Professional Nurse Resume: The Ultimate Guide 2022

In recent years, health personnel has been in the eye of the storm due to a global pandemic.

Professionals like you have become the most necessary beings on the planet. However, it is essential to demonstrate that you can face both current and everyday situations with total professionalism when submitting your nursing resume.

Let's look at how to create an effective nursing resume. 

Choose the Best Format and Template Model for your Nursing CV

You don't have to be Florence Nightingale to get the attention of recruiters. 

A well-planned resume with clear ideas can do much more than you think:

• Usually, the most proper structure would be reverse-chronological since it places the latest professional and academic experiences first. 
• Depending on whether or not you have professional experience and the importance of your educational background, you can change these to prioritize what is most relevant to your profile for the position. 
• Use a professional and clean design. Avoid dropping excess graphics or flashy fonts. 
• Don't feel compelled to summarize your entire journey on one page. Instead, if you have relevant information about the position, feel free to add a second page. 
• Save your resume as a PDF even if you created it in Word. Depending on the company or institution, they will ask you for one format. 
   

Contact information 

The fundamental data to make a good resume (not only nursing) are the following:

• Address 
• Email 

• Phone number 
• Photograph 

Pro Tip: It is almost essential to have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile. This platform is beneficial not only to find work but also for companies to see your professional relationships. 

Extract: Profile or Professional Objective 

It is time to show why you are the ideal nurse for the position. 

Are you building a resume as a newly graduated nurse? 

Write an abstract focused on your professional goals. For example, what do you want to learn and develop working with them; what do you know to do so far; and how you can help them improve workflow and results. 

Is your resume that of an experienced person? 

In that case, start with a summary of your most essential tasks and responsibilities to date. Do not forget that these must be relevant to the job offer you are applying for. 

Pro tip: If you are going to apply to several job offers to work in nursing, try to adapt your extract to the requirements of each company. Depending on each one, it will be more relevant to talk about some aspects of your career or others. 

Work experience 

All those nights and intensive shifts: It is time to capture the most relevant tasks and responsibilities you have ever experienced. 

But as with any clinical process, this is based on order and method:

• Start with your most recent job and work your way up chronologically. 
• In each job, include the following data: 

1. The technical name of your position. 
2. Name of the company where you have worked. 
3. Town. 
4. Start and end dates. 

• List no more than 6 points about your most important responsibilities and achievements. 
• Try to supply quantifiable data whenever possible. 
• Orient your responsibilities and achievements to what the job offer is looking for in a candidate. 

• If you don't have experience, try to include internships or volunteer work related to caring for people.

Academic training 

Dedicating yourself to the area of nursing is not for everyone. 

Therefore, more than in any profession, it is essential to show your academic training concerning this career, showing that you are prepared for this job's responsibilities. 

This is the information you must include: 

• Degree Name 
• School 
• Town 

• Start date 
• Date of graduation 

If you do not have much work experience, you can add between 4 and 6 points to your academic titles explaining what you have learned in them and the most outstanding and relevant achievements for the job offer. 

Pro Tip: If you have a master's or college degree, you should skip degrees like high school or primary school. Limit yourself to mentioning only titles that are important and relevant to the position. 

Skills and abilities 

Being a nurse requires intelligence, discipline, and critical thinking. 

Technical skills are needed, and many more generic skills are aimed at dealing with the patient and the team of professionals you work with. 

Examples of skills professional competencies for a nursing assistant are: 

• Empathetic listening. 

• Effective communication. 
• Initiative. 
• Emergency management. 
• Analytical thinking. 
• Bed preparation. 

• Medicine administration. 
• Collection, cleaning and order of instrumental material. 
• Care for pregnant patients. 
• Patient transfers. 

Before copying these examples, find out about the job and the company's philosophy to put your most outstanding skills concerning your responsibilities. 

Additional Information 

The work of a nurse is beautiful and sacrificed to the same extent. 

You will often have to deal with long shifts or unusual hours. 

If you are able to and willing to face this new challenge, it would not hurt to add your time availability and the type of working day you are looking for within the nursing curriculum vitae. 

Add a Cover Letter 

A cover letter will be essential to personalize your application further and explain any details of your career and skills that you have not been able to add to your resume. 

A cover letter for a nurse should follow the following points: 

• You must use a cover letter that looks clean and clear without being flashy. 

• Use formal language. 
• Explain clearly and briefly how you can contribute to their success. 
• End your cover letter by raising the idea of an in-person interview or conversation plus a simple, friendly, and polite goodbye.

By following these tips, you will get that interview you are looking for and soon, you will be working in one of the most essential fields in our society. 

Helping one person makes you a hero, but helping hundreds will make you a nurse. 

If you need some inspiration, we invite you to meet Amanda: she offers the best nurse résumé templates and helps nurses find and love their dream jobs. 

Good luck!