Hi, I am graduating in May of this year with my associates in nursing and have been updating my resume to apply for a new nurse residency program. This is a career change for me- for the last 5 years I have worked as a mental health worker. Having only written one professional resume before, I feel relatively new at this. I hoping this format is ok. I am planning on bringing this (one page) with me to a recruiting event for graduate nurses.  Hopefully I formatted this correctly for this forum.
________________________________________________
Objective
 To obtain a full time position in an acute care setting as a newly graduated registered nurse, allowing me to utilize my current skills and abilities while fostering new skills, challenges, and continued education opportunities.

Professional Summary
Recognized for strong critical thinking skills- ability to assess, plan care, and evaluate patient response while student nurse clinical setting; adept at analyzing patient needs and goals and implementing interventions to ensure best patient care and safety, in residential group home setting
Consistently empathetic- able to actively listen and establish rapport quickly with patients
Experienced in case management- participated in multidisciplinary team meetings; coordinated medical care and community needs for patients in residential group home
Skilled in multitasking- management of clients/activities in residential group home; patient care in student nurse clinical; balancing school and work
Recognized for strong leadership skills- ability to delegate activities to other staff, both in a team and as a supervisor
Proficient and experienced in educating patients in group settings and 1:1
Regularly sought and acquired new knowledge through agency provided trainings, seeking out mentors, and self-directed study.

Education
Associates of Science in Nursing- Anticipated graduation May 2013, Community Nursing School, Anywhere Bachelors of Science in Art Therapy- May 2007 University, Anywhere

Student Nurse Clinical Experience
Fundamental Nursing Skills- Long-term care, ***** Rehab Medical/Surgical- Medical/Surgical unit, **** Hopsital; Orthopedic Surgery unit and Cardiac Unit, *****Medical Center
Mental Health- Acute Psychiatric Unit, *** Hospital
Maternal and Child Health- Labor and Delivery, OB/Maternity, Pediatric Unit, **** Hopsital
Community Nursing- Urgent Care Facility, **** Hopsital

Work Experience
Mental Health Center
       Residential Counselor (June 2007-December 2012)
University Library, University, Anwhere
      Student Worker, Circulation Desk Assistant: Shift Supervisor (February 2005 – May 2007)
Town Sandwich Shop, Town Anwyhere
      Cashier and Cook (2000 - 2002), Shift Leader (2002 – 2006).

Certifications
Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers, expires June 2013 CPI,
Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, expires September 2013

Hi valerie459,

You did a great job on your resume - the strategy, content, and sections are perfect for you. I just have a couple of suggestions:

- Provide more detail regarding your clinical experiences. You can write about conditions you helped treat, feedback you received from patients and supervisors, and the ways in which you made a difference during your rotations. There's a sample resume for an entry-level RN here - check it out for ideas:
Entry-Level RN Resume Sample

- Proofread your resume. You have issues that need to be corrected such as missing hyphens (e.g., "full-time position"), awkward sentences (first line of your Summary - "while in a student..."), incorrect pluralization (Bachelor of Arts/Associate of Science), etc. Give this a thorough proofreading and correct the typos so the reader can focus on your skills and experience.

Wishing you good luck!

Hi,

I see that you have quite a fair bit of relevant experience and transferrable skills with your previous experiences in the healthcare industry. The key here I believe is to be able to harness the power of your past experiences. Let me share some of my thoughts with you on how to improve this Resume.

On the whole, the formatting is generally fine but I would like to remind that using corky dots for each point under the Professional Summary section is important as it "guides" the reader to read further in a systematic way.

As for the Objective, I would strongly encourage that you insert specific keywords into that short paragraph. In such executive summaries, the reader usually looks for words that would interest them eg specific skills, qualities and experiences in various technologies. The difficult thing about keywords is that the keywords for every position are different and there're no hard and fast rule as to which keywords should be used. You'll need to do some intensive research or network with people in the industry to find out what these keywords are.

As for Professional Summary, I would recommend that you restructure the points. You should start with 1-3 points discussing/narrating the things you did and the processes you adopted. After sufficient description, you'll then have to showcase your achievements accomplished as a result of the things you did. Use numbers to show the significance of your work wherever applicable. Altogether, there shouldn't be more than 6 points used.

Pertaining to the content under Professional Summary, here are some questions to set you thinking:

What did you do and how did you do your work; who and how many people benefited from your work.
Who were the people that benefited most from your job dedication and how did your work add value to them.
In group activities and team meetings etc, what was your role and how did your work supported the overall progress of the team.
What was your role in providing personal coaching to the patients and what were the topics that you trained them on.
What were the examples of scenarios when you utilized your leadership skills to resolve difficult situations.

Once you have these information ready, the main bulk of the content under Professional Summary is set. What needs to be done after which is to organize and put them in a logical flow of information. You see, the concept here is to showcase what kind of VALUE are you able to bring across to your prospective employer using your skills, personal qualities and your relevant work experiences. The greater the value you're perceived to be able to bring across, the higher the chances of you securing the interview.