New nurse resume writing ebook 2015 PDF

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The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com

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NURSE RÉSUMÉ WRITING GUIDE 

The Secret to Creating A Winning Résumé: Expert techniques & strategies.

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Expert Strategies: Quick and easy to follow.

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Identify Résumé Keywords: Learn how to locate and use them.

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Action Verbs: Use our favorite nursing-relevant verbs.

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Excellent Résumé Examples: Study our samples and use as a guide.

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Create an electronic/plain text/ASCII resume for online submission.

Interview-Winning Writing Techniques

Copyright © 2015 www.nurseresumewritingservice.com | 321-407-7209 | [email protected]

The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com WHAT IS THE SECRET TO WRITING A GREAT RÉSUMÉ? Résumés need to be written with marketing power to showcase your ability to meet the needs of your future employer. You will succeed in creating an effective résumé by fulfilling your prospective employers’ desire to hire the best and by helping them hire a person (you) that will produce the results they seek. So what do hiring managers want from nurses? The ideal nurse demonstrates superior efficiency, focus on quality, and delivering excellence: 

Follows safety procedures with a sense of urgency and outmost importance.

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Competently prioritizes patient care based on acuity and alignment with the facility’s standards of care.

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Understands the nursing process to improve patient outcomes.

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Builds family and patient rapport with patience, earning trust and promoting wellness.

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Works well with other members of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary care teams.

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Serves as an hospital ambassador, strengthening the reputation of the facility so families continue to bring their loved ones to that facility.

Then why are most nursing résumés written as if they were job descriptions and nothing more? Your résumé must do much more than list information about your clinical skills, where you went to school, and where you have worked. This information alone is not enough! Your résumé is a vital part of your own personal marketing campaign: You are using it to sell your talents and abilities, providing tangible information as to why you are a superior candidate over others who are also vying for the position. “On average there are more than 300 applicants for every one position You MUST standout” Hiring managers have many nursing applicants to pick from, so you must immediately capture their attention in a way that answers their most burning questions: Why they should hire you? Therefore, presenting a well-written and beautifully-designed résumé that captures and keeps your reader’s attention will open doors to great interviews. The following will assist you in preparing a résumé that will inspire action by the hiring authority, jolting them out of their chairs and straight to their phones—to call YOU!

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH MOST NURSING RÉSUMÉS? I will tell you! Student nurses all craft very similar, cookie cutter résumés. This creates a situation where hiring managers cannot distinguish one new nurse candidate from the next. Therefore: 

You must indicate why you and not another student nurse from your graduating class.

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You must treat your clinical performance as relevant experience and highlight the ways you stood out from the rest group.

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You must leverage your school activities, leadership, volunteerism, and any letters of recommendations your preceptors gave you.

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You must write your résumé with persuasive language so that it speaks to the reader and inspires them to call you—it really is marketing!

Experienced Nurses often repeat the same job description over and over. It is not the best marketing tactic to stick to listing the same information under each title. I understand that perhaps you have been on the medical surgical floor with five different employers during the past ten years, but what different experiences did you have at the various hospitals you worked at? Tell this story and how it shaped you into becoming a better nurse. 

You must make your résumé inviting to hiring managers by making your résumé interesting and concise.

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Streamline the writing and try not to be repetitive under each job title.

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You must come across as 100% competent so as to guarantee they won’t make a mistake by hiring you!

Copyright © 2015 www.nurseresumewritingservice.com | 321-407-7209 | [email protected]

The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com PREPARING TO WRITE Your résumé is a marketing tool, “selling” your unique services to a new employer, so you must promote your notable skills in order to win interviews over other qualified competitors. BUT (this is huge!), what makes you different as a nurse? What beyond your academic preparation, your clinical skills, and your experience can you promote to make you stand out from other nurses on paper? Answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper as you will use these answers to write your resume’s Profile and to keep you focused through the writing process. Analyzing Your Distinction: 

Why did you become a nurse?

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What do other people say about you that would convince your new employer you are right for their facility?

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What is your Nursing Philosophy?

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Why should a hiring manager hire you? What do you promise they (hint: or their patients) will receive if they hire you?

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If you are a student, how did you perform in your clinical rotations? (Come up with an example for each rotation that would demonstrate you are ready to become a nurse. You will use the answer under each of your clinical rotations).

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If you are a highly experienced nurse: How have you impacted the organizations you have worked for or the families you provided care to? What is unique about your nursing career thus far? Global exposure? Different specialties? Long tenure in a specialization?

The answer to the above should be included in your résumé’s Profile/Summary section and supported throughout your the rest of your résumé and in the cover letter. This is what will help distinguish you beyond your credentials.

KEYWORDS Locate job announcements for the specific position you are pursuing and pull keywords (terminology, buzzwords, and noun phrases) to blend into your resume. *See below snippet of a job ad for an RN position with keywords highlighted. You would find your own job posting and include in your résumé all the keywords that will help you survive online sorting (résumé’s are sorted by computers and placed in the view pile if a match is made. The RN is a registered professional nurse who is responsible for providing and supervising direct and indirect total nursing care responsibilities to identified age specific groups. Utilizing the nursing process (assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating) in achieving the goals of the nursing department. Actively participates in outstanding customer service and accepts responsibility in maintaining relationships that are equally respectful to all. KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS REQUIRED: American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) certification. Advanced life support certification (ACLS, PALS, NRP) per specialty/unit requirements For Labor and Delivery, and PHRU units - Basic/Intermediate/Advance Fetal Monitoring.

Note: Some keywords are specialty specific. Please be careful when choosing them.

Copyright © 2015 www.nurseresumewritingservice.com | 321-407-7209 | [email protected]

The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com

LET’S STUDY A FEW RÉSUMÉ SAMPLES BEFORE YOU START WRITING Take a look at the following two resume samples and notice how we adapted all of what we shared with you so far. Note to student nurses: Remember that you should consider your clinical rotations as experience. So, you would list each of your clinical rotations with one or two bullets under each that describes how you excelled and, if possible, provides examples.

Copyright © 2015 www.nurseresumewritingservice.com | 321-407-7209 | [email protected]

The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com

Below is the second example:

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The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com

SET UP YOUR DOCUMENT You can use the following list in one of two ways: (1) you can use it as a guide as you develop your résumé to ensure that you are building an effective self-marketing document or (2) you can use it as a guide for your existing résumé and check off this list as you confirm you have covered these key areas. I recommend that you read through it at least once before you start checking off your list; this way you can strategize your approach before you begin to write or you can decide if it might be easier to rebuild your existing résumé from scratch. Ok! Let’s get started.  Margins for your résumé should be set at no less than 0.7 all around to ensure any printer can easily capture all content.  Select common font styles for the entire résumé such as Arial, Book Antigua, Bookman, Century Gothic, Garamond, Georgia, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Palatino, or Verdana.  Choose a font size of 10.5 to 11 point for the entire résumé with the exception of the header (header should be larger, about 14 to 18 point). HEADER: An attractive header that includes all your contact information is vital. Make it bold, strong, accurate, and informative! List your full name on a separate line or if on the same line, make sure you have enough white space around it before you list your contact information.  Phone number and cell number (Your primary phone number should be listed first).  Email address without the link active (please use a professional email address. If you must, create a separate email specifically for job searching via Gmail.com).  List credentials such as BSN, RN listed next to your name.  Website/Web Portfolio/LinkedIn or any other social media should be included. Please list address.  Format name in a font size between 14 and 18 points (The rest of your résumé should be 10.5 to 11 points). PROFILE/SUMMARY Vs. OBJECTIVE: Profiles are more powerful than Objective statements. Objective statements, unless written very skillfully, are most often catered to the jobseeker ’s desire (See Objective below). A Profile will better allow you to promote yourself in an employer-oriented manner rather than just having an Objective statement. Your profile should be no longer than seven sentences, but should be at least four sentences long to be considered a Profile. This is where you would bring in your answers from your distinction analysis. In addition to drawing from the answers you provided in the exercise covering your distinction, you can use some of the following and incorporate in your Profile:  Years of experience. E.g. 10+ Years as a Nurse Practitioner  The type of patient population(s) you have provided care for.  The areas of nursing that you have experience in (i.e., Medical Surgical, Pediatrics, etc.)  Name the unit and or job title you are seeking (e.g. Pediatric Nurse providing intensive care in a PICU).  Include years of experience (Do not promote employment tenure if it is less than five years).  Add keywords (Industry terms, skills, nouns, noun phrases, and computer skills associated with this new job. See bullet #2).  Promote the benefits the new employer will reap by hiring you (i.e. improved patient care, organization, patient case load prioritization, patient-centered care).  Market your leadership skills by mentioning you have supervised other nurses, other students, and have a background in leadership roles. Copyright © 2015 www.nurseresumewritingservice.com | 321-407-7209 | [email protected]

The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com  Discuss communication skills and/or relationship building.  List all foreign languages you are fluent in.  Everything is written in the first person perspective (although you must exclude personal pronouns, you must still right in the first person narrative).  Exclude pronouns in the résumé (I, me, she, he, etc.).  Make the Profile employer-oriented by not discussing anything you wish to gain (e.g. “Seeking an RN position in a teaching hospital so I can grow.” NOT Good). OBJECTIVE: If you decided to use an Objective instead of a Profile, be sure it is employer-oriented and offers value to your new employer as opposed to just informing them as to what you wish to utilize or gain. Do not include any pronouns. Confirm that the Objective is direct and to the point, concise and no more than two sentences. You can use the following example, replacing the bolded keywords (nouns, skills, noun phrases, and terms associated with your desired job role. Objective Example # 1 for a seasoned professional: Nurse Manager Position, offering 10 years’ experience in Staff Training & Development, Customer Service, and Organizational Planning. (Replace those underlined keywords with the ones you found on job postings) Objective Example #2 for an emerging professional: Eager to make positive contributions as a Medical Surgical Nurse and implement active listening skills, therapeutic communications, and patient rapport building to uphold excellence in nursing care delivery. “Replace underlined keyword with the ones you found on job postings ” Objective Example #3, which is simple and to the point: Emergency Room RN position. “When in doubt, write it this way and you would have at least included the job title as a keyword—simple is better than wrong!”

COMPUTER EXPERTISE A computer literate professional is highly marketable in any industry. If your computer skills are healthcare relevant (EMR, Epic, MEDITECH, etc.) include the list in your Profile statement or somewhere on the first page.  Spell out all the software programs (no abbreviations or acronyms).  Specify the programs (e.g. MS Word, Excel, and so on instead of MS Office Suite; MEDITECH).  Do not list old and outdated software programs or non-relevant computer skills .  Exclude Instant Messaging and Internet surfing as computer skills.  Office related skills like MS Office don’t need to be called out on the first pate.

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The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com

PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT As you check off each point, think about your career path mindset (i.e., are you seeking a job in a medical surgical unit? In the ER?). You must be selective about what you will reveal and strategic about what you will exclude. Provide an overview of your past employment - not a detailed history report. You should have created two separate sections for this employment area: 1. to describe your job accountabilities (what you were hired to perform, i.e., deliver patient care) and 2. the other to list your achievements/impact, and contributions. Job Description: Summarize but do not generalize—be specific. Omit non-relevant information. Do not bullet this section. List it in paragraph form (save bullets for achievements).  List the job title.  Mention the unit and number of beds.  Name a select few types of patient conditions to provide a snapshot of your experien ce and the type of patients the facility cares for. Some facilities might take care of more advanced conditions than typical for that unit.  List dates in the same format, 07/07 (do not list months if tenure was short or if your employment history has gaps).  Use an en dash in between dates and not a hyphen (e.g. 1999 –2007 and not 1999-1997).  Summarize your job description succinctly in no more than 6 lines; focusing on the most important and impressive activities, not the boring details of your daily routine.  Incorporate buzzwords (keywords) to demonstrate your industry knowledge. Achievements: Bullet your achievements and include them under your job description in the employment section. In this section, you will focus on listing accomplishments that will set you apart from others (i.e., how you exceed expectations of patients, family members, physicians, and/ or nurse managers). I recommend no more than five bullets listed in past tense. List them in past tense even if you are still currently employed (Remember that an achievement and/or accomplishment has already occurred; has been proven!). Begin each sentence with an action verb (e.g. accomplished, achieved, and netted). The achievement (subject/result) must be clearly identified and relevant to your new role. Substantiate the achievement with an example, quantifiable data (numbers), or by describing the method of accomplishment.  The achievement is succinct, to the point, and no more than two sentences. Example: Demonstrated excellent decision-making and the ability to remain logical under pressure. Managed RNs, LPNs, social workers, chaplains, and home health aides through crucial periods, serving as mentor, trainer, expert, and leader. Cultivated relationships with external leaders and multidisciplinary professionals. Solidified company’s reputable brand as the #1 choice for cardiac care in the Chicago area.

Copyright © 2015 www.nurseresumewritingservice.com | 321-407-7209 | [email protected]

The Nurse Résumé Writing Guide | www.nurseresumewritingservice.com EDUCATION If you are a recent graduate (within last two years), you would move this section to the forefront and list it before your Professional Employment section. Keep in mind that here, too, you must list what is absolutely necessary, valuable, and relevant! Courses that have nothing to do with this résumé’s job target do not belong here.  List the school name.  Year of graduation (if the graduation date was last decade or prior, no need to list dates).  Include the degree and the acronym for the degree (e.g. Bachelor of Science Degree, B.S.).  Note city and state (do not list if the name of the school includes the city/state).  Promote GPA that is 3.8 or above and if it is recent (within the last two years).  Detail courses and clinical rotations (this is only important if you are a recent graduate).

OTHER AREAS TO BE DEVELOPED You can include the following if it will improve your candidacy—if it is relevant to your career goal and if it will not force you to another page unnecessarily. Be sure not to create too many sections on your résumé. If you will be developing many of the following, you can group them together under “Professional Development.”  Associations and Memberships (only list active memberships).  Certifications spelled out and acronym included.  In-house Training.  Seminars Attended.  Publications.  Presentations.  Volunteer Activities.  Independently Shadowed Other Nurses. OVERALL TIPS FOR PRO-WRITING The following tips will help you ensure quality in the entire résumé document.  Spell out acronyms in parenthesis the first time you mention them so they are recognized when you repeat them.  Do not develop the résumé beyond two pages unless you are an Executive (even then, be sure there is interesting and valuable information on page three).  Do not develop more than 15 years of experience. You can affirm that you have more than 15 years of experience in your Profile or Cover letter, but no need to develop the employment. You may list your olde...