Nurse Practitioner Cover Letter

As a nurse practitioner, hospitals expect you to have the skills necessary to look after patients in a variety of scenarios and settings.

But if you want to be called in for an interview, you’ll need to write a cover letter that convinces hospitals that you have the right qualifications for the job.

Looking for a headstart? Our video walkthrough for creating an excellent nursing cover letter is one place to begin:

To build on the advice outlined in our video guide, we’ve included three tips for writing a great nurse practitioner cover letter below.

1. Write a strong introduction

Starting your cover letter off with a strong introduction that grabs the attention of the hiring manager is important, as they’ll likely have several other job applications from similarly-qualified nurses to review.

A great cover letter introduction should:

• Give a brief overview of your experience
• Show your enthusiasm for the position
• Quickly highlight an achievement

If you’re a new nurse practitioner and don’t have many achievements to pull from, you can also display a certification or your nursing license.

Here’s an example of a great cover letter introduction for an entry-level nurse practitioner:

As a recent MSN graduate from Florida State University with 2+ years of clinical experience in critical care and surgical units, and a FNP-C and PALS certification, I’m excited to be applying for the Nurse Practitioner position at Truman Hospital.

2. Display your key achievements as a nurse

Displaying your key achievements as a nurse on your cover letter is the best way to show the hiring manager that you’re a qualified candidate for a nurse practitioner position.

However, it’s best to highlight your achievements, or make them stand out within your body paragraphs on your cover letter. This ensures that your nursing achievements will be easy for the hiring manager to find.

Two great ways to make your key achievements stand out is to either bold them within your cover letter, or to use a bullet point list to display them.

Here’s an example of some bulleted key achievements that utilize hard numbers on a nurse practitioner cover letter:

• Cared for 20+ infants in a Neonatal ICU, monitoring vital signs and providing life-sustaining nutrients and emotional support to parents
• Created and prescribed treatment plans for 30+ elderly patients based off medical, medication, and illness history
• Praised by doctors for my ability with patients and their families, and was ranked in top 10% for delivering an exceptional patient care

3. Include your nursing licenses and certifications

If you’re an entry-level nurse practitioner, or a recent graduate, you’ll likely be relying more on your academic background than your work experience to show that you have the right skills and experience to provide excellent care to patients.

Quickly listing your certifications and licenses is a great way to make up for any lack of experience that an entry-level nursing candidate may have.

Here’s a list of common nurse practitioner certifications that will look great on your cover letter:

• FNP-BC (or FNP-C)
• ACLS
• BCLS
• PALS
• AED Certification