Operating Room Nurse Resume

Operating Room Nurse Resume Template

This template uses a great resume format for highlighting your medical experience, adaptability, and critical thinking skills.

Average operating room nurse salaries in the US

The following table includes information from O*NET Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. The data is presented based on the top states in the United States.

How to write your operating room nurse resume

Operating room (OR) nurses belong to one of the most in-demand nurse specialties. Also known as perioperative nurses or surgical nurses, OR nurses help patients and doctors at different stages of the surgery process.

Several types of perioperative nurses exist, including:

• scrub nurses
• circulating nurses
• RN first assistants (RNFA)
• post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) nurses
• medical-surgical nurses
• operating room directors

Need a quick refresher on what to put on your nursing resume? This quick video breaks down all the sections you should add to your resume and how to write them well so you can stand out to healthcare employers:

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Our Expert:

Chloe Chioy

No matter your OR nurse specialty, follow our five tips to write an outstanding operating room nurse resume:

1. Make a good first impression with proper formatting

In the health care profession, traditional resume formats and resume templates are more likely to pass reviews by applicant tracking systems (ATS), which automatically toss out resumes with layouts, images, or fonts they can’t interpret.

So avoid using overly bright graphics or colors on your nursing resume. To demonstrate professionalism to hiring managers, blacks and blues, along with dark greens and burgundies, are the best colors for your resume.

2. Customize your resume to the operating room nurse specialty

If you’re applying to multiple types of surgical nursing roles, customize your resume for each type.

For example, notice how a scrub nurse and PACU nurse differ in these snippets from their work experience section, skills section, and certifications section:

If the job posting doesn’t specify the perioperative specialty, check the duties description and preferred qualifications section. Then show how you can fit the job’s needs.

For example, you should write a scrub and circulating nurse resume in response to general perioperative nurse postings that include “Ability to scrub and circulate” in the preferred qualifications section.

3. Emphasize your OR nurse work experience and certifications

As shown by job ads that specifically bar nurse graduates from applying, perioperative nursing is a relatively high level of nursing. As a result, your experience and credentials count more than your education, so place them higher and give them more space on your resume.

But if you have less than the preferred amount of work experience, you can add more details in your resume’s education section, including your:

• GPA
• relevant coursework
• rotations, internship placements, and other learn-by-doing experiences
• academic accomplishments

You may also choose to include additional sections at the bottom of your resume for information such as:

• language skills
• accomplishments and awards
• volunteer work

But remember that the standard resume length is one page. To write a one-page resume while highlighting your work experience first and foremost, you can abbreviate information from these extra sections and add it to your operating room nurse resume’s skills section.

4. Correctly list your OR nursing credentials and licenses

There are two places you can list your accreditations on your OR nurse resume — in your certifications section or in your skills section.

Certification section

In your certification section, include the:

• name and abbreviation of the certification
• granting body or state
• issue date
• expiration date
• credential ID number

For example, note how an applicant lists one of their OR nurse certifications:

Skills section

If you put your credentials in the skills section of your resume, just list the name of the certification, the certifying body, and your license number. Including the number lets hiring managers easily look up your qualifications in state and national nursing databases.

5. Include soft skills throughout your OR nurse resume

Possessing excellent soft skills, or skills related to how you work with people, distinguishes good nurses from great nurses. And giving examples of your soft skills on your resume differentiates your application from those of other candidates.

Important soft skills to describe on your operating room nurse resume are:

• problem-solving
• critical thinking
• teamwork skills
• time management skills
• active listening
• interpersonal skills
• communication skills
• versatility
• adaptability
• attention to detail

While your technical skills can be communicated through certifications, soft skills are best shown in your work experience section with resume adjectives and action verbs that make your resume more engaging.

For example, here’s a work experience entry from an operating room nurse’s resume. We’ve emphasized the resume adjectives (underlined in yellow) and action verbs (underlined in green) that demonstrate soft skills specifically:

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