Understanding the mind of a nursing recruiter is a tricky and probably impossible task, but if you can get close to knowing how they will look at your nursing application, you have an advantage. So with that in mind, I am going to try and give you a few words to the wise.

1. Recruiters have very little time to spend on each application.

This may sound like a statement of the obvious, and it probably is, but what isn’t so obvious is how to grab the attention of a recruiter in the few short seconds they have to scan and assess your application. There are a few key elements a recruiter will look for in your application for a nursing job:  NMC pin number, nursing experience, eligibility to work in the UK (if appropriate) and most recent nursing position. So the best advice here is to make sure all these elements are clearly shown at the top of your CV, see our example CV here.

Your PIN number is as important as your name, so it should be at the top along with your address and contact phone number. If you are a NQ nurse, simply state ‘awaiting NMC pin’. For the majority, your address will also cover your eligibility to work in the UK. Nursing experience should be shown right underneath your contact details and you should include number of years qualified, years in current position, current employer and a brief description of your current role and responsibilities.

2. Recruiters want to select someone as soon as possible, so why are you perfect for their needs?

You can instantly appeal to a recruiter if you tick all the boxes and you can show that you are the ideal candidate who can solve their recruiting need. The ideal way to do this is to include a paragraph in your covering letter describing how your experience, communication and personal skills are exactly what are required for the position. Keep it as succinct as possible, don’t waffle and be specific about your skills using examples from your current role / nursing course.

3. A recruiter likes your application, but you don’t have enough experience for the role.

We’ve all been there, applying for a job that’s a little beyond our reach, but there is a way you can be taken seriously. You’ve got the recruiter interested by following the two points above,  now they are checking your application against the essential and desired criteria and they’ve spotted where you fall short. If you can anticipate this and include a section in your application on how you to plan to fulfill their requirements, you could be in with a chance. Eg. (this is a contrived example, but just so you see!) You have experience in A&E from your course placement, but you don’t have the required 1 year’s experience. You could include in your application the learning outcomes you achieved from your placement, how you can develop if you got the job, and what goals you would set yourself if you got the position.

If no one applies with the required experience, there is every chance the next best in line could be put forward for interview. However, if you fall a long way short of the required experience, then it’s probably best to leave it a little bit before applying.

Hope that helps, feel free to leave a comment if this has been useful or not, I’m always interested to hear!

Taken From

Day One:

One of the longest, drawn-out, awkward days of my life, I sat with a man dying and trying to die a little sooner.
Not even those who judged him could blame him. They knew they were cowards.
Bothered with what not to say, I tensely sat slightly averted from view. I didn’t want him to feel stalked or, worse, judged. I shuttered my eyes only in response to his shifts in the bed when it seemed natural to justify my presence. My intensely still stature forgave no diversion to the wall, to the door, to the clock. I used the light of day as reference. Creaks in my neck and shoulders surpassed my will to rearrange myself for comfort. Instead, I endured the stiff silence, honed in on the hum of the air conditioner, and repeated the Lord’s Prayer in my head (as I sometimes do to pass the time).
Day Two:
Our very distant logical spheres collided the next day, but pleasantly. We attempted more than a common glance of welcome and the modest and occasional clearing of throats. Mid-afternoon, a doctor appeared (finally). Instead of answering questions, though, or even speaking with compassion, this doctor stormed in and quickly out and left us both with much to be desired.
If nothing else, though, her tactless way broke the ice. And we talked. Well, he talked. I nodded, confirming and validating every sneering word about the doctor.

          She can’t just do that. I mean she can’t just do that.

          Yah, no, I agree.

 
        I don’t need this. I don’t need to be talked to that way. Where I come from doctors, professionals, they don’t swear like that.  She’s supposed to be a doctor?

        No kidding. That was extremely uncalled for.

And really it was. I understood her approach but it was clearly ineffective. Nothing can change the mind of the dying. Maybe God, or Love, but that is all. When you are dying and you’ve been dying for so long, living is just frivolous.
From there, we talked about that: Death. Life. God. Love. Living meant dying slowly. God meant there was hope and he couldn’t bare that thought. Love seemed to coexist with life, something he hadn’t felt in a while. He was lonely, I knew that. And so while on the first day I felt purposeless, the second day I found my reason: He just needed someone to be there. He needed to not be lonely as he was dying. And I enjoyed it from that point on. I think he enjoyed it too. I think it had been a long time since he’d been in the same room with anyone for twelve hours.
I was careful not to give him hope. Any hint of it would be a lie and one he’d catch. Instead I gave him love because he’d been dying for so long, he’d probably really stopped thinking about himself and the things he needed. Everyone needs the loving and acceptance of others, if only from one.
In our conversations that day, I learned a lot about him. His favorite food is blueberries and it’s the only thing he could keep down for the longest time. He always wanted to go to King Island. And tomorrow was his birthday.
Day Three:
I wasn’t working the next day but I came anyway. I came with blueberries and a book about King Island. He was sleeping and I told the girl who had replaced me to make sure everyone knew it was his birthday. I don’t know whatever happened to him after that. But I prayed a lot for him.
I never forgot him for some reason. I guess I just had so much love for someone who didn’t have anyone, especially someone who was dying. He had not much more than a disease, if a self at all. It had eaten so much more of him than flesh and bone. Those things die slow. A heart and a will die quick. The best feed for this is love.

It is funny what you end up talking about at parties, isn’t it?  You see, today, at a Superbowl party, where, I am sure, the expected conversation is about stats and Archie Manning and what an upset the Saints just caused, Hubby and I ended up at the kitchen table talking about homebirth versus hospital birth and why we made that choice.  Until I lived here, in the land of the status quo, I didn’t realize that my choices were counter-cultural, and that, to some, they are seen as radical / fundamentalist  or just plain mental; and that to talk about them makes me an advocate, an activist, someone whose opinion can be seen as marred in some way by their belief that it is right… as if to have an opinion makes you somehow unqualified to share that same opinion.

The thing is, I passionately believe that home birth / birth center birth is by far the best choice a mother can make for herself and her baby.  And believe me, I realize that, if anyone is actually reading this blog, I will get multitudinous comments on safety and high risk etc etc.  We are all entitled to our opinion, and, since this is my blog, I get to share mine here.

My boys were both born at home, in a birthing tub, in vastly different circumstances.  Their births could not have been more different from one another; one was long and laborious, the other short and intense; one was peaceful and worry free, the other came with a chaser of anxiety; one was early, the other late; but the similarities far outweigh the differences.

From the moment I found out I was expecting, I knew I would have a home delivery, at this point, mind you, I did not know what that would look like, I just knew that I didn’t trust a medical system so adept at malpractice and MRSA infections to make the best choices for me and my baby.  Like most home birthing families, we came upon our convictions gradually but with increasing force.

The more I learned about birth the American way, the more I became convinced that I, like thousands of women for thousands of years before me, could do this with out the interventions of malpractice-insurance-shy doctors and hospital administrators.  We developed an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge of the God-given design of my body; the amazing way that all the systems of a woman’s body come together during a natural birth to relieve pain, transfer nutrition, take care of the infant through every stage.  The more I learned how I was designed to bring life into the world, the more I became convinced that doctors don’t have the best interests of mothers and babies at heart, they have only their procedures and risk-mitigation-strategies.

Natural birth has been labeled “granola”, it is associated with commune-dwelling hippies and old ladies with a kettle of hot water and some towels. The reality is so far from that as to be unrecognizable.  I received the highest level of prenatal care, far more visits than my hospital-delivering friends; we were educated to the point of confidence in any eventuality, we were encouraged to believe that this wonderful thing called  birth was not only positive but part of created purpose, that I was, in fact, more than able to meet this labor head on… pun totally intended;)

Our first son was born after 20 hours of labor, hard labor by all accounts, labor that was in and out of water, in my flat, with my husband and doula (mothers’ birthing assistant), attended by the most loving and experienced midwife.  I ate and drank and rested, it was dark and we had music playing; when my labor stalled after 12  hours, my midwife suggested I move around a bit, so we danced (well, really I shuffled while my hubby held me up). When transition came and I became convinced that I could do nothing more, they reminded me that I could, that this was expected, that he was on his way and that my lack of confidence was to be embraced as my body took over and my mind relinquished the control that it thought would spare me but was actually causing pain.  And when, finally, he was born, I brought him out and up to my chest with such joy and delight and pride and relief that I can scarcely believe, even now 6 years later, that I did it. And then he opened his eyes and it was love at first blink.  The damp dark quiet was not interrupted by screams, water-birthed babies often don’t cry, such is the gentleness of their transition; I held him as the placenta finished pumping the rest of his nutrient rich blood, and then nursed him as I delivered it.  As I stood in my own shower contemplating the sweetness of my bed, he lay in his daddy’s arms as he was gently measured and tested.

The next morning, after all three of us had a full night’s sleep in our bed, he awoke hungry and with very specific desires in that regard.. he took to nursing like he had the night before, and I stared in awe at the little human who 24 hours ago was still on his way out.  Birth, to me, will always be a miraculous process, a joyful participation in creation.  It matters to me how he came into the world, it matters to me how I felt about his birth and I will always advocate for others to not have to accept that, “the end justifies the means,all that really matters is that your baby is here and healthy.”  Yes, that is paramount and the result of a birth should always be a healthy baby, but not just baby, surely the mother deserves the same, a safe and healthy delivery, free from narcotics and surgeries and synthetic hormones that your body would produce on its own if you just gave it time.  OK, I have ranted for long enough…

For now, Good Night,

I remain, yours

The Reluctant Suburbanite

A very super thank you to one of my favorite blogs, The Preemie Experiment.  Blog owner Stacey is hosting a book give away based on the work of the above animator and author.  As written by Stacey:

Micro-Preemie Power, by Scott Wright, is a comic book journaling the NICU experience of Scott and Jodi Wright as they find themselves unexpectedly giving birth to a micro preemie. Their son, Morgan, was born 3 1/2 months premature weighing in at 1 pound 8 ounces.

This comic book is a very compelling and brutally honest look at life in the NICU.   I can speak of the realities of the NICU as a nurse, but not as a parent, which is the REAL reality.  The Wright family has given many NICU families a gift with the publication of this book.  It is a gift of the unabashed truth of what parents go through while trying to survive the NICU.

I would also like to thank the authors for not portraying the NICU nurses as dead-behind-the-eyes, silicone enhanced, over-sexed, doctor- stalking sluts,  that the majority of the media portrays as the reality of us nurses.  Just sayin’.

RR

• at 12 weeks, I dropped one feeding down to 5 a day ( 3-3 1/2 hrs. apart)
• 11 hrs. of nighttime sleep
• 4 naps a day

7:00-7:30am nurse

7:30-8:45am wake time

8:45-10:30am nap

10:30-11:00am nurse

11:00-12:15pm wake time

12:15-2:00pm nap

2:00-2:30pm nurse

2:30-3:45pm wake time

3:45-5:00pm nap

5:00-5:30pm nurse

5:30-6:45pm wake time

6:45-8:00pm nap

8:00pm nurse and put right back to bed

• each meal will include a liquid feeding, breast or bottle, and should be supplemented by baby food with an optional 4th 0r 5th liquid feeding in the late morning, or mid afternoon, and a liquid feeding at bedtime
• 2 naps ranging from 1 1/2-2 1/2 hrs.
• 4-5 feedings a day
• move your child to three meals a day by the end of this phase

• introduce your baby to solid foods
• 4-6 liquid feedings a day
• nighttime sleep is 10-12 hrs.
• nurse first before you offer food

• drop the late evening feeding, leaving 4-6 feedings during the day
• nighttime sleep will average between 9-12 hrs.
• 3-5 day-time naps between 1 1/2-2 hrs. in length resulting in a longer wake time

**This stage is where it gets a lot easier because of the extended nighttime sleep.  Congratulations, you made it through the toughest part!!

Healthy Growth Indicators:

• 6-7 feedings a day
• has at least 6 wet diapers a day & several small stools or one large stool a day (may have one large stool every couple of days)
• increasing signs of alertness during wake time

Sample Schedule: note that these times are approximate and that some days your child may stay awake or nap more or less than other days.  Flexibility and the schedule of your older children are key factors.  Jackson napped more like 1-1 hr. and 15 minutes a day.  There were times in the evenings, right before bed, that he would not nap.  After the 6am feeding, I would actually nurse him and put him right back to bed again because Ella did not get up until 8:00 or 8:30 and I wanted more sleep. I was only able to do this because I am a stay-at-home mom.  If I had to get up early and work, I would definitely follow the schedule below with the wake time after the 6am feeding.

6:00-6:30am nurse

6:30-7:30am wake time

7:30-9am nap

9:00-9:30am nurse

9:30-10:30am wake time

10:30-12:00pm nap

12:00-12:30pm nurse

12:30-1:30 wake time

1:30-3:00 nap

3:00-3:30pm nurse

3:30-4:30pm wake time

4:30-6pm nap

6:00-6:30pm nurse

6:30-7:15pm wake time

7:15-8:00pm nap

8:00-8:30pm nurse

8:30-9:15 wake time

9:15-10:00 nap

10:00 nurse and put right to bed

The George Washington University, in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, is sponsoring a course for the National Nurse Emergency Preparedness Initiative. The course, titled “Nurses on the Front Line: Preparing for Emergencies and Disasters“, provides 6 continuing education credits. For more information please see the following link:

http://learning.nnepi.org/catalog/?caid=1