Rounding Up a New Job, From the Stable to the ICU:
How to Explain Seemingly Unrelated Experience on Your Résumé
|
On a recent vacation, I had the pleasure of meeting Anna Wyatt. Anna is a horse wrangler at Rockin' Rides, a horseback trail ride facility near Custer, SD. As we rode through the wilderness in the shadow of the Crazy Horse Memorial, I talked to Anna about her current job and where she’s headed on the trail of her career.
Anna has been a horse wrangler for quite a few years. In the off-season she also works at a hotel. She’s a service industry professional with a sincere interest in helping others. At the horse stables, she’s learned that working with horses requires lots of patience, a skill she employs regularly in her job at the hotel. While we saunter through the great outdoors she’s personable, friendly and informative. These skills help her both in her role on the saddle and at the front desk. When I asked her what she wanted to do next in her career, I thought for sure she’d have ambitions for a career in hospitality.
“I want to be a neonatal intensive care nurse,” said Anna. At first I wondered how wrangling horses and working at a hotel could possibly be related to nursing. But as Anna I talked about it some more, we both came to realize how relevant her current experience is to her future goals.
Like Anna, many people look to change careers at some point. Sometimes it seems like a huge leap to go from one career to another, particularly when it’s not clear how your previous experience relates to the job you want to pursue. To stand out to a recruiter, you need to draw a clear connection between your experience and the job for which you’re applying. You also need to make sure you describe your experience on your résumé using lots of !@#$%, the Signs of a Great Résumé. Let’s see how Anna can make her résumé speak for itself using the Signs.
Each day Anna is responsible for the health and nutrition of the animals at the stable. She’s part chef, part nurse, part wardrobe assistant and of course, a sort of “friend” to her horses. There’s no doubt she’ll use many of these skills as a nurse. Administering medicine and ensuring proper nutrition are clear connections between caring for animals and providing healthcare to humans. Anna’s also not afraid to get a little dirty on the job. Horses aren’t exactly “potty trained” and they tend to make quite a mess – I don’t think I need to explain why that’s relevant for the neonatal unit!
Certainly a neonatal nurse will require specialized training which Anna will receive in nursing school. However, when she describes her experience as a wrangler on her résumé, she’ll focus on the parts that are most directly related to nursing. Let’s suppose the job posting for a neonatal nurse calls for administering medications, providing daily nutrition and maintaining clean, sanitary conditions, If Anna uses !@#$% to describe her relevant experience, she might say:
“Oversaw daily nutritional requirements, administered medications and maintained sanitary conditions for 50 horses at this high volume recreational trail ride facility.”
In this example, Anna’s using the Signs of a Great Résumé to directly relate her prior experience to the job requirements of a nurse. She’s writing a résumé that’s full of !@#$%. She’s got the “!” connection of the key responsibilities, “@” what location she worked and the “#” of horses she supported. Now that her résumé is starting to speak for itself, Anna’s making it easy for a nurse recruiter to see why her prior experience is relevant.
A neonatal nurse has to balance a lot of priorities and find efficiencies to manage a busy ICU. Anna’s got that covered too. She told me a story about how she adjusted the trail ride schedule to eliminate an issue with scheduled rides going out late. When rides go out late, it causes scheduling inefficiencies which cost the company more hours in overtime. Anna rearranged the ride times and saved thousands of dollars in overtime each year. This project is a great opportunity to include some more !@#$% on her nursing résumé in a way that is related to the job posting.
If the nurse job posting requires someone with an efficient work style who can implement operational improvements, perhaps Anna will write:
“Implemented scheduling improvements for up to 36,000 guests annually. Identified operational efficiencies resulting in savings of nearly $10,000 in labor costs.”
Those statements are using the qualifications listed in the nurse posting to showcase real life examples where Anna achieved !@#$% on the job. She used that !@#$% to make her résumé speak for itself.
Anna’s headed for happy trails on her career path. She’s saddled up and ready to round up her next big move. I’m glad to have been with her along the ride. Giddy-up!
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment