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The Basics Of A Resume
When you send out your Resume, you are giving potential employers a look into your potential as an employee. An RN resume should tell the potential employer the right idea and that is that their practise or hospital needs your efficient and compassionate nature together with your skills and knowledge. Getting the job that you have been working for so many months if not years to qualify for can be as simple as writing a good resume. Put your best foot forward and let them know that you are the one they want to hire and that they would be making a mistake to turn you down.
Writing an RN resume is not just for RNs who have been nursing as RNs but also for those who have graduated with the degree as well as any other nurses who are looking at getting a promotion.
Tips On What Your Resume Should Look Like
An RN resume should speak of efficiency and competence on all levels. There are many ways to set up a resume and yours may look like someone else’s at first glance, but the content of the resume should stand out from all of the other resumes that they may have received. The layout of the resume itself is also what can make or break your chances of getting the job you have always wanted.
Grab Their Attention From The Start
With your resume being your first contact with your potential employer, it is important that you obtain and maintain their interest and attention when they are reading through your resume. It should be laid out properly with clear margins and neat sections that are clearly definable by clear headings.
After a short summary of who you are, you can start your resume off with a summary of the qualifications you have. Right from the first glance, they will be able to see if you are the person they are looking for and they will be grateful for the time saver.
Give them a taste by giving them a mental picture of who you are and what you can do. You can also outline your career goals so that they can see that you are happy to work your way up and that you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve within your chosen career.
Be Clear About Who You Are
Who will they be addressing in the interview and where do they come from? This is the type of question that the interviewer will want to ask themselves first when picking up a resume. Who you are will not make you stand out from the rest but there are certain factors in there that could cause your resume to be declined such as your state of health. You can be the highest trained individual, but if you do not have a good health record, you will find it difficult to find work in the medical world.
When you are filling in your personal details you should be very clear about your name and your family name and it is also a good idea to put in the name that you prefer to be called.
It is also very important to constantly update your RN Resume with your current address so that you are sure your correspondence will go to the correct address. It looks unprofessional to write it in afterwards or update it by hand. It is much better to keep a soft copy on your computer or on a disk so that you can update it regularly.
Make sure that all of your contact details are included as well and that they are current. You do not want to let your future employer down by amazing them with your resume and then leaving them with no way of contacting you.
Let Them Know What You Do
Training and qualification is very important in the nursing field. One does not simply decide to become a nurse and get the job. There is a lot of training and accomplishments to obtain before being eligible for a job in this field.
Your qualifications are very important to your employer. List everything that is relevant. Any qualification that you may have that is relevant to the work that you will be doing should be listed clearly.
A good place to start is with your high school qualifications and any honors that you may have achieved during high school. Any other academic achievements you may have achieved while studying can also be included. This will show your dedication to your education in the field as well.
Any licenses that you may have qualified for can also be included in this section or any additional training that you have received will also be a good addition into your educational qualifications.
Your Working Experience
The people who are looking at your resume wants to see what you have accomplished and they want to see a reason in your experience to hire you. Will you fit into their plans for their institution or will you stick out and look out of place?
The section on where you have worked before is very important and should give a very clear indication about where you have worked, how long you have worked there and what you did when you worked there. You should never include any information in your resume that has nothing to do with nursing. You are not only wasting your time but the time of the person who has to then sift through all of the information to find what they are looking for in an employee.
When you have not worked for periods of time in between occupations you should give a reason why you were not working during that time.
It is also a good idea to give a breakdown of the responsibilities you had while you were employed at a specific institution. This will give your future employer an idea of what type of worker you are and how you would fit into the roll they have planned for you. The best way to paint a picture of your work is to give practical examples of how you handled a situation and what challenges you overcame.
You can also give a description of how many beds there were in the wards you were working in and what the nurse to patient ratio was in the institution you worked. This will give a clear indication of the workload you are able to handle. You should never exaggerate in these cases as the truth will come out as soon as you are employed and you cannot cope with the workload you are given or the recruiters can contact your previous employer to verify the information that you have given them. This exaggeration will be seen as dishonesty and you may never be able to get work in the industry again because news does spread. Your reputation as a nurse should remain untarnished.
Do not forget to mention any volunteer nursing you may have been involved in as this is a good indication of your dedication towards your craft.
There are so many situations that need to be faced by nurses on a daily basis that not one day is the same and no one day gives the same challenges as the previous one, but the more you are faced with challenges, the quicker you will learn to adapt to the situation and this will count in your favor. List the challenges you have had to face while you were at your previous employers and how you handled them or overcame these challenges. This also goes a far way to prove your integrity and work ethics.
Who Will Vouch For You?
Not everything you have in your resume speaks for itself. Your previous employers can vouch for your ethics and your quality of work. It is important to note previous employers that have worked closely with you so that they can give a genuine impression of what you are like as an employee.
Personal and character reference can give an impression of your personality and kind of a person you are.
Do not list anyone as a professional reference that is not a doctor or a nurse. This will look like you just put any information in your resume to make it look full. Stick to the basics.
When listing these references, you should list their titles and their job descriptions as well so that the interviewer who calls for the reference will know who he is speaking to and where this person fits into the picture.
What Do You Specialize In?
You can add a section in as well that lists your expertise. What would you like to specialize in and where do your strong points lie. You could use your skills section to outline your expertise as well. List the field in which you have worked, for example, geriatrics or obstetrics. List what you have accomplished in these areas and what you can do and what you have done. Be specific and don’t jump around because this may cause confusion.
Keep It Short And Simple
- The best ways to keep your RN resume to the point is to:
- Keep bullet points short and to the point
- Do not elaborate more than you need to
- Keep everything relevant to the subject
- List qualifications and skills
- State timeframes clearly
Show Them You Are The Best One For The Job
When you are typing out your resume, you want to give enough information that they would want you for the job, but not enough that they don’t need to see you. Give them just enough to want to know more about you. You need to let them know that you are an achiever as well and that you are not just involved in your trade when you are at work. Taking part in social and community work where nursing is concerned will count in your favor so don’t be shy to boast about them. List all of the community projects you are involved in.
Did you organize a new project at your previous workplace? List it in your resume as an achievement because it is. All of these things will make you stand out above the rest.
Returning To The Field Of Nursing
Once you have left a career for a certain time it is often more difficult to get back into it than it is to get into it in the first place. Any other work that you may have done in the mean time should be noted to explain your absence in nursing and that it was not a complete absence from the job market, but these do not need to stand out. Rather emphasize everything you have done concerning nursing while simply stating the rest. If you remained active in any out-of-work nursing activities and projects, you can name these as well so that the future employer will be able to see that even though you were not a working nurse, you still kept in training.
Getting That Promotion
Should a position open up in your establishment and you feel that you have done the training and have the qualifications to fill the shoes you need to prove that you have just as much potential as anyone else who would be applying for the job.
Make Them Believe In You
Often when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. If you want to be taken seriously then you need to put your best foot forward without stepping on any toes. Make sure that you are not putting yourself forward in spite of someone else and that you do not embellish on anything in your resume. If you put just one falsehood or exaggeration in your resume then you may scorch your chances at employment in the future as well. Honesty and integrity and the ethics of the nursing profession should lead all of your actions and choices.