How To Get Around The Ats
The applicant tracking software has helped make the recruiting process much more efficient for hiring managers. While there isnt a definitive process to always beat the ATS, there are general rules to follow to create a resume that will increase your success rate.
- Design your resume to match the job description
- Optimize for the ATS by aligning your resume keywords to the job description
- Use the long-form and spelled out acronyms such as BSN
- Save your file as a .docx, .doc or .pdf format
- Dont use headers or footers
- Use plain, black bullet points not any special bullet types
- Do not include tables since an ATS cant read them
- Dont include a photo or use creative fonts
Let Your Nursing Skills And Experience Shine On Your Resume This Sample Resume For An Rn Shows You How
If you’re looking for top nursing jobs, know that the need for your skills and expertise is high. To grab the attention of top employers, you need a resume that shows you can fulfill the demands of being a nurse. Now, as an RN, you’re very used to providing care and attention to patients in need. But how prepared are you to tend to your resume? To help your nursing skills and experience shine, view this sample resume for an RN below, and download the nurse resume template in Word.
Jobs for nurses are projected to grow by 15% from 2016 through 2026, which is much faster than average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . You’ll find the highest level of employment for this job in the following states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania and in the following metropolitan areas: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Boston.
As a nurse, you can expect to earn a median wage of $70,000 per year, or $33.65 per hour, according to the BLS.
Additionally, you can apply to registered nurse jobs and view all nurse jobs on Monster.
Experience
RN, Pediatric Oncology, 5/15 to Present ABC CHILDRENS HOSPITAL Sometown, TX
Provide inpatient nursing care as well as outpatient chemotherapy administration to children receiving treatment for cancer and blood disorders. Coordinate treatment with multidisciplinary healthcare team members to attain optimal health and continuity of care.
RN, Pediatrics, 7/10 to 1/12 GHI HOSPITAL Sometown, TX
What Is An Rn Resume Objective
A resume objective is a direct and concise way of telling a potential employer who you are and why youre the best candidate for the job. As it is the first part of a resume, it provides a significant opportunity to make a positive impression on the reader. While highlighting professional accomplishments is important, the resume objective also supplies an important opportunity to prove that you possess both clinical and communication skills.
Most of the other nursing applicants will have a similar educational history. Some may even have more extensive working experience. Through your resume objective, you can give potential employers a clear vision of who you are and what makes you a great nurse.
Your resume objective is your chance to brag about yourself. Are you a hard worker? Are you quick to cheer up patients with a smile? What makes you a unique and valuable asset, and how do you plan to use those skills in your next position? Answering these questions will help you write a persuasive resume objective.
Related: Resume Objective Writing Guide, Examples and Tips
You May Like: New Grad Nurse Resume
Keys To Writing Your Experience Section
This is the meat and potatoes of your resume. Writing a striking experience section will go a long way in securing a terrific nursing job.
Nursing recruiters are not looking for fluff or abstraction. They want specific and detailed accounts of your work over the years.
Make it scannable
To start, you want to use easily distinguishable section headers such as employment history or relevant experience. These buzzwords make the ATS happy.
We suggest writing your experience down in reverse chronological order.
Start with your most recent position and go from there. Now, if you have held jobs dating back to the Reagan administration or when The Sopranos was on TV, maybe dont include those.
Try to keep your job history within the last 20 years.
Quantify your experience
Instead of just listing your responsibilities with bullet points, convey your accomplishments using quantitative measurements when possible.
For example, instead of saying: Helped discharge patients.
Try instead: Administered 10 discharges an hour during my shift. Provided ample health care education to patient and family members.
The second example is more specific and detailed. It gives your employer a good idea as to your efficiency. Also, administered evokes more responsibility than helped.
Heres an example of an excellent experience section:
You should also consider including the unit type you worked in. Did you work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or an Emergency Room?
Be descriptive
Will Your Nursing Resume Beat The Ats
Optimizing your resume for the Application Tracking System increases your chances of being called for an interview. The ATS is a tool that many companies use to quickly scan resumes and weed out applicants without relying on someone to read through them first.
Most resumes aren’t designed to beat ATS, and end up being filtered out before they ever reach the recruiter. However, if you know how to properly format your resume, you’ll pass the ATS scan and make your way to a person. Here’s what you should know about the role of fonts, font size, margins, header names, logical order, skills, and page length, as far as ATS-friendly resumes are concerned:
- ATS-friendly fonts make it easy for a computer to read your resume. Some of the most commonly used ATS-friendly fonts include: Times New Roman, Calibri, and Arial. Preferably, they should have a font size of 10-12 points.
- Beyond just font type, font size also matters. Preferably, your body font size should be 10-12 points, while your headers can be bigger.
- Keywords are the main focus of the ATS, so make sure your skill keywords and header names match what’s in the job description.
- The ATS is not sensitive to the number of pages, but one page is the standard across professions.
Read Also: How To Make Resume First Time
Urgent Care And Emergency Care
Urgent care and emergency care skills involve the ability to respond promptly to medical issues a patient is experiencing. One example of urgent care and emergency care skills is the ability to properly care for and dress a wound. Even nurses who do not work in the emergency room may find themselves in situations where they need to apply basic urgent care and emergency care skills, making it a vital skill for all nursing professionals.
Write A Strong Icu Nurse Resume Summary
Because youll be working closely with patients who suffer from life-threatening illnesses and conditions, you can expect the hiring process to be rather selective.
However, simply listing your skills and experience on your resume wont be enough to get shortlisted when youre competing against countless job applicants with similar RN experience.
To boost the visibility of your job application, sum up your skills and experience in a strong resume summary to assure employers youre exactly what theyre looking for. Knowing how to write an effective resume summary will show them youre serious about the job while giving you some competitive edge especially if no one bothered to do the same.
Heres an example of a great ICU nurse resume summary:
Compassionate and dedicated Registered Nurse with 5+ years of experience delivering bedside care in intensive care and critical care units. Seeking to offer a broad spectrum of knowledge and field experience in the Cath Lab, ICU, or CCU settings.
In this example, the applicant successfully sums up their years of experience caring for patients in both intensive care and critical care units in two short sentences. Very straightforwardly, the applicant highlights their dedication to providing quality care to patients with complex needs, then emphasizes their experience working in relevant settings, such as Cath Lab, ICU, or CCU settings.
Read Also: How To Write An Effective Resume
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
Do You Need An Objective Or Summary On Your Nursing Resume
When crafting your nursing resume, you have the option to use career objectives and summaries.
When to include a career objective in your resume:
- You can use an objective when changing or modifying your career.
- For instance, if you plan to change from a surgical assistant registered nurse to an emergency room registered nurse, you’d use an objective to highlight that you’re pursuing a new subfield within nursing.
When a summary is right for your resume:
- Use a summary to highlight your most valuable experience and skills. These are ideal when you have vast experience in nursing.
- For example, if you’ve worked in a health setting for 10 or more years, you can include a summary.
When not to use objectives or summaries:
- Unclear objective example: “Looking for a nursing job to apply my skills and knowledge.”
- This lacks specificity and reads “I just need a job to pay the bills.” While that may be true, employers want to know you’re passionate about your work and will improve your workplace.
When objectives or summaries are worth including:
Don’t Miss: Help Me With My Resume
Should You Add Projects Interests Or Hobbies To Your Nursing Resume
Most of the time, you don’t need to include projects or interests/hobbies on your resume. However, you may be able to add them depending on your level of experience and the type of role you’re seeking.
If you’re an experienced nurse, you’ve likely gained tangible experience that’s more important than undergraduate projects you’ve completed. Instead, you should highlight your key areas of experience and show your new employer how you’ll impact their business.
In the same vein, you may not need to indicate your hobbies or interests unless it’s encouraged. However, you can gain an advantage over the competition if you have strong qualifications and hobbies that match the company culture.
To help you determine whether or not to include hobbies, visit the company’s website and read the “About Us” section to gauge whether they have a unique cultural fit.
If you’re an entry-level candidate or a recent graduate, listing hobbies and projects can help you fill space and showcase your personality. However, it’s always good to review the job description to ensure these additions are relevant. Either way, keep the project and hobbies lists short and at the bottom of your resume.
Examples of hobbies/interests:
- Work experience bullets
To recap, each job description comes with different skill requisites. Furthermore, remember to note keywords you can use within the body of your resume and cover letter.
Quantify Your Nursing Experience On Your Resume
Listing work experience without using numbers and hard data can make it difficult for a hiring manager to get a good idea of your actual skills and abilities. When putting together bullets for your professional experience, be sure to use numbers whenever possible. Think about your experience. How many patients did you see in your unit on a daily basis? How many beds are in your hospital or exam rooms in the practice where you worked? How large was your nursing team? How many new hires did you train? Demonstrating this information can be invaluable on your resume.
Example #1
Good
Collaborated with a staff of 12 nurses serving a 100-bed elder care unit in a nursing home specializing in memory care
Cared for patients in a memory care unit
Example #2
Good
Completed rounds on time and accurately followed care plans for more than 50 patients per day
Routinely completed rounds on time
You May Like: How To Mention Soft Skills In Resume
How To Write A Registered Nurse Resume
How do you get your RN resume to rise above all those other qualified applicants? Understand what a potential employer is looking for and learn how to tailor your resume and cover letter accordingly. Follow these step-by-step instructions for a professional and streamlined resume, with tips from industry professionals. Writing the perfect RN resume is easy if you follow this guide!
Resume Layout And Formatting: First Impressions
The visual appearance of your nurse resume is what employers will notice first about your job application. That makes it the first impression they will have about you. A messy, cluttered resume format, or a poorly organized CV layout that lacks clearly defined sections may hurt your chances of being considered for an amazing professional nurse opportunity.
Recommended Reading: How To Add Tefl Certification To Resume
Tailor Your Nurse Resume To The Job Posting
Each time you find a job ad, scan the posting for resume keywords that can be incorporated into your RN resume. Tailoring your resume to the job posting ensures employers see exactly how you fit the position being advertised.
Heres an excerpt from a job posting for a licensed practical nurse the keywords are underlined:
When writing your nursing resume, take note of keywords like this and work them into your experience section when possible.
What Do Nurses Do
Registered nurses are typically involved in providing and coordinating patient care, while also playing an important role in educating patients and the public about diverse health conditions. They work in a wide variety of health care settings, including hospitals, physicians offices, home healthcare services, and nursing care facilities, as well as outpatient clinics and schools.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , the median annual wage for registered nurses was $75,330 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $53,410, and the highest 10% more than $116,230.
Also Check: What’s The Best Objective To Put On A Resume
How To Organize Your Credentials Field On A Nursing Resume
You may have significant credentials to help you secure a great nursing position. Theres no problem with having credentials. The problem occurs when you dont know how to organize your credentials effectively.
Imagine a symphony conductor with great individual cello players that dont know how to play in sync with each otherit would be chaos.
The same goes for organizing your certifications. You may have great credentials, but not arranging them correctly could create issues for your resume.
Luckily, there is an industry-standard for listing your credentials.
The following order is encouraged:
Education: Start with your year studied, degree type and major, university name, and GPA . If you went to a prestigious school, you could also start with that. Additionally, if you are worried about age discrimination, wed suggest you leave out the years studied. Unfortunately, ageism sometimes plays a role in the hiring of nurses.
2012-2014 Masters of Science in NursingDuke University School of Nursing, 3.7 GPA
Your Licensure: With licensure, the important part is determining where to put them. If nurses have one or two licenses they will put them after their degree. However, if you have an extensive list of licenses, it may be better to place them in their own section.
Its crucial to include the following:
- If you have a license that falls under the nurse licensure compact
Sample Nursing Resume License Entry:
We suggest the following order for listing your certifications:
Writing Your Nursing Resume
Putting together an effective nursing resume may seem overwhelming and not worth your effort. However, putting in the extra effort now will pay off when you get an interview. And remember, you’re not doing this alone. We’re dedicated to helping you write an amazing resume by providing advice on common frustrating decisions like this:
- When an objective is most useful on your nursing resume
- When a summary can be the preferred choice
- How to list your most relevant nursing work history
- Adding volunteer work and academic endeavors when work history is light
Recommended Reading: How To Fit Your Resume On One Page
Your Nursing Resume Must Be Error
As a nurse, you need to show the hiring manager that you’re observant and have an eye for detail. Remember, you’ll be working with patients and should demonstrate accuracy and precision. To ensure a flawless resume, run your document through a resume checker and have your colleagues proofread it. Don’t let typos cost you a job!
What Employers Are Looking For
Identify the job function that describes your skills and experience: One-page summary of qualifications = Objective statement List the skills and experience that relate directly to the job description: List any certificates, endorsements, licenses, or training associated with your professional experience. Use key words from the job objective: List keywords of the job description. Make sure to state your job title: List your job title and include dates of employment. Include everything that you have done that is relevant to the job. Whenever possible, quantify your results: Use numbers . Whenever possible, include an example of personal achievement: If it is relevant, use illustrative examples in story form.
You May Like: How To Email A Resume To A Potential Employer