One of the reasons why looking for a job is so hard is that you don’t get to charm your potential employer into hiring you from the get-go. First, your resume has to catch their (or recruiters’) attention and help you get more interviews. It’s your first impression, so it has to be perfect. If you’re up for a challenge, here are a few helpful tips that’ll let you write the best nurse resume.
Unless You’re Confident in Your Resume Writing Skills, Get Professional Help
Resume writing isn’t that easy. It’s not only about being honest while presenting oneself in the best light. It’s also about saying a lot in very few words, knowing resume writing trends, and using keywords correctly. Not all job seekers who think they can write a perfect resume can. So please don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking for help!
When job applicant finds a professional resume writer, they up their chances of landing an exceptional job opportunity; hiring a competent and experienced nurse resume writing service is a great way to invest in your career, even if any extra expenses are stressful for a person who’s currently out of a job. And it’s not like you’ll have to hire it every time. Once you have a professionally written sample to follow, updating your resume in the future will be easy.
Stick to the Standard Length and Formatting
But if you’re confident in your resume writing skills and would like to write it yourself. Just brace yourself for a lot of research and hours spent trying to find the best words to describe your career accomplishments. The number one thing you’ll need to look up is what the preferred resume format is at the moment. Don’t deviate from it.
Even if it’s considered okay to have a 2-page-long resume, any recruiter or hiring manager will appreciate it if you err on the side of brevity and fit everything into just one page. Also, don’t overdo it with designs. Using Canva templates is fine, yet stick to the more minimalist and professional-looking ones. And remember that your experience should be listed starting from the most recent employment and in bullet points.
Be Specific Yet Concise
Some job seekers find it hard to write a good resume because of how brief it has to be. It’s not easy to put years of experience in just a few words without sounding too vague. But that’s exactly what you should do. The details help your potential employer see what you can and can’t do and make your resume look more honest.
To avoid being generic, ensure to include all the relevant numbers where appropriate (how large the team you led was, how many patients you saw a day, how high your patient satisfaction rate was, and whatnot). Most importantly, don’t forget to include the facility and unit type for every workplace you list in the experience section.
Highlight Both Hard and Soft Skills
Nursing is one of the professions that rely as much on soft as they do on hard skills. But since candidates often treat the key skills resume section as an afterthought, most list just a couple of hard skills in it and think that’ll do. If you want an instant competitive advantage over other nurses applying for the same position, don’t make the same mistake.
The ideal length of the skills section is about eight bullet points (no more than 10). At least 3-4 should be your soft skills, such as conflict resolution, communication, and emotional stability. Those are the things that help nurses survive in stressful hospital environments. Most employers hope to see who you are, not just what you can do. So give a chance to glimpse your character—perhaps, it’ll help you land an interview.
Don’t Forget About Keywords
One of the most important things about resume writing is the job seeker’s ability to use keywords. Long gone are the days when recruiters diligently read every resume they received. Now, more than half of all applications submitted for a job listing get filtered out automatically using ATS (Applicant Tracking System).
So if you want your resume to reach your potential employer (and for it to rank high in the list of applications), you need to research and use keywords. They include:
- Names of previous roles and positions that match the experience requirements for the position you’re applying for.
- Facility and unit types.
- Hard and soft skills mentioned in the job listing.
- Hard and soft skills valued in nurses with your specialization (make sure to research first).
- Appropriate action verbs for your specialization (for example, referred, evaluated, examined, assessed, assisted, collaborated, and so on). Use action verbs at the beginning of each bullet point in your experience section.
If You Have a LinkedIn Profile, Update It
Finally, don’t forget about LinkedIn. In some industries, the first thing recruiters do once they see a semi-appealing-looking resume is look up the applicant’s LinkedIn profile. As healthcare is a more conservative industry, it’s not the case yet. But it might soon be. So if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, creating one is a good idea.
If you do have it, make sure that the information in it doesn’t differ much from what’s on your resume. Otherwise, it’ll look like you’re dishonest and might cost you a job. Of course, your LinkedIn profile and resume don’t have to be identical. But the key facts, such as your qualification, previous employers, and education, should be the same.
An Afterword
Writing any resume, including a nursing one, is quite a challenge. But you can nail it if you’re willing to do the work. Proper formatting, enough details, and keywords are the most important things to remember. And if at any point you feel like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, you can always count on professional resume writing help.