41 // Want to Stand Out? Tailor Your Nursing Resume Like a Pro

In this episode, we delve into essential resume tips specifically tailored for nurses looking to advance their careers. Whether you’re pursuing a graduate degree or seeking new opportunities in healthcare, a well-crafted resume is crucial for standing out in a competitive job market. Join Bonnie Meadows as she shares actionable insights on tailoring your resume, highlighting your qualifications, and showcasing your accomplishments effectively.

**Key Takeaways:**

1. Tailor Your Resume for Each Job: 
   Learn the importance of customizing your resume for each job application. We'll discuss how to refine your baseline document, ensuring it stays within one to two pages while still showcasing your relevant experience using keywords from the job description.

2. Highlight Your Education and Certifications: 
   Discover where to position your educational background and certifications on your resume. These credentials are vital for nurses and should be easily visible to potential employers.

3. Showcase Clinical Leadership and Achievements:  
   Understand how to effectively highlight your leadership roles and specific achievements in your nursing career. We’ll talk about quantifying your impact through concrete examples of your work.

4. Include Soft Skills That Reflect Growth:  
   Explore the soft skills necessary for advancing your nursing career, such as teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability. We'll discuss how to weave these skills into your resume to demonstrate readiness for leadership roles.

5. Maintain a Clean and Professional Format:
   Get tips on how to keep your resume clear, concise, and professional. Learn why clarity is crucial and how to avoid clutter that can overwhelm potential employers.

**Action Steps:**
- Review your current resume against these tips.
- Select three to five job descriptions that interest you and refine your resume accordingly.


**Conclusion:**
Your resume is more than just a document; it reflects your hard work and accomplishments. These high-level resume tips can set you up for success in your nursing career. Tune in for more insightful discussions and actionable advice in future episodes!

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Join me for a **1:1 Nurse Career Clarity Coaching Call**—a 1:1 coaching session where we’ll get you unstuck and find clarity to make the next move in your career.

Transcript

0:05

In the previous episode, I. Laid out some high level discussions or tips about. The difference between a resume, a CV and a portfolio, and when to use it. In that episode, I started to go in to a little bit more about. Resumes and what to include in them, but this particular episode, I wanted to take the time to go deeper into some high level resume tips. So this is not the exhaustive list of what you can do, but it is. Mainly what I have seen when I have completed or done. Resume audits these tips. Will. Help put your resume towards the front of the line. So listen in, think about the next three jobs that you are wanting to apply to. And apply these tips to your resume as of current. Or a CV as of current. Are you feeling stuck in your current clinical environment? Do you want to make a change in your nursing career but not sure what to do next? Exhausted, burnt out, and maybe even ready for different leadership? I'm Bonnie Meadows, a Board Certified Nurse. Clinical Nurse Specialist, Influential Leader, Career Coach, and Well Being Coach. Being in the nursing and healthcare profession since 2004, I have felt stuck and unsure about what was next for me. I wanted to be fulfilled in my purpose, to have a voice at the table. And to be a resource for others, I kept telling myself I wanted more, but didn't have the direction I needed until I found clarity and career growth strategies for experienced nurses like me. In this podcast, you will find. Simple tactical steps that allow you to gain the clarity you need, solutions for how to grow even without supportive leadership, and guidelines for setting boundaries at work so that you can grow purposefully in your career as a nurse with a graduate degree who makes a huge impact in the profession. So get ready to trade your scrubs for yoga pants. Pop in those earbuds and let's chat. So with that being said, let's talk about some high level resume tips. Tailor your resume to each job. This is the first tip. You want to make sure that you have your baseline document for your resume? The 10 year span is still the key to how many jobs you want to have on that particular resume. Again, just one to two pages. If your 10 year span of employment. Takes you beyond two pages. Then. You need to cut it down to whatever's relevant, or you just keep that as a baseline document and create a copy and you still keep that same resume, but then you go in and refine it. Making sure that. You are providing the most relevant information. Customizing it specific to the job description using keywords to highlight your relevant experience in the job that you're targeting. So for example, I recently did this with someone who works in health care, they work in healthcare. It. But they don't work in nursing. This particular person had trouble getting a job, past jobs she applied for had not even gotten a call back. I asked her to send me the job description, and her resume. And so I put them side by side. And I look at what is it that they're looking for? So the overarching position was. A lead program manager and then I look at. Her resume. She is well qualified for the position. But it, but what she had as far as her qualities and. Of the work that she was currently doing in it, it was very general. So I said, for this program manager position, here's what they're looking for. Here are some key words. Leads coordinates. Outcomes. Partnership. Pull out those words and put them in your resume. You're not creating a resume that doesn't exist. Just replacing your resume words. With those words, spicing it up. She had one area where it just said manages and implements projects I said, I need more detail in that. And you can either include, like, what does that entail? Or what did you accomplish in that? The job, it asks for. Someone who knew how to connect the work to the goals. And so I asked her what can you connect to the work that you are doing that is connected to the overall company's goals? How can you talk about how you operate at the system level now in your resume. Those are the things that need to be pulled out and expressed in your resume and then speak more about accomplishments. And I'll go a little bit more into that a little later. But your one actionable step four. This one is to take is to look at the top three to five jobs that you are interested in. Try to make sure that they're mainly in the same realm of work. That's why. I encourage you to more. So look at overall skillset. That you're trying to develop that you're trying to grow into. Versus a particular. Job. Like if you're applying for five jobs and they are totally different. Then yeah, you, you need to make a resume that tailors to all five of those jobs, but if they're still in the same. Project specialists, implementation specialist, realm, then look at all of those job descriptions. And make one resume that will fit all of those job descriptions. So it's about those key words. That you need to pull out that in the work that you're already doing, but it's about detailing it a bit more. Next point. To highlight your education and certifications. There's a little debate on this because we know. That we need to have on our resume. All right. Level of education. And certifications. Do we put it at the top of, do we put it at the bottom? That has been a debate. I've had a professor I've always had mine at the top and I had a professor told me to put it at the bottom. And I was like, would that just don't feel right. I did it. Because I needed an a, and this was low hanging fruit. Let's just get it done. For nurses pursuing or holding that graduate degree, your education is the most significant assets. Especially for nursing because there are some jobs. That you applied to that you can only have a master's in nursing or a doctorate in nursing. Like your focus is in nursing. There are some jobs who are specifically for nursing. Like you, they need. Someone with a master's or doctorate in nursing. And then there are other jobs where. You got an MBA or a master's in public health or whatever the case may be. But that needs to be shown up top. In all of the references that I have looked at They've all said for nursing. That these certifications and education needs to be at the top of the resume. So create a separate section for credentials and ensure it's at the top. Of your resume. That's your actionable step within this particular one, make sure they are visible. Make sure your certifications and advanced training are easily visible. Any certification programs that you've completed, even if it's like a Le a leadership program. Coaching programs, whatever the case may be. All need to be included. In. That area. Just a side note I want to add because this is one of my pet peeves. When I see people. Who have their credentials listed out in the wrong order. Sometimes it's professional people and I'm like, why are your credentials in the wrong water? I that that might just be me. But I'm a little picky I went to the American nurses association. A while ago. To make sure. I got the right information. Please stop putting the RN right behind your name before your highest degree. Here's the order RN. First of all, RN and APRN doesn't go first, unless you are assigning clinical documentation. That is the only time. It goes first. On an actual document where you are signing your full credentials here is the order. Highest degree earned. Should come first after your name. So. That be ADN B S N. MSN. P H D D N P. EDD. DNS. All of those things. There might be a DBA doctorate in business. That's your highest degree earned. Next is your licensure. Whether that be RN, a P R N. Licensure slash recognition. So RN, APRN. Then comes your state designation required desk. Or requirements national certification. So that's where your. CCRN comes in. You're in PD comes in. For those of us who are advanced practice nurses, that is where our. At advanced practice certifications come in. And then after that, we place our specialty certifications cCRN NPD. Whatever the case may be. All, those certifications. Those are the two that come to the top of my mind, but yes. CMC C S C S R N like just all of those things. That's after. Your APRN certification. And then after that, any awards and honors. So usually you would see that F a N. If it's a fellow of the academy. Of nursing. Number three. Resume tip. Showcase clinical leadership and achievements. So with this one, you're highlighting specific examples of leadership roles that you've taken in your current role. Whether it's precepting, leading quality improvement projects or serving on committees. Focus on projects you've completed. Structures you've built. Policies you've worked on or things you've implemented. Use that to quantify your impact. On my resume, I have a set. I'll have the job description. And I'll have it tailor made to whatever, not the job, but the skills or what I do in that, that particular job or what I've done in that particular job. Here's what I do. Then I have a section right under that. That says my leadership has led to, and then I'll have two or three bullet points on. A reduction in. Length of stay by such and such percent. The three stars designation. For cardiac surgery program. Two years in a row. Like those are the things that I usually have in that section. So think about. Those projects that you have been a part of that you've helped lead, that you were very instrumental in. Education projects, whatever the case may be. And add that as a section highlighting your clinical leadership and achievements. Put it under the, particular job. Or another section connect it to the work you're talking about so they know, it was in this job she was able to lead in this way. And in this job, Here's what she did or here's what he did. Next include soft skills that reflect your growth mindset. Nursing advancing in careers need to demonstrate clinical expertise leadership. Communication and adaptability. Here's an actionable tip. In some way you need to incorporate examples of teamwork, problem solving or mentorship. To show you're ready to lead others. So that's goes back to that example that I talked about. With a young lady who had the, resume and that particular job stated that this particular person needed to know how to collaborate with different. People at different hospital sites, it was referring to working with several groups. How do you collaborate with those groups and lead others in that department to collaborate with those other groups? So that that's where that word collaborated with. Such and such specialty to. Educate or improve rates that can actually be wrapped into that leadership and accomplishments piece. You could have one that's like hardcore numbers, if you have it. And then the other, that's more of a, here's how I use my soft skills to work with and lead others. And then lastly, you want to keep it clean and professional. Bernay brown says. Clear is kind. When she said that, I said, now that is the truth. Clear is kind. You are better off. Being boring. And clear. Then fancy. And unclear. Cause fancy and unclear and all these. But dazzles on your resume and it looks just crazy and you're not applying for a creative position. Now, if you're applying for graphic design within health care and nurses can do that because. Like if applying for a marketing and communications job, because communications was your first degree and you decided to come into nursing and now you want to apply your nursing skills and your communication skills in the healthcare sector. That's when you give them the fancy resume, but make sure you have the elements on there for them to give you a call. Otherwise, if you are just applying for a regular corporate level position that you enjoy. Then keep it clear and professional. Make sure it's easy to read. Follows a professional format. Using bullet points, clear headings, avoid large blocks of tech. Text. And just remove any clutter you're at your action item is to, with this particular one is to go back, review your resume, your CV. And make sure it just doesn't have a whole lot of clutter, make sure there's some white space on there to where it just doesn't feel like it's overwhelming to read. Have someone else take a look at it. To see if it just feels overwhelming for the read. All right. Customize your resume for each job, highlight advanced education and certifications at the top show how you have demonstrated leadership, because if we're looking to grow. Even if it's a lateral position. Like you get paid lateral, meaning you get paid, but your growth is skill growth. I still want to see your leadership in that area. Even if you're applying to grad school. Making sure that you are writing, how you demonstrate leadership in those clinical roles. Even if it's a role that's behind the scenes, you still need to lead. You still need to understand how to lead people. You can say, oh, well, I'm just working, you know? As an analyst you might be providing numbers, but now you need to explain those to your boss or a group when people get touchy about numbers, I've been there. Here's what I want you to do this week. Take time to review your resume, go back to those tips. Write those tips down. If you don't already have it, make a list three to five positions. Look at them. Compare your resume to those positions. And see where you need to start cleaning up your resume. And if you want to get feedback on your resume to prepare for those positions, you might be interested in. Be sure to sign up for my ambitious nurse insider's list, as I will be sharing an offer to help, take your resume to the next level. And. If needed prepare you for your next interview. Lastly, remember your resume is more than just a document. It is, it is more than just a document. It does need to speak for you loudly. However, you can speak for yourself. Make sure that this is Work of your career growth and that you are applying networking to this. You're talking to people, having conversations. With people in those areas. You're also looking into those professional organizations, those governing bodies. Of that particular work in which you want to go if you need help with that, I can help you find those people too. You want to make sure that you are reflecting your hard work? And your accomplishments and what you've done. It can be hard to talk about ourselves. But let the paper do the talking for you, even if networking with others is hard many times when you start to write these things out. That has confidence builder. So you've got to stay on top of writing these things out and keeping them front of mind of what you've accomplished. So that you can easily speak to those things in the right settings. Thank you for taking the time today. To get things right. And set yourself up for success. and I'll talk to you next time. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with another nurse who may be unsure of where to go next in their career or maybe need some career clarity? Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple podcast. It brings me so much joy and so much encouragement to know this podcast is helping you. Now go get the career you want and not the one you settle for. And I'll meet you back here next Thursday for another episode. See you soon!