Nurses need to have the right balance of soft and hard skills to care for patients. Here’s how to feature them in a great registered nurse resume.
How to Write the Best Registered Nurse Resume for This Year
Registered Nurse Resume Samples
If you want to get a nursing position and further your career, a great registered nurse resume will be essential to your job search. Nurses need to be intelligent, quick-thinking, compassionate, and capable of working under immense pressure. If you want to land the best jobs, you will need to create a resume that shows recruiters you have these qualities as well as the right skills and qualifications. Here’s what you need to know about writing a great registered nurse resume.
What Should I Highlight In A Registered Nurse Resume?
When you are applying to be a registered nurse, your academic qualifications will be of the utmost importance. Beyond this, you will need to showcase a range of hard and soft skills that show you have the right abilities to undertake standard duties and provide a high level of patient care. As such, you should optimize your resume to showcase your people skills and communication skills as much as possible.
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.
Registered Nurse Resume Example
Structure Of A Registered Nurse Resume
A registered nurse resume should contain the following sections:
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Contact information
Your resume header should contain your full name and contact information, including your phone number. You can also add professional links like your LinkedIn profile.
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Resume summary
A resume summary or resume objective is next. The resume summary is a rundown of your most important qualifications and skills, and is best for people who have a lot of professional experience. In contrast, a resume objective focuses on your prime skills, and includes a statement of your career goals. This is best for nursing students seeking their first job.
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Skills section
Your resume skills section should contain 8 to 12 bullet points detailing your most relevant hard skills and soft skills. This section is hugely important when your resume passes through applicant tracking systems (ATS), as ATS will scan your resume for skills that match what the employer is looking for. Take the time to consider relevant resume samples before you create your skills section. Examples of skills cited in nursing resumes include:
- Medical administration
- Emergency room management
- Critical care (ICU)
- First aid
- Basic life support (BLS)
- Advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS)
- Vital sign monitoring
- Pediatric care
- Patient care and care plan creation
- Post-operative assessments
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Work history
Your work history or work experience section should contain up to the last 10 years of experience, presented in reverse-chronological order. Ensure that you include the job title you held, the company name, and your employment dates, as well as a few bullet points for each job that spell out your most important duties and achievements.
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Education section
Your education section should contain information about your top academic qualifications (e.g., college degree). Don’t forget to include qualifications relevant to the job, such as certifications and nursing licenses.
You can also create additional sections for unpaid work and professional certifications if you feel it would be helpful. Make the process of resume writing easier by using a nurse resume template to ensure that the design elements and formatting are perfect.
Do's and Don'ts
- Use active language (e.g., “managed,” “oversaw”). Action verbs present an easy opportunity to show a hiring manager that you are passionate and have a take-charge mentality.
- Consider nurse resume samples to get inspiration for writing your own.
- Use the ResumeNerd resume builder to ensure the little details like font choice and margin size are correct.
- List your GPA in your education section unless it is exceptionally high.
- Forget to list other positions in healthcare teams. For example, if you worked as a nursing home care assistant while in college, you can list this to distinguish yourself from other job seekers.
- Overload your resume with irrelevant skills and achievements. Remember to focus on qualifications that best fit what the specific job is looking for, and feature your strengths at the top of your resume in the resume summary.
