Job boards often include information for job seekers, usually in the form of articles or blog posts intended to help with the job search process. One job site, Nurse.org, has now taken job seeker assistance to the next level.
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Nurse.org, a career site that features the largest job board specifically for nurses, has partnered with former nursing recruiter and industry insider Angelina Gibson to create the “Ultimate Guide to Nursing Resumes.”
Why a Guide
The guide was created in response to the gap between an employer’s search for the right candidate and qualified job seekers. Namely, that even though an applicant tracking system (ATS) positively impacts the hiring process, it screens out qualified applicants.
Guide author Gibson has firsthand experience with the issue, and it adds an important dimension to the information shared.
“Unfortunately, as recruiters, we had to get through hundreds of resumes every day. Reading each one just wasn’t practical,” she says. “The ATS allowed us to quickly pare down the number into more manageable piles, but I always worried about passing up great candidates for silly reasons like formatting issues.”
In nursing, it’s especially important to connect with every possible candidate. A 16 percent growth rate is projected for nursing employment over the next seven years, which is much faster than average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Educating Job Seekers
The guide aims to address the practical as well as the technological aspects of resumes.
It explains applicant tracking systems to job seekers, and offers practical advice for getting past this critical first step.
It also provides step-by-step assistance for writing a compelling nursing resume, with attention to proper formatting and verbiage. In addition, it includes resources like resume templates and power word lists, along with a 10-minute video to get job seekers started.
“In my nine years of evaluating resumes, I’ve seen all kinds of odd formatting choices, grammatical errors, and cringe-worthy statements. Many nurses have also been using the same type of resume for years despite changes in technology,” says Gibson.
Advantages for All
The guide’s audience is job seekers, but its use has benefits for recruiters and hiring organizations as well.
“This will serve as the definitive guide to writing nursing resumes. There’s so much information out there, it’s hard to decipher what is good, current advice. Nurse.org’s resume guide offers step-by-step instruction from an insider’s perspective, and we will continue to update it to reflect changes in the industry,” says Phillip Lee, product manager of Nurse.org.
Although the “Ultimate Guide to Nursing Resumes” is geared toward nursing, a number of the sections apply to almost any field. The guide is available at Nurse.org.