Written by Christine Jones, Senior Search Consultant.
Have you crafted the strongest possible resume? We work with professional Medical Management nurses (that is Case Management, Utilization Management, and Quality Management) on a daily basis and often candidates underestimate the critical importance of a well-constructed resume. In 2010 we published a paper entitled “How Your Resume Can Drive Success” that addresses the key components for drafting a powerful resume. In this document, we aim to shed some light on tips to improve your resume, secure an interview, and land your next great job. Below we expand on the next item addressed, “Understand that Less is More.” Download the full white paper to read more about these 7 key steps to resume success.
When preparing or updating your resume, I find it is always helpful to write a resume that speaks directly to the position you are seeking. Whether you are a strong RN Case Manager, Utilization Review Nurse, or Quality Management professional, it is crucial you decide what position you are targeting and make sure the resume screams all about that skill set.
When adding an objective of your targeted position or when beefing up the qualifications section, be sure to clearly outline what skills and experiences you have that directly relate to the particular position for which you are applying. Be sure to really fine tune each prior position that demonstrates the skills needed in your targeted job. That way the company will know you are qualified and the best fit for the job.
As an example, imagine you are applying to a contract H. E. D. I. S. (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) abstraction position. You will want to tailor your resume to highlight your past experiences that not only directly relate to HEDIS work, but also the supporting skill sets needed. (You can use the company’s job description to make sure your ideas and terminology match closely.) Use the summary or objective to emphasize that you worked on HEDIS projects for the last 3 years. Expound at greater length on the details of those HEDIS positions in your reverse chronological listing of work history. You would also want to make sure that prior jobs with similar skill sets used, such as chart review, coding, or over-reading abstracted charts, are speaking to those experiences. Alternatively, when applying to jobs unrelated to H.E.D.I.S., you would keep the details of those positions brief, and expand on others.
For most resume’s you ideally want a 1 page document, but this is extremely hard to do when you have been in nursing for 20+ years. Regardless you should keep your resume to a 2 page maximum. Also, keep in mind that after you have transitioned into a Medical Management or Healthcare Services role, your clinical roots make you a more qualified nurse and therefore a stronger candidate, so you don’t want to simply discard 5-10 years of clinical hospital nursing experience from your work history. I find when I assist nurses in improving their resumes, we tend to be more detailed on recent or related positions, and as we go further back in time on the resume we add fewer points and less detail. This helps to keep the resume brief yet focused on the targeted job.
As a final pointer, I recommend to our medical management candidates that they avoid paragraph writing. That’s true for each work history listing, as well as for most summary sections. I always guide my nurse candidates to use bullet points whenever applicable, as this not only keeps the resume to a minimum, but is much easier for both an HR representative and the hiring manager to read. Ultimately this leads to a better success rate for submittals or applications leading to interviews, and that is really the whole purpose of having a resume.
As always, you can contact one of our representatives at 800-974-4828 to assist you in re-tooling your resume for that next great opportunity in Healthcare Services. CareNational provides superior career consulting support, and there is never a fee charged to candidates for any of our services.
For other great tips, visit a recent brief blog of ours for 5 Tips to improve your Medical Management Resume, or download the full whitepaper below.
Written by Christine Jones, Senior Search Consultant. For more great tips on interviewing and to discuss our current opportunities, reach out to one of CareNational’s best Medical Management Recruiters!