Updated Resume - ConCrit please!

blinky, ASN, RN · Jun 25, 2012

Is listing our clinical experiences the new thing to do on resumes or standard? first time i've seen it that detailed.

jamie.glaze · Jun 25, 2012

It was sugested to me in other posts that I make it more clear what I did in clinicals, since that is the absolute bulk of my Nursing experience. So that's what I did

llg, PhD, RN · Jun 25, 2012

I would definitely not include that much detail about your school clinicals. That section is crowding out everything else. It would be better to include at least a brief statement about your previous employment even if it was not health-related. Your previous work experience can show that you were a reliable employee who could hold down a job.

Also, your school experience should be clearly labeled as such. Calling it "clinical experience" does not sufficiently clarify that it was as a student and not an employee.

1. Better label the clinical section -- being sure to use the word "student" in there.

2. Shorten that student clinical section

3. Include a brief statement about your previous employment so that it is obvious that you are a great employee

4. Put your educational experience first. They will see that you are a new grad, then the whole thing with the student clinicals will make sense to them.

Good luck!

blinky, ASN, RN · Jun 25, 2012

It was sugested to me in other posts that I make it more clear what I did in clinicals, since that is the absolute bulk of my Nursing experience. So that's what I did

sadly every job psoting i have seen, they clearly say they will not count student nurse "clinical work" as "nursing experience" all those house of crap we went through and now its not experience? funny huh.....

jamie.glaze · Jun 25, 2012

blinky I know what you mean, it's is almost as if we just walk off the street and magically obtain an RN license. I feel that our training should count as experience, especially in my case since by the end of my last clinicals I was literally doing all the nursing care with my preceptor standing by and watching. I took every patient she had as my own and it worked almost like a residency does. It's very discouraging to be told that two years of being on the floor actually caring for patients doesn't count.

llg - I do not have a stable work history, last non-temporary job was 5 years ago when I had to leave after only 5 months of employment due to a complicated pregnancy, I have actually been told by a recruiter that it looks bad on my resume that I haven't held very many jobs for very long. The longest thing I have is a one year stint at a company with no advancement opportunities - so when I was offered a job with more opportunity I took it, and being 19 at the time I wasn't really considering that I would somehow get pregnant after being diagnosed "infertile" and that I would have a complicated pregnancy that would require me to leave the new job. I was told to come back after I had the baby, but the company went under 1 month before I delivered. Circumstances. I will take the idea to label it Student Clinical Experience however and put my education first.

jamie.glaze · Jun 28, 2012

Here it is with changes:

Jamie E. Glaze, RN

address

phone * email

Education

May 2012 ***** College - Fort Worth, TX Associate of Applied Science in Nursing

May 2005 *****- Mansfield, TX High School Diploma

Nursing Education Clinical Rotations

Spring 2012 ***** -- Renal, Oncology, and Ortho/MedSurg Floors

Engaged in supervised patient care of 2 -4 patients per day often with multiple complex diagnoses
Administered medications and assessed patients independently with preceptor supervision, maintained electronic documentation and confidentiality, and worked with interdisciplinary teams

Fall 2011 *****-- Renal, MedSurg/Cardiac, and Neurological Floors

Assisted in medication administration, assessment, and care of pediatric patients with acute and chronic conditions

Fall 2011 *****-- L&D, Postpartum, Antepartum, and Newborn Nursery

Engaged in assisted care of patients in all stages of obstetrical care and healthy newborn care
Assisted in perinatal nursing care and observed birthing process, engaged in supervised assessment and care of antepartum and postpartum women, as well as healthy neonates

Summer 2011 *****-- ***** Pavilion and Psych Emergency Center

Observed the care of adult and adolescent individuals at many stages of the mental health continuum
Participated in therapeutic communication with patients and studied treatment plans for many conditions

Spring 2011 *****-- Medical/Surgical Floor

Engaged in assisted care of 1-2 patients per day, often with multiple simple diagnoses
Administered medications and assessed patients with preceptor assistance, charted patient care and progress

Fall 2011 *****-- Long Term Acute Care and Rehabilitation Floor

Actively participated in and observed basic patient care
Assisted with medication administration and patient assessments, documented patient care

Employment History

March 2012 - May 2012 Siggins, Heermans, & White, Inc. Field Merchandiser (Seasonal)

March 2011 - May 2011 Siggins, Heermans, & White, Inc. Field Merchandiser (Seasonal)

March 2007 - August 2007 Sunbelt Services Field Service Representative

March 2006 - March 2007 Amerifleet Transportation Dispatch Assistant

Certifications

BLS - Healthcare Provider NRP (In Progress - June 29^th) S.T.A.B.L.E. (In Progress - July 10)

Professional Memberships

AWHONN

Rednights · Jun 28, 2012

I dunno, looks like a bunch of copy and pasting action going on here. I like how you highlighted the preceptor bit, but everything else reads exactly the same regardless of how you altered it slightly to not appear as so at first glance. My quick impression is that you did a ton and had "unique" experiences during your clinicals, but it all reads like any ordinary things any normal NS does. What I'm saying is those bullet points are highly misleading.

Actively participated in and observed basic patient care
Engaged in assisted care of 1-2 patients per day, often with multiple simple diagnoses
Observed the care of adult and adolescent individuals at many stages of the mental health continuum

Same thing over and over again... it's all implied

I think the only highlight at the moment is your preceptor which a lot of NS do not get because of the lack of funding. Now I don't really understand if this was a legit internship/externship or whatever (did you get paid?) or this was just a normal day in clinicals for you. I think this should be emphasized much more.

You could really at most ad a short bullet point on those seasonal jobs (fulfiling customer requests, inventory, blah blah blah).

In the world of a glut of New Grad resumes stuffed into every recruiters mailbox / email ... having no experience/volunteer outside of clinicals is going to look very bad on your part ... I understand you had some personal problems, but it's def not going to come through on a piece of paper if you can't explain yourself person to person. Leaving your work out as suggested by that guy who looked at your resume ... I couldn't agree with . makes it like you did absolutely nothing during school, you'd be skipped over immediately for being run of the mill.

Remove Highschool info .. they don't care ... include gpa if high (3.5+)

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jul 2, 2012

Remove your high school information. When applying for professional jobs and with a higher degree, it is assumed that you have a high school education. I agree with llg that the education sections belongs on top.