? If at all. I read one of the suggested articles on this board and it stated that one of the most common mistakes that people make on their resumes is that they don't include all their professional experience even if its unpaid. So, I with no "facility" and no real "position" how do I phase this? Home health position: daughter? lol J/K but I think you know what I mean.

If anyone would be willing to take a look at my resume, that would be great. I have been feeling very inadequate being a new grad, having a huge employment gap, no awards, no volunteer positions, nothing to set me apart from others, and no real resume writing skills. Don't get me wrong, I feel just a qualified as any other new grad, but I just feel I am not coming across well on paper.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! Any advice is much appreciated.

[gracieD]

You could list this experience as 'in-home caregiver' or 'companion caregiver.' There's no need to list the location or the fact that you are caring for a family member. If it comes up in an interview, be honest, but if you were caring for someone else, I wouldn't see you listing their name and address on a resume! :)

[senseiRN]

I do home health on the side and I've always listed:

Home Health Aide, Private Residence, City, State Month Year - Month Year

Then I list all the things that I've done/ worked with (I'm pretty sure it would be a HIPAA violation to list the patient's name/identifying info such as they were your dad etc)

[cyb3rRN, ASN, RN]

Thank yo uso much for your responses. I think I like the idea of including it on the resume. Thanks so much for your suggestions...now off to revise.

[cyb3rRN, ASN, RN]

I'm sorry. I've come up with another question...if I say home health aid would I then explain that it was an unpaid position with a family member? They usually ask about the company/ agency you work for, right?

[chillin4me]

I'm sorry. I've come up with another question...if I say home health aid would I then explain that it was an unpaid position with a family member? They usually ask about the company/ agency you work for, right?

you will tell the truth when they will ask you during the interview... but for your resume just put Private Residence...

(sometimes they would consider Live-in or Live out caregiver as home health aide...)

[cyb3rRN, ASN, RN]

Ok, so my resume says professional experience...which I would think could include Non-paid positions like this, but when filling out applications and it asks for work experience would it be inappropriate list this there? Does work experience insinuate a paid position?