Need some advice?!?!?!?!?!NEW GRAD<----desperate

Hello boy's and girl's,

I am a new grad who just passed my boards last week! The problem is that I having one hell of a time finding a job. I am presently in Montana, but am moving to Boise here in a week and a half. I have absolutely zero experience in Nursing never being a CNA or anything. I have always been a BARTENDER which I have been doing at various dance clubs and restaurants for the last ten years. Can you my fellow RN's give me any advice concerning my job hunt. Like what I am doing wrong, what I can do to make myself more employable??!?!?! Or anything?!?!

XOXO


PSPS I also cut and pasted my resume and cover letter for any advice that you'all could give me


July 19th, 2010



Address details


To whom it may concern:

I am seeking a nursing postion that could utilize my education and many years of customer service experience.

Prior to receiving my nursing degree and RN, I worked as a waiter and bartender in order to fund my education. My experience in working with a culturally diverse environment of coworkers and the public has proved invaluable experience which should serve me well in my new career in nursing.

It is my hope that upon review of my resume, you will find in keeping with your standards. I would really love to start my new career with you.

Should you have any additional questions or like to schedule an interview you may contact me at insert phone number.


Warmest regards,






Insert Personal details

Certificates:
Montana: Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
Idaho: Registered Nurse (RN)


Objective:
Utilize my training and experience in customer relations for a nursing position.

Profile:
Motivated, detailed oriented, energetic, industrious, professional, and personable team player with diverse previous experience interfacing with a wide variety of personalities and cultures.

Skills Summary:

 Experience with diversity
 Good humored
 Ability to multi-task
 Used to working odd hours
 Team player
 Tenacious worker
 Critical Thinking skills
 Detailed
 Able to work with multiple supervisors
 Consistent & dependable
 Industrious
 Computer literate
 Compassionate
Training Summary:

 Customer relations training
 Clinical : Holy Rosary Health Center & Veterans Hospital –Montana  Legal aspects of adoptions  Clinical training: pediatrics, geriatrics, medical & surgical nursing


Pre-professional Employment History:
2008-Present Rib & Chop Server & Bartender
• Customer service: ensured prompt food and beverage service, anticipated customer needs as well as alcoholic beverage preparation and delivery
• Utilized multi-taking abilities to ensure customer satisfaction
May 2005- July 2008 AZ
Server & Bartender
• Customer service: ensured prompt food service, anticipated customer needs as well as alcoholic beverage preparation and delivery
• Utilized multi-taking abilities to ensure customer satisfaction
2004- June 2005 AZ
Server
• Customer service: ensure prompt food service, anticipate customer needs
• Trained new employees to meet corporate standards for customer service
2002- 2004 Fine Foods , AZ
Barista
• Customer service: Barista
• Assisted baker in pastry preparation and decoration.
1998- 2002
Server & Bartender
• Customer service: ensured prompt food and beverage service, anticipated customer needs as well as alcoholic beverage preparation and delivery
• Utilized multi-taking abilities to ensure customer satisfaction Last edit by traumaRUs on Jul 21, '10 : Reason: Personal details removed
My first recommendation would be to go back and take out your address and phone number for posting sake...

And your name!!!!!

i would start by suggesting that if what you put down is your real name and contact info, please delete the info. this is an open forum, where anyone can read your information.

Keep trying. I would hire you Just for your honesty in the letter. Very thorough also.

Ack! Edit out your personal info!

agreed with everyone else.. remove personal info for posting sake.. right now the market is tough.. i have been looking for about oh 5 months now almost 6...You know wut you should do while you are searching for RN.. look for a CNA job since u have certificate for it this way u can earn that cash and if it doesnt work out for you in Idaho.. you can apply to a another state..rather than using to whom... call the places you want to work at find out who their recruiters are and plug that in the cover letter...i think you should also include your educational background in the first part of the cover letter. Put down what you accomplished while obtaining your RN. you have to have had clinicals. so you can put that you gain experience in xyz through your clinical rotations.. then you can put you worked as bartender

Okay, got my "Ack!" out of my system. Now that I've read your resume, here's my suggestion: Find a free clinic and get some experience volunteering. It's also a great way to make contacts. Since the job market is quite tight, you're going to need some sort of marketable experience, and (unfortunately) being a bartender just isn't going to cut it. Lastly, when you apply, don't keep sending out the same generic resume--tailor it to the position.

I structured my resume: personal info, objective (specified to what you are applying to), education )starting with most current), clinical history in nursing school, work experience, then volunteer experience. Make sure everything is in chronological order and is uniform so it shows organization. Always spell check.

Do not quit your bartending job!!!-no, I am not really kidding.(not meaning you won't be a great nurse, there are just very few jobs out there right now)

Considering how you titled your post, that you didn't think through posting your name and address on a public website, and that thousands of nurses (some of whom may be interviewing you one day) read this site, I'd say you're not doing yourself any favors.Critical thinking skills? Not this guy.

Or maybe someone looking for an employee in Boise is a member and will see it.....or anyone across the country.

OK. Well I just deleted the post I wrote so I'll do it again.You seem to have put a lot of thought into what you have to offer in terms of your customer service skills, however, you have not stated the reason that you want to be a nurse. it really is important to do that, we all may take for granted that we are nurses because we want to help people and are compassionate, but you can't take for granted that the HR person who is sifting through a hundred resumes knows that.Compassion and the desire to help others are of fundamental importance in this field and you need to find a way to look at your own life and skills and come up with a summary of what you've done and what you want to accomplish that addresses that. Why did you go into nursing? Start there.Think it through, write it down, edit, rewrite, re-edit (this is very important -- you will need to be able to know this about yourself for the rest of your career), rewrite, re-edit, think, think. Once you can do that you may find yourself rewriting your resume and cover letter. Remember, you are competing with a lot of people, and that HR person is going to devote about 10 seconds to your resume -- if it even makes it into the pile to begin with.Oh, and yeah, always look for and follow the instructions.