As a nursing student, you may need to showcase your skills in a unique way. Here’s how you make a hiring manager notice your nursing skills and experience.

The Best Nursing Student Resume Example
Nursing Student Resume Sample
A nursing student resume is an important part of getting a job after you get out of nursing school. However, that first job can also be one of the most difficult ones to get. You likely don’t have almost any professional experience at this point, mostly just skills, and although you may be a CNA with a strong knowledge of healthcare, that’s not always enough. You need to make sure your resume template actually reflects what you need to understand. Here’s how you can create a nursing student resume sample that looks great for your job.

What To Highlight In A Nursing Student Resume
The best resume for a nursing student will highlight your experience and your knowledge. A hiring manager looking for a new nursing assistant will typically need to ensure that they have all the correct certifications, but they’re also looking for someone who generally appears knowledgeable about the clinical experience. That means you need to be able to show how good you are at providing nursing care, even though you’re an entry-level worker.
Nursing Student Resume Example

How To Structure Your Nursing Student Resume
The first step to finding your resume structure is choosing your resume format. Even though the chronological resume format is meant for those with lots of experience, you might be able to use it if you have a lot of experience in a student medical center. Otherwise, you may want to choose a more skills-based format like a functional resume format. Once you've decided on your resume format, you can move forward into different headings.
Essentials to Boost Your Career
Didn’t find exactly what you were looking for? No problem! Try our resume builder or explore the examples below.
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Browse our resume examples collection, featuring career-focused tips and resources.
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Resume header
The header is technically part of your resume design. It usually includes your contact information, like your phone number, as well as your social media links, including your LinkedIn.
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Resume summary or objective
At the very top of your resume is your resume summary or resume objective. This is a two to three sentence paragraph that very quickly goes through your entire professional resume and summarizes it. In the case of a resume objective, you should also include a sentence stating your objective with your resume.
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Skills
Resume skills take up a large portion of many people’s resumes and this is especially true in a field that requires such an attachment to skills as nursing. Here are a few nursing skills you might consider featuring on your resume as bullet points:
- Managing clinical rotations
- Generalized patient care
- Specialization in a specific field (Pediatrics, orthotics, family medicine, etc.)
- Measuring vital signs
- Critical thinking skills
- Life support equipment
- Time management
One of the important elements to remember is that the specific skills you list on your resume will have to do with the skill keywords you see reflected in the job description. These are many and varied but will typically include both hard skills and soft skills. As long as you cover those skills, you’ll likely to be deemed qualified by a hiring manager or recruiter.
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Work history
If you’ve just gotten your license as a registered nurse, then you may think there’s no work experience you could possibly include on your resume. However, it doesn’t have to specifically be a nursing job in order to put it in your work history section. Recruiters are looking for relevant experience. That may include relevant coursework, internship experience, volunteer work and more. Remember to list it in reverse-chronological order, with more recent work first.
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Education
Your education section will need to include whatever program you’re a grad from, typically the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). You can also include whatever certifications you’ve received and any organizations you’re part of, like the Student Nurses’ Association.
Do's and Don'ts
- Use resume templates to create a simpler student resume. The ResumeNerd resume builder is a great starting point for anyone who wants to create their resume more easily.
- Always include coursework and internships in your resume. These help you develop experience before you’re able to work on your own.
- List your education in reverse-chronological order, as well as your work history. The most recent education should go first.
- List only hard skills or only soft skills. It’s important to include both hard and soft skills on any resume, including a nursing resume.
- Neglect the resume writing process. Don’t just assume that “your skills will get you the job,” as that’s definitely not the case.
- Restrict “irrelevant” college experience. If you have any college degrees outside of nursing, then you can put them in your education section.