5 Steps To Land Your Dream Nursing Job - A Conversation With Nurse Sara Fung

5 Steps To Land Your Dream Nursing

Job - A Conversation With Nurse Sara Fung

Talk to any nurseandtheywill tell you the biggest challengekeepingthemfrom their dream jobs is findingthetime to write a new resume andcover letter or prepare for jobs interviewswith theirbusyschedulesandgeneral exhaustion.That's whywe recently invitedRN and resume writer Sara Fung to the Caring Support Podcast. Shehas developeda career beyondnursing,helpingothernursesputtheirbest foot forward thanksto perfectly tailored resumes, engagingcoverletters andmore, andhada lot to sharewith our community.

We asked Sara aboutthe steps nursescouldfollow tofindtheirdream jobs, andthis is whatshe told us:

5 Steps To Land Your Dream Nursing Job - A ConversationWithNurse Sara Fung

Tell Us About Your Journey In Nursing And ProfessionalResumeWriting.

SARA FUNG: I thinkI've been alwaysone of those peoplethat gets bored easily. I alwayswant to try somethingnew.Even when Iwas at the bedside, I alwaysthought, onceI'm able to master a skill,what's next?What can I do next? So I was always interested in learningmoreandI got whatI call the "two year itch," whereevery time I was somewherefor two years, I wantedto try somethingnew.AndI kindof thought maybe somethingis wrongwith me. Whycan't I stay in oneplace for long?Whyhaven't

I foundmydream job or where I'm supposedto be andall that to say that I just feel like I'm always wantingtotry new thingsandlearn.Andthere are some peoplethat like beingwheretheyare, and that's great.

Andthere are people likeme that just can'tseem to sit still. So I kindof took any opportunityI couldto try new things... work in differenthospitals,differentenvironments, just really push myself out of my comfort zoneandI'm reallyfocusedthesedays on work lifebalanceandmental health becauseI thinkthisis somethingthatnurses strugglewith a lot. AndI certainlydidn't learn aboutself care in my nursingschool days. We were alwaystaughtto care for patients andadvocate for patients, butwhat I started to learn is that it's equallyimportantto care for yourself andadvocate for yourself asa nurse.Andtryingto improve workingconditionsfornursesissomethingthat I do throughoutmy days now. So whetherit is through thepodcast, whetherit is talkingto themedia, or helping nursesfindjobs that suittheir needsa bit better, that's what I wantto do. AndI still enjoy helpingpeople,butjust in a differentway. AndI think thisiswhyI decided to focuson the businessof helpingnursesbecauseI realizedthat through all thejobs that I'd appliedto throughouttheyears, I never really learnedhow to write a resume. I never learnedhow to interview and, again,theseare thingsthatI feel shouldbetaughtand often aren't taughtin nursingschool,andyou definitelydon'tlearn aboutthemon the job.

So I decidedthis is somethingI really wantedto helpnurseswith.Andduringmydays in nursingleadership,I often sat in on a lot of interviewswith themanager becausethey neededa secondperson andI saw a lot of really great nurseswith not so great resumes or whojust didn'tknow how to answercertain questions.AndI couldtell they were goingto be really good at the job, but just translatingthat in an interview or onto a piece of paper appeared to be a big challenge.

In Your Experience, What Are The Most Common

MistakesYou've Seen Nurses MakeWhen Looking For A Job?

SARA FUNG: The numberonemistake I wouldsay is just includingtoomuch on their resumes. AndI know thisis really hardfor some people to let go of because,of course, we wantto showcaseall the great thingswe'vedoneandmany nursesthatcome to me havebeen workingfor a numberof years. What I liketo explain isthat there are two differentterms I thinkpeoplethrow arounda lot. One is CV andthe other is resume. So, the way I lookat a CV, it's like somethingforyour own records of everythingyou'veever donefrom thetime you became a nurseto now.AndI look at a CV as your walk in closet, so it's everythingyou own,a lot of stuff,all in oneplace. Now, yourresume is really just a summary of what you'vedoneto show an employer that you can do the job that you're applyingto. So, I look at a resume as a suitcase,so you'regoingto take a suitcaseon vacation you can onlypack so much. You shouldonlyincludethepiecesof clothingthatare relevant to the occasion.And that's how I look at a resume, trying to helppeoplepare down all of this great information intosomethingthatan employer can look at. Andwe know from research that an employer mightonlyglanceat a resume for 7 secondsbefore they decideif they're goingto keep readingor they're goingto putit down.So yourjob is to convince someonethat they needto keep reading.Andalso, I liketo tell peopleabout thegoal of a resume.

The goal of theresume is not to get a job, it's actuallyto get an interview.So, if you can thinkaboutit that way, that really helpsyou eliminatesome of the older information. Maybe that doesn'tneedto be there anymore or somethingthat'snolongerrelevant to the role that you want to apply to. I wouldsay length isthe first thing.Some nursesand

again,it's becausewedon't learn it, choosea format that isn't very easy to read or it's too squishedin.

So, it can just make it difficult.AndI thinkthelayoutis anotherthing,just pickinga layoutthat's easy on the eyes, that's easy for the person to read. AndI guesstheother thing,if I couldjust mention onemore, is puttinginformation in bulletpoints.That's really key for the reader. Andwe havethis tendencyto write in paragraphs, which isgood when you'rewritingreports andthingslikethat, butwhen you'rewritinga resume, just trying to be concisein gettingto thepointis somethingthat nursesaren'talways ableto do well. Andthisis whatI like to helpmy clientswith.

Let's Talk About The Steps For Landing Your Dream

NursingJob.

SARA FUNG: There are fiveitems to consider...

1. Resume I like to look at resume writingas an art anda science.What I mean by that is you needa good layoutto make it easy for the person to read. But thecontentis equallyimportantbecause, as we all know, most of thetime now when you submityour resume for a job, it goes through awebsite anda lot of companiesusesomethingcalled an ApplicantTrackingSystem (ATS), which essentiallylooksforkeywords in your resume andcompares it to the job posting anddecidesif you'reenough of a match to move forward. So, you notonlyhaveto get through thecomputersystem with the content,you haveto get through to an actual person with thecontentandthe layout. How To Create YourHealthcareResumeOnline

So, I thinkit's just a matter of tailoringthe resumeto the job posting.AndI actuallygo old school,so I print out thejob postingwhen I'm helpingpeopleandI get a highlighter andI start highlightingandI'll ask my clients, "do you havethisskill, thisskill, andthis skill?" Andreallytry to emphasizethat as much as possiblein theresume, ideallyon the

top half.So, if someone onlyreads the first page of yourresume, theywouldget an idea if you are qualifiedtodo the job andif theyshouldtake thosenext steps with you.I wouldsuggestreallydoingthat, eithertailoringyourresume to each job you apply to or havingdifferenttypes of resumes for differenttypes of jobs. So, if you're lookingfora bedside job, for example, that's a differentskill set than if you're lookingfora remote job, so you really got to thinkaboutwritingit for the person that's readingit andwritingit to prove that you can do the job that you'reapplyingto.Get a New ResumeFor Free with a ResumeBuilder

2. Cover letter - I hearthis all the time, "shouldIhavea cover letter?" and"shouldInot havea cover letter?" I get differentopinions,andI hear a lot that cover letters don't get read. So I tell peopleif theywant to have one,make surethat it's not just repeating what'salready in your resume, becausethat's really a waste of time anda waste of space. So, some reasonsyou might wantto havea cover letter are to tell a really compellingstory. For example, I wrote a cover letter for a clientwhowantedto work at a certain hospital becauseher sister had spenta lot of time there as a kid. Andthat was actuallythereason whyshewentinto nursing.Andfromwhat I heard from her, she did get thejob. So if there's a really compellingreason whyyou wantto work at a certain organization,acertain type of job, or let's say there's somethingyou wantto explain, likea significantgapin yourwork history or maybe you'vemoved jobs a lot... something that doesn't necessarilybelongon aresume, you mightwant to usea cover letter just to get more of your story across. AndI thinkstorytellingisa good way to approach cover letter writing,but if it's just about explainingmoreof your skills,again,you can usebullet pointson a cover letter. There's norule that you can't do that. So I thinkyou can use the cover letter to be creative andcomplement the information that'son yourresume.Tips to Write an EffectiveNew Graduate NurseResume

3. LinkedIn Profile - I tell peopleall the time, I don'twork for LinkedIn,soI get nothing if you sign upor not, butyou'll get so much outof it! So, numberone, thenetworking, getting yourself outthere andactuallyhavingrecruiterscome to you for a change

insteadof browsingall the job posts andapplying.A marketing tool likeLinkedIn isso valuable.For example, once you start lookingupcertain types of jobs, it gets to know whatyou're lookingforandsuggests jobs to you that you may nothave even consideredbefore. Andyou can follow peoplethat you admire or that influenceyou. You can start engagingwith them,askingquestionsandactuallybuildingconnections that way. Oneof the stories I like to share with peopleall the time is that prior to taking oneof my previouspositions,I wanted to know if it was goingto be a good work environmentandareally positivework culture.AndI used LinkedIn toreach out to people that currentlywork there. AndI was actuallyableto get a holdof someoneand shehadan hour-longphonecall with me tellingme everythingthatI wantedto know but I wouldhaveneverhadthat opportunityhadit not been for LinkedIn becauseI didn't haveanyconnectionstothat particular organization.So,I thinkit's just about networkingin adifferentway, andpeoplethinkthat networkingmeansyou haveto go to all these big conferencesandmakesmall talk that maybe don't wantto make. Butit's a differentworldnow.AndLinkedIn isa hugepart of the way that you can furtheryour career as a nurse.

4. Job boards There are quitea few job boards out there. I know you'vegot one, James, andI think (CaringSupport)it's a great one. I also like LinkedIn.It is a great place to findworkbecausethere are waysthat you can set job alerts. AndlikeI said, the platform starts to get to know you andwhatyou are lookingfor. So that is another great one. Indeed,I know a lot of nursesgoon to indeed,and theyfindlots of opportunitiesthatway. I alsohavemy own job board. I havea Facebook groupjust for remote nursingjobsbecauseI noticedthere is a big interest in that type of work. And I've worked at a remote job for over two years now,so I havethat experience.You know what'sgreat about it, what'snot great aboutit? Andbelieve me, it's not all great, but there are manybenefitsto it. So I thinkthereare many, many differentways.But LinkedIn byfar is my favouriteplace to lookfor jobs becauseI thinkit's so user-friendly andI thinkit's honestlytheplatform whereI experiencetheleast trouble,so to speak.

So, if you go on differentplatforms, there are a lot of bad comments andbad behaviour, but LinkedIn ispretty free from that becauseI personallythinkmostpeople know that their managersare kindof watchingwhatthey'redoing.Andso, you want to be on your best behaviour.You wantto be professional.We're all there for professional reasons andnetworking.SoI thinkthere are many differentwaysto approach job searching.But if I had to pick oneor two, it might be LinkedIn andoneotherjob board of your choice.

5. Interview

If I hadto pick a few differenttips to helpnursesacetheir job interviews, it wouldbe, numberone, to practice. So eitherpractice real interviewsor practice with a friendor colleague.Numbertwo, reallythinkaboutwhat they're asking.Andjust going back to the resume, answerthe questionsto prove that you're theright candidateand also know whatyourown weak spots are. I know a lot of times sittingin on interviews, people wouldgetnervous... they wouldstart rambling,andthey wouldgooff topic. And then,in the end,we were like, so whatdid theysay? They didn'tactuallyanswerthe question becausetheykindof went off topic.So I thinkreallymakingyour answers about thequestion they'reaskingandalwaysabout whatmakes you the best candidate. Also, workingon thingslikeyourverbal andnonverbal communication,thosethingsare really important. Andalso, I thinkthere are very basic questionsthatpeoplecan always prepare for andonesthat are alwaysdifficulttoanswer. So, for example, giving examples of conflictandwhatyou'vedoneaboutit, talkingaboutany weaknessesthat you have, theseare all reallybasic onesthat I finda lot of nursesstrugglewith.So, try to work through thesethingsandwhatI alwayscoach my clients to say is don't focusso much on the conflictorthe weakness,but talk about whatyou're doingaboutit because it showsawarenessandit showsgrowth. Andreally, at the endof the day, noneof us are perfect. So we're all goingto haveconflicts,we're all goingto have some weaknesses,andwe just needto talk aboutwhatwe're doingaboutthem.

Tell Us About Your Company And The Services You Offer.

SARA FUNG: My businessiscalledThe RN Resume. I offer, likeI mentioned,all things related to careers, includinganumberof services with resumes. So whetheryou want to buya template, which goesover pointsto includeandlayout,which isachallengefor a lot of people,or do a self pacedresume writingcoursewhereI take a head to toe approach, just likein healthcare,we take a headto toe approach of ourpatients. This is really breakingdown each section of a resume andhow you shouldwriteit. I offer one to one helpwith writingresumesas well as cover letters, andLinkedIn tutorials. So, if you wantto know all of the differentfunctionalitiesof LinkedIn andhow tooptimize your profileso that people can reach out to you, I do that as well. Andthen theinterview coaching,whichissomethingthata lot of nursesstrugglewith. I thinka lot of people in general just struggle with how to interview.Andthen somethingthatI've started doingis career coachingbecauseIthinkbeforeyou do anything,you shouldreallyhaveaclear idea of whatyou'relookingfor. So, even if you don't know whatyou want, knowingwhat you don't wantis just as important. So, before you get yourwheelsspinningandjust start applyingtoevery job underthesun thatyou mightbe qualifiedfor,it mightbe a good idea to just take a minute,thinkaboutit, andbe intentional aboutwhatthenext step is that you wantin your career before you go anddo all thisto maybe move to a job that's not anybetter than whereyou are rightnow. So, those are thedifferentservices I offer. AndI thinkthat there are lots of peoplethat come to me just feelingreallylost or they're just not surewhat to do. They feel stuck. AndI try to helppeopleget unstuckwith thisexperiencethatI've had andall the knowledgethatI wantto be able to sharewith everyone alongtheway. So, that's kind of whatI do in a nutshell.Iam on LinkedIn andI've also got a website, it's theRNResume.com.I am on Instagram andFacebook, and whatelse? Twitter. I'm

trying TikTok, I'm notgreat at it. I'm trying it. You can findme on all thosedifferent platforms.

AnythingElse You Would Like To Add?

SARA FUNG: I thinkjustone last thingI wantto say is nursesare often reallyafraid to brag about their accomplishments.Andthisiswhat I try to pull outof people when I work with them. So, for example, I hadsomeonewhois currentlya PSW but was lookingfora job, andshehadbeen a physician in herhomecountryandshedidn'teven thinksheshouldincludethaton herresume. AndI was like, What? I was like"you were a doctor in your homecountry, you perform surgeryandyou somehow don'tthinkthat belongson yourresume now?Of course, it does! Or I've hadnurseswhohaveworked in correctional facilities. They've been jail nursesfor upto 200 inmatesand theyweren't sureif they should include itbecausetheywere onlythere for eightmonths. AndI'm like, "that makes you amazing.Of course, you shouldincludeit!" So I thinkjust beingmore kindto ourselves andknowingthatyou needto just thinkaboutall the great skillsyou haveand putthat on your resume. I know I talked aboutit beingtoo long,but these are thingsthat you shouldnotleaveout andmaybe just beingnurses,beingwomen,part of the cultureisto be humble.When you are lookingfora new job, you needto market yourself and being humbleisnot goingto work.

About RN And ResumeWriterSara Fung

Sara Fundhasbeen a registered nurse since2007, working8 years as a bedsidenurse and7 years in nursingleadership.Duringthattime, sheviewedcountlessresumesand participated in many interviews.Sinceshe'sexperiencedon both sides of thetable, she

now provides 1:1 helpon what nursesneedforan outstandingnursingresume,cover letter, LinkedIn profileandhow to ace theirjob interviews.

"I haveworked in labouranddelivery, post partum, level three, andICU. After I got my master's in nursing,I moved intonursingleadershipandworkedas a clinical nurse specialist. I worked in professional practiceas well at a hospital andin community health.Andthen rightbeforethe pandemicI actuallystarted a podcast with a friendof mine. It's calledThe Gritty NursePodcast, andwe've donea lot of advocacy over the last few years. Andaroundthatsame time, I also started my business,whichistheRN Resumehelpingnurseswith all thingscareer-related," concludesSara.

To listen to thefull interview with RN andResume Writer Sara Fung, visit the Caring Support Podcast or our YouTubeChannel.You can also follow uson social media to see the most interestingclipsof thisconversation.

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