Top 5 Tips for Improving Your Medical Resume

A professional resume is a vital part of successfully landing a new position in the medical community. Whether you are applying directly with the facility, or working through a staffing agency, your medical resume is often the first, and sometimes only, impression the decisionmakers will have of you. Hence, having an up-to-date, thorough resume is the first step to achieving the position of your dreams. Here are the top five items to consider when drafting (or editing) your medical resume.

Include good contact information

Medical ResumeYou should ensure that your resume includes the most up-to-date phone number and email address. While it seems elementary, more often than one might think, applications come through with disconnected phone numbers and email addresses that bounce back. Do you have an email that doesn’t get a ton of spam? Choose that one! You would hate to miss an interview invitation because it drowns in a sea of spam emails.

Include your education

While in some professions, experience can be a substitute for education, that is not usually the case for medical personal. A hiring manager needs to know you hold the relevant degree, certifications, or credentials necessary for the position to which you are applying. Thus, they should always be included- and prominently displayed.

Outline your relevant skills and experience… in detail

Again, this section may look a bit different than a traditional resume. For example, some hiring managers require every facility you’ve worked at to be included- rather than just the staffing agency you were affiliated with. Additionally, it is important to be as specific as possible regarding different working environments. For example, when you list “Medical Center” it may not be clear whether it was a private practice or hospital setting. This could be the difference between you getting a call back – or not. Here are some other examples:

• Rather than saying “clinical skills,” be specific! If you have experience with surgery, does it fall under general surgery or pediatric? Or are your skills more related general care and drawing blood, for example?
• When discussing coding and billing experience, what types of insurances were involved? Were you in accounts payable or accounts receivable? Outline the specifics of your day to day.
• When referencing “customer service skills,” are you referring to patients, vendors, other departments, or all the above? If you are going to be spending all day on the phone with insurance companies, your experience dealing with distraught patients face to face may not serve you as well.

Ultimately, it’s important to remember this: the medical field offers some of the most diversified work environments there are. Thus, being as specific as possible can ensure the hiring managers have the best possible picture of your experiences and what you can offer their facility.

Clearly define your objectives

Your objectives should give the hiring manager a crystal clear picture of where you see yourself within a diversified work environment. For example, a doctor may define inpatient and outpatient goals that may change depending on the facility. If you are a CNA, are you interested in long-term care, hospice, behavioral, or a hospital environment? While the facility wants to make sure you are a good fit for them, likewise, they want to make sure they’re a good fit for you!

Do a final edit

Medicine can be a matter of life or death. Hiring managers want to know that a potential hire pays attention to detail. Thus, it is vital to review your medical resume and edit it for typos, styling issues, different fonts, spacing etc. Not only do you want it to highlight your strengths, but you want to make sure it won’t detract from your abilities either. Having a trusted family member or colleague review it may also help to catch error you overlooked.

Your medical resume

It’s important to remember that these are general suggestions. They are not specific to one particular profession. However, taking them into consideration will certainly put your medical resume on the right track. The right resume will help you put your best foot forward- especially as hiring managers want to ensure that a candidate is the right fit and is well equipped to handle whatever may be thrown at them. So, whatever you do, be sure to make your resume YOURS.

If you have any questions, or would like to be considered for one of our open positions, feel free to connect with us!

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