Considering there is a significant nursing shortage in the United States, it’s easy to assume that you’ll receive a job offer or acceptance letter for the first job or educational program you apply for. While skills shortages might put you in a strong position to be considered, it’s not guaranteed.
Educational programs and hospitals still want the most skilled, talented, and qualified people to fill their positions, so your resume needs to reflect your capabilities. Help your resume stand out from the crowd by taking some of these actions:
Highlight Your Credentials
Hospitals and clinics are always looking at different nursing schools listed in resumes to determine which applicants have the most experience. They want to see how many years of training you have, whether you’ve been in educational programs like online degrees for nurses, and if you have specialized in a particular field.
If this information isn’t easy to find or you haven’t included it, your resume might be dropped to the bottom of the pile. To potentially reduce the risk of this happening, highlight your credentials in its own section of your resume. Include design features like color shading and boxes to make it stand out from the rest of the information, and use bullet points to make it easy to read.
Customize Your Resume for Each Job or Program
Most job seekers create a generic resume outlining their skills and qualifications they can send to all businesses when applying for jobs. There’s nothing wrong with generic resumes from a time-saving perspective, but a business might not see your value for their needs when you haven’t explicitly mentioned what they’re looking for.
Work through the job advertisement or program you’re applying for and highlight key attributes you know will be important to them. You can then describe how you can fulfill their requirements in your resume and potentially make yourself stand out.
Use Keywords
HR teams in the medical field don’t typically have time to pore over hundreds of resumes and read every detail. In fact, they might not even glance at a resume until they’ve narrowed down their options.
Most companies and large corporations use software that can sort through large numbers of resumes to find the most suitable candidates. Typically, they do this by targeting keywords from their job advertisement. You might improve your chances of having your resume put on a hirer’s desk by incorporating keywords from each job ad. Typically, these are words related to experience, qualifications, and skills.
Proofread It
A poorly written resume can stand out for all the wrong reasons. Don’t miss out on a program placement or job just because you haven’t taken the time to look for spelling and grammar mistakes.
Read through your resume word by word, ask a friend or family member to check it, and upload the content into a digital spell checker as a final protective measure. You can then enjoy peace of mind knowing your resume has no glaringly obvious flaws that might detract from your skills and qualifications.
Making your resume stand out can be challenging when you’re up against hundreds of qualified candidates. However, taking these actions above might improve your chances of being accepted into your dream program or entering your preferred role.
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