Starting to become hopeless with this resume, please help?

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Apr 5, 2012

Objective

To secure a responsible, permanent position as a Registered Nurse, in which my education, training and skills may be effectively utilized towards advancement.

Education

Employment

Qualifications

Resourceful Registered Nurse with experience in direct patient care and the ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities in a nursing environment.

Hardworking and energetic; adapt easily to change of environment and work schedule.

Maintain critical thinking skills essential to providing competent and dignified patient care.

Personable with a positive attitude; interface effectively with patients, families, and other professional staff members.

Clinical Training

Uphold high standards of nursing care for a diverse population of patients.

Performs total patient assessments including neuro, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, IV site/line, surgical wounds, and catheters.

Educated patients and their families on disease processes, medications and pain management techniques.

Followed aseptic procedures and provided direct patient care in accordance with universal precautions with emphasis on surgical wound care, intake and output and ostomies.

This is a sample of mine.. This is old but as you can see I bundled my "clinical" experience to highlight areas of my education, not so much the site and amount of hours I was there (that info can come out in the interview). You have one page and a cover letter to get their attention, make the most of your words. I would remove anything that is not healthcare specific, ie : basic training, ROTC. Hope this helps..

Candyn · Apr 5, 2012

When you bullet your clinical description, try to keep it consistent. On the other hand, If you list 2 bullets for one, do 2 for another as well. Try to keep consistency throughout resume. I agree with above post, add the qualification part. Keep it close to the job description

GHGoonette, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2012

The only thing that I'm missing here is that your resume doesn't say much about you, other than a host of very impressive skills and even more impressive experience! Do you submit a covering letter along with the CV (sorry - Curriculum Vitae aka Resume ) stating why you would like to join the organization you are applying to and what your future goals are? What about hobbies and other interests? Married? Children? Planning marriage or children? These are things that used to be of interest to prospective employers, and I assume things haven't changed that much!

What I might do is after my name, age etc, all that basic stuff, is list "Education and Training", and put everything down; High School, grades achieved, followed by what you put right at the bottom as basic training, moving on to your nursing degree. Right underneath that, I would list "Additional Qualifications", which would be things like Computer Literacy, MCSE, for example. The important thing is to put it in chronological order.

I would follow this with "Employment History" (or record), again listing the jobs you have held and your duties in chronological order. It appears that your career has been almost exclusively health care or first aid related, so I don't know if it's necessary to separate "Healthcare Experience" and "Professional Experience", unless some of them were related to your nursing training. In that case, you might want to include putting that info under the "Education and Training" heading. All in the interest of making your resume more concise and easier to follow.

Try switching it around as I suggested, and if you know anyone who works in a Human Resources office, get their input. Then again, sometimes it's necessary to get professional help with compiling a resume, especially if you are being rejected repeatedly.

Good luck with the job hunt!

somedaypeds · Apr 5, 2012

I think your "professional experience" is more interesting than your "healthcare experience", but I had to read through a lot of "boring" stuff to get to it. I liked the suggestion of sun0408 to include it all together.

Also, this is tough job market right now - at least where I live and from all that I am hearing a lot on these boards. Getting professional advice on your resume may be a big help to you.

jchatlpn · Apr 5, 2012

I removed my objective a while back and I didn't get much luck with that so I put it back. I also had a resume with a job description that was specific to the job I was applying for so if it was home health, then I would plan my objective around workng one on one with clients and such. I also shortened my job descriptions and experience to short phrases, not sentences. So as a school nurse I would handle every injury that came in from recess and emergencies from ranging from sports related accidents to workman's comp employee accidents. I also had to maintain files. So I put Office Management, Health and Crisis Management, Triage, etc. This way, I was able to put them in a bullet format that was in a table, but with two columns. That helped shorten my resume so I could get it down to one page. I heard that these days that there are a few things you can do to catch a hiring manager's eye and a long resume with many pages may be a turn off. I also removed anything not relevant.

You have so much experience, are you telling me you are having a hard time finding a job as an RN? Have you tried the VA? I was also thinking that if you are fluent in Mandarin then maybe try researching a website related to the cultural center. Maybe you can find an area that has a hospital where nurses with that language skill are specifically needed.

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Apr 5, 2012

The experience you have listed is clinical rotations correct? Hospitals don't count that as RN experience but it does help get you in. The job market is very tight, see if you can find someone in your area to help with your resume or google has some great tips for professional RN resumes.

panpan · Apr 6, 2012

Wow, I am already so grateful for all of the advice and help I've gotten from you guys. Truly, you guys are wonderful for taking time out of your days to look at my resume.

Sun - I really like your layout, I should bundle my clinical experience together, b/c the experience I listed are from my clinical rotations. I've researched some professional resume writing website and I plan on trying them out. Most of them guarantees at least an interview within 30 days and a job in 60 days.. dont know how reliable it is, but if it's money back guaranteed, then why not. Thanks for the help, I will probably take out basic training and rotc.

Candyn - Yeah, definitely going to try to everything more consistent and neat. Thank you for ur advice. =)

GHGoonette - Thanks, but some of my experience came from Clinical rotations. I did not write a cover letter, and there is no excuse. I am working on one as we speak. I really like your idea of combining Healthcare and professional experience together and then adding Education and Training, i think that would make more sense and make it easier to follow. Thank u so much for ur suggestions. Definitely going to use them.

Somedaypeds - yeah I agree, the first portion is pretty boring. The job market is really tough, one of the nurse recruiter told me that they get 1,000 applicants a week, and they have to give priority to their externs first. But ya definitely going to seek professional advice now.

jchatlpn - Ahh yes, I should stick to shorter phrases instead of sentence, might be too much to read for a recruiter when they have thousands of other potential candidate's resume to look through. But again, some of my experience are from my clinical rotation as a student nurse, so they dont count as actual job experiences. I actually haven't tried the VA yet, but I should really expand my job search and not limit myself to just hospitals. Thank you very much for your advice as well :]

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Apr 6, 2012

The only thing that I'm missing here is that your resume doesn't say much about you, other than a host of very impressive skills and even more impressive experience! Do you submit a covering letter along with the CV (sorry - Curriculum Vitae aka Resume ) stating why you would like to join the organization you are applying to and what your future goals are? What about hobbies and other interests? Married? Children? Planning marriage or children? These are things that used to be of interest to prospective employers, and I assume things haven't changed that much!
What I might do is after my name, age etc, all that basic stuff, is list "Education and Training", and put everything down; High School, grades achieved, followed by what you put right at the bottom as basic training, moving on to your nursing degree. Right underneath that, I would list "Additional Qualifications", which would be things like Computer Literacy, MCSE, for example. The important thing is to put it in chronological order.
I would follow this with "Employment History" (or record), again listing the jobs you have held and your duties in chronological order. It appears that your career has been almost exclusively health care or first aid related, so I don't know if it's necessary to separate "Healthcare Experience" and "Professional Experience", unless some of them were related to your nursing training. In that case, you might want to include putting that info under the "Education and Training" heading. All in the interest of making your resume more concise and easier to follow.
Try switching it around as I suggested, and if you know anyone who works in a Human Resources office, get their input. Then again, sometimes it's necessary to get professional help with compiling a resume, especially if you are being rejected repeatedly.
Good luck with the job hunt!

Maybe my way of thinking is incorrect, but my age does NOT appear on my resume. It didn't when I was "younger" and won't now that I'm "older". I also do not put my HS info on a resume, it was a long time ago and its usually a given that if you got into college/nursing school, you've completed HS requirements. JMO =)

GHGoonette, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2012

Maybe my way of thinking is incorrect, but my age does NOT appear on my resume. It didn't when I was "younger" and won't now that I'm "older". I also do not put my HS info on a resume, it was a long time ago and its usually a given that if you got into college/nursing school, you've completed HS requirements. JMO =)

It's a long, long time since I needed to apply for a job - I've been in my currnt one for 22 years, and back in the days when I applied for this one, there was no need for "CVs" or "Resumes"; you phoned the hospital and made an appointment to see the hospital matron (ie NSM ), and if she liked your face and had an opening she gave you a form to fill in which included questions like DOB.

Most CVs that I have seen, or helped compile, commenced with :

Name:

Address:

Date of Birth.

IDK, like I said, these are the kind of things that used to be of interest to prospective employers...

panpan · Apr 6, 2012

.... if she liked your face and had an opening she gave you a form to fill in which included questions like DOB.

Wow, that would make job hunting so much easier if it was like that now!

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2012

It's a long, long time since I needed to apply for a job - I've been in my currnt one for 22 years, and back in the days when I applied for this one, there was no need for "CVs" or "Resumes"; you phoned the hospital and made an appointment to see the hospital matron (ie NSM ), and if she liked your face and had an opening she gave you a form to fill in which included questions like DOB.
Most CVs that I have seen, or helped compile, commenced with :
Name:
Address:
Date of Birth.

IDK, like I said, these are the kind of things that used to be of interest to prospective employers...

Well, they aren't anymore.

Just out of curiosity - are you American or European? It seems like Europeans use "CV" while Americans use "resume." I do believe that the European CV is actually quite a bit different than the American resume. Age is actually a protected class in the US, although discrimination is still rampant.

I was taught maybe a dozen years ago or so that it was okay to put hobbies and interests on your resume. By an elderly teacher who insisted that we learn how to fill out job applications using typewriters. The current trend, by all means, is a single-page resume that can be glanced at to glean important information. Whether you play tennis on the weekends or are a hot chick in your early 20s is irrelevant.