How To Make A Strong Resume For Nursing
Nursing is a fulfilling career, and most practitioners in this field are satisfied with their jobs . However, you need an effective nursing resume before you get a position that takes you to the next level in your career.
Writing a resume that separates you from the other candidates and gets the recruiters attention is not always an easy task. One tip that can help you is tailoring each resume to match the job requirements.
Usually, the job description will help you determine what the recruiter is looking for. Use it to your advantage and add the keywords and action verbs that will optimize your resume. Hiring managers dont have much time to read through long resumes, so keep it short and summarize your qualifications on one page.
The resume format, layout, and structure are also crucial. Here are more details on them.
Nursing Resume: Career Summary
But they use what we call scanning rather than skimming.
The recruiter just registers the relevant information in these 6 seconds and moves on to the next resume.
This was a human recruiter.
Now let us face the ATS that is driven by keywords and job/industry-specific jargon.
So your resume summary should have these qualities to land all the dream interviews:
- Tailor-made according to your potential employer and not a formulaic document
- Put keywords used by the recruiter in the job description to clear ATS
- Start with adjectives and the number of years of work experience to give power to your summary
- Use cause-effect relationship in each line to make better sense of the tasks you performed
- Use any particular high-rated certification in your industry to get through the shortlisting round
Let us look at the RN nurse resume sample:-
Starting with power verbs show positive assertiveness and cut a huge probability of impressing the recruiter.
Let us look at a sample key skills section for nursing resumes:
Include Facility And Unit
Writing the experience section of a nursing resume isnt as straightforward as in other industries.
Hiring managers want to make sure your experience is directly relevant to their hospital, and the best way for them to determine that is by looking through your work experience section.
To make your qualifications as clear as possible, include facility- and unit-specific information in your resume bullet points, such as the total number of beds available at your previous hospital, and the types of units you worked in.
More specifically, you should include the following information on any type of nursing resume:
- Trauma level: level I, II, III
- Number of hospital beds
- Patient demographics
- Whether you used EMR or EHR
This information gives hiring managers a clear idea of what type of nursing experience you have, and whether youd be a good fit for their hospital.
You May Like: How To Make A Good Resume For A Job
Skills Section Example: Necessary And Valued
Nurses work at the intersection of practical knowledge, technology and softer human interaction. The nurse job is about versatility, and so is your skills section. It’s important to show equal love to both your hard and soft skillscategories.
Hard skills enable your day-to-day productivityas a nurse, and your ability to solve most clinical and administrative problems. Specifically, they will vary depending on your past nurse education and experience.
Pay close attention to the nurse skills listed in the job description and descriptive wording. Using the same terminology not only ensures you pass the ATS but also shows the recruiter that you’re an attentive, detail-oriented nurse.
Remember we mentioned an additional language as being the second-most requested nurse skill? Well, TalentNeutron studies reveal the MOST commonly requested are computer skills especially electronic medical/hospital records software. Common program packages are Meditech and Epic software.
In the U.S., knowing your way around billing codes is also a common advantage.
Soft skills are the more abstract, people-oriented attributes you have as a nurse. They reflect your ability to interact positively with patients, understand the people around you, feel subtle emotional shifts or just generally be a kind, warm individual.
- Patient advocacy
Top Skills For Your Nursing Resume
It’s helpful to understand the differences between hard and soft skills to list in your resume skills section. Keep the number of skills you list in between six and 10 to avoid overwhelming the reader.
Hard skills are those tools you use to do the job, aka technical abilities that require training.
Examples of hard skills:
Get noticed! Look for keywords within a job description:
- Many companies use ATS to scan resumes for keywords from the job description, so it’s in your best interest to include the right keywords.
- Include keywords in both your nursing cover letter and resume.
- Choosing keywords from the job description helps you customize your resume and thus, makes you more appealing to the hiring manager.
- Employing the right keywords makes your resume relevant and noticeable, giving you an edge over the competition.
Also Check: Where To Send My Resume
Nurse Resume Achievements Examples
It is a fact that hiring managers search for technical accolades of the candidates in the achievements section. You must divide your achievements into bite-size bulleted points with technical terminologies to impress the hiring manager right away.
If youre a versatile nurse, mention your skills of managing, monitoring and reviewing recovery processes for high-risk patients to make an emphatic influence on the hiring committee. As a universal rule of sample nurse resumes, references are restricted to a separate page.
People Who Are Changing Careers Or Job Titles
If youre changing careers completely, a resume summary is the best way to briefly contextualize your experience, highlight your transferable skills, and explain why youre a good fit for the position especially if those things arent obvious from the body of your resume.
The same thing applies if youre pivoting to a new role within your current industry or career. You dont want a hiring manager assuming your skills arent relevant or that youre simply applying for every job you can find, so use your summary to demonstrate why that isnt the case.
For a more detailed guide to resume summaries for career changers, check out How to Write a Resume Summary if Youre Changing Careers.
Also Check: Administrative Assistant Job Description For Resume
Add Your Educational Qualifications
Your educational qualifications are vital when youre applying for a nursing job. Most positions will require a college degree, so ensure that you add it to your resume. If you have a Masters degree, even better. Start with it, then add your other academic qualifications.
The details you should have under this section include the name of the diploma/degree, the name of the school, and the year of graduation. The job description will help you determine what the recruiter is looking for, and you can tailor this section to match these requirements.
Additional Information On Salaries And Job Market For Nurses
According to the U.S Bureau of Statistics, the employment of registered nurses is projected to grow six percent from 2021 to 2031, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
The industries with the highest levels of employment for Registered Nurses include:
- General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
- Offices of Physicians
- Outpatient Care Centers
- Nursing Care Facilities
The average salary for a registered nurse is $82,000. The typical range is between $59,000 and $106,000, depending on your level of education, skills, and experience.
Read Also: Best Resume Format 2021
Registered Nurse Resume Sample
Registered nurses are critical to modern medical infrastructure. Theyre responsible for the majority of patient care in clinics and hospitals alike. When a medical institution is looking for new nurses, they want to be confident that theyre hiring someone whos responsible, friendly, and skilled.
Your resume is your best tool to convince employers that youre worth interviewing. You need to list your technical knowledge and certifications so they know youre fully qualified for the position. You should also mention soft skills like your interpersonal skills and ability to handle emergencies. Most importantly, you need to do this on one page, because few employers will read a two-page resume.
This registered nurse resume example demonstrates how you can explain your education, certifications, technical knowledge, and soft skills all within a single-page document.
Los Angeles, CA 90013 555-1234 khahn@email.com linkedin.com/in/kathryn-hahn
REGISTERED NURSE
Clinical Expertise | Critical & Emergent Care | Ambulatory & Surgical Care Leadership | Cross-Functional Communication | Patient & Family Relations | Patient Education OSHA & HIPAA Compliance | Confidentiality | Electronic Medical Records | Microsoft Office Medical Team Collaboration | Staff Training & Development | Performance Assessment | Medical Research
Prepared patients for surgery, administered pre-op medications and IVs, and coordinated with OR team, patient, and family to develop and revise pre-op care plan.
Write A Short Resume Objective
A resume objective is typically a summary of your employability and may discuss items listed in other resume sections. For this reason, it’s usually a good idea to limit it to two or three sentences. If your resume objective is too long, you may unnecessarily repeat information already detailed in your resume. You can enhance the readability of your resume if you limit your objective to two or three sentences because hiring managers usually prefer reviewing short bodies of text.
Related:How to Prepare a Resume for a Nursing Job
Don’t Miss: How To Email Resume To Employer
Tailor Your Resume To The Position
Registered nurses can work in a variety of different environments, from large emergency rooms to OB/GYN to small family clinics. Its not uncommon for nurses to move from one part of the field to another. That means that you may be applying for positions with major differences at the same time.
If thats the case, take the time to edit your resume for each job. Years of experience in pediatrics will interest family medicine clinics but might not matter in an ER. Highlighting your ability to quickly calm down anxious families, on the other hand, makes that experience relevant to ERs. If you have the necessary skills and experience for a position, editing your resume helps you best demonstrate that to employers.
Reasons Why A Great Nursing Resume Objective Makes A Difference
1.A great nursing resume objective gives nurses the opportunity to make a good first impression.2.A well-written objective on a nursing resume helps demonstrate your written communication skills, which are vital for nursing success.3.A nursing resume objective can show prospective employers how you have cultivated your career.4.Resume objectives are an excellent way to briefly showcase your experience.5.Great Nursing resume objectives offer excellent opportunities to show confidence in your knowledge and skills.
Read Also: How To Write An Academic Resume
Eight Nursing Resume Templates
Woot! If youve made it this far you should have an excellent understanding of how to write a great nursing resume. We know its a lot of information right now and we hope that youll use the information to advance your career.
For a little more help, try using our free resume templates. And when youve landed your next interview, check out the next part in this series, The Complete Guide to Nursing Job Interviews.
What Is A Resume
The resume-reading robot is actually a program known as Applicant Tracking Software .
It is highly technical and individualized, but not nearly as smart as a human. It does what it has been programmed to do.
An employer may enter in specific keywords for the ATS to scan for. They may choose to enter knockout questions to quickly eliminate unqualified candidates. Such as, Do you have an active Washington State Nursing License?
They could even choose to include disqualifying statements to automatically screen candidates out. For example, if an ATS is programmed to screen out all resumes lacking a Bachelors Degree, anyone with an Associates Degree will automatically be rejected. If you have both, consider listing only your BSN.
Recruiters may also configure the ATS to deliver only resumes that include exact keywords.
Also Check: Should You Put High School On Resume
Confidently Land Your Next Nursing Gig
Many job seekers languish in the job market, especially considering the number of nursing graduates produced by universities each year and the fierce competition. So, you must be creative and savvy to survive the market. Happily, you’ve already taken the first steps by reading this guide, so congratulations!
We know you’ve worked hard to get this far, and we wish you all the best as you write a power-packed nursing resume and get ready for interviews in 2022!
Ready to build your resume?
Our free online tool will walk you through creating a resume that stands out and gets you hired at a top tech company.
- Beautiful templates with eye-catching designs
- Data-driven tips to help you make the most of your experience
- Step-by-step walkthrough so you know what to focus on
- Built by Google engineers with years of hiring experience
New Grad Nursing Resume
Use this template
Why this resume works
- Since you’re a new graduate, your experience during your clinical rotations can be included on your new grad nursing resume. It’s also important to list any other healthcare experience you have, whether it’s paid experience or volunteer work.
- If you lack experience, that’s okay! Just include more details about your clinical rotations. You can also mention non-healthcare-specific work experience if you have it.
Read Also: How To List Diploma On Resume
Seven Common Resume Mistakes
Weve seen a lot of resumes over the years, and you might be surprised by the amount of strange information people have included on resumes. So, here are the top mistakes weve seen:
When Do You Need An Rn Resume
In this competitive environment, its not easy to get a nursing job.
First, lets see how healthcare organizations hire nurses.
First, the resume is parsed through an AI-based ATS software, which checks for specific keywords in the resume. Then it comes to a human recruiter. Who checks the resumes content and sees if the resume consists of what the organization exactly looks for.
If they find that the resume is formatted professionally and you pass the eligibility test, then they will reach out to you for an interview.
We can see that a nursing resume is the first contact between you and an organization.
Thats why you need to create a stellar nursing resume to stand apart from the rest of the candidates.
So, how do you create one?
Don’t Miss: What Skills To Put On A Resume For Waitress
How To Write A Nurse Resume Summary Or Objective
Fun fact – recruiters spend less than 6 seconds reviewing each resume. This isnt that surprising, though. You cant expect them to read the hundreds of resumes they receive from end to end.
So, if the recruiter doesnt see that youre relevant for the job in a single glance, your resume wont even be read.
Now, the question is, what can you do to hook the recruiter the moment they look at your resume.
The answer is simple: use a resume summary or objective.
As a quick intro, both the resume summary and objective are sections that go on top of your resume, just under the contact information section.
The main difference between the 2 sections is that
A resume summary is a 2-4 sentence summary of your professional experiences and achievements.
- Trauma Certified Registered Nurse with more than five years experience working in emergency care. Compassionate, ethical health-care provider with a proven ability to stay calm during crises. Hold a Masters of Science in Surgical Nursing.
A resume objective, on the other hand, is a 2-4 sentence snapshot of your professional goals and aspirations.
- Patient-focused nursing student with 2 years of healthcare experience. Pursuing internships as part of career goal to become Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse.
So, which one do you pick? A summary, or an objective?
Add Hard Numbers To Your Experience Section
One of the most effective ways to show employers your capabilities and successes as a nurse is to add hard numbers to your work experience section.
For example, when writing your resume, ask yourself the following questions:
- How many patients did you take care of in your unit?
- How many hours did you work per rotation?
- How many nurses did you work with, or train?
Numbers give the hiring manager a clear picture of your skills and abilities because they add context to the accomplishments on your resume.
Heres an example of a bullet point without numbers:
No hard numbers
- Supervised unit of a large psychiatric facility
Here is the same statement with numbers and context added:
With hard numbers
- Supervised up to 10 staff in the 200-bed adolescent unit of a large psychiatric facility, specializing in eating disorders
You May Like: How To Make Effective Resume Format