Transition to Professional Practice Program (T Triple P). Job Search Strategy

This resource has been prepared for you in part by the Careers Services at the University of South Australia.

The intention is that you utilise this time to prepare your application for your T triple P or other employment applications.

Key date: T triple P applications are due in the middle of August.

• You will need to allow time to collect your evidence and scan your documents.
• You will need to check and recheck that you have completed and included all requirements.

Activity 1: Please peruse the following information to give yourself an idea of the requirements before you commence the next seven sections.

Your Career University of South Australia Last viewed 8 September 2017 Transition to Professional Practice Program (TPPP): Information for Graduate Registered Nurses and Midwives Lyell McEwin Hospital Last viewed 8 September 2017 SA Health Transition to Professional Practice Program (TPPP) for Registered Nurses, 2016 SA Health Last viewed 8 September 2017

TPPP Presentations for UniSA Nursing & Midwifery Students

TPPP Presentation for UniSA for Nursing Students UniSA Last viewed 8 September 2017 TPPP Presentation for UniSA for Midwifery Students UniSA Last viewed 8 September 2017

The employment market for jobs in Nursing is highly competitive. When it comes to places in graduate nurse employment programs, the competition is especially fierce.

If you want to land a good nursing job when you graduate you’re going to need a range of effective job search strategies to attract the attention of employers.

This will include strategies such as being able to:

• accurately read and interpret job application instructions
• prepare a great resume and cover letter
• respond appropriately to job selection criteria
• look in the right places for advertised work
• develop a network of contacts to assist you to find employment
• prepare for and participate in a job interview when required.

In this course you will find relevant information and examples, specially prepared by UniSA Career Services, that will help you to do all these things.

UniSA Career Services University of South Australia Last viewed 8 September 2017

What are Transition to Professional Practice Programs (TPPP)?

Essentially these are specially structured training and development programs, ranging from 6-12 months duration, which are offered by some hospitals/health care providers.

The aim of these programs is to effectively transition nursing graduates from being a student into professional practice as a Registered Nurse.

Most Nursing graduates will aspire to obtaining a position in an organisation which offers a graduate year – commonly called either a Transition to Professional Practice Program (TPPP), or a Graduate Nurse Program (GNP).

The link below to the Nursing SA website more broadly explains what these programs are, with links to more information about them.

TPPP Nursing SA Last viewed 8 September 2017

TPPP and GNP programs are like graduate programs from any study discipline - they involve ‘cream of crop’ recruiting. That is, the employers are looking to hire the very best talent.

Should you be successful in getting into one of these programs, you’ll find that there are a number of professional and personal benefits. These include:

• Planned clinical rotations in either speciality or general nursing areas during the first 12 months of employment to expose you to different aspects of nursing. This expands your clinical experience and helps you decide on your field of specialisation.
• Formal professional development study days.
• Exceptional levels of peer support and mentoring.
• Often, a fast track in your career progression.

Unfortunately, due to competition, and limits on the numbers of available positions, many Nursing program graduates will be unsuccessful in obtaining a graduate year position.

Don’t despair however. If you know where to look for alternatives, you’ll no doubt find that there are many other opportunities to gain employment as a Registered Nurse.

TPPP and GNP programs in South Australia

The largest employer of graduate nurses in South Australia is SA Health, which also encompasses employment in Country Health SA hospitals. Their graduate year program is known as the Transition to Professional Practice Program (or TPPP).

Graduate nurse programs are also offered by some private hospitals (e.g. ACHA Health Hospitals) and aged care service providers.

TPPP SA Health Careers Last viewed 8 September 2017

You should also regularly check the weekly job alert emails issued by UniSA Career Services for graduate nursing positions as they become available.

Given the intense competition for places in graduate nurse programs you will no doubt be keen to learn what it takes to prepare a successful application.

It is important to note that some organisations e.g. SA Health, make their decision to recruit someone based on the quality of their application, their clinical placement reports (or clinical appraisal/review) and feedback from referees.

In other words there is no job interview. So it is crucial that you are able to prepare a quality written application.

Here are 3 very important tips to follow that will give your application that important edge:

1. Read the application instructions carefully and follow them to the letter.
2. Fully research the employing organisation and the position for which you are applying.
3. Using information from your research, tailor the information provided in your application documents.

Let’s look at each of these points in a little more detail.

1. Read the Application Instructions

Given that graduate nursing positions attract hundreds of applicants, employers have little tolerance for applications which don’t conform to their guidelines.

It is almost certain your application will be rejected if you don’t submit all the information required, or you don’t follow the required format, or fail follow other instructions.

Why do employers place so much emphasis on people following application instructions?

One of the reasons is that it makes it easier for them to process the large volume of applications, and to enable a comparison of individual applications in order to identify the best candidates.

What types of instructions can I be expected to follow?

There may, for example, be:

• Limits on the numbers of pages in your resume.
• Limits on the number of words when addressing individual selection criterion.
• Restrictions on the file size of electronic attachments to your application.
• Requirements for providing specific information and documentation relating to your clinical placements.

There may also be conditions on eligibility to apply. You could spend a lot of time preparing an application only to find that you don’t meet one or more of the eligibility requirements.

Every employer will have different requirements and conditions, so carefully read and follow the instructions for every position you are applying for.

So, the message is clear…...read, and follow the application instructions!

2. Research the Organisation and the Job

An important question for any job applicant to consider is, “How are the successful candidates selected?”

For graduate nursing positions, as you might expect, significant weight is placed on your clinical skills, experience and referee comments. But, other factors are also strongly considered, such as:

• Your reasons for applying for the job, and why you want to work for the organisation.
• Evidence that you possess other skills and attributes relevant to the job, for example your communication skills, your attention to detail, the ability to work in a team situation and so on.

As your career progresses, you’ll discover that every organisation has a different culture, a different way of doing things. In fact, an organisation’s culture is often described as being ‘the way we do things around here’.

An organisation’s culture relates to the things that are valued and considered important in the way they operate their business. The organisation’s image, reputation and style of doing business are all a reflection of its culture.

What’s this got to do with recruiting graduate nurses you might ask?

Simple! Organisations want to hire people that are going to fit in. They want to hire people who want to work in their organisation - that is, they don’t want to hire someone who is just looking for a job. They want to employ people who share similar values, beliefs, and motivations to that which exist within the organisation.

By researching the organisation and the area of specialisation/department where you’ll be working, you should be able to uncover all sorts of information about the culture of the place.

What sort of information should you look for? Things like:

• Vision, mission and values statements on websites, reports, strategic plans, brochures etc.
• Charter or customer promise statements.
• Information about the organisation and the job which will be contained in a job and person specification.

	For example, take a look at these websites and see what you can learn about their values, and the ideals which underpin their service offering. You’ll no doubt pick up some valuable clues about the types of qualities they might be seeking in future employees.
	About SA Health SA Health Last viewed 8 September 2017 Vision, mission and values SA Health Last viewed 8 September 2017 Mission, vision, values Calvary Rehabilitation Hospital Last viewed 8 September 2017 Spirit of Calvary Calvary Rehabilitation Hospital Last viewed 8 September 2017 Vision statement ACHA Health Last viewed 8 September 2017

3. Using your Research to Tailor your Job Application

As a result of researching the organisation, and the job and person requirements, you will have a much clearer understanding of the context in which you will perform your work, and the important clinical and non-clinical attributes being sought in candidates.

When completing your application documents it is essential that you communicate that you understand what is important to the organisation you’d like to work for….. and that you share their values.

For example, two of the values in SA Health are ‘excellence’ and ‘equity’.

Think about what these values mean to you. Do you share these values?

If so, say that you do in your application, and back up your claims where possible with some examples.

Here’s one of the values expressed in Calvary Rehabilitation Hospital’s ‘Spirit of Calvary’ – “We provide quality passionate care for the whole person”.

	Write your own notes on the following: What does this statement mean to you? Do you share these ideals? How do you think you could demonstrate or explain that you do share these?
	Write your own notes on the following: Take time also to reflect on the various attributes and skills being sought in successful candidates for the position. Carefully consider why these might be essential to the role, and try to convey your understanding of this in your application.

This reflection on your research will help you to tailor your application. ‘Tailoring’ your application involves communicating to the employer that:

• You want to work in their organisation, not just any organisation that is offering a nursing position, and you can give some good reasons why this is so.
• You possess the relevant clinical and other job related skills and attributes, and that you also understand why these are important in the job you are applying for.

Many unsuccessful job applicants favour a ‘generic’ application – that is, they use the same standard resume, cover letter and responses to selection criteria for every position they apply for.

This approach is interpreted by employers as lack of candidate interest. As such, generic applications are promptly rejected by employers.

In summary, use the information gained from your research to tailor your application. As a result, you will more effectively communicate your genuine interest in working for the organisation, and in the position being offered.

Here you will learn exactly what you need to look for in a job advertisement, and/or a job and person specification, so that you can tailor your application accordingly. While this might sound very basic, a surprising number of people will have their job applications rejected because they haven’t accurately identified what the employer is looking for in job applicants.

For example, take a look at the information in this nursing job advertisement which appeared on seek.com. It is typical of many job ads in the information it provides. Note where, and how, the all-important selection criteria is specified in the advertisement! Look for key words like – “Do you have”, “The successful candidate will be (or have)..”, “We are looking for someone who….” Etc. What follows is the selection criteria.

The important lesson here ... you must address the selection criteria in your application documents, especially in the areas of your resume such as the profile, key skills summary and possibly the career objective. Summarise these attributes in your cover letter as well. Sometimes you will see a job advertisement, set out in a similar fashion to the above example, which contains an additional instruction……usually at the very end of the advertisement. This instruction might say something like: “Please contact……for more information and to obtain a copy of the job and person specification” Or……”If you wish to apply please obtain a copy of the job and person specification from…..”

The information in this document will, of course, be necessary to your successful application, so you’ll need to get a copy.

Job and Person Specifications

When applying for positions within a government organisation (for example SA Health), in many not for profit organisations, and also for some privately owned health institutions, you will be referred to a document known as the job and person specification.

As the name of the document implies, it contains detailed information about:

• the duties and responsibilities involved in the position being offered – this is the job specification
• the skills, knowledge and experience that is required to successfully perform the role – this information is the person specification.

The person specification is, of course, the selection criteria for the position. The suitability of all applicants will be assessed against these criteria, so you need to address them in your application.

Below is a sample job and person specification. It’s a generic version which appears on SA Health’s website.

Sample job and person specification SA Health Last viewed 8 September 2017

Note: SA Health will publish a job and person specification document which is specific to its TPPP graduate employment program. Make sure you respond only to the information in this document if you are applying. Do not use the sample document above.

Attached to the job and person specification you will also find the instructions for completing your application. As previously mentioned, you must follow these closely. (Note - these are not contained in the above sample.)

Addressing the Selection Criteria in your Application

Again, it is essential that you follow exactly any instructions given for addressing the selection criteria. Organisations differ in how they might want to receive this information from you

For example, you may be required to:

• include your responses in a separate document to be submitted in your application, perhaps entitled 'Response to Selection Criteria'
• include your responses within a cover letter
• submit responses in an online document
• observe word and/or page limits to your responses.

The person specification will usually contain two sections as in the SA Health sample document:

1. Essential minimum requirements.
2. Desirable characteristics.

Essential requirements mean just that – if you don’t have all of these, there is little point in applying.

If you have none, or only some of the desirable attributes, go ahead and apply. As explained in the sample document, these attributes help the employer to further distinguish between applicants who have met the essential criteria.

This is usually a very time consuming task…. 8-10 hours of work is not uncommon! Therefore, get started in plenty of time before the closing date so that you are able to revisit, and revise your document several times before submitting it. Yes…..that level of attention to your document is that important to your chances of landing a job. Before responding to each criterion, read each statement carefully and identify exactly what attributes are being sought. Perhaps underline each of the components within a criterion statement so that you don’t miss any in your response.

A useful way of organising your response is to think of each component within a criterion statement as being a mini topic that you have to write about.

Consider this criterion which appears in the SA Health person specification: Effective communication skills including, problem solving, conflict resolution and negotiation skills. How many mini topics would you write about in your response?

If you said three – well done! Your statement would need to reflect that you have the ability to apply your communication skills in three areas – problem solving, conflict resolution and negotiation.

What about this one? Ability to be, creative, innovative and flexible when approaching issues within a healthcare setting. Here, there are four areas of ability being sought – creative, innovative and flexible, and within a health care setting. Start noting some dot points for what you would say for each of the four areas.

Suggested Approach

Many people are unsure about how to write their responses. Here’s an important rule of thumb……make it very easy for the reader to both read and interpret what you have written.

Therefore, try this simple, but effective approach to responding to selection criteria:

• In your document, type out the exact criterion statement and make it stand out from your response, by using ‘bold’ or ‘italics’.
• In the first sentence of your response make your claim that you have the required attributes and then state 'for example’.
• Then use bullet points, and provide specific examples……’where and/or how’ of applying the skill or attribute.

Using the SA Health criterion relating to effective communication skills, here is part of a sample response:

“I have well developed communication skills and am able to approach situations of problem solving, conflict resolution and negotiation confidently and effectively. For example:

• A patient’s wife had concerns about his ongoing care at home after discharge. I used my questioning and listening skills to fully identify her concerns, suggested some options to her and helped her to identify the most appropriate course of action.
• There was conflict about how to manage a client between several members of staff on the ward. While I knew I was a student, I made sure that I listened to everyone's views, I tried to find out the actual facts about the patient that were important and was able to add useful information to the discussion. I did not take part in the 'politics' of the situation, such as issues between different personalities. My focus was on the client outcome while maintaining my professionalism and supporting my colleagues."

When responding to most job advertisements it will usually be expected that you write a cover letter, sometimes known as an application letter.

What is the purpose of a cover letter? Your cover letter typically will basically explain:

• That you are interested in the position.
• Why you are applying.
• Your suitability for the position.

Some general guidelines to follow when writing covering letters:

• Ideally keep it to less than one page.
• Address your letter to a person, not a position. If a job ad doesn’t have the contact person’s name, consider calling the organisation and obtain the relevant details.
• Make sure you correctly spell the name of the contact; get their job title right too!
• Include your contact details at the top of the letter.
• If the advertisement has a job reference number quote this in your letter.

As with all your other job application documentation, making it easy reading for the reader is essential.

Here’s a simple but effective format for your letter that will help you achieve this. Divide it up into these 4 sections:

• A short introductory paragraph.
• A concise, dot point summary of your relevant skills, experience and qualifications – closely related to, or mirroring the selection criteria.
• Describe what other job application documentation you are supplying along with your letter.
• Express your desire for an interview.

Let’s examine each of these four parts of the letter in a little more detail.

The Introduction

• Indicate that you are applying for the position.
• Then explain why…..aim to get their attention. Your reasons might include things like your desire and/or confidence that you can make a contribution to their organisation, your passion for the work or field, your admiration/sharing of the organisation’s values etc.
• Aim to get their attention in the opening paragraph.
• Aim for perhaps two sentences maximum in the introduction; no more than say four lines of text for your opening paragraph.

Summarise your Skills, Experience and Qualifications

• Start a new paragraph with a sentence which goes something like: “To assist you to evaluate my suitability for this position, following is a brief summary of my relevant qualifications, skills and experience:"
• Then provide a dot point summary of these attributes. The attributes you include must be closely related to the selection criteria.
• Remember, this is a summary of the attributes you bring to the position. You will be describing these in much more detail in your resume and responses to the selection criteria document.
• Keep your descriptions brief – one line of text is great, two lines of text isn’t too bad, three or more lines is probably too much information.

Describe other Job Application Documents you are Supplying

• This is as simple as writing a sentence like “Please find attached a copy of my resume together with a document containing my responses to the selection criteria".

Express your Desire for an Interview

• Make your closing paragraph strong and memorable.
• Re-state your strong interest in the position, and that you are confident you can demonstrate your ability to perform in this position to their complete satisfaction.
• Indicate that you are looking forward to an opportunity to meet them in an interview where you can further explain your suitability for the job.
• Avoid using limp closing phrases like “Thank you for taking the time to read my application, I hope to hear from you soon. If you have any questions please call me at any time” etc.

Below is a cover letter template so that you can see how the sections of the letter might come together:

This section consists of the following sub-chapters:

• Personal Details
• Career objective
• Profile
• Key Strengths
• Education
• Professional Experience
• Awards
• Visual Appeal
• Job Search Strategy

It is suggested that you don’t use a heading to provide this information. Simply centre the information at the top of the first page of your resume as follows:

Some tips about personal details information:

• It isn’t usually necessary to provide details of your age or marital status.
• If you have a non-Anglo name you might want to consider including a sub heading like “Residency Status:” and then indicate Australian citizen, or Australian Permanent Resident.
• Have a professional sounding email address. Email addresses such as hotchick@abc.com or stanthestud@abc.com will not do much to enhance your professional image.
• Review your voice message so that you sound professional. For example, a curt or bored “Hi, leave a message” or perhaps some sort of wacky greeting will also have a poor impact on your image.

This heading is optional. Many resume experts today suggest not including this heading. The main reason for this being that most resume writers don’t use this statement very effectively to promote themselves.

The content you place at the beginning of your resume is prime real estate…..it is the first job related information the reader will obtain about you. You want this information to have maximum impact on the reader.

First impressions are lasting impressions. So, if you are going to include a career objective statement it must be an attention grabber, a hook to encourage the reader to learn more about you.

Your career objective must be targeted and relevant to both the organisation, and job role for which you are applying.

For example, if your career objective states that you want to pursue your nursing career in a general practice environment, but you are applying for a graduate position in aged care, the employer is hardly likely to understand your reasons for wanting to work in their organisation.

When writing your career objective, explain your preferred role (which naturally coincides with the position for which you are applying!!). Your aim is to demonstrate that there is a match between what you want to do in your career, and what the employer is looking for in their ideal candidate.

Remember, your resume is about self promotion. Therefore, in your career objective, aim to highlight one, or two of your key strengths or attributes. And….. explain the benefits of these attributes to the organisation. Naturally, the attributes you decide to mention will be among those included in the selection criteria.

Following is a simple formula to help you to get started in writing your targeted career objective statement.

Seeking a position in (nominate job role and/or industry) where my (nominate one or two of your strongest areas of skill, expertise and/or knowledge) in (specific, key areas) can make a positive contribution to (benefits might include enhancing any one of - profitability, productivity, image, reputation, customer satisfaction etc) of the organisation.

Example:

If in doubt leave this heading out. Instead, use the “Profile” and/or “Key Skills Summary” headings to make your initial sales pitch and attention grabbing statements.

The idea of a career profile is to give the reader a snapshot of your relevant experience and key skills as a health care professional. They should be able to see at a glance from the information in your statement that you are a candidate that should be strongly considered.

Some tips to follow for writing your profile statement:

• Make your profile relevant to the attributes the employer is looking for. For example, if they are looking for someone with great interpersonal skills who is detail oriented, it would be important that your profile statement explains you have these attributes. (This is called ‘tailoring’).
• Try to avoid beginning your sentences with “I” – see the example below for a suggested way to do this.
• Your profile statement should be reasonably short – no more than say 3-5 lines of text, depending on the extent of your experience.
• Perhaps include one or two personality, and/or work style attributes in a descriptive sentence which most accurately describes who you are, and what you have to offer.
• Provide a very brief and broad overview description of any relevant employment and/or clinical experience.
• Experiment with the first dozen or so words in your profile statement…..they really do need to grab the attention and interest of the reader.

For example:

This section of your resume needs to be carefully tailored so that you are writing about attributes the employer is wanting to see in applicants.

A list of your strengths will usually include some transferrable skills e.g. communication skills, team work, planning and organising, attention to detail etc. It will often include reference to relevant clinical skills, experience or knowledge that you might have.

Some guidelines for writing about your key strengths:

• Use dot points to provide a short list – no more than 7 or 8 points if at all possible
• Really sell your strengths – experiment with the language you use, include adverbs and adjectives to bring your key strengths
• Avoid a detailed itemised list of clinical skills if possible – instead refer to skills in broad areas like acute care etc
• Think carefully about which items you place at the top of the list – put your strongest skills first. Note that the items at the bottom of your list are often overlooked by the reader.

Avoid underselling, or understating. For example here’s some people list their strengths:

• Good communication skills
• Planning and organising
• Computer skills

If you were an employer reading this, would this influence you to want to meet that candidate? For example can you think of a better way to express that you are a ‘good’ communicator?

Try also to show when you write about a particular skill or attribute that you understand its relevance or importance to the job.

Here’s an alternative, which tends to show you have thought about your suitability for the position:

• A confident, friendly communicator who is able to quickly develop rapport and form effective working relationships with a broad range of people
• Enjoys working collaboratively with others in team situations, is an energetic team member
• Has well developed planning and organising skills, but is flexible and adaptable in responding to unforeseen events
• Competent in using a broad range of computer applications

See the difference? Which person do you think the employer is likely to want to interview?

Combined Profile and Key Strengths Summary

Instead of having a separate heading for the Profile and Key Strengths Summary, another approach is to combine your profile and key strengths summary. We’ll use the previous two examples to demonstrate this, as follows:

Key strengths include

• A confident, friendly communicator who is able to quickly develop rapport and form effective working relationships with a broad range of people
• Enjoys working collaboratively with others in team situations, is an energetic team member
• Has well developed planning and organising skills, but is flexible and adaptable in responding to unforeseen events
• Competent in using a broad range of computer applications”

The detail to be included here refers primarily to university and relevant TAFE qualifications. Details of your Secondary School education are not usually necessary. Short courses that you have completed should be listed under the heading “Training and Professional Development”. Career changers who have other higher education qualifications will need to think carefully about whether or not to provide these details. One point of view is you’ve worked hard to achieve your qualifications so they ought to be listed.

An alternative view is that your resume is a sales document; you want the reader to gain a clear, consistent impression that you are a committed health care professional. In making your decision, perhaps evaluate whether your other qualifications will be seen by the employer as adding an important extra dimension to your ability to do the job. For example, if you had a degree in Media Arts specialising in developing computer games, it may be difficult to an employer to understand why/how you ended up in the Nursing profession.

Commencing with your most recent qualifications first i.e. this will be Bachelor of Nursing.

Some people ask do you need to add extra information like your GPA? Generally the answer is ‘no’. However if you have an exceptional GPA, including this information is another way you can differentiate yourself from the competition.

You will notice that there are two suggested headings on the resume which relate to your employment and practical experience. When applying for graduate nurse positions that you will probably need to include both headings, as follows:

• Professional Experience – this relates to any clinical or health care experience – that is, your placements, and paid, unpaid work e.g. employment as an EN, or carer work in the aged care sector. The aim here is to showcase some solid clinical experience.
• Employment History – under this heading provide a summary of other employment you have had. This will be non-nursing related paid employment e.g. working in a supermarket, hospitality or perhaps other career positions you’ve had. Here your purpose is merely to communicate that you actually have a record of being employed.

There is also a potential third extra heading that can be added by people who haven’t had paid employment, but who have gained important transferable skills through volunteer work. So, the additional heading might be either “Volunteering”, or “Community Work” or similar.

How to Write About Your Professional Experience

Note that the sub headings used should also be highlighted by making them “bold”. Document your experiences in reverse chronological order, i.e. start with your most recent experience first.

Let’s look at each of these parts in detail:

The Position and Date

Indicate the position you’ve held – I suggest Student Nurse, others sometimes write “Clinical Placement” or similar. If you are writing about paid work as an Enrolled Nurse, then that’s the title for the position. How much information should be supplied in terms of the date? If you have had say 2 years paid work you might simply put year/year. For a shorter period of work or a placement of a couple of months you might need to show month/year to month/year.

POSITION: Student Nurse DATE: Jan 2012 - present

ORGANISATION: ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

(Note: Include here, in brackets, using a smaller font, perhaps also in italics, a sentence about the organisation where you did your placement e.g. covering things like – type of facility, size, number of patient beds or area of specialisation e.g. a hospice, trauma rehabilitation etc. Proving this type of context about your experience adds to your professional credibility)

Next, write a sentence about the role scope or purpose e.g. Working in a multi disciplinary team environment, completed two week rotations in each of general ward, recovery ward, theatre and admissions.

ACHIEVEMENTS (or CONTRIBUTIONS – if you prefer)

List in bullet point form some of the contributions (clinical work you completed during your placement, for example:

Within scope of practice:

• Assisted patients with washing and dressing.
• Checked and recorded vital signs.

Keep your list relatively short – ideally no more than 5 or 6 bullet points. You can add significant impact to your achievement or contribution statements by describing, where possible, key deliverables or performance measurables that were associated with each position, and quantify them where possible.

For example:

• Time – can you describe tasks or actions that you had to complete within particular time frames, or deadlines?
• Budget – were you required to work within budget guidelines? Alternatively did your actions contribute to saving or making money for the organisation?
• Quality – were you required to work within recognised quality standards, or use relevant quality assurance procedures?
• Maintaining a desired level of performance
• Meeting or exceeding designated performance targets or outcomes

A final thought about Professional Experience – how many entries should be included, and in how much detail? It would be a good idea to write about your last two, and more extensive clinical placements. Provide a summary only of your earlier placements, and use a similar format to that which is explained below for writing about your Employment History.

Should you have had other paid, or unpaid professional experience and as a result developed clinical skills in addition to those gained in your clinical placements, it would be a good idea to give some detail about this…..rather than just a summary.

Another consideration about how much detail to include for professional experience which is not recent will be the effect on the overall length of your document. If the job application instructions indicate a two page limit on your resume, then you’ll need to prioritise how much, and which information you provide.

Employment History

Under this heading include information about any paid employment you have had. Provide details of your employment history in reverse chronological order. Many students will have had part time and casual work while studying, often in jobs which are not related to nursing. Other students might have had full time career positions before changing their career direction. In either case, employers will almost certainly see your past employment history as a bonus when considering the merits of your application. It is therefore important to include some brief detail about these jobs.

Why do employers value this experience? Perhaps the most important thing to employers is information about how you will have developed transferable skills…..skills you possess which can be readily adapted to Nursing.

For example:

• You will have demonstrated reliability, turning up to work on time and completing your assigned tasks
• Often you will be working with others in team situations.
• Many part time/casual jobs are related to delivering service – hence they could involve
  • Using interpersonal or other communication skills
  • Dealing with different types of people in terms of their age, gender, social background and culture
  • Resolving complaints
  • Being flexible in adapting to customer requests
  • Working in busy and fast paced environments
  • Being given leadership or supervisory responsibility,
• and so on……

Example

POSITION: Crew Member DATE: 2011 - present

ORGANISATION: McDonalds Restaurant, Enfield SA

Worked as team member in an exceptionally busy restaurant. Required to communicate with, and provide high quality, fast service to a very diverse customer base. Occasionally was shift leader and assisted in training new team members.

Community Work (or Volunteering) – optional

Writing about any community or volunteering work that is not related to Nursing can be useful if you have had limited, or no paid employment. If you’ve done this type of work, and it’s related to Nursing, consider including this detail under the “Professional Experience” heading ……but only if space allows. Use exactly the same format for writing about this which is shown above for writing about “Employment History”.

Writing about awards you have received can also be a useful way of differentiating yourself from the competition. Awards are usually given because you have done something meritorious, and imply that you possess extra special attributes that might be useful in your chosen profession – for example:

• Academic awards indicate intelligence, and can also imply the ability to work hard, and to be disciplined and focused in your approach to study.
• Community awards can signify you possess particular social values, a giving/serving nature, and a commitment in going the extra mile in giving to your community.
• Sporting achievement awards can also indicate preparedness to work hard, be disciplined and goal oriented, the ability to perform under pressure, the presence of leadership or team working skills, and so on…

Avoid however writing about every school award you might have received over the years. If you have awards and are unsure whether to include them or not, consider their relevance to attributes required in the Nursing profession. Perhaps it would be helpful to consider what the employer make of this information if you decide to include it.

If the reason for the award is not obvious include a brief explanation, in brackets, about what the award is about.

Professional Registration and Associations

Under this heading you will list details of your current registration (either as an Enrolled Nurse, or Registered Nurse as applicable), including any notations. Also if you are a member of a relevant professional association e.g. Australian College of Nursing (ACN website) include this detail in your resume. It is an indication of your intention to engage fully in the profession and have a commitment to ongoing professional development.

Professional Development

You will have almost certainly completed a number of short courses while completing your Nursing degree. List any that are relevant, and/or important to the position for which you are applying.

Referees

When applying for graduate nursing positions you will usually be asked to provide details of people who can provide the employer with a reference about you. Usually you will be asked to provide the names and contact details of two, perhaps three people – follow the application instructions in this regard. Before submitting your resume, it is important that you will have asked each of your referees for their permission to be included in your resume. Providing the names of people as referees without asking their permission is extremely unprofessional, and will have a detrimental effect on your application.

The overall appearance and layout of your job application documents make an important impact on the reader. After you are happy with the actual content of your documents it is well worth your while then to think about their overall visual appeal. Documents which are easy to read because they are visually appealing because they are well designed and set out are much more likely to be well received by the reader. Why, because your information is easy to read and absorb.

Here are a few guidelines:

• Try to maintain a good margin size for top, bottom and side margins to give your document an open look – e.g. 2.54cm.
• Choose a font that is easy to read – some of the more eye friendly ones include arial, verdana and century gothic. Use the same font throughout your document though.
• Choose a font size that is easy to read – size 11 is usually about right.
• Use slight larger fonts for headings and sub headings, ‘bold them make them stand out. This helps to draw the eye to the information, and breaks up the page.
• Consider using an across page underline to break up each of the parts of your resume. And/or……use white space so that new headings stand out.
• Consider using a top and bottom of page border – evaluate if this adds to the visual appeal of the document.
• Create a header which contains your name, and a footer showing page numbers.
• Ensure that you check your document to remove any spelling or grammatical errors.
• If you are not confident in your word processing skills ask a friend for assistance with layout.

One final note of caution – don’t overdo or overuse layout features that might be available to you. Use too many gimmicks and your resume will have a jumbled, tossed together look, rather than a carefully designed, easy to read document.

Please access the webinar below for information on Job Search Strategy

Job Search Strategy University of South Australia Last viewed 8 September 2017

Please note: It is essential to your chances of being considered for a Nursing position that you do not copy the samples in this document. Imagine what an employer might think if they started to receive numerous resumes with very similar profiles, key skills summaries and cover letters. Use the ideas, but create your own version!