Anyone embarking on a career in the medical field, or seeking to change positions within healthcare, would do well to prepare a brand-new resume that can highlight your experience and the value you bring to the workplace. Even though there is a tremendous demand for healthcare workers, it will certainly be to your advantage to create an appealing resume, so that you have access to the best positions within the field.
You may not be aware of this, but the average hiring manager will spend only about six seconds scanning most resumes to find out whether or not a particular candidate might be worth interviewing. That means you have a very limited opportunity to create a resume that appeals quickly, and which will land you an interview with the hiring manager.
Here are some tips on how you can create a resume that provides instant appeal and will get your foot in the door so you can state your case to the hiring manager.
Align your Resume Objective with the Specific Job Description
Given the fact that competition is so fierce in the healthcare industry, it will definitely be to your advantage to tailor your resume to the specific job you’re applying for. While this might involve some extra work, hiring managers might notice you a whole lot better.
The best way to go about customizing your resume for a particular healthcare post is to pay close attention to the job description. Try to pick out important keywords from the job description, and use those same keywords in your resume, beginning with your career objective.
You should list your objective at the top of your resume since it will be one of the first items that any hiring manager will observe during their scanning process. That means it’s essential that you state your career objectives clearly, and follow them up with information about your skills and experience. This will show hiring managers that you understand the nature of the position, and it will help your resume stand out against the mountain of other resumes being reviewed.
Highlight your Educational Achievements
Make sure to specifically highlight your academic achievements, in chronologically descending order, so that any hiring manager can tell at a glance exactly what you’ve achieved in the way of academics.
You should also include any licensures you’ve obtained as well as any certifications, especially if they have a strong bearing on the position you’re applying for. It’s a good idea to include those certifications whether or not they pertain to the specific job, because they demonstrate your commitment to ongoing education and to bettering yourself.
For this reason, you should always list every certification you have achieved, regardless of exactly what area of healthcare it’s involved with.
Feature your Healthcare Skills
In some cases, a hiring manager is specifically looking for the kind of healthcare skills you have, as opposed to anything else that might be gleaned from your resume. To cover situations like this, you should make a point of listing exactly why you are a skilled individual who would make a great addition to their team.
If you have a healthcare specialty, you should be specific in describing exactly what that is, and why it makes you unique among other applicants.
It will be good for you to list any duties and responsibilities you had at other jobs, because this may help a hiring manager visualize how you could be a great addition to their company. Some skills may not seem like they pertain directly to the job you’re applying for, but if you have customer service skills that’s always a plus, and these should be listed.
Other soft skills such as communication and a penchant for teamwork would also be advantageous to include on your resume.
Make Sure to Proofread
Don’t submit a resume for any position without closely proofreading it for grammar, formatting, and proper spelling. It is a known fact that hiring managers will quickly dismiss resumes that show errors in spelling or grammar because that is taken as a sign of poor professionalism and lack of attention to detail.
If necessary, use online software tools that will check your resume for you, and identify any errors which you need to correct.
If you really want to be sure about preparing a top-notch resume, it might be worth your while to work with a staffing agency, so that you can hit all the major points being sought by hiring managers. Before sending your resume out to various hiring companies, you can then be sure that it will at least be error-free, and will not be disqualified on the basis of containing a number of mistakes.
Include a Cover Letter
Surprisingly, this simple step is frequently overlooked by a number of job candidates, and although it’s not required on all applications, it’s still a good idea to include one as a matter of best practice. Studies have shown that nearly one-quarter of all hiring managers consider a red flag when no cover letter has been included with a resume. Of course, this does not take in the majority of hiring managers, but you just don’t want to limit yourself in any way when you’re starting out seeking employment.
One reason you should always include a cover letter is that it helps you to tailor your resume and your application to the specific job you’re applying for. The content of your cover letter should address why it is that you consider yourself to be the perfect candidate for this job and for this company. Whenever possible, you should sprinkle in some of the keywords you found in the job description to strengthen your candidacy.
Use the cover letter to showcase your communication skills, and to show that you do have soft skills in addition to the actual healthcare experience you’ve gained throughout your career. As with the resume itself, make sure to proofread your cover letter, so that it’s completely free of any kind of spelling or grammatical errors. This will give you the best chance of making it beyond those first six seconds with a hiring manager, and advancing to the next stage, which will be your interview.
