HOW TO WRITE A NURSING RESUME

Recent labor studies have predicted that nursing positions will continue to grow faster than the national average for at least the next five years. Though this trend is good news for nurses on the job market, it does not diminish the fact that competition will remain tough for the most desirable nursing positions. Nurses need to pay close attention to the presentation of their credentials, as detailed in their resume, in order to ensure that they can compete in the tough medical profession.

To write a solid resume tailored specifically to the nursing profession, consider the following guidelines:

Highlight your Educational and Licensure Qualifications

In addition to including the details of your nursing degree (school name, when you graduated, your degree), you should mention any academic honors, grants, scholarships, or fellowships awarded during the course of your studies.

If you are an experienced nurse, you may wish to make reference to any completed clinical rotations in this section. This tactic is especially beneficial if one or more of these rotations is in line with your current career objective.

If you are a newer nursing graduate or have limited nursing experience, a list of related courses and clinical rotations will provide detail of your medical knowledge to prospective employers. Graduates who completed their degree with an impressive grade point average should highlight this fact by including their GPA in the Educational section of their resume.

All nurses who have completed the process to get licensed will need to provide details of their license(s) in this section. Include the state(s) in which you are licensed and the date that your license went in effect. Since your employer will ask for a copy of your license once you are made an offer, you do not include your licensing number on your resume.

Emphasize your Nursing Expertise and Key Skills

A quick 10-second scan of your resume should reveal important keywords that summarize your nursing experience and give managers an overview of your qualifications. The most effective way to do this is to incorporate a section of your resume dedicated to nursing expertise and key skills. Include a bulleted list of your nursing specializations (such as pediatrics, cardiology, oncology) and any pertinent nursing skills, such as JCAHO standards/compliance or medication administration, that will enhance your resume presentation.

If you have several years of nursing experience, it may beneficial to list your years of experience in each area.

Entry-level nurses and nurses with limited experience should also include this section in their resume, highlighting those areas and schools acquired from schooling, clinical rotations, and nursing mentorships.

Detail Your Nursing Experience

Since most manager hire nurses based on their previous experience in (or knowledge of if you are a new nurse) a particular area of nursing, employers need to know the details of your nursing experience.

If you are an experienced nurse, you should detail your specialization, the type of facility you work in (acute care, outpatient, rehabilitation), and your average caseload for each of your previous employers.

If you are an entry-level nurse just out of school or a nurse with limited work experience, you should detail any clinical rotations, mentorships, or other unpaid work you were involved in during your schooling.

Demonstrate You’re a Top Performer

Employers love to hire top performers. Your resume will be more memorable and better received if you can detail specific contributions you made to each of your previous employers. What have you done that was above and beyond your basic responsibilities? How have you helped make a positive impact on your patients and their families, your co-workers, your employer, or even your community?

Consider your possible involvement in:
oCommittees or review boards
oPatient or family health education
oMentorship programs
oTraining of coworkers on advanced topics of interest to nursing
oThe launch of a new facility or program
oCommunity health screens
oOutside education

The more details you can provide about your involvement in the medical community and your accomplishments, the better job you will do at impressing your value as a team member to potential employers.

by Laura Adams

NURSING RESUMES

What to Include in Nursing Resumes

Nursing resumes are slightly different from every other resume that you would send out. Being that nursing is a specialized profession, you need to remember a few things when putting together your first resume. Nursing resumes can be difficult to write because they will not include the same information as a standard resume trying to secure an office position. Read through the tips below before you start sending out your resume to potential employers.

First off, remember that nursing resumes will not include all past work experience. When applying for an office job, you usually show all of your past work experience, no matter how irrelevant it may sound. But remember that nursing is a specialized profession. You want to make sure that you put down your experience relative to nursing and downplay the rest of your work experience. This is not to say that you cannot include other work experience on nursing resumes, just be sure to not let those jobs overshadow your nursing experience.

Remember to include all nursing related experience on your resume. Anything that pertains to nursing, or caring for people should be highlighted on your resume so that it stands head and shoulders above the rest. This can include any volunteer work that you may have completed, or any nursing work that you did while in college. Nursing resumes often include information about the rotations that you did while completing your degree. This shows that you have experience in the field and are capable of working full time.

Nursing resumes should always include your educational achievements as well. Be proud of what you accomplished. If you were elected into the National Honors Society for nursing majors be sure to include this information. If you had a high GPA, include that also.

Nursing resumes may be difficult to write, but if you follow the tips above you will be able to put together an intriguing package for hiring managers. Sample nursing resumes can also be found on numerous online sites.

by heavyd

SO YOU WANT TO BE NURSE

There are many options available for anyone who is interested to pursue a career in nursing. The demand for healthcare professionals are continuously on the upswing so there is a positive demand for them in the years to come.

The following are some of the options available for anyone who is interested to pursue a career that is related in the medical field that is related in some way to nursing.

Those who cannot do, assist

For those who are still weighing their options whether to pursue a full-fledged career in nursing or to just simply try out at first if nursing is indeed the career for them, there is a short course available for them to study.

Being a CNA or a certified nursing assistant only requires a short period to study. The period usually range from about a month or two or more. After the course, one could immediately start a job as a CNA during which the time spent working allows you the opportunity to see for yourself a glimpse of the nursing world as well as provide you with the income to save and spend for possibly getting into a full fledged nursing program.

Be an LPN or an LVN

A Licensed Practical Nurse or a Licensed Vocational Nurse is a course of study that usually takes about one year to study, complete and finish. The Licensed Practical Nurse or the Licensed Vocational Nurse usually works directly under the physician or a Registered Nurse.

Being a Licensed Practical Nurse or a Licensed Vocational Nurse is also one of the effective means to get into nursing school and be a registered nurse. There are nursing schools that allows Licensed Practical Nurses to take courses and credits in the process of being Registered Nurses. Vocational schools are the ones that usually offer LPN courses. This process of Licensed Practical Nurses studying to become Registered Nurses will continue to increase at the same time that the demand for nurses also increase.

Registered Nurses are on demand

When one is a registered nurse, the options for promotion, education upgrade and job responsibility are a plenty. Usually, the process that went on then with regards to nurses that are studying is this: hospitals used to offer a diploma study course for those willing to study nursing. The course usually lasts three years. During this time, students lived and then worked inside their assigned hospitals. After which, they then take their boards to later become full-fledged Registered Nurses. However, now is different. There are now Associate Degrees in nursing that last for two years.

The BSN advantage

There is a course called Bachelor of Science in Nursing that usually covers most of the theoretical aspect in nursing. Recently, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program is being pushed to become at least the minimum requisite for one to be actually called as a professional nurse that currently, academic programs that call from a Registered Nurse background to study Bachelor of Science Nursing degree is being seen as an ideal and sound choice for nurses who want professional advancement,

In summary, the decision to be a nurse rests on you. The choices that are available all depend on how much you are willing to spend your time, effort, energy and money on. It is important though that any decision one makes comes from the heart and the mind and that being a nurse, serving the health care profession, and serving the needs and wants of others is what you want to do, and would be happy doing for the rest of your career life.

by Robert Thatcher -