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Nursing Resume Examples
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More Nursing Resume Examples for 2024
How to Write a Nursing Resume
It is important to write and format your resume well. This sample nursing resume demonstrates the best resume layout: standard 1-inch margins with bold section headings and bulleted information for easy reading.
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Professional header and contact info:
At the top of your document, place your name, contact information and a professional email address.
Compelling summary statement:
Add a brief introduction highlighting two or three nursing skills, experience or accomplishments.
Highlight your skills:
Use a dedicated skills section to feature soft, hard and technical nursing skills like communication, interpersonal and empathy alongside technical skills like inserting central lines or disbursing medication.
Emphasize your work history:
List your work experience in reverse-chronological order. Include job titles, company names, dates of employment and key responsibilities and achievements for each role in a bullet list.
Supporting education section:
Mention any relevant nursing degrees, diplomas or common medical certifications obtained.
Additional sections:
You can add resume sections for licenses, certifications, industry memberships or unions, awards, volunteer experience or spoken languages.
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How to Write a Nurse Resume Summary
Your resume summary is the first impression recruiters will have of your nursing qualifications — a well-written and informative introduction can persuade employers to spend more than six seconds on your resume. To successfully persuade employers, your nursing resume summary should:
Highlight your experience:
Clarify your years of experience, education or nursing subspecialties, such as NICU, cardio or surgery.
Showcase a core skill:
Carefully read the job description and prioritize the skills required. Common requests include patient care, assessment, treatment planning or teamwork.
Emphasize a related achievement:
Include notable accomplishments related to the skills you identified and mentioned, such as notable patient outcomes, awards or commendations from former colleagues.
Good nursing resume example:
“Patient-oriented Nurse with five years of experience running emergency rooms for multiple Level 1 trauma centers. Specialize in direct patient care, staff supervision and cross-departmental operations to streamline patient handover. Implemented digital patient intake procedures to ensure timely and accurate patient history and on-site treatment input, improving patient intake and treatment by 34%.”
This candidate highlights their notable accomplishments in the upper half of their nursing resume. A hiring manager immediately learns that this job seeker has experience running an ER, handling patient intake forms and transferring them to the appropriate departments as needed.
Poor nursing resume example
“Detail-oriented team player with strong organizational skills. Ability to handle multiple patients with a high degree of accuracy.”
Although this nurse applicant does highlight their attention to detail and organizational skills, they fail to explain how that applies to their nursing experience. The hiring manager has no idea how many patients they process and assists per hour or where they apply organization skills.
Pro tip: Try the resume objective if you’re a first-time nurse, current nursing student, recent graduate or changing careers. This alternate introduction pitches your transferable skills and downplays your relative lack of formal experience.
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How to Add Your Nursing Work History
In the work history section of your nursing resume, highlight relevant nursing experience, including job titles, dates of employment, and the names of healthcare facilities.
Describe key responsibilities, patient populations and specialized skills or certifications.
Use action verbs to convey achievements and contributions, such as “managed,” “implemented,” or “facilitated.”
Quantify accomplishments where possible, such as improved patient outcomes or increased efficiency.
Emphasize skills like teamwork, collaboration and patient-centered care.
Tailor each description to the job you’re applying for, focusing on skills and experiences most relevant to the position.
Good charge nursing resume
- Diagnosed and responded to illnesses and physical conditions through medication prescription, health counseling and education.
- Performed frequent checks on life support equipment and made necessary adjustments to preserve optimal patient conditions, resulting in a 42% reported increase
- Monitored patient reactions after administering medications and IV therapies.
- Supervised and managed daily scheduling, tasking and administration.
- Assessed patient conditions by performing thorough examinations and asking appropriate medical questions.
- Provided counseling to patients and families and referred patients to other treatment facilities.
- Explained the side effects of medications and provided in-depth education to patients on diabetes, asthma, cancer, and other diseases.
Charge Nurse | Altus Houston Hospital
Houston, TX | February 2023 – present
Charge Nurse | Meridian Hospital
Houston, TX | August 2021 – February 2023
Why it works:
This experienced nurse highlights specific skills related to health counseling, medicine administration and follow-up care, and attention to patient care and post-discharge care. This information enables a hiring manager to understand if they’d be a positive addition to a medical care team.
Poor charge nursing resume
- Assisted physicians with patient care.
- Distributed medication per patient files.
- Communicated with patients, patient families and the care team.
Nurse | Altus Houston Hospital
Houston, TX | 2023 – present
How this fails:
Although this candidate mentions valuable nursing skills related to patient care and cooperation, they use vague statements. Hiring managers can’t measure which aspects of patient care the candidate excels in.
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Add Write a Nurse Education Section
Your nursing resume’s education section showcases the training and career development necessary to trust you with patient care and treatment. Add examples of relevant nursing degrees, training programs and industry-specific certifications to reassure hiring managers.
1Start with your formal degrees:
Begin with the highest level of education attained, including degree, institution, and graduation year. For example:
Education formatting example:
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) | The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX | Graduated May 20212Mention career-building certifications:
Highlight any specialized nursing credentials and certifications that enhance your skill set and demonstrate dedication to excellence in nursing. Examples may include:
Certification formatting example:
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) | January 2022
- Wound Care Certification (WCC) | September 2021
3Add relevant medical and nursing training.
Add additional training programs and classes to demonstrate your commitment to additional training and skills development.
Additional medical training formatting example:
- Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) | Attended May 2024
- Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) | Attended June 2023
- Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) | Attended April 2023
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15 Skills for Your Nursing Resume
Create a simplified list of six to eight soft, hard and technical skills not previously mentioned under your summary statement or work history sections. Here are 15 top-requested nursing skills to help you get started.
Nurse soft skills
Nurse hard skills
Intravenous therapy
Medication administration
Patient assessment
Patient education
Wound care
Technical skills
EKG monitoring
Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Equipment sterilization
Medical equipment operation
Point-of-care testing
Pro tip: Use a functional resume to expand your skills, highlight key career accomplishments, and downplay potential hiring red flags like work gaps, recent graduation or lack of formal work experience.
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20 Nurse-Friendly Action Verbs
Most job openings attract an average of 75-200 applicants. To help yourself stand out among equally qualified candidates, use engaging action verbs and power words to infuse your nursing resume with energy and unique descriptions.
Consider using the following potent phrases below:
Administer
Assess
Collaborate
Communicate
Coordinate
Diagnose
Educate
Implement
Manage
Monitor
Perform
Plan
Prioritize
Provide
Respond
Support
Supervise
Treat
Utilize
Validate
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Additional Resume Sections
Consider adding the following sections to your nurse resume based on your specific circumstances and to enhance your qualifications:
Use a Cover Letter to Express Yourself
A resume is a concise overview of your skills and experience — a cover letter expands on this foundation. Add a cover letter to share one or two examples of how you excelled in similar roles or how your skills match a company’s needs. Use this sample as a guide, or visit our helpful resources to boost your application.
Nursing Resume FAQ
Should I include references on my nurse resume?
Adding references to your resume is outdated and will steal valuable space from the rest of your qualifications. Instead, create a separate resume references document to provide them if and when a hiring manager requests them.
How can I optimize my nursing resume for applicant tracking systems (ATS)?
To optimize for ATS, use relevant keywords from the job description that align with nursing skills, qualifications, and experience. Format your resume with standard headings and simple designs to ensure ATS readability. Avoid graphics, charts, or unusual fonts that could confuse the system. Use one of our ATS-friendly resume templates to help improve your application responses.
How can I stand out in a competitive nursing job market?
Tailor your resume to each job application, emphasizing specific skills and experiences the employer seeks. Highlight achievements, certifications and specialized training relevant to the position. Showcase your passion for patient care and commitment to ongoing professional development through continuing education and involvement in nursing organizations.