Top Nursing Resume Examples & Pro Writing Tips

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Although nursing might be a growing industry, with a faster than average growth rate according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it still may be difficult to secure a job at a particular medical facility. To stand out from the competition, you must impress hiring managers with a resume that accurately communicates your skills and accomplishments in a way that makes you an attractive candidate.

What is the best way to develop a striking resume? Start by reviewing samples of resumes to get ideas about what kind of information you should include in yours. These documents can act as reference points and provide an idea of the language to use, the most important skills to incorporate, and examples of the best formatting.

We have compiled some of the most popular nursing resume samples to make it easy for you. Learn which examples are best for which kind of professional.

Nursing Resume Samples

Sales Professional Resume using Emphasis 3 template


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As a registered nurse, you probably care more about spending time helping patients get better than writing a resume. However, it is critical that you impress hiring managers so you have the chance to perform what you are best at: facilitating healing.

Rather than spending excessive time worrying about what to incorporate in your resume, use our nursing resume samples as a jumping off place.

    For:
  • Experienced and entry-level registered nurses looking to secure a position at private practices, hospitals, home healthcare services, nursing homes, or other medical facilities.
    • Nursing Skills To Include:
  • Current and valid RN license
  • Compassionate bedside manner
  • Medication management
  • Basic or advanced CPR and life support certification
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills

More Information:Have a look at our nursing RN resume sample for more information.

Sales Professional resume using Emphasis 3 template


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If you are an emergency room nurse, you are no stranger to working long hours filled with chaos. The last thing you want to do after a hard day at the hospital is spend time creating a strong resume to find a new job.

Utilize one of these nursing resume samples as a template on which to build your resume so you can impress the hiring manager and get back to saving lives.

    For:
  • Licensed nurses, including RNs and LPNs, with or without direct experience, who wish to work in an emergency room at a hospital.
    • Nursing Skills To Include:
  • Multi-tasking skills
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Calm in high-pressure situations
  • Triage training
  • Excellent critical thinking skills

More Information:Check out our emergency room nurse resume sample for more information.

Sales Professional Resume using Contemporary 4 template


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Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the number of nursing jobs to grow over the next decade, finding a position as a medical surgery nurse might be competitive, especially at some of the best surgical facilities. Having a strong resume is the key to getting an edge over the competition.

    For:
  • Trained and licensed surgical nurses searching for a position assisting surgical teams and caring for patients before, during, and after surgery.
    • Nursing Skills To Include:
  • Trained in pediatric surgery
  • Empathetic
  • Highly organized
  • Proficient in several EHR systems
  • Keen eye for detail to recognize changes in patient conditions

More Information:For additional information, check out our medical surgery nurse resume sample.

Sales Professional Resume using Modern 2 template


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To fulfill your goals of working as a licensed practical nurse, you must impress hiring managers and secure a position. The best way to do so is with a stellar resume.

Prove to prospective employers that you have the skills and qualifications necessary for the role by using one of our nursing resume samples as inspiration for your own.

    For:
  • LPNs or LVNs looking for a position to assist RNs, nurse practitioners, or physicians in private practices, hospitals, or other medical facilities.
    • Nursing Skills To Include:
  • Valid and current LPN or LVN license
  • Strong communication skills
  • Knowledgeable of HIPAA ethics codes
  • Basic life support certification
  • Excellent patient relations

More Information:To further build your resume writing skills, review our licensed practical nurse resume sample.

Sales Professional resume using Executive 1 template


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If your goal is to work in a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, you might find you must compete with other qualified candidates to secure the position. To stand out, you must have a strong resume that demonstrates your qualifications and accomplishments and impresses hiring managers.

Show you are the right one for the role with a dynamite resume, and use our resume samples to build the best version of this document today.

    For:
  • Experienced and entry-level licensed nurses looking to work in the neonatal intensive care unit at a hospital.
    • Nursing Skills To Include:
  • Experience assisting high-risk deliveries
  • Excellent listening skills
  • Decisive judgment
  • Ability to work well in a fast-paced environment
  • BCLS and NRP certification

More Information:Take a look at our neonatal intensive care nurse resume sample to learn more.

Popular Nursing Resume Questions

1. What’s the best length for a nursing resume?

As with resumes from other industries, the optimal length for nursing resumes is one to two pages. If you are just starting out or only have a few years of experience, it is best to keep it to one page. Those with more extensive experience might find it necessary to go to two pages. Most hiring managers only spend a few seconds reviewing resumes, so you want to keep it concise. To see examples of ways in which to detail your qualifications without creating a lengthy document, review our nursing resume samples.

2. What should go in the experience section of my nursing resume?

The experience section of your resume details your relevant work history for the past 10 to 15 years. Rather than just focusing on detailing your daily tasks, present your responsibilities as accomplishments. As a nurse, this might entail discussing your patient satisfaction score rather than just explaining that you provided basic patient care, like bathing and dressing patients. If you played a key role in implementing new procedures that improved patient care or results, make sure to include it in this section.

When covering these kinds of specifics about the job, try your best to attach metrics to your duties and achievements. For example, specify the number of beds in the facility. For more ideas, check out our nursing resume samples.

3. What should I do to make sure my nursing resume makes it past an ATS?

Many hospitals and other medical facilities rely on an Applicant Tracking System, or ATS, to screen resumes by looking for keywords in the document. Only those that include a specified number of the right keywords are passed on to hiring personnel. To increase your chance of securing an interview, your document must make it past this initial screen and in front of the hiring manager.

To do this, look closely at the job description. You should be able to pick out the most important qualifications, skills, and duties. Tailor your resume to this information using the same keywords and phrases for the applicable information.

4. What’s the best way to list certifications on my nursing resume?

You can list your certifications and licenses in two ways. You can include them in your education section along with your degree, or you can create another section titled, “Certification and Licenses.”

The best way to do this depends on how many certifications and licenses you currently hold, as well as your education. Those with one degree and license might wish to combine them, while someone with several advanced degrees and/or specialty certifications might wish to separate them. You can see examples in our nursing resume samples.

5. How do you write a summary statement for a nursing resume?

Your summary statement acts as a 30-second marketing pitch where you explain to your prospective employer why you are the best candidate for the role. You want to keep it concise with just three sentences or bullet points that do not go beyond four to six lines.

Within this space, detail your years of experience and include two or three of your most valuable skills and your greatest accomplishments. It might help to review the job description and utilize some of the key duties and qualifications listed in your summary statement. Review our nursing resume samples for inspiration.

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How to write a Nursing Resume

Nursing is somewhat of a unique field, as securing that job will depend on your soft skills and personality in addition to your experience. Nursing resumes need to ensure that experience and value-added information relevant to your application shine through in the resume. Additionally, your nursing resume will need to be specifically tailored to the job advertisement. There are a number of different types of nursing and you will need to show that your nursing resume fits the bill. The structure demonstrated in the sample nursing resume below can be used universally across all types of nursing resumes. A search on the web will bring up other nursing resume samples that ideas may be taken from. It is recommended to follow the outline below for your nursing resume:

Contact Details

All nursing resumes should detail contact information at the top of the page. List your full name and your home and cell phone numbers. Also include an email address that you check regularly and your home address. Students can include their university address also.

Objective

Inexperienced nursing applicants might next include an objective. A good sample nursing resume objective will state what your nursing resume hopes to achieve. An example is included here: Award winning and highly qualified nurse with a year of experience serving at a small clinic seeks position of increased responsibility at a larger institution. As the part of your resume where the eye naturally falls, this objective needs to say something impressive about you, to make the recruiter sit up. Here we’ve used “award winning” and “highly qualified”.

Main Achievements

A nursing resume sample for more experienced candidates should have a main achievements section, not an objective. The recruiter’s eye will naturally fall here first so word these achievements carefully, so that they really sell you. Include between three and five of the achievements that sell you best and that you are most proud of. Those nursing resumes with impressive achievements will stand out ahead of the crowd. Use action verbs to shape your main achievements and make them stronger. Our sample nursing resume demonstrates this:
  • Implemented new system for admitting patients, reducing patient waiting times by approximately 50% and leading to increased patient satisfaction.
This example demonstrates to the employer that you not only do the regular tasks required of a nurse, but you can also take on additional responsibility and increase clinic efficiency. Examples like this will raise your nursing resume closer to the top of the pile.

Nursing Education

Nursing applicants will usually have qualifications specific to the job, so make sure these stand out, especially if you received high grades or awards. List your education in reverse chronological order and start with the most recent. Make sure to include subject/s studied, educational institutes attended and their location, dates of graduation, any other professional qualifications achieved.

Nursing Work Experience

Like the education section, this part of your nursing resume must be listed in reverse chronological order. Your goal here is to list not responsibilities but achievements and aspects of your career to date that demonstrate that you will bring more to the job than the average nurse. For more specialized positions, very specific detail is required here. Don’t forget to include the softer skills required of nurses in your nursing resume. If you can show excellence in patient care and empathy alongside cost cutting, you’ll stand a good chance of getting an interview. Don’t just list responsibilities, employers these days want to know about your achievements. Our sample nursing resume recommends bullets that are structured as follows:
  • Instigated new process to cut costs by streamlining ward records required without degrading the quality of the information required or reducing care.
Leadership roles must demonstrate supervisory or management experience. Senior nursing resumes should be clear about where they gained this experience. Achievements should be quantifiable where possible, using figures to demonstrate results. Action verbs will make your achievements stand out. Here we’ve used the word “Instigated” as this demonstrates initiative and possibly leadership in the workplace.

Activities

Those who have left university recently should include relevant activities on their nursing resume next. This should help to solidify the work experience area. Internships, voluntary work and awards should be included here. Senior nursing professionals can detail out any memberships of professional organizations or voluntary work carried out. Again, use action verbs for more impressive bullets that stand out from the crowd.

Keywords

Keywords and phrases should be worked into your nursing resume. This is because employers will carry out searches on job websites and if you do not include keywords and phrases, your resume will not show up in those searches. Look at the job ad for ideas of the words and phrases to include, they’ll all be in there. A good sample nursing resume will work these cleverly in, repeating them a few times in a non-obvious manner. This template shows the best approach for sample nursing resumes and the detail to list. If you are still at school your university may also be able to provide you with sample nursing resumes, from which you can pull other ideas to use. From this page you can find sample resumes to get you started.

More Nursing Resume Samples