Our new advice section – interviews with nurses, nursing news and CV tips

You may have noticed recently that we have created a new nursing careers advice section on Nurses.co.uk. We had the idea after an event where we met some lovely nurses who wanted to share their nursing experiences with nurses working in other specialisms. So we created the careers advice centre.

There are interviews with Nurses working in lots of different areas – for example, Zoe is a Theatre and Endoscopy Nurse, Bernadette is a Community Nurse, and Sarah is an A&E Nurse. They are all dedicated nurses and despite the current turbulence in the NHS caused by budgets or lack thereof, they all believe in doing they best job they can every day. If you’re a student nurse looking at which area you might want to work in, give these interviews a read to get a real insight into the day to day routine of each area. Equally if you’re thinking about becoming a nurse, you can find out exactly what being a nurse is like and decide if it’s really the career for you.

The careers advice centre also contains advice about how to write the perfect nursing CV, how to follow up an online nursing application, and how to complete your nursing career profile. These are essential tools if you’re going to be successful in this highly competitive job market.

We’re hoping it will become the first place you look for advice about getting a nursing job, insight into other nursing departments or instructions about putting together your application; so if there’s anything you feel is missing that you would like more info on, please get in touch. Equally, if you would like to take part in an interview and you are a nurse or midwife working in the UK, please leave me a comment below and I’ll be in touch.

Daily Tip #6: Covering Letter to the Senior Nurse / Employer

A great covering letter can influence whether or not a recruiter moves on to read your CV, so you should whet their appetite with a few tasty details. Make sure you mention if you are a qualified nurse / registered healthcare professional and which body you are registered with, how many years experience you have and what your current specialist area is. If you’re a student nurse, you can mention which area you are hoping to move into eventually and what you career goals are.

Also make sure you include a few sentences about what a great worker you are, your ethics, commitment etc etc. That should get ‘em dribbling!

Daily Tip #5: Keep your CV under two pages long

Your CV is probably the most useful tool you have, and one of the only ways a recruiter or employer will get a full overview of who you are and what your experience is. However, it’s quite likely they don’t have time to read your full life history, so you should take care to limit your CV to a maximum of 2 A4 pages. Follow my CV writing video for more info how to present your details, and which areas you cut down on.

Daily Tip #4: Spell and Grammar check your CV

It’s really simple – employers and recruiters don’t look favourably on spelling and grammar errors. So check, re-check and then get someone else to read it in case you’ve missed anything. Don’t throw away your chance because you didn’t proof read properly.

Daily Tip #3: Plan the perfect personal statement

Your personal statement is one of your biggest assets. The difference between a great one and average one can be the difference between you getting the job / place and not, so it’s worth putting the time into it. A good idea is to draft out some ideas of elements you want to include, don’t worry about the order first off. Think about why you want to apply for that branch of nursing (student or NQ), what qualities you have that suit the role / course, what experience (voluntary / personal / paid) do you have that’s relevant. Then draft it out into a logical order, give examples of practical applications of your skills and most of all let your passion shine through. After that, proof read and proof read again!

Daily Tip #2: Show how your nursing skills are transferable

We’re not robots set on one career path, and your previous experience no matter which sector it was in is still valuable. The key is to show what you’ve learnt and how it can be applied to the role you’re applying for. Match your skill set to the person specification for the job and give examples of where you have demonstrated a skill. Check our CV writing page for more details.

Daily tip #1: Show off your nursing skills on your CV

Use your CV to show off your nursing skills as best as it can. Make sure you include details about your training, experience and / or placements and goals. Follow my CV writing guide to show you how.

New Thing! Daily Nursing Interview Tips and Advice

I’m going to try a new thing throughout December in amongst my regular blog postings – I’m going to post a really short one sentence CV or application tip every day. If you click on the Daily CV / Interview tips category you will be able to view them as they are posted. You can also follow them on twitter

Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog to keep updated every day, and keep an eye out for the first one tomorrow!