Nursing Resume Example

According to the National Association of Healthcare Recruiters, the word recruitment is defined as, “the search for the best candidate for a vacant position.” Best, in this case, would be the candidate who is the most qualified and competent, and fits well within the organization.

So, to convince the hiring manager that you are the best candidate, you must communicate your value through your resume. Writing an attention-getting, interview-capturing resume is a daunting task, but one that pays off in the long run with a job offer.

This article will help you understand the basics of resume writing and provide education-level specific tips on how to make your resume stand out to health care recruiters.

SEE ALSO › Caregiver Resume Sample

The Basics: What is a Resume?

A resume is a 1–2 page document, covering 10–12 years, which a job seeker uses to market their skills, experience, and qualifications to an employer.

The resume serves as the first impression you make on an employer. It should be professional, error-free, well organized, and easy to read.

Nine Possible Resume Sections

1. Contact information: Name, address, phone, and email
2. Objective: Optional, should be specific and state what you are applying to
3. Qualifications summary: Provides key points related to the position
4. Relevant nursing/clinical Experience: Shows the employer what you’ve done, if possible, include more than the clinical experience required by your school
5. Other employment experience: Includes employment outside of health care, but is important for the employer to know about
6. Skills summary/key skills: Incorporates keywords from the job posting and your specific skill set
7. Education/licenses/certifications/relevant coursework/training: List any professional development that better prepared you to work in the health care field
8. Professional affiliations: Relevant to health care, shows awareness of trends and desire to interact with other professionals in the field
9. Volunteer Work: Indicates a desire to provide care outside of paid opportunities

Nursing Resumes Must Include The Following Information

• The locations you’ve been registered as a nurse (if more than one place)
• The location and GPA where you studied (if above 3.5)
• Medical volunteer work (clinics, hospitals, and blood drives, etc.)
• A list of where you did placements in school (and for how long you did them)
• List your clinical rotations and the hours you worked in each one
• ALL previous nursing job roles you filled, and a summary of what your duties were in that role. Be very specific to your line of work (e.g., intensive care unit, clinic work, nephrology, maternal care unit, thoracic head and neck unit, pediatrics, and oncology)

Don’t just be general. Hiring managers need to know your exact skills and abilities. Are you particularly skilled in locating veins for blood samples and IVs? Do you have a knack for dealing with irritable patients? List your special talents on your resume as they’ll help you stand out and contrast nicely from your other educational and technical based skills.

Highlight Accomplishments, Not Just Duties

Under your experience section, you may be tempted to copy and paste the list of duties you performed as detailed in your job description. The drawback to doing this, though, is that you won’t stand out from the other applicants with similar experience.

Your goal is to think about what sets you apart, what you are most proud of, or what you accomplished in your previous roles, and communicate these through action-packed statements that are compelling.

Use action verbs, quantities, qualities, and details to describe not only what you did, but also how you did it.

Example:

Writing a Nursing Resume Objective

A nursing resume objective needs to show hiring managers that you’d be an effective caregiver. When writing your career objective, clarify why your skills, certifications, and prior achievements will benefit patients and support other medical professionals.

An effective objective should include three sentences:

Sentence No. 1: Specifies total years of work experience as a nurse and your core responsibilities.

Sentence No. 2: Clarifies relevant qualities to prove you’ll be a good fit for the position.

Sentence No. 3: Mentions your ambitions, certifications/licenses you have, and your educational background.

Here’s our candidate’s objective:

Nurse RN with 8+ years of experience providing quality care to a wide variety of patients. Possesses a master’s qualification in nursing and currently focused on earning a doctorate in the field. Aiming to leverage my experience and knowledge to effectively fill the nursing position at your hospital.

Our candidate makes it clear that she’d make a good hospital nurse since she has eight years of experience providing high-end care for patients. Plus, she has a master’s degree and is pursuing a doctorate — revealing another level of dedication to her vocation.

Also note how she mentions her “experience and knowledge.” While not immediately clear what she’s referring to here, it’s implied these two areas will receive attention throughout the rest of her resume.

Quantifying Your Resume

When writing your resume, if you can answer the questions, “how much?” or “how many?”, you should try to include that number. For instance:

• How many patients did you take care of in your unit?
• How many hours did you work per rotation?
• How many beds are there in your hospital?
• How many nurses did you work with, or train?

Quantification will give the hiring manager a clearer picture of your skills and abilities because of the scope it provides.

Here is an example of a statement written as a simple duty:

• Supervised unit of a large psychiatric facility.

Here is the same duty with more details added, which tells the employer how you did your work:

• Supervised the adolescent unit of a large psychiatric facility, specializing in eating disorders.

This certainly is an improvement, but leaves the employer wondering how many patients and how often?

Here is the statement written with quantification added (in bold):

• Supervised up to 10 staff in the 200-bed adolescent unit of a large psychiatric facility, specializing in eating disorders.

Additional Example:

• Updated the electronic medical records of up to 100 patients per day, following office procedures and a focus on confidentiality.

Action Verbs for your Resume

Adhered	Displayed	Planned
Administered	Educated	Preserved
Applied	Ensured	Provided
Assessed	Evaluated	Reacted
Assisted	Executed	Reported
Built	Explained	Responded
Collaborated	Followed	Scheduled
Communicated	Helped	Shared
Contributed	Led	Supervised
Decided	Listened	Taught
Delegated	Managed	Tracked
Delivered	Measured	Trained
Demonstrated	Negotiated	Treated
Developed	Observed	Updated
Directed	Performed	Wrote

The Specifics: What Employers Want

Employers want to see that a nursing candidate has previous experience in a health care setting, has learned and applied the necessary technical skills involved in nursing, and has the key transferable skills that make that candidate perform well at work.

Cinnamon Desgres, a nurse education specialist at Baystate Health in Springfield, Massachusetts, emphasized the importance of noting clinical experience within the resume, both that which is required by schools, and other clinical experience sought out by the candidate to enhance their experience.

If you have worked as a volunteer, this should be noted as it indicates additional working knowledge outside of the classroom that provided experience in a health care setting, providing an understanding of the language, communication practices, and how what is being learned applies to the actual workplace.

“In addition to clinical experience,” says Desgres, “nursing candidates should highlight teamwork, language, advocacy, and critical thinking.” These soft skills are crucial in the health care environment; describing these within the resume gives the employer a sense of how that candidate will perform as an employee.

Lastly, as an RN, with both a master’s degree and a Certificate in Staff Development, Desgres noted the importance of education to employers, with many hospitals working toward increasing the amount of nurses who have earned bachelor’s degrees. She encourages job seekers to include current education level, additional training and coursework, along with future educational goals.

Tailor Your Resume to the Job Posting

Key Words: Each time a job seeker finds a posting of interest, they should scan the resume for key words that can be incorporated into the resume. This process of tailoring to the job posting is key to making sure an employer sees exactly how the candidate fits the position that is being advertised.

Here is an excerpt from a job posting for a Licensed Practical Nurse with key words in bold:

Provides nursing services and assumes responsibility for the care and well being of assigned patients. Performs assigned tasks and educates the patient and caregiver to promote self-care within the patient’s functional limitations. Participates as an active member of the care team and collaborates with other members to assure a high quality of patient care.

Skill Sets and Educational Level

An employer would expect to see the following foundational skill sets within an applicant’s resume, dependent on educational level.

A nurse at the entry level may:

• Provide basic nursing comfort and care to patients
• Monitor patient health and maintain health records electronically
• Communicate with other staff to provide care under the prescribed treatment plan

A nurse at the associate’s degree (ADN) level may:

• Observe patient and report on well-being
• Keep a thorough record of patients’ medical histories and symptoms
• Perform diagnostic tests and analyze results
• Operate medical equipment
• Administer medicines and treatments to patients
• Teach patients how to manage their illness or injury

A nurse at the bachelor’s degree (BSN) level may:

• Develop nursing care treatment plans
• Treat patients for illness or injury and perform routine lab work
• Educate patients
• Supervise other staff, including other nurses
• Administer medications and injections
• Assist doctors

A nurse with an Advanced Degree may:

• Assess patient conditions
• Manage lower level nurses and department
• Develop treatment plans and discuss and explain conditions to patient
• Oversee patient records
• Research and write publications relevant to specialization
• Educate patients or teach other nurses in a college or university

The Importance of Soft Skills

Although the nursing field requires specific technical skills, employers look for other skills, called soft skills-the type of skills that make you a good employee. Incorporate these into your summary, or profile, and into your accomplishment statements.

What If You’re Not Getting Interviews?

You’ll need to be very proactive. In some places, the job market for nurses can be quite tough. You’ll need to apply continuously, even if you get interviews, because it’s possible that you may not pass the interview stage. Apply to every and all positions that you can — sometimes you’ll be surprised by who calls back.

Engage your Networks

Generally speaking, nursing units will prefer to hire internally rather than externally. This means that they prefer to choose candidates recommended by current employees, or friends of employees. In other words, connections are everything.

Do you have any friends, family, or former classmates currently in the health care industry? Be sure to contact them — they may be able to pull some strings for you and get your resume front and center.

Be Aggressive

Above all, nursing units value experience. If you’re a new grad, or lacking in experience, your resume may fail to stand out. We recommend that you contact nurse managers directly, and tell them that you’d like to gain experience in their specific nursing unit. Ask if you can shadow the unit, ask questions, and gain experience. Aim to make a good impression — this will help boost your resume, and give you the connections you need to get your foot in the door.

SEE ALSO> Nursing Cover Letter Samples