Job Search- Interview and Resume

Obtaining Employment

Resources

I took a really long time to get a job. I was almost the last person in my class to be hired. But I learned a few things along the way. I am hoping they might help someone else through this nerve-racking experience.

I did not even start getting calls until I completely overhauled my resume. You have skills that are appealing to hiring managers even if you have never worked in the medical field in your life. Teaching was a big one for me. I also had an unusual job mystery calling psychiatric facilities- you have to be able to think on your feet to fake that kind of thing and sound convincing. A little more about unusual skills in a second...

You can overhaul your resume in many different ways. I had some friends who had been hiring managers who helped a lot and told me what they looked for in a resume.

Here are a some links to help with writing a nursing specific resume and cover letter :

Nursing Resume Tips

How To Write A Nursing Resume

SW has as service to help you build a resume:

Optimal Resume Service

The next thing I really needed work on was interviewing skills.  I learned to play up my strengths even if they were somewhat unusual , "I have five kids and went to nursing school, you tell ME how my time-management skills are." or, "I am really good at acting and talking to people while I think on my feet pretending to need rehab and psych help." That wasn't an experience many people have had.  Play up everything that is in your favor. That is VERY hard to do, it's not in a lot of people's nature to sell yourself for an hour.
 Even if a skill seems to only vaguely relate to nursing, you never know what might interest the recruiter. Every interviewer was fascinated by the mystery caller job, and I would never have thought that all that relevant.

Here are a couple of sites to help with anticiapting questions you might be asked:

Common Nursing Interview Questions

Nurse Interview Questions

 SW has some resources to help with interviewing skills, including a series of videos:

Interview Skills

The University of Memphis has a service (for a charge) where you can practice interviewing

University Of Memphis Career Services

Excellent youtube video on interviewing skills:

Get That Job!

I went on interviews simply to get practice, even if I wasn't really interested in the job. Every time you do it, it gets a little easier.

So, after being the last person to even get called, I actually got TWO job offers in two days.