How to Prepare Your Healthcare Resume—for 2012

by Alex A. Kecskes

Healthcare resumes used to be simple: you listed the hospitals or medical centers where you were employed and indicated what your responsibilities were. But this is 2012 and healthcare jobs are now fiercely competitive.

Hospitals and medical organizations are now acutely aware of the bottom line. To land that high paying medical job, your resume must reveal a trend that includes how you helped your employer cut costs and improve efficiencies.

But let’s start with the basics. If you’re a healthcare professional looking to land a management post, you should use a reverse-chronological resume. Like other business enterprises, hospitals and healthcare centers need qualified people in accounting, purchasing, plant operations and MIS. The same type of resume should be used for “on the floor” jobs like nurses, nurses assistants, doctors assistants and med tech professionals—like ultrasound and other imaging techs.

As you go into detail about your past work history, don’t be afraid to use “med-speak” to show your familiarity with the job. Go into detail about the types and levels of caseloads you managed. Include the number of patients/clients you handled and what they entailed.

As mentioned earlier, HR managers will be gleaning your resume for evidence of cost cutting and efficiencies you demonstrated. So go into detail about things like Continuous Quality Initiatives (CQI). Highlight your ability in process analysis, problem identification and qualitative oversight.

Detail also the level of computer/tech skills you bring to the table. Namedrop any healthcare specific software you’ve worked with. Show how this expertise led to cost cutting or workflow efficiencies in the organization. Above all, spellcheck your resume, and have a colleague review it for impact and clarity.

For an added perspective, check out this video:

If you have any thoughts on preparing a healthcare resume, feel free to share them in the comments section.

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients. Please see more of his blogs and view additional job postings on Beyond.com.

Should You Include Social Media Contact Info in Your Resume?

by Alex A. Kecskes

You’ve been out of work for a while and you’re applying for that dream job in healthcare. The job has cushy perks, a big salary and a rep for treating its employees like heroes. Trouble is, yours won’t be the only resume on the HR manager’s desk. Chances are, it will be covered with candidate's resumes, possibly more qualified that you.

The good news is you meet the job requirements and you’ve been busy building a social media presence. You’ve kept in touch with peers and healthcare industry organizations and you’re wondering if it might help to include contact info about your social media exploits. After all, who isn’t on Facebook, twitter and the dozens of semi-professional social media sites out there these days? There’s also your personal website. Should you steer a prospective employer to it in hopes of gaining a leg up?

It depends. If, for example, the position deals with patients in an educational format, you might want to include professional Facebook and Twitter pages on your resume. The average person spends a considerable amount of time “connecting and learning” on social media; so showing that you’re social media savvy might help.

On the other hand, if your Facebook and Twitter pages are loaded with personal vacation photos and more intimate information, you might want to include only professional networking pages like LinkedIn. Many employers nowadays will “Google” applicants to see if their personality is a good fit. So before you send out your resume, edit your social media and web pages to make sure they are “presentable.”

For an added perspective, check out this video:

If you have any thoughts or suggestions about using social media on resumes, feel free to share them in the comments section.

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients. Please see more of his blogs and view additional job postings on Beyond.com.