Writing a Strong Nursing Resume

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A hospital's human resource department handles hundreds of nursing resumes a week. A good portion of those resumes are for nursing occupations with a hefty percentage of qualifying applicants. A prospective applicant should consider ways to make his or her resume stand out from the rest of the pile. A nursing assistant scans each nursing resume through a computerized database, queries the database based on keywords assigned by the nursing supervisor, and assures that each resume meets the minimal requirements before submitting the winning resumes to the human resource manager for further review. Resumes that do not make it to the human resource manager will receive a rejection notice, or quite possibly hear nothing at all. If the applicant's resume does not capture the attention of these screenings, he or she may not be interviewed for the position. Therefore, it's important to follow certain steps to help create a competitive nursing resume.

What is a Resume?

A resume (PDF), or a marketing tool used to sell services, must convince prospective employers to find out more about you through the interviewing process. Hospital employers must believe that you have the necessary skills to complete the job. A winning resume successfully conveys your work experience and leaves no room for doubt or confuses the reader. A resume lists all prior (nurse jobs), (nursing programs), and other continuing (nursing education) that the applicant has achieved in his or her (nursing career). This includes all digital (nursing schools) offering accredited (online LPN programs) or (online RN programs). These resumes must include intensive nursing experience (PDF), including treating critically-ill patients, demonstrating overall competence while ...

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...used resume based on all professional and academic achievements as outlined in the previous section. The first step includes gathering all information in a quiet and secluded work place free of distractions. Secure a notepad, pens and pencils, or personal computer, or whatever that meets personal preferences to complete an error-free nursing resume. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to accurately use words in a professional context. Estimate completion to take several hours. Next, use resume worksheets or samples as a guide while composing the nursing resume. Start with the caption, objective, qualifications summary, and follow-through until completing each bulleted statement. The final step includes refinement by proofreading each section, and condensing any existing wordiness into a coherent, focused block of text that will convey all marketable skills to the reader.

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