The new standard is to provide nursing portfolios at your interviews. This requires your’s to stand out amongst the others. I purchased 1/2 inch binders and plastic sleeves. I used my label maker to title the dividers. My portfolios were customized to each hospital I interviewed for. Anything I provided for the online application was printed and placed in my portfolio.
Most applications require two letters of recommendation. I supplied additional letters in my portfolio. I decided to get letters from my current employer, this way, they are speaking to the period of time between finishing nursing school and gaining employment as an RN.
My portfolios were divided into five sections:
COVER LETTER AND RESUME
My Cover Letter and Resume were catered to the institution and dated the date of my interview. I even addressed the cover letter to the manager interviewing me. If necessary, I would add any additional application requirements to this section.
LICENSES AND CERTIFICATES
Here, I printed out my RN license, BLS, ACLS, and PALS certificates. In my program, we would have to complete healthcare education courses. I also added these to this section.
CLINICAL FEEDBACK, CLINICAL PRELABS, AND CAPSTONE PROJECT
During my capstone placement, we received feedback from our preceptors for each shift. I supplied three of these feedback forms here. I chose one of my better prelabs to display my clinical preparation. Lastly, I wanted to show my evidence based research. I supplied my Capstone Project essay for this reason.
ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPTS
The first thing found here was my copied nursing degree. I then printed my unofficial academic transcripts and placed them in this section.
LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
As previously mentioned, I supplied numerous letters under this section. My main two letters were positioned first. Following that, I put my supplemental clinical instructor letters of recommendation. I finished with my current employment letter.
Always bring extra copies of just your resume and cover letter incase you get brought into a panel interview! Everyone has their own way of presenting themselves. This was mine and it served me well. Any chance to make yourself standout should be taken!
The Traveling Nurse 
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