Putting Together a Perfect Healthcare Resume

You’ve been sending your resume to tens of hundreds of job openings but haven’t heard back. You know you have enough professional experience, but aren’t sure why healthcare employers won’t reach out for an interview.

Your situation isn’t rare, but it is avoidable. Unfortunately, employers reject even the most qualified candidates because of simple resume mistakes, so here are some concrete tips that will guide you from first draft to final interview.

Writing Your Resume

Attention to detail is important in healthcare, and if you have any grammatical, spelling, or formatting errors on your resume, it reflects poorly on your potential performance. Here’s a to-do list that will strengthen your resume for every application.

• Select an easy-to-read font like Garamond, Arial, Helvetica, or Calibri
• Make sure all previous job descriptions are listed in past tense and current positions are in the present tense
• Include your contact information (full name, phone number, email address, and current city)
• List accomplishments that showcase your skills and what the employer has to benefit from.
• Include additional details that can help the hiring manager understand you experience, skills and capacities, and the educational and work experiences that have led to you to where you are today.
• Don't forget to detail all active certifications and awards.

Additionally, your resume should always take up an entire page, but a recruiters and hiring manager's time is valuable and 3+ page resumes are far too big.

Proofreading Your Resume

Checking for errors might seem like the simplest part of putting together a resume, but this step can trip up a lot of candidates. Some proofreading tips for your healthcare resume include:

• Printing your resume to get a better view
• Marking up your errors with a red pen
• Proofreading your resume hours or days after you’ve finished writing it
• Reading the details of your resume aloud
• Asking friends, family, or others to read your resume

You can never spend enough time proofreading your resume. In fact, every time you make any changes, updates, or revisions for a different application, you should start the proofreading process over again.

Preparing for the Interview

When preparing for an interview, print multiple copies of your resume. There may be more than one person interviewing you, and it’s always good to have extra copies in case of an emergency. Similarly, find a professional folder to store your resumes or any other important interview documents in. This type of detail adds another layer of professionalism to your non-verbal presentation.

Work with a Healthcare Recruiter

If you want to get your resume in tip-top shape for each position you apply to, have it professionally critiqued by a healthcare recruiter. At HealthCare Support, we can help you prepare your resume and provide mock-interviews to refine the details. For more information or to learn more about how to perfect your resume, contact us today at 407-478-0332.