Resume stand out or resume death sentence???

[punkydoodlesRN, BSN, RN]

I've been applying tirelessly for the past 8 months. I'm an LVN with 3 years of acute experience and currently a senior in a BSN program. I had mistakenly thought I would actually be competitive!

I feel that I have a decent resume, but it just seems so 'blah'

I was wasting time on Pinterest between finals this week and stumbled across this site

http://loftresumes.com/

Are these something that will get a new grad kicked right out the nursing door?? Just exploring options to make some changes! Being a single income family again while I'm in school is very stressful, so I would like to work now, since I already have a nursing license. Ideally, I would stay at the job upon graduation and transition into a RN role.

Thoughts? Advice?

Just to clarify - I wouldn't actually pay for this service. In my other life, I was a professional photographer and thousands of hours designing templates and could easily do something similar myself. Just asking if stepping out of the box will get me squashed down!

[Chad Collins]

it would make a resume stand out lol.

[eleectrosaurus]

wow they are loud! If you can tone it down a notch and be a bit more conservative, go for it.

[charisma01]

I agree with the above poster, a lot of those samples stood out because they were so loud! lol However, if you are able to re-format them (minus the bold colors and fonts), it might work to your advantage. And as you already mentioned, I agree and definitely would not pay for those services. It might give a prospective employer a headache trying to read through some of those resumes. :)

[nursie_nursie_415]

Just print your resume in the "landscape" format. That should make it stand out.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I would see those flying for people in print media or something art related. For something of our caliber, I would look at it "aw cute" wad up and toss it.

[rn/writer, RN]

What would you have to lose? You're not getting hired now.

Maybe dial down a notch or two, but creativity (within reason) might be a welcome change from stacks and stacks of resumes that all look and sound the same.

Best wishes.

[sarahc331]

It would definitely stand out but they look particularly difficult to read to me. Put yourself in the shoes of the person sifting thru resumes...you might potentially have hundreds of qualified applicants on the desk in front of you...are you going to spend extra time trying to read thru the resume of just one applicant when you've got so many others? I ended up in a forum discussing resumes when I was helping my husband write his and read from at least 2 people who do the hiring for their respective companies who both said NOT to be overly creative or to stray too far from the norm. You get used to reading resumes and know what to look for & where to look and when you get that one odd-ball one thrown in it is not more appealing.

[Evilfeline007]

My thought is that maybe if your resume says you're a senior in nursing school, take it off. Employers may assume:

- you have a higher education then most LVNs which may result in a "know it all" attitude

- you're graduating soon and therefore are only temporarily interested in working as n LVN

I could NOT get a CNA job until I took my BSN in progress off my resume

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Disagree about not putting your educational accolades, degrees, current major, ect... As sarahc331 has pointed out people going through resumes have to have that "punch", something that stands out and grabs the eye so they keep on reading. As a photographer I think you could come up with some real good template ideas. Also, that first sentence in your cover letter (always include a cover letter) needs to succinctly inform the reader what your intentions are. If you did get hired and wanted to transition to an RN position once you got your license what...suddenly go in and say your forgot to put it on the resume? Just sounds unlikely to me.

I've been encouraging people to put their picture on the resume. I put mine on the cover letter on top of my name in the heading. I'm still fooling around with it. I chose a pic that is a bust shot in a dark turtle neck with my lab coat on...it looks good.

[33762FL]

I was an HR person who read resumes before I became a nurse. IMO unless you're in a creative field (design, performance art, whatever) you need to stick with the traditional MS word resume, no fancy stuff.

[punkydoodlesRN, BSN, RN]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feed back. I had been thinking the same as writerRN. What I'm doing now isn't working, so it couldn't make it worse.

Would anyone be willing to take a look at what I have, maybe it just sucks and it needs major fixing?