RN with some experience needs opinions on resume

[knursing54]

Hello all,

After I graduated I moved from MD to WY to work as a nurse, but now I am back in MD and still am finding it difficult to get a job. I would appreciate any input on my resume. I have this resume and then another that does not have a skills section and just one detailed professional summary, but the descriptions under the professional experience becomes much more wordier. Please excuse the poor organization (the skill highlights section is really two columns), it looks better in a word document.

Name, RN

555 Street - City, State zip - Phone - Email

Dedicated professional with a strong work ethic and a commitment to patient satisfaction. Seeking a full-time Registered Nurse position for any shift in a X environment.

PROFESSIONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Experienced RN; over a year of nursing experience in perioperative and psychiatric nursing.
  
• Leadership roles; ran charge nurse in pain department and psych unit and precepted approximately ten new employees.
  
• Maintains a high level of self-standard; enrolled in a BSN program and expected to graduate in 2016, high scores on performance appraisals.
  
• Detail oriented; capacity to multitask and work at a fast pace while maintaining patient safety.
  

LICENSURE/CERTIFICATION

Maryland RN License, active, License #, February 2013-Present

ACLS, active, expires February 2016

BLS, active, expires July 2016

SKILL HIGHLIGHTS

• IV initiation and therapy
  
• Medication administration
  
• Patient/family education
  
• Crisis intervention/ de-escalation
  
• EKG
  
• Meditech and Misys Tiger EMR
  
• Medical billing
  
• Conscious sedation
  

EDUCATION

University, City, State- BSN expected 2016 graduation

Community College, City, State - ADN received December 2012

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Per Diem RN, Endoscopy Center, City, State, February/March 2013, July 2014-Present

• Responsible for pre-op and post-op care for all patients in ASC.
  

Per Diem RN, Pain Center, City, State, July 2014-Present

• Works in the PACU recovering all patients after procedures.
  

RN, Pain Department, Hospital, City, State, June 2013-July 2014

• Circulated throughout pre-op, OR, and PACU providing care for interventional pain management and diagnostic procedures, assisted with the implementation of an outreach ASC, and participated as the department's representative on the hospital's employee satisfaction committee.
  

RN, Adult Inpatient Unit, Hospital, City, State, April 2013-February 2014

• Provided care for patients with a broad range of psychiatric disorders as well as chemical dependency in an acute 30-40 bed unit.
  

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Member, American Nurses Association, January 2014-Present

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

Company Name, Hands-on-Healthcare Project, Location, July 2012

• Organized and participated in healthcare clinics providing education and resources to the people of (location).
  

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

I think education and professional experience should go before license information and skills highlights.

[RunBabyRN]

I would remove when you got licensed. It screams that you're new. Just put the expiration date.

For your skills, remove med administration. That's a pretty basic skills that all nurses can do coming out of school. This is a great section to highlight anything you have above the other candidates, and putting something like that makes it look like you're grasping at straws to put things there. Leave the other skills, because not every nurse has those.

Give richer descriptions of your jobs. These are where you need to shine! Back up everything in your skills section. If you list things there, but don't describe how they relate to your jobs, it weakens their significance.

Take out your professional attributes. I would do either that or the skills section, or merge the two, but having both is too much. Make those description more concise, and leave out the last one, because EVERY nurse wants to convince hiring managers of that. That's stuff you need specific examples of. For the second to last, just put that you are enrolled in a BSN program, expected grad 2016.

As weird as the placement sounds, put your education AFTER your professional experience, because of the dates. I had a recruiter suggest this change, and suddenly, I got A LOT more calls. I have had 3 interviews in the past week and a half after making this change. I would put professional affiliations with your certs.

Consider getting rid of your objective statement. Unless this is a focused resume for a very specific unit (for example, I have resumes for ED and women's health), it's not really needed.

How long did you do the volunteering? Was it just for the month? If not, put the range.