One thing I’ve learned is this: always keep your resume updated. Why? So you don’t forget the details. If you do, your resume could lack pertinent or even essential information that could make the difference between an interview and a potential employer’s trashcan.
How to Keep Your Nursing Resume Updated: Update Your Nursing Resume While You Work
You don’t need to wait until you need to change jobs to update your nursing resume. Update it while you work. Maybe your current job isn’t in actual nursing. That doesn’t matter. Look at the responsibilities you have now, wherever you’re working.
As a nurse, you know that patience, emotional stability, and good people skills are important. How, then, are you demonstrating these things right now in your current job?
For example, if you’re a receptionist at a hospital, tout your greeting skills. No doubt you are the face of the hospital wing. You greet doctors, patients, nurses, technicians, and more every day. Nurses also need to work well in fast-paced and challenging situations. Again, consider your current job. If you’re a receptionist, you’re probably working with piles of paperwork, cranky customers, even demanding doctors.
So, go ahead. Note all of your responsibilities. If it helps, keep a pad of paper out each day and list your accomplishments and responsibilities as you fulfill them. If you completed a challenging request on Monday, jot it down. Later that night, take your list home and add those notes to your resume.
This is an easy and complete way of updating your nursing resume without worrying about leaving out any details.
How to Keep Your Nursing Resume Updated: Keep Your Bullet Points Short
You may want to describe at length all of your nursing job experiences; however, keep your descriptions short. Your resume isn’t supposed to land you the job. It’s supposed to land you the interview. Once you’ve landed that, you can expand upon your responsibilities, your strengths, and your abilities.
Your nursing resume, however, is where you highlight your strengths and experiences so that someone glancing over your resume will be left wanting more.
For example, don’t write something like this: “I was responsible for filling the doctor’s reports every day in the east hospital wing, where I’ve worked loyally and diligently for five years. Many people recognized my strengths while I worked there, and I was even employee of the month in February.”
Instead, remember that you simply want to highlight your strengths and responsibilities — don’t write lengthy paragraphs explaining them:
- “Responsible for filling doctor’s reports.”
- “Completed work on time.”
- “Received recognition for effective and organized work.”
A resume no longer needs to be limited to one page. More and more, a two-page resume is becoming acceptable, especially for “highly accomplished and experienced candidates,” according to ResumeApple.com. Rather than cramming everything onto one page, then, you can comfortably spread your information out. This way, you can submit an in-depth resume without making the information look crammed.
Make sure, however, that you’re not filling up those two pages with superfluous information. Make every line and every space count.
Final Thoughts on Your Nursing Resume
Remember, keeping your nursing resume updated is key to landing your dream nursing job. Don’t be afraid to update while you work, keep your bullet points short, and submit a two-page nursing resume. After all, these are actions what will put your nursing resume on top of the pile, which makes them things that will land you that dream nursing job you’ve been waiting for.
