Wondering why you can't get hired or promoted: Resume + Interview hints!
I've been reviewing resumes 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. Read to learn "Why am I not getting hired?!"
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.
Resume Writing
Resume writing and interview tips for nurses from Univ. of Pennsylvania:
If I called a member of your current staff and asked them to tell me about you, what would they say?
What actions would you take if you came on board?
How do you lead?
What's your secret to getting subordinates to follow you?
How do you motivate employees?
How do you reward employees?
Describe your management philosophy and management style.
Some managers supervise their employees closely, while others use a loose rein. How do you manage?
How have you improved as a manager over the years?
How many people have you fired? how do you go about it?
How would you deal with an employee who broke a policy (ie: late for work)?
How would you deal with an employee who was not open and honest in communication?
It is very hard to attract (critical care, er, or, ob etc.) nurses to this area. What are some strategies you might use to have enough qualified nurses to be sure patients get quality care in the facility?
What single professional event made you most proud to be a manager/leader?
What event made you least proud to be a leader?
In prior positions did you have budgeting responsibilities? If so, what was the size of your operating budget?
Do you know how to figure fte's?
What is your definition of empowerment?
What is your definition of quality assurance (QA), and who should be responsible, for QA?
Tell me about a time when your manager made a decision you disagreed with. What actions did you take and why?
Tell me about a time when you had to handle a disruptive employee. what did you do? what were the results?
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate physician, patient, employee etc. how did you handle it and what was the result?
How have you managed to foster a successful team in your past positions?
What methods have you found successful in determining the priorities when you start in a new facility?
What methods do you use to foster open communication with staff and management?
Tell me about a work incident when you were totally honest, despite a potential risk or downside for the honesty.
How did you handle a recent situation where the direction from above was unclear and circumstances were changing?
Describe how you motivated a group of people to do something they did not want to do.
Who is your most effective subordinate and your least effective subordinate?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? What have you done to develop each of these subordinates?
Tell me about some of the people who have become successful as a result of your management. What was your role in their development?
What are the major training and development needs of the people in your department? How did you identify them? What are you doing about them?
Are there any techniques you have found useful in identifying particular subordinates' needs and potentials? Tell me how they worked with a particular person.
What do you do differently than other managers? Why? Examples?
What is the farthest you've had to bend your standards in order to succeed?
What job duties would you like to avoid if at all possible?
Describe a time in which you weighed the pros and cons of a situation and decided not to take action, even though you were under pressure to do so.
All of us have been in situations where we assigned work to other people and they didn't do what we intended. Can you tell me about some of those? What were the circumstances and how did you handle it?
Have you ever had problems in getting your subordinates to accept your ideas or department goals? What approach did you use? How effective was it?
Have you ever needed cooperation from groups that did not report to you? What did you do to gain cooperation? What were the satisfactions and disappointments?
Is there a trait or characteristic about you that you find is frequently misunderstood, that surprises you when you find out that people think that about you?
What 3 things do you hope to accomplish in your first year?
What do you expect of those who report to you? If candidate responds with a one word answer (for example saying, "support" you can probe further by asking the candidate to describe three behaviors that she/he would view as being supportive.
If you had an unfavorable plan (I.e., budget) to implement, what would you do to get the managers' buy in and support?
With the current nursing shortage, what are two solutions you would like to see put in place?
What kind of support do you offer managers, directors and front-line staff, knowing the stress of the nursing shortage and the increasing acuity of our patients?
Tell us about a high level innovative idea/change that you implemented. Was it or was it not successful?
Questions to ask the employer:
What unique challenges has this unit faced over the last year? (I.e. successes, failures, etc.)
What sets this organization apart from it's competitors?
How long is the orientation phase and what can I expect?
Will I work with one preceptor throughout or will I have several different preceptors?
How does the administration view nursing in terms of importance to the hospital?
How much independence do nurses have in being creative problem-solvers?
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?
How does the hospital handle new grads that might be slow in becoming oriented to their new jobs?
How long have you been the manager of this unit and what is your nursing background?
How many nurses have quit and how many hired for this unit in the past 6 months? How long have some of the nurses been working on this unit?
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?
Have you ever had a new grad who didn't seem to work out? How was it handled?
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?
Questions about the following are illegal to ask at a job interview here in the US:
your personal life (married, divorced, children)
family planning
pregnancy
provision for child care
religious preference
club memberships
height
weight
dependents
age (birth date)
ethnic background
maiden name
native language
physical problems
psychiatric problems
spouse's employment and/or earnings
credit rating
home ownership
automobile ownership
Resigning from 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 4-5weeks.
Managers often need 1-3 months notice to be eligible for rehire -- Don't burn your bridges.
I was wondering what the typical length of a nurse's resume should be?
Thanks
I have been told several times that as a new graduate nurse, your resume should only be one page because you do not yet have the extensive experience in the field to warrant a two page resume.
Excuse me? I'm guessing that the person posting this statement doesn't know much about what it takes to get in to nursing school or to get through nursing school these days.
You are right. I don't know "know much about what it takes to get in to nursing school or to get through nursing school these days."
This person does, however, have 20-plus years in Human Resources. If you are NOT familiar with this field, WE do the hiring. :trout:
So to state that today's new graduate nurses, or "kids" as you call them, cannot even fill out a simple job application is grossly inappropriate.
I was speaking from the standpoint of a generation of "kids" applying to ALL fields, not simply your field. And there have been MANY articles and studies to back up this assertion.
Since my daughter is 25 years old, and the majority of new nurses are still within that age range, I am more than comfortable using this term. The fact that the nursing field is attracting more and more older students does nothing to nullify the fact that they are still a minority.
And, to repeat myself, I was speaking of ALL the professional fields, NOT simply the Nursing fields.
A more accurate statement might be that many nurses from older generations cannot understand how to work a computer well enough to fill out the electronic job applications that most hospitals require now.
A generalization. There are many "older generations" that know their way around a computer as well as you and I.
The topic at hand is resume tips. Please stay on topic. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree.
I find the the "kids these days........." generationalization a bit offputting myself. As boomers we heard this practically daily from our parents generation and it's interesting that we are turning around doing the same thing. However, this topic serves no purpose in helping Graduate Nurses with resume tips. Thanks so much.
The topic at hand is resume tips. Please stay on topic. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree.
I find the the "kids these days........." generationalization a bit offputting myself. As boomers we heard this practically daily from our parents generation and it's interesting that we are turning around doing the same thing. However, this topic serves no purpose in helping Graduate Nurses with resume tips. Thanks so much.
Thank you all for your advice. I moved home after school and got a job at the local hospital. I have no idea what my resume looked like but it worked. (My BSN program spent minimal time on preparing a resume.) Actually I think the advice that they gave us was to seek out the English Department's Lab. My resume is somewhere in "My Documents" and I think I need to pull it out and "dust it off" so to speak.
I have a question regarding this: I have been a paramedic for the last 11 years; in that time I have worked as a firefighter/paramedic, on both 911 and interfacility ambulances, in an urgent care, and as a flight paramedic. My skill base and knowledge base is far more extensive than the average new grad nurse, yet I am still without a job after more than six months post-graduation. I am presently going through the critical care nursing certification course as an independent study course, hoping to be able to take the test on my own when I am done.
The reason is this: I have been told that my paramedic experience counts for nothing when it comes to nursing, yet the jobs that I am actually interested in (PACU, ICU, Tele, ER) all would be places that my skills in assessment and ability to act quickly based on rapidly changing (sometimes) patient conditions would be of primary importance.
Also, I really want to work part time until I recertify as a paramedic yet most places, however short staffed, seem to only want full time employees.
I have a question regarding this: I have been a paramedic for the last 11 years; in that time I have worked as a firefighter/paramedic, on both 911 and interfacility ambulances, in an urgent care, and as a flight paramedic. My skill base and knowledge base is far more extensive than the average new grad nurse, yet I am still without a job after more than six months post-graduation. I am presently going through the critical care nursing certification course as an independent study course, hoping to be able to take the test on my own when I am done.
The reason is this: I have been told that my paramedic experience counts for nothing when it comes to nursing, yet the jobs that I am actually interested in (PACU, ICU, Tele, ER) all would be places that my skills in assessment and ability to act quickly based on rapidly changing (sometimes) patient conditions would be of primary importance.
Also, I really want to work part time until I recertify as a paramedic yet most places, however short staffed, seem to only want full time employees.
How do I get past these roadblocks?
OK, you have officially scared me. LOL
I am in a similar circumstance, or rather I will be once I graduate. I have been a paramedic, remote medic on an offshore oil rig (suture, advanced airway, etc). On top of that, I am a 45 year old male. Are you telling me I am out of luck in terms of getting a job?????
I have a question regarding this: I have been a paramedic for the last 11 years; in that time I have worked as a firefighter/paramedic, on both 911 and interfacility ambulances, in an urgent care, and as a flight paramedic. My skill base and knowledge base is far more extensive than the average new grad nurse, yet I am still without a job after more than six months post-graduation. I am presently going through the critical care nursing certification course as an independent study course, hoping to be able to take the test on my own when I am done.
The reason is this: I have been told that my paramedic experience counts for nothing when it comes to nursing, yet the jobs that I am actually interested in (PACU, ICU, Tele, ER) all would be places that my skills in assessment and ability to act quickly based on rapidly changing (sometimes) patient conditions would be of primary importance.
Also, I really want to work part time until I recertify as a paramedic yet most places, however short staffed, seem to only want full time employees.
How do I get past these roadblocks?
I am sorry to hear about your troubles finding a job. I know the part-time bit may be what is hurting you the most. A lot of places don't like to hire a new graduate part time because the orientation and training process is based on a certain number of hours a week. Part time hours will prolong your orientation and hospitals want you trained and working as soon as possible. I don't know if this is why you are having trouble, but just a suggestion!! Good luck and keep trying!
I agree with the last post. Nearly all hospitals refuse to hire new grad nurses into part time positions. What they are willing to do is hire new grad nurses into full time positions working 3 twelve hour shifts per week.
Here's what bothers me about recruiters: I have it clearly stated on my resume that I'm a new grad, and they call me about positions requiring years of experience. Hello? Do they even bother to read? I know it's not all of them but when it happens it's really irritating.
.thumb.jpg.73a79c126e5bdf1f9a2c7db81fd616e9.jpg){kind=small}
sunflrz321
64 Posts
I have been told several times that as a new graduate nurse, your resume should only be one page because you do not yet have the extensive experience in the field to warrant a two page resume.