Building a Resume That Makes Employers Want to “Swipe Right”

We live in a world where first impressions are more impactful than ever before. Consider social media and dating profile pictures. Do you ever ‘swipe left’ because you aren’t impressed with a messy bedroom in the background, a cropped-out ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, or the one-dimensional “all I do is shop or hunt or fish” pic?.

We are conditioned to make at-a-glance assessments about potential mates. Similarly, employers are conditioned to make a quick assessment of your healthcare professional resume.

Your resume for a healthcare role can make a lasting first impression on a potential employer, and you want that impression to be positive — preferably ending with a jubilant declaration of “You’re hired!”

Have you looked at your resume lately? Below are a few simple steps that could help you make a great first impression!

Step One:

Scan your healthcare resume for both work experience (e.g., paid employment) and relevant life experience (e.g., internships, study abroad, club leadership, etc.).

A resume should be more than just a list of places that you have worked. It should also include the skills you have accumulated that will show potential employers you are dedicated, pursue leadership opportunities, have a strong work ethic, have quality communication skills, and the kinds of people skills more and more employers are seeking.

You may have relevant volunteer, entrepreneurial, organizational, or community-based experiences that highlight those abilities as well as – if not better than – the work experiences you have listed. Adding a section to your healthcare resume that includes your relevant life experiences can highlight your hire-ability.

Examples of relevant life experiences include:

• internships and externships
  • work-study
  • volunteer work
  • mentoring and tutoring
  • being a member of a committee
  • being involved in student government

Step Two:

Fold your resume in half to see whether your best qualities and most relevant skills are listed toward the top so they are immediately visible.

The average employer recruiter will only spend six to seven seconds reviewing your resume.¹ You want to be sure that what you have ‘above the fold’ showcases the most applicable skills and information.

Above the fold, most healthcare resumes will include your name, available phone number, professional email address, statement of purpose, interest, or personal brand, plus recent job-related technical and/or people skills.

Step Three:

Do you have so much listed that your resume has gone past two pages?

That’s okay. While traditionalists may tell you that a resume must stay on one page, it is common today that resumes will roll onto a second page. This is especially true if you have added your relevant career-related skills and also moved your information around so that the most aligned job material is above the fold.

Be cautious not to list every single activity you’ve engaged in. You want to create a resume for healthcare that is clearly aligned with the job you are seeking.

Step Four:

Do your research.

Review the job description that is posted. Go to the company’s website and review their additional job postings, mission, vision, values, etc. You want to be familiar with the healthcare employer’s work culture and expectations so that not only will your resume align with the job but so will you!

You can create career-specific healthcare resumes by developing a master template. Use your master template to keep track of all your work experience, relevant skills, dates of employment, possible professional references, and personal brand statements.

When you are creating a resume for a specific healthcare job, you can tailor it by using different items from your master template that most closely represent the company you are interested in.

The Bottom Line in Healthcare Professional Resumes

As humans, our brains are wired to look for what is wrong; it’s a mechanism that has helped to keep us safe from danger for eons. Instead, you want a potential employer to see everything that is right about you, and your healthcare resume is what will make that first impression.

Your strong career readiness skills transfer on your resume the same way that your polished profile pic helps get that first date.

At Ultimate Medical Academy, we know that your preparation through education and career readiness are the heart of our healthcare future. So, if there’s anything we can do to help you create or edit your resume before submitting it to potential employers, contact us today. We’re here to help!