SustainHealth: How to write an eye-catching clinical resume!
Your resume is the number one requirement potential employers request before they take their valuable time to interview you, it is important that your resume gets you through the hiring managers office door.
Having a good resume is your first step in impressing your future employer.
An unstructured or inconsistent resume will quickly eliminate you from the hiring process. That’s why it is imperative to have a clear, consistent and targeted resume, one that effectively lets employers know what you can do for them before you are selected for the interview.
Do not make the mistake of underestimating the significance of your resume. People who do not consider their CVs as important as themselves are at risk of missing out on potential job opportunities.
Here are a few helpful tips on how you can up your resume game and how an excellent resume can help you secure your dream job.
- Be organised
Employers will have limited time to go through hundreds of applications. Give the most interesting, engaging and pertinent facts that sell you first. Expect that not every prospective employer will get to the end of the application form. Ensure that your resume is structured where the reader can find out what they need to know quickly and easily.
- Length– Ideally no more than 2 sides of A4
- Layout– Clear, logical, flows nicely, easy to read
- Presentation– Organised, neat, uncluttered, professional
- Tailor– Make it relevant to the job you’re applying for
- Review– Use spellcheck and get at least 2 other people to proofread it
- Tailor your Resume for a Job
Always try to tailor your resume to the job you’re going for. Start by describing your personal qualities and strengths, offer a summary of your career history and experience, describe something you’re passionate or interested in, and then conclude with what you’re looking for in your career.
Add details about:
- What patients you’ve worked with
- Equipment you’ve used
- Daily duties you’ve undertaken
- Clinical practices or specialities you’ve worked in
- Refer to specialist clinical and medical professionals
- Innovative and technological ways of working
- Included your knowledge of topical drugs, treatment or specific equipment
- Focus on your Achievements
- Start with the most recent then detail your employment history, including the job title, the name of your employer and relevant dates
- Include some bullet points for each to showcase your duties, responsibilities, skills, knowledge and achievements. (Review old job descriptions or better yet search for similar ones if you ever feel stuck)
- Prioritise the most relevant, useful or impressive duties and responsibilities
- You don’t have to list your entire employment history. As a rule, you may want to aim to cover the last ten years, though it depends on personal choice and the circumstances so use your judgement
If you are newly qualified, you may want to include details about some of the different nursing placements you did at university and what your dissertation was about. Explain briefly what the qualification entailed or list any equivalent qualification in brackets for comparison
- Be Concise
- Ask a friend who has an eye for grammar to proofread your CV
- Try detailing placements and employment by month and year to help direct employers or agencies more easily to your experience
- Make sure your chronology is complete and fill in any gaps
- Unexplained absences from work will make people suspicious, think about how you will document or explain this
Remember a clinical CV will indicate all your training and proficiencies in using certain types of equipment, all of which will be vital for a healthcare employer to understand your competency levels, so make sure you sell yourself as best you can!
Include sections on clinical skills, audits, research, presentations, publications and – for when you are more experienced – teaching. But try and keep it concise.
- Include your Referees
- Make sure your nominated referees know that you will be using them as references
- Do not give out their contact information to potential employers unless they give you their explicit permission
- Many professions don’t include references from the start, but clinical CVs should include details as well as your professional registration, including reference numbers
- Maintaining a strong working relationship with senior nurses or lead clinicians will provide valuable references, and proof of your skills, needed for future applications
- Begin your reference list by listing the name of the first reference in bold. In the line beneath that, write their relationship to you and the company you both worked at
- Include the work address beneath that – if they still work at the company where you both worked together
- If your reference has agreed to be contacted by phone, list the phone number and indicate if this is a work phone or mobile. Include the e-mail in cases where they might not be available to speak over the phone
The SustainHealth team wish you the best of luck in your search for new career opportunities. If you would like to learn more about how we can assist you in finding your next role, reach out on 0282744677 / info@sustainhr.com.au and one of our friendly consultants will get back to you within 24 hours.