What information you put on your resume is perhaps the most important part of a healthcare job application. The main goal of your resume is to help employers learn who you are and whether your education, skills, personal traits, and experience match the position you are applying for. As a result, deciding what information to include in your application can be the difference between getting or not a job.
In this article, we will outline what to include on your healthcare job application. In this way, you can maximize your chances of getting the job you want. Here is a list of the contents that we will discuss:
- What to include on a healthcare job application?
- How can Connect Health help you?
1. What to include on a healthcare job application?
Deciding what to put on a healthcare job application can be a real struggle even if it is not your first time writing one. After all, not every medical job application has the same sections. Depending on your experience, education, and the place where you are applying, your resume may look completely different.
However, there are 5 sections that every application must have. These are contact information, resume summary, education, skills, and professional history. In the following part of the article, we will take a look at each one in detail.
1.1 Contact information
A great healthcare job application must contain the following contact information in the right order:
- Full name: Your full name should be the first thing an employer sees when looking at your resume. The commonly used format is Name, Last Name. A common practice is to use your full name as the title so that employers can easily see it.
- Professional title: Right under the name, you should include your professional title. This should always mirror the medical position you are applying for.
- Professional email address: The email address you put on your healthcare application should be professional and not something you created back in high school (“smartbrunette11@gmail.com” is not valid). If you do not have one, make an email address specifically for this purpose. It should only include your name, last name, job title, and some numbers if needed. Any random word is not allowed.
- Phone number: if you are applying for a healthcare job outside your country, remember to include your country code as well. For example, if you have an Italian phone number, you should add (+39) in front of your number.
An example of a contact information section may look like this:
Herbert Johnson
Nurse Practitioner
Email Address: Herbert.Johnson@gmail.com.
Phone Number: (123) 456-7890
Barcelona, Spain
1.2 Resume summary
The next part of a job application for healthcare is the resume summary. Your resume summary should be a short section, with one or two sentences that explain who you are and why you are qualified. We recommend that you carefully review the job posting for clues on which of your soft and technical skills will be most important for the job, so you can highlight it in this section.
A resume summary is perfect if you have at least some experience in the position you are applying for. For instance, your resume summary could say:
“Thoughtful medical laboratory technician with over four years of experience working in a medical lab performing advanced laboratory tests using cutting-edge technology.”
In your resume summary, it is crucial to avoid talking about topics and details more suited to a job interview; such as how much you are expecting to earn.
1.3 Education
The education section of a healthcare job application is particularly helpful for employers who require a certain degree to perform the job. In this section, you should include your most relevant education based on the position that you are applying for and your level of experience.
An education section should include the name and location of your school, the degree or certification you obtained (if applicable), your field of study, your graduation year, and your GPA (you might not want to include this if it is not above 3.4)
We also recommend you include any relevant achievements, academic recognition, coursework, activities, and honors obtained during your education period. Consider only including educational experiences that make sense for the job position you are applying to. As such, you should not list your high school information if you are a college graduate.
For instance, your education section may look as follows:
Houston Nursing School
Aug. 2009 May 2013
Bachelor’s degree in Nursing
BLS Certificate Program
1.4 Skills
The skills section of a healthcare job application should include the relevant hard and soft skills you have learned. You can also include any tools you have mastered or certifications you have completed as well.
The skills you list should be relevant to a healthcare job. Knowing what skills healthcare employers want can be difficult. To make your life easier we made a list of what skills healthcare employers are looking for:
1.4.1 Communication skills
The cornerstone of a workplace is proper communication, and healthcare facilities are no exception. Healthcare professionals have to know how to properly communicate with patients and their families while also being efficient at communicating with other medical workers.
As stated by the IHC (Institute for Healthcare Communication), there is a strong correlation between a healthcare worker’s communication skills and a patient’s ability to follow medical treatments and recommendations, manage chronic medical conditions, and adopt preventive health behaviors.
1.4.2 Empathy
In the medical field, it is essential that you can empathize with patients and the tough situations they are facing. Empathy is not only taking care of patients; but putting yourself in the shoes of the patients, so you can be conscious of the adversity, the pain, and suffering that those patients are going through. This can be difficult at times for medical professionals, too much empathy can affect your mental health and be counterproductive. Therefore, you need to find the right balance where you feel empathy and care for patients, but these tough situations do not take a toll on your mental health.
1.4.3 Collaboration and teamwork
While group projects at college may feel burdensome, these assignments will help you be prepared for the healthcare workplace. Teamwork is essential for all medical jobs across the spectrum. From administrative jobs to pharmacists, doctors to physical therapist assistants, teamwork and collaboration are a crucial part of keeping a healthcare workplace running smoothly.
Most medical environments are like team sports, with many professionals working toward the same goal, helping people recover their health. Each healthcare worker has a different set of attributes and skills that they bring to the table. As a result, by interacting with your colleagues, you will provide a better medical service. For this reason, it is essential that you learn how to interact and collaborate with your colleagues so you can give patients the best possible healthcare service
1.4.4 Work ethic
Work ethic is basically a group of values based on hard work and professionalism. There are many components of work ethic, including punctuality, discipline, honesty, and overall attitude and behavior. Some organizations define work ethic as the belief in the significance of hard work and its ability to strengthen an individual’s character.
1.4.5 Problem-solving and critical thinking skills
According to the Association of Healthcare Employers, critical thinking abilities are the top priority for medical employers when looking to hire somebody. Critical thinking is a must for almost every healthcare job. Healthcare workers must be able to test hypotheses, perform physical examinations, ask the right questions, and draw conclusions to diagnose and cure patients. Critical thinking is not just an ability, but a habit that can be developed throughout the years.
1.4.6 Stress management
In the healthcare workplace, lives are continuously at stake. The most successful medical professionals not only know how to handle high-pressure situations but also excel in them. However, according to the world health organization (WHO), healthcare professionals have a higher risk of burnout than most white-collar jobs.
As a result, medical professionals that do not have a stress-management strategy risk that chance of getting burned out. Burnout is often described as the feeling of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in working.
1.4.7 Positive attitude
All professionals can benefit from a positive mental attitude in the work environment. However, in a healthcare facility, this soft skill is essential. Due to the stress generated as a result of working in large teams, the demands that come with a healthcare job, and the frequent meetings with patients, it is essential that medical professionals keep a sunny outlook. The harsh realities of a healthcare place can easily wear anyone down, so having a positive attitude will always be of value.
1.5 Professional history
The professional history section is also known as the experience section. This is the part of a medical job application where you can showcase the value you have brought to your former employers. Here, you should include all of your most important work experiences. We recommend you focus on your experiences from the last 10 to 20 years. For example, if you have been working as a pharmacist for 11 years, you can leave off jobs that you did earlier in your life that may not be pertinent to the position you are currently seeking.
Alternatively, if you have little to no work experience, you may list what employment you have had; even if it does not seem pertinent or related to the position you are applying to. Employers can use that information to get an idea of what kind of employee you may be; as well as some of the valuable soft skills that you learned at your previous jobs that are likely transferable to the new job you are looking for.
The professional history section of your healthcare application should include your job title, the name of the employer, years of employment, and a few bullet points highlighting your most relevant accomplishments. Begin with strong action verbs and continue with an accomplishment rather than a task. When hiring, Employers are mainly interested in what you have achieved, not the tasks you have done. When possible, use numbers or any other objective parameter to measure your success.
1.6 Additional relevant accomplishments
A bonus section that you may consider adding to your healthcare job is a brief list of any other relevant accomplishments or volunteer work that you have done. Only include those that are suitable or that may help your employer understand who you are as a person as related to the position you are applying for.
If you are not sure what information might be a fit for this part of your healthcare job application, you can skip it or re-read the job description to find something that may give you clues to complete this section. Consider including any experiences outside of the professional history you already added which might help employers get a better picture of your qualifications.
2 How can Connect Health help you?
Here at Connect Health, we help healthcare professionals find their ideal job.
You can sign up on our webpage and apply for any medical position that caught your eye. Make sure to read the job description and requirements before applying to any position
Conversely, we also help medical employers find the ideal talent for their business. If you are looking to find a healthcare professional for your organization, feel free to take a look at our large database of medical professionals or post a job opening on our webpage.
Do you have any questions about healthcare job application or other topics? You can call us at +971 433 166 88 to talk to one of our representatives that will gladly answer your doubts. As another option, you can contact us at info@connecthealth.ae.
Are you a healthcare professional going through the job-hunting process? You can visit thetalentpoint.com to find multiple job openings in the field of choice. Alternately, you can send your resume to contact@thetalentpoint.com.
