In today’s economy, jobs throughout the healthcare sector are incredibly competitive. In the last two decades, funding has decreased in private and public healthcare organizations alike, which, in turn, have led to lower budgets. So, when you’re putting together your healthcare resume, you need to make sure it sticks out and separates you from other candidates.
Whether you’re a doctor, a nurse, or an administrative employee, you need to make the objective on your healthcare resume crystal clear. You need to list your education and, of course, your prior experience should hold a prominent spot on the page.
Here’s a look at what experiences employers are looking for from different kinds of healthcare jobs.
Doctors
- Prior jobs at medical practices. Hiring managers want to read about your previous work in a healthcare facility. If you are looking for your first full-time job or have only been in the field for a short time, you can include internships, residencies, and fellowships.
- Specialty training. Depending on what job you’re applying for, it can be greatly beneficial to include specialty training on your healthcare resume, even if that only means including details of your residency.
- Volunteer work. Many physicians volunteer locally and for international organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders. Including your experience with nonprofits can show you have strong morals and practice medicine for the right reasons.
Nurses
- Prior jobs at medical practices. As is the case with doctors, your previous experience in a medical practice will often be the most important part of your healthcare resume.
- Certification training. All relevant certifications should be mentioned on a nursing resume.
Administrative Workers
- Administrative experience. Though having experience in a medical office is often important for administrative workers, it can be more important to show through your prior work that you can handle day-to-day admin duties.
- Technical training. In today’s world, administrative workers are expected to be computer-savvy. If you’re seeking an administrative position, a top objective on your healthcare resume is to show you can work with Microsoft Office, as well as software related to client relations.
- Office management. Showing that you’ve been able to maintain, organize, and evaluate a workplace setting—and improve the office’s productivity and efficiency—can go a long way.
The Value Of An Objective
Indeed, the experiences you need to illustrate in your healthcare resume will depend on what kind of title you wish to hold and what area of expertise you want to focus on. But across the board, you need to make each experience stand out effectively by describing it in a concise objective.
In other words, you shouldn’t simply list a position you held in the past and write about the day-to-day duties you performed. More often than not, you’ll be up against a lot of candidates with a level of experience similar to yours. So you need to explain what you accomplished and gained while holding that job. Doing so will help those with hiring power gain a stronger understanding of what you can bring to the table.
Offer Tangible Results
For example, if you are a longtime administrative assistant who overhauled your last employer’s client relations operation, don’t say that you worked in client relations—instead, give yourself more credit. Write that you streamlined a complex system, and, if possible, quantify that success. Maybe it led to lower patient wait times or to higher patient satisfaction scores. Offering tangible results is a great way to differentiate yourself from others.
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