Creating your perfect resume is not that simple! Yes, I have been there, you have been there, we all have been there! For a vacancy of 2-3 job openings, there may be 200+ candidates to compete for! Who knows what will be their eliminating criteria or what they are looking for in a candidate? And if you are applying through an online ad, chances are 76% of resumes are rejected by Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
Apart from the usual resume format of Contact details, resume summary, skills/certifications, professional work experience, and education, what makes your resume stand out from many applicants is the extra information you are providing to your recruiters!
Honors / Awards / Volunteer Work
Have you won any awards? Did you receive any honors regarding your work? If you think including your special awards, honors, achievements and volunteer work will add a plus point in this recruitment, then don’t wait to create a new section to add these details. This will tell your recruiter in a few words that you were excellent in your work area.
Language
According to TalentNeuron, employers are considering bilingualism as the second most required skill in the nursing field. Being a bilingual or multilingual nurse within the healthcare industry has its tremendous advantages because such skilled professionals in this industry are a prized asset to any medical team. As a bilingual nurse, knowing another language can be a huge factor in times of emergency situations. List every language you know by speaking, writing, and reading format.
Professional Affiliations and Memberships
Recruiters might want to know if you belong to any professional memberships or associations! Some recruiters may consider this as your commitment to providing and honoring your skills! Therefore, if you belong to any affiliations like the American Association of Critical care Nurses (AACN), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) or Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) include its details on your nursing resume. You might want to consider the following as the affiliation name, date of admission, units held by you and a short description of your role.
Detailed Education Details
Do you have a degree in ADN, RN, BSN, MSN or ASN? Or any other special nursing degree? Include the nursing degrees you have earned on your resume or the job opportunity would go for those who have included this particular kind of information. If your GPA is below 3.0 it’s better if you could avoid including the grades on your resume!
Certifications and Nursing License Details
There are plenty of people argue that as a matter of privacy nurses should not include their nursing license details on their resume. Nonetheless, as a matter of fact, nursing license numbers are publicly accessible. Using the basic information available on resume anyone can easily obtain a nurse’s license details from the state’s Nursing Board. Therefore, if you could provide the certifications and nursing license details to the recruiter it could give you a top hat among your competitors.
Computer Skills
Do you have any particular skills which you think will be a great asset to your nursing career? Are you good at electronic medical recording or e-prescriptions? If you think this will make an impact on your recruiter’s mind, do add them to your resume! You can include your computer skills in your summary or can create a separate section to list your computer skills. Or you could also mention this skill in your job description.
Facility Details
Including various facility details in your resume tells your recruiter about your work experience in a nutshell. Example,
- Facility Type: Designations like Assisted Living Program, Short Term Acute Care, Long Term Acute Care, Acute care Hospital, Life Care Communities, Nursing Facility, etc.
- Trauma Designation: Add the trauma center level (I, II, III, IV, or V)
- Magnet Status
Unit Details
Unit details also tell your recruiter about your work experience in a few words. Match your previous job details with a recruiter’s perspective! For example, if the recruiter’s requirement is “Emergency Department” and you have worked before in an “Emergency Room” section, then go with the “Emergency Department” in your resume. Never lie in your resume about your skills and qualifications. If you haven’t worked in an emergency department, do not lie and include this in your resume!
Availability
Everyone knows that it doesn’t matter what your degree is, whether its MSN, ADN, LSN, or RN to BSN nursing program or any other degree you have taken, all fields work round the clock. You could include the shifts you are willing to take, whether you are available to work during holidays, and also mention that if the job requires you to relocate, you are okay with the relocation or not. Because you may never know if the recruiter has any other unadvertised job openings that you might qualify for!
Accomplishments and skills in your working history
Include the skills and accomplishments you have received for your work, and let them speak for you! Your achievements will tell your recruiters that how excellent were you in your work. If you have too many achievements to include in your resume only pick relevant and best achievements and skills. And also remember to conclude your resume in a maximum of two pages.
We hope you found these nursing resume tips helpful. Do you have any nursing resume tips to share? Comment them below.
