resume's

[tamaith]

thank you to all who responded now i got one more question. cover letters. correct if i am wrong. i was told that cover letters should be brief only a few sentences is that right?

[spenac]

thank you to all who responded now i got one more question. cover letters. correct if i am wrong. i was told that cover letters should be brief only a few sentences is that right?

Yes

http://www.resume-resource.com/

[Richard B the EMT]

I am uncertain on "brief", but I have been advised by many (friends, teachers, and business men and women primarily amongst them), to keep cover letters down to one page. The theory is, more than one, and most folks get bored and won't read it at all.

[scubanurse]

Ok... I take offense to the comment on Basics not having other certs besides CPR... When I was a basic I had PEPP and BTLS (ITLS) so don't go there with the whole basic/paramedic thing....that argument is old.

What I did on mine was at the bottom I have listed classes to note and put the big important ones there such as EVOC, PALS, ACLS and ITLS... Or you could include a scanned copy of your certs with the resume...

Good luck!!

[Retread]

Tell 'em Scuba. This B might include the "merit badge" courses in his EMS resume. ACLS, BTLS, EVOC, PEPP. The con-ed hours things can be passed over.

8)

[WolfmanHarris]

Okay let's get on the topic of merit badge course vs. education.

ITLS is one that gets me. We get ITLS as part of our education. Well kinda. We study trauma months throughout the program and in order for us to have a card in case an employer requests it, the local ITLS examiner who teaches in Pre-service comes over and watches us during mid-terms. Why don't we take the separate course? Because there's little we're going to gain from two days on a topic we've spent months on.

I see the use for these courses as CME and review for things that may not be done regularly (like NRP) or that may be changing regularly (like ACLS/CPR) but I have a huge issue with the way some people treat their completion of these courses as a mastery of any topic.

Then again, I may have spoken too soon. If your entire EMS training takes 120 hours, than a few 16 hour courses is actually a significant increase in the amount of time spent learning. So... should your extra CME courses that you take in a year take longer than your Basic course?

[scubanurse]

All the alphabet soup courses should be a review type class in my opinion. My ITLS course which I took at the Maryland Fire Rescue Institute (www.mfri.org) was a review of trauma mechanisms and new ways of looking at injuries/treatment... We went into depth about the use of spinal immobilization in penetrating thoracic trauma (GSW's)...

But they are still classes which should be recognized as it shows that the provider sought out to learn more about their field I know plenty of basics who are just too happy being a basic so those who strive to learn more should be recognized with alphabet soups

[spenac]

Wonder if a video resume' would work?

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=barn...emb=0&aq=f#

[EMS Solutions]

Don't laugh, Video resumes are increasing in popularity. Sites like careerbuilder.com and even one soley targeting video resumes resumetube.com

are finding that it is a great way to give potential employers a peek of what you are all about before you get that interview.

With the job market the way it is, I would put a resume video of my own on youtube or viddler and send that link along with my one page resume and short 1-2 paragraph cover letter to the potential employer. That may be the thing that gets your foot in the door.

- Check out a free Job preparation guide. It is for designed for any job market, not just EMS.

http://ems-safety.com/emsfiles.htm

Maybe it will help you a little more.

Good luck

Jim

[tamaith]

video resume's are increasing. i was suppose to do one in college in one of my health classes but ended withdrawing from the class so i could grad early. already have enough credits to grad.