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Megan, you'll get access to our Medical Coding Resume Tips in Module 4.  I've seen some awful, terrible, horrible results from some of the professional resume writing organizations recently. I'd rather you just work on yours and then send it to me. It's no wonder some of the people on some of the coding sites can't find jobs. I've seen the resumes they payed to have written. I wouldn't have hired them just on the basis of those resumes alone.    I'll see if I can copy the resume tips here, just to get you started.  First though, keep the most important thing in the top part of your resume.

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The MOST important thing is to put the best thing YOU have going for you at the top.

Recruiters often spend a maximum of 2 minutes on a resume before making a decision.  Anything in the top 1/3 of the page has a chance of being seen, with the top section most likely to get the greatest amount of attention.

CREDENTIALS

If you have CPC or CCS credentials, that's the best thing you have to offer unless you have actual coding experience. Put it at the top so it will be seen.

RELEVANT MEDICAL CODING EXPERIENCE

If you have experience, put that next.

EDUCATION

If you have neither credentials nor experience, the training you have will need to be at the top.

Example:   Scheduled appointments and conferences with a high level of attention to detail.   (Leave it out. Nobody looking for a medical coder cares about that.  Keep it about Medical Coding.)

If you DO list any jobs other than medical coding jobs, keep the description to no more than one line.

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Medical Coding Resume Tips:

You have finished, or are just about to finish, the Medical Coding program.  Congratulations!  Now it is time to start looking for employment in your new field of expertise, and to do that means putting together a resume.  The prospect of preparing a resume can be daunting and can seem like an overwhelming task, but it doesn’t have to be.  Following some basic guidelines and principles can make this task much easier and can result in a professional resume that gets the attention of both recruiters and employers. 

 Before you even begin the resume-writing process, there are a couple of important steps you need to take.  The first step is to ensure that you have a professional email address.  The email address you use for correspondence with potential employers should ideally include your name, such as smith.jane@myemail.com. 

 Second, be very careful about what you post on your social media accounts.  In this day and age, employers frequently check out a potential candidate on social media before deciding whether or not to bring that person in for an interview.  If what they see or read on your social media sites is inappropriate or unprofessional, they may very well take your name out of the running without ever contacting you personally.  Many people have lost job opportunities or jobs because of what they have posted on their social media accounts.  Don’t let this happen to you. 

 Cover Letter:  Choosing to include a cover letter as part of your resume is optional.  Some people like them, some people don’t.  If you choose to include a cover letter be sure that you keep it short and concise.  It is important that your cover letter be tailored to the specific job for which you are applying and not just a form letter that is obviously sent out en masse to all open positions.   If you have the exact experience an employer is looking for, state that in your cover letter.  Sell yourself!  In addition, be sure to research the company you are applying for.  Mention the name of the company in your cover letter because it shows that you put in effort which indicates to the employer that you are diligent and motivated to get the job.  Phrases like, “I’m perfect for the job,” or “I know that I’m exactly what you need,” should not appear in your letter.  Phrases like these are self-inflating and don’t tell the employer anything about your skills or qualifications for the job.  The employer simply wants to see quickly and clearly if you are qualified for the job.  The additional fluff just gets in the way of what they are looking for and could cost you the opportunity for the job.  (An example of a cover letter is provided at the end of this post.)

 Resume:  As you begin to prepare your medical coding resume, keep in mind that recruiters will spend only about 2 minutes looking at your resume before deciding whether you will be called in for an interview, allowed to test, or rejected for the job.  This means that you need to keep the resume focused so that everything included on it is clear, concise, and directed toward the specific job for which you are applying.  (An example of a resume is provided at the end of this post.)  

 As you begin to consider the process of creating your resume, keep in mind that ideally you want to keep the resume to only one page, if at all possible.  Eliminate long paragraphs about your past job descriptions that have nothing to do with medical coding.  That information will not help you get the job and may cause the recruiter to skip right over your resume to one that is more succinct and relevant.    

 DO:

·      Use a basic, easy-to-read, professional font like Times New Roman or Calibri for the entire resume.  

·      Put your name in large, easy-to-read font at the top of the resume. 

·      Clearly list your credentials after your name at the top of the resume.  Your name will be read first, and the credentials let them know immediately if you are a qualified candidate.  Credentials also need to be documented in the EDUCATION section of your resume. 

·      Include your state AND time zone.  It is a very good idea to include name, email, phone number, and your region.  Knowing where you are may be key in what positions the employer has available for you.

·      Be sure you have a professional email address based on your name or a variation thereof. 

·      Include your LinkedIn email along with your professional email address. 

·      Save your resume with a professional name like “Jane Doe Resume.”  This makes it easy for the recruiter to track.  

·      Check and recheck for correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  Then, have someone else check it over just to make sure.  Recruiters will sometimes disregard a resume if they see these types of errors.

·      Be consistent in formatting making sure that you maintain consistent spacing, font use, etc.  Inconsistent formatting distracts the reader from the information you want seen. 

·      Include any certifications you have obtained, as well as any relevant training you may have received on the job, i.e. CCS-P (Certified Coding Specialist-Physicians Office), CCS (Certified Coding Specialist), CPC-A (Certified Procedural Coder-Apprentice), etc. 

·      The EDUCATION section should include the most relevant and most recent educational achievements.  Of course, you want to list The Andrews School of Medical Coding first and foremost.  Other educational achievements can follow.  If you have been out of high school for 10+ years, it is not necessary to include that on your resume.  

 DON’T:

·      Use lines or graphics. 

·      Include your driver’s license number or social security number.

·      Don’t include an OBJECTIVE section.  It isn’t helpful and could limit your options in case there may be more than one position open.

·      Include unrelated hobbies and activities.

·      Include high school and college part-time jobs.

·      Include references.  If an employer wants references, they will specifically ask for them.  Including the words “References available upon request” dates you and your resume.  You do want to have a list of these references readily available.  Before including someone as a reference, be sure that you get in touch with them and ask for their permission to be used as reference.

 General Tips:

 Keep in mind that a resume is a snapshot for an employer to take a quick look through to see if you meet enough of their requirements to continue with the process.  A hiring manager typically has a lot of resumes to look through, many of which aren't qualified for anything they're applying for, and this only gets worse the larger the facility is.  The more you include in your resume, the more they have to dig to find the specific qualifications they're looking for, and the less they will tend to be inclined in your favor.  With a short resume, they're considerably more likely to pay full attention to what they read rather than skimming, and this can reflect well later in the process.  A simple format is best.  Different fonts and crazy lines make it very hard for the reader to decipher your overall experience.  Keep it simple.  Keep it professional.

 In regard to the order of your resume, you want to put the most important information at the top (that's why the name and contact info is always first in every resume you will ever see!) and work your way down to the least applicable.  That's also why entries are in reverse chronological order.  The logic behind it is simple - the recruiters and hiring managers skim resumes and lose interest in what they're reading.  They want to be able to find the most important information quickly and easily.  Following is a suggested order of information along with some helpful tips for each section. 

 Certifications:  Make sure that you place certifications front and center.  You earned them, so show them off!  Make sure you only list valid credentials, not those you used to have or those you want to get.  Make sure that you have mentioned ICD-10 in your resume.  Recruiters often use search programs that search for certain words or phrases.  If those key words and/or phrases are not in your resume, it will get bypassed entirely.  Make sure that your resume includes CPT, ICD-10, and both CPC and CCS, both in acronym form and spelled out. 

 Education:  If you have neither credentials nor relevant work experience but you have relevant education, put Education on top and expand on the coding information to focus the attention there because that is what you have to offer.  Talk about those credentials there whether you have them or are scheduled to take the exams.

Work Experience:  If it doesn’t relate to medical coding, keep it to one line.  Irrelevant job descriptions distract the reader and don’t help you get the job.  Remove all job description information from the resume itself, but keep it separately in a handout to refer to during a phone interview in case your mind goes blank at a question.  This information could also be used to hand over to the interviewer if you are there in person, so they can look it over at their leisure.  In the resume itself, only keep your job title, employer, and dates of employment.  If you aren't comfortable completely cutting out the job descriptions, try to keep each bullet point to no more than one line containing the most important aspect of what you're describing.

 Professional Organizations and Activities:  What makes YOU different?  Your resume needs to highlight you and why you are the best applicant for the job.  Making yourself stand out in the crowd is how you have to approach the resume-writing process.  If you’ve audited codes, attended any coding classes, trained your coding peers, attended AHIMA conferences, are a part of your local AAPC chapter, etc., be sure to put it on there!

Cover Letter Example

Jane Smith

1234 Alphabet Lane

Your City, State Zip

Phone

Email

LinkedIn address

  Dear Mrs. Jones:

 I am applying for a position as Medical Coder at the XYZ company.

 I have obtained my CPC certification through AAPC and my CCS through AHIMA, so I am available to work in either outpatient or inpatient coding as needed. 

 My cell phone number is (###) ###-#### and my email address is jane.smith@youremail.com.

 Thank you for your time and consideration.

 Sincerely,

Jane Smith, CPC-A, CCS

Resume Example

Jane Smith, CPC-A, CCS

1234 Alphabet Lane

City, State (CST) Zip

Phone

Email

LinkedIn address

CERTIFICATION:

June 2015 Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) AHIMA – tested in ICD-10-CM/PCS

April 2015 Certified Procedural Coder (CPC) AAPC

Scheduled for CCS-P 1/4/16

EDUCATION:

July 2015    The Andrews School – Medical Coding

Medical coding course beginning to advanced outpatient and inpatient coding.  Included preparation and eligibility for both CPC (AAPC) and CCS (AHIMA) credentials which I have now achieved [CCS exam scheduled for January 2016].

May 2005    B.S. Nursing, XYZ school

WORK EXPERIENCE:

June 2005-October 2014 XYZ Hospital

                                    Worked as Charge Nurse on Oncology floor

March 2002-May 2005    XYZ Hospital

                                    Worked as CNP on various floors with a wide variety of patients.

January 2000-May 2002  XYZ Medical Group

                                    Worked as receptionist for medical group of family physicians.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES:

May 2015    Attended AHIMA Conference

April 2015   Joined local AAPC chapter

The MOST important thing is to put the best thing YOU have going for you at the top.

Recruiters often spend a maximum of 2 minutes on a resume before making a decision.  Anything in the top 1/3 of the page has a chance of being seen, with the top section most likely to get the greatest amount of attention.

CREDENTIALS

If you have CPC or CCS credentials, that's the best thing you have to offer unless you have actual coding experience. Put it at the top so it will be seen.

RELEVANT MEDICAL CODING EXPERIENCE

If you have experience, put that next.

EDUCATION

If you have neither credentials nor experience, the training you have will need to be at the top.

Thank you very much Linda! If someone doesn't have relevant coding experience what would you suggest? I'm wondering if other related field experience would be okay?

Megan, all of the experience you've had is relevant. That should all be on there. Just keep it short and concise though. You don't need a paragraph about each one, just a line in most cases, unless you want to mention certain specialties or sub-specialties that you worked in during your time in the HIM department. 

The goal is not to distract them from your credentials in most cases, but in yours it's different. You want to show them that you have studied lots of coding, since RHIT programs often stop at an overview level.  YOUR goal would be to indicate advanced level coding skills which they would not normally expect an RHIT to have.

So you'll have your credential at the top in your identifying information.

Then the EDUCATION section might be good to have next in your case.

Finally, RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE or whatever you decide to call it. 

UNLESS you had any experience at all actually applying medical codes.  If you did, put the WORK EXPERIENCE or whatever you call that section right at the top, because that's what you'll want them to see, that you have experience.

Don't write them a book about the experience. Keep it brief, only including anything that may make the difference in their choosing you over someone else.  It's one of those, 'If in doubt, leave it out' kind of moments.