Wondering why you can't get hired or promoted? Resume + Interview hints!
I've been reviewing resumes for open positions in my department and can't believe the resumes I've received: misspelling, words crossed off, no cover letter, including personal information about family life.
Look at your resume! Please don't send a resume if you have none of the job qualifications, unless your cover letter has explanation. eg. enrolled in education program etc.
I was taught in LPN and BSN program how to prepare a resume. Is this a lost art being skipped??
Also agree with our BB members that calling facility and finding out who is department manager, then forwarding your resume to them along with hr is great idea.
I work in smaller organization than hospital but has taken me over two months to get open positions advertised and three weeks to get resumes sent to me...those that sent to me directly have interview same week.
Questions during the job interview should be related to the job you are inquiring about. The following questions is illegal to ask during a job interview here in the U.S.:
Your personal life (married, divorced, children)
Pregnancy
Provision for child care
Religion
Club Memberships
Dependents
Ethnic background
Native Language
Physical Problems
Psychiatric Problems
Spouse's Employment
Credit Rating
Home Ownership
Questions You Should Ask (From Hospital Soup)
How long is the orientation phase and what can I expect?
If for any reason it seems that orientation is just not going well for me what will happen and who should I talk to about it?
Will I work with one preceptor throughout or will I have several different preceptors?
Who will be precepting me? Can you tell me something about them? Will I always have the same preceptor or will there be more than one?
What kind of professional advancement is available to nurses here?
What are some of the attributes of working for your hospital?
If I were to get a job offer from another hospital, why would I want to work for this one?
What is the criterion you will use to select the person you are looking for?
What kind of support can I expect from the nursing educators and preceptors?
What unique challenges has this unit faced over the last year? (I.e. successes, failures, etc.)
How much independence do nurses have in being creative problem-solvers?
Resigning From A Position
Check your facilities policy and procedures--most require that you give notice equal to amount of vacation provided, often 2-3 weeks; long term employed RNs can be 4-5 weeks.
Managers often need 1-3 months notice to be eligible for rehire --don't burn your bridges.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Maybe so, but it helped many of us in rural areas where lining up work was not so easy to do ---especially prior to graduation. Also, it was 7 years ago. May be, by now, policies have changed on this one. Not sure.
My school conducted Resume clinics prior to graduation for all senior nursing students. They even brought in the HR person from the hospital across the street.
This is a great thread, thanks. I did receive training on resume and cover-letter writing in my ADN program, thankfully. It was covered in the last weeks of our final semester. A plus for me was, being in the military, I did get the practice for writing resumes, as we had to often submit our own awards packages. And letter-writing was a huge part of my responsibilities in the Air Force, as well. I got really good at it!
But I think ALL nursing programs need to address this very important issue, not just here and there. I thank you for posting this thread-----we all, myself included----could stand to learn a few tricks and brush up our skills. Very informative.
And I do agree, a sticky would be a good idea, here or in the nursing career threads!
I absolutely love Belusi....what a shame......Anyhow all the resume comments make sense. Since I am going through a rough time and need to secure employment fast, I hired someone to do the dirty work. He is a professional medical resume writer and his wife who is a nurse manager actually reviews them. It was costly, $175.00 but you have to figure it will pay off by presenting yourself in the right light. Some may think this is unneccesary, which it very well maybe, but if you have a weak link there, it may help. Anyone interested please e-mail me. Second thing I would like to mention. Nursing is in a professional realm, look professional! Not implying anyone here isn't but earrings dangling from your nose, eyebrow, ect......tatoos that say look at me, look at me!......really should be not seen. Just my humble opinion. ? Bindy
Does anyone think, that interviewing as a newly graduate nurse, you can have too much experience working as a student nurse that it would hinder getting hired as an RN? I know someone who is having problems getting hired...
With a nursing shortage that is 'real', wouldn't one would think recruitors would be less picky? Just another reason to doubt the hoopla about a 'nursing shortage', and see it for what it really is: an excuse for understaffing.
Actually, no, my BSN program did not have a course on resume writing!!! At the time, I didn't think it was necessary for me as I was a "mature" student who had worked in other (non-professional) areas and had applied for numerous other jobs and written more than my share of resumes through the years.
I am > 12 years out of nursing school and have worked only one position as an RN (in inpatient psychiatric care). I didn't realize how difficult it would be to update my resume until I tried a few yrs ago when I found myself dissatisfied w/my current position.
A resume/skills summary seemed almost impossible to complete. It is such a specialized area (nursing in general and psych). Nursing in particular.
Thank you for posting those links. I believe I will bookmark them for future reference.
It is not the form, the grammar or the spelling that has me stumped. How do I translate what a nurse does every day into layman's terms? Although I have a BSN, I am "just a staff nurse" and do not have any "notable" accomplishments to list. Although, really, the job I do every day, which involves judgement, discernment, tact and highly developed communication skills is pretty amazing. I really have a hard time illustrating these as concrete skills.
With a nursing shortage that is 'real', wouldn't one would think recruitors would be less picky? Just another reason to doubt the hoopla about a 'nursing shortage', and see it for what it really is: an excuse for understaffing.
Karen, thank you so much for posting all that great advice and the links, I bookmarked them all. Thank you! And thank you to everyone else for all the great advice!
I'm probably one of the only May graduates that doesn't have a job lined up yet. I wanted to wait until I got back home, so I could start looking and go in person to inquire and talk with recruiters.
Now I'm just scared to death and just don't know where to start with writing my resume, eeeek! I have a couple questions though. I'm looking at a certain new grad program that I would love to get into, but I don't meet their GPA requirement. I am still planning on applying though, do you think that's inappropriate? I meet all the other requirements/qualifications, but I had a really bad semester a couple years ago and it hurt my GPA.
Another question I have is do I need to be listing all my clinical experiences on my resume? I saw this mentioned in another thread and the answers were conflicting ..... some said no, some said yes. What do you all think?
As someone who has read a lot lot of resumes, applications, etc. and done lots of interviews ... I wholeheartedly agree with the previous posts in this thread. In fact, as coordinator of a nursing student extern program, I have decided to emphasize job hunting, career planning, and employee skills in our extern classes as opposed to offering a lot of physiology and nursing care classes. The applicants who "do it right" really stand out from those who don't know how to make a positive impression on a potential employer.
Here is another tip for resumes:
Do NOT pad your resume or try to make school experiences look like employee experiences. I've seen a lot of that -- and it makes a very bad impression. It makes me think the applicant is sneaky, someone I can't completely trust. No one wants to hire a person they can't trust.
With a nursing shortage that is 'real', wouldn't one would think recruitors would be less picky? Just another reason to doubt the hoopla about a 'nursing shortage', and see it for what it really is: an excuse for understaffing.
Yes, and I have been through quite a few interviews where it was blatantly obvious that the recruiter had already made up his/her mind as to who they were going to hire...before I even arrived. Grrrrr.....! :angryfire
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
Maybe so, but it helped many of us in rural areas where lining up work was not so easy to do ---especially prior to graduation. Also, it was 7 years ago. May be, by now, policies have changed on this one. Not sure.