Resumes, Interviewing and Landing a Job

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Resumes, Interviewing, & Landing the Job

Having been in Human Resources prior to becoming an RN, and having interviewed thousands of people for jobs, I would like to offer some job seeking advice to my nursing brethren. Below are some guidelines that will help you get that coveted nursing position.

Resumes:

You actually need two different kinds; one for people to read and one that computers read. The people one is formatted, neat, and is easy for the human eye to scan. There are lots of guides online on proper resume styles, formats, and what relevant content that they should contain. The "electronic" resume should have the same info as the first; however, there should be now special formatting, no extra spaces, no special characters, etc, and should be in plain text format. This will enable the computer to pick out the key words that it is searching for and not get confused. Key words are important; if your applying for a job on an ortho floor, words that will be of import will be 'traction', 'external fixators', 'sequential compression device (SCDs)', etc. Use the words that are part of your everyday practice.

Interviewing:

Read this very carefully: when you go to the interview wear a suit and tie. People that tell you otherwise are hampering your chances of landing a job. Think about this a minute; you are asking a complete stranger to allow you to take care of their patients, work with their employees, handle their equipment, pay you, and give you benefits. All they have to go on is your cover letter, resume, and their first impression of you.

Here are a few common sense suggestions that will make a difference.

- Neat, clean, very little cologne or better yet none at all, nails cut, etc

- Suit & tie or blazer, tie, and dress pants

- Shoes shined

- Hide tattoos and take out piercings

- Do not take your cell phone with you

- Do not chew gum

- Do not smell like you just smoked a pack of cigarettes

- Do not call the interviewer 'Dude' or use other colloquialism

- Take several copies of your people resume to the interview

Go to the library and get a few books on interviewing and interviewing questions, so that you can sound somewhat intelligent when they ask you those open ended questions i.e. "tell us about a situation where you had to deal with a difficult supervisor" or "what happened with this job that you are no longer there" or (this is the dumbest question that has no practical use but HR people/DONs, etc feel a need to ask it) "where do you want to be in 5 years". These books will not give you the answers but will help you to formulate the answers in a positive light.

After the interview, go directly to Hallmark and buy non descript, business-like thank you cards and send them to all of the folks that interviewed you.

Having trouble getting a job:

There are some helpful hints on what use to be the career forum which is now closed, but can be found at allnurses: A Nursing Community for Nurses . I have a sticky posted there on an alternative strategy that has worked for me in the past and landed me my current position.

Good luck!!

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Thanks to Groovy Jeff for writing up this post!