(NewsNation) — Searching for a new job, and even starting one, can be both exciting and nerve-wracking.
NewsNation viewer Carmen Neal, from Florida, knows all about this. A registered nurse, Neal recently got a new job after being out of the workforce for nearly seven months.
Tessa White, a career navigation coach and CEO of ‘The Job Doctor,’ gave her some tips for her her new venture, and applying to jobs in the future, on “Morning in America.”
Q: Any advice for the first day on the job?
A: White said on the first day, it’s important to understand how the department “wins.”
For a nurse like Neal, “usually, there’s a patient survey of some kind that is taken.”
“That’s how your department’s judged, ” she said. “Understand the criteria for that.”
Nursing is typically a profession with tight-knit groups, White said. So it’s also good during those first few days on the job to pull your weight and try to get to know people, she said.
“Make sure that on your first days, you see a problem, you solve a problem,” White said.
Q: How do I make myself more marketable, to be a better candidate for a job in general?
A: One thing White suggested was using a word cloud generator when making a resume. Many word cloud generators can be found with a Google search, she said.
“All you have to do is cut and paste your resume into the word cloud generator, and it presents this word picture,” White said. “Then take the job description, cut and paste it into a word cloud generator, and look at what words stick out. It takes five or 10 minutes to just tweak the words so that you have a higher degree of a word match and your resume’s seen by someone. What people don’t understand is those systems that we hate to apply online, rank things by word match. And if you get the right words in, you can literally show up as a top ranked candidate, versus not doing this and not showing up.”
Q: Is there a way to add a secondary income?
A: Nursing is a career with a lot of part-time options available, White said.
“If you needed to augment your income, care coordination, transfer nurse would be a wonderful option for you,” she said. “Home check-ins is also another big one with very low barrier to entry.”