How to Update Your Resume For Your First Nursing Job (RN)

00:01 Friends. It's happening.

00:02 The thing you have been working so hard for is about to happen.

00:07 You are starting the hunt for your very first nursing job.

00:11 And before we even start with the process or tips, I just want you to take a moment and feel insanely, insanely proud of yourself.

00:21 You did the hard thing.

00:22 You are doing the hard thing.

00:24 Way to frickin go.

00:26 And I just want you to have a moment for you.

00:27 I can't yell because of the microphone, but yay, you! Yay! All right, now that's enough.

00:33 We need to get back to work. We have a job to do.

00:35 After all, we have to get you a job.

00:36 Ready. Let's go.

00:38 And the first thing that we need to do to get that resume ready for the real world is to spruce it up a little bit.

00:45 And that brings me to my very first tip, which is to use a resume template.

00:50 The Internet is filled with wonderful resume templates where you just plug your information into it for less than usually $30, and it will save you so much time and headache.

01:01 These templates will help you to know exactly what to include and what to exclude in your resume.

01:08 Like, at this point, you probably don't need to be including things about your high school job unless it was something extraordinary and really applicable to the job at hand.

01:17 Do not make this harder than it has to be.

01:21 Use the power of the internet.

01:23 Harness it for good.

01:25 Use templates.

01:26 They make them for cover letters too.

01:28 They're the best.

01:29 Please use them.

01:30 Now, even with cute templates that you put your information into, and it has awesome displays that are eye-catching and easy to read, you still want to make things a little bit more personal, right? So I want you to make a different resume and cover letters for all of the different job types that you are applying for.

01:49 Because we want the information on the resume to be as specific as possible. And if you're applying to a med surg job, you'll want to highlight experience and skills directly related to the med surg job.

02:01 And the same exact thing for peds, ICU, NICU ...

02:04 Whatever it is, your experiences won't be the same for all of those, so your resumes shouldn't be the same for all of them either.

02:12 Save them as "peds general resume" and "peds cover letter" so you can just tweak them just ever so slightly for the individual jobs that you are applying for.

02:21 And for us, be super-duper careful not to apply with the cover letter that says "Insert hospital name" here on it.

02:29 Yes, I have done that for you.

02:31 No, they were not impressed.

02:33 And finally, before you finalize any of your resumes, have someone else look at it, especially someone that doesn't necessarily know you super well. Ask them to go through it and see if it's eye-catching.

02:46 Does it give information in a clear and informative way? Does it flow well and does it answer all of their basic questions? And, now, off you go.

02:56 You are ready for your first applications.

02:58 So where will you be applying? Let's dive into that next.