What is the real purpose of healthcare CV?

Healthcare recruitment agencies sort CVs and pass on interview shortlists but the rest is up to the candidate.

Visit any one of the excellent healthcare recruitment agency websites and you will find hundreds, if not thousands, of job vacancies advertised there. There will be two login areas, one for healthcare organizations to place and review their current adverts and another for nurses, doctors pharmacists etc to register and apply for the vacancies. Once registered with the recruitment agency each of those healthcare professionals will go on to create an online curriculum vitae (CV), which will be compared against each of the job vacancies that the person expresses an interest in.

The importance of the CV cannot be overstated when it comes to changing jobs in any profession but especially so in healthcare. Have you ever wondered what exactly is the function of a CV? Most people will answer this question with something like, ‘to get me into a new job…durgh!’ Well yes but this is only partly true because your CV has three purposes. The first and least important is to describe your competencies to any prospective employers. The second purpose is to answer the implicit questions in any job advert. This means altering a CV so that it addresses the job requirements as they are expressed in any advert.

The third and most important purpose of a CV is to get the applicant to an interview. Only If the candidate performs well at the interview will the job be offered and only then will the candidate be free to choose to accept or not. The Healthcare professional CV on the recruitment agency database is so very important because unlike most other professions, qualifications and certificates of competence very accurately define the skills and competencies needed to fulfill roles. Do not waste your time applying for any job if you do not have the requisite qualifications and the certificates to prove your competence.

You are unlikely to get past the first database search by the healthcare recruitment agency. But remember these sites are the best place to set yourself new career goals and to register with, once you have achieved them, so that you can move on to your dream job.