The perfect resume is about as elusive as Big Foot. Large numbers of us believe it’s out there, but no one has ever seen one. Even with the perpetual shortage of nurses in the healthcare industry today, resumes still matter. If you’re applying for your first nursing job they matter because there may be three openings, one of which is much more desirable. They matter for experienced nurses because if you are applying for a management position, an entirely different set of standards will apply in your resume evaluation than if you were applying for a staff nurse role.
The other important rule of thumb in this process is that even though they are coming from the same person, no two resumes need be the same. A thorough analysis of what the employer is looking for will provide you with guidelines for the structure and the highlights of your resume. You look entirely different in the mirror if you are face forward or if you are in profile, right? Resumes can look different as well.
Nurse Resume Design – the Opening
There’s an entire industry built around resume design and the job search, but here are a few basic points. Lead your resume with a list of qualifications, in bullet point form if you think it looks good. Remember that resumes are usually scanned, not read. Even if you have no nursing experience, cite your student nursing assignments and any specialized courses you may have taken.
Follow your qualifications with a brief narrative on your professional goals. Be sure to make it apparent how the job you’re applying for fits into your aspirations. Keep the idealism to a minimum and focus on professional ambitions.
Expertise and Experience in the Nurse Resume
Another set of bullet points in the document should be your areas of expertise. These differ from your qualifications in that they speak to experience and not necessarily educational qualifications. One of the important factors to understand with regard to resumes today is that, in the larger HR departments, they are scanned for keywords. Take a close look at the job you’re applying for and give some thought to what words might match your expertise with their job requirements. Expertise is tough when you are right out of school; all you can rely on is extra hours on the floor as a student nurse, patient populations where you felt you excelled – it’s more like anticipated expertise but make it sound as real as you can.
Detailing experience can be focused on the job opening, but ought to include as wide a variety of assignments as possible. Experience doesn’t require long periods in the role, merely that you have been there, done that. This is the portion of the resume where you should detail the type(s) of facilities where you have gained your experience.
Closing out the Nurse Resume
Here a little puffery is probably in order. A list of achievements such as taking on a mentoring assignment, other training roles, extended work with physicians in a particular procedure or exam; any citations or recognition you may have received along the way. Once again, short and to the point is best. One of the most frustrating things about resume writing is that the rule “less is more” defines the exercise.
