resume templates for registered nurses

The Ultimate Guide to Nursing Resumes in 2024

How to write a nurse resume, nurse resume research, nursing resume readers & robots, choose a nurse resume format, nurse resume format & design, writing your nursing resume, common resume mistakes, nursing resume templates, nurse resume faqs.

Expert Reviewed by: Amanda Guarniere, NP, Founder of the Resume RX

In 2024, a vague, uninspiring nursing resume just won't cut it. Recent years have fostered growing competition for the best nursing jobs , creating a greater need for nurses to learn how to write exceptional nursing resumes. With vast opportunities and diverse requirements from various employers, every nurse must put their best foot forward to market themselves for the best positions. 

However, this ever-changing world of online applications and robotic resume readers makes it more complex for nurses to get to the first rounds of interviews. This article will help you tackle the daunting task of writing a nursing resume that stands out. We'll help you build a better nursing resume by giving you an inside look at how robotic resume readers work and providing tips on how to make your resume, things you should and shouldn't include, and provide examples and templates.

Think of your job search as your own personal marketing campaign. And the product is you! Your resume is an advertisement for your professional nursing brand. A brand is more than a logo - it’s the overall impression you give your audience. In this case, your audience is a potential employer. 

As with any advertisement, the goal of your nursing resume is to pique your audience’s interest in a limited amount of time. It’s commonly said that hiring managers will spend less than ten seconds reading your resume. And in many cases, it has to first be screened by a resume-reading robot before it reaches human hands.

So, you must carefully curate your brand for these employers. Captivate them with your professionalism, unique skillset, experience, and personality using your nursing resume. These tactics may help get your foot in the door for an interview, where you can close the deal by impressing them in person.

The first and most important step in any marketing campaign is the research phase. The more you learn about potential employers, the better you can tailor your registered nurse resume to their requirements.

Initial Employer Research for Nursing Resumes

Before you begin tailoring your resume for specific jobs, take some time to answer the following questions about each company:

• Who are they?
• What is their company culture?
• What do they struggle with as an organization?
• What qualities are they looking for in a potential candidate?
• Which of their desired qualities do you possess?

Researching Company Culture and Values

The internet has made it fairly easy to hop online and start your research right now from your mobile device. Employers' websites and social platforms will give you an inside glimpse at their culture and values.

Instead of simply reading a job posting, take a few extra steps to investigate the employer's online presence:

• Check out the company website - what does their mission statement say?
• See what they tweet about
• Investigate what photos they post on Instagram
• Learn about the articles they share on Facebook
• Check their LinkedIn - do you have any connections at the company?
• Look at their Google ratings

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Examine Required vs Preferred Nursing Qualifications

The research phase isn't just about investigating the company - you also need to understand the job description. Specifically, understanding the difference between "required" and "preferred" qualifications will help you build a tailored resume for each job:

Required Qualifications

These are just what they say - requirements. Those who do not possess these qualifications will not be considered. 

Preferred Qualifications

Skills that are desired but are not deal-breakers for the employer. You may still be considered even if you do not possess these. 

As you personalize your nursing resume to different opportunities, these qualifications will, in part, guide what you do and do not include. You should include any and all required qualifications if you want an employer to consider your candidacy. 

If you do not possess some or all of the preferred qualifications, you can apply anyway and still be in the running. However, including the ones you do possess on your tailored nursing resume is always the best practice.

Build a Master Resume

You may want a solid starting point from which you can use your research to build a dedicated resume for each position you apply for. Queue the "master resume," a comprehensive working document that highlights everything you've accomplished and every skill you've fostered as a nurse thus far. 

We recommend starting with a foundational nurse resume so that you can alter it for each role you apply to. This way, you won't be rewriting a new resume for every single position. But you'll also avoid submitting "cookie-cutter" resumes that employers won't bother looking at twice.

Use Research to Personalize Your Nursing Resume

Dale Carnegie once said that “A person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Personalizing your RN resume matters, with both how you mention and address the future employer and how to include your specific qualifications that match what they are looking for.

Using your research and leveraging your professional brand and personality to target your nurse resume could lead to the interview of your dreams. Not targeting it, however, could lead you on the fast track to nowhere.

The internet revolution transformed the hiring process, impacting the entire labor market in a very short time. 15 years ago, printing your resume on off-white linen paper and hand-delivering it to employers was the status quo. But as little as five years later, doing so might only get you some perplexed looks and urges to apply online.

Technological advances will continue shaping the job market in 2024.  USC Annenberg reports that up to 55% of companies are making investments in AI recruiting measures. But even now, many employers screen online applicants using resume-reading robots. 

This section explores how these bots impact the hiring process and how to get your nursing resume past them and into a real person's hands.

What Is a Resume Reading Robot?

ATS systems are highly technical but can only do what their program says, unable to come close to human discretion. So, knowing how ATS systems work can help you write a resume that passes their screening.

Here's a brief overview of how employers use ATS software to screen nursing applicants:

1. Knockout Questions

Recruiters can use an ATS to scan for keywords or "knockout questions" like "Do you have an active Washington State Nursing License?" These functions help them swiftly eliminate unqualified candidates.

2. Disqualifying Statements

They may also configure the ATS to include “disqualifying statements.” An ATS searching for these statements will automatically reject nursing resumes with certain keywords or phrases. 

For example, an ATS screening for bachelor's-trained nurses might reject resumes that mention an associate's degree. If you have both, consider listing only your BSN.

3. Keyword Screening

Finally, recruiters may use the ATS to find resumes with exact keywords or phrases. These may include qualifications listed in the job description, degrees, or skills. They can program the ATS to reject any application that does not include their specified keywords.

How Does ATS Work?

Not all ATS systems are created equally. They vary greatly in their functionality and behavior. Most ATS systems are programmed to score resumes according to keywords. However, they can be configured to search and score resumes based on various other criteria.

The results are imperfect. Some ATS systems can't differentiate between titles, such as Clinical Nurse II and Registered Nurse, or distinguish between the terms BLS and Basic Life Support. So how do you navigate these intricacies in your nursing resume?

Best Practice:   R ead the job description and use the exact wording for the qualifications listed that you possess.

If you use acronyms and abbreviations, make sure to spell out the entire word, followed by the shortened version. It would be disappointing to have all the requested qualifications but be filtered out by the ATS because you used only the acronyms when the robot was programmed for the full phrases spelled out.

What Are the Shortcomings of ATS?

The problem is that ATS does not ‘read’ a resume as a human would - it simply collects data. It doesn’t care about aesthetics, either. It is programmed by an employer to search for the right keywords, in the right order, on the right part of the resume.  

Also, the system can get confused pretty easily. For example, if the font is too fancy or if it encounters unrecognizable symbols, it may score the resume as ‘unqualified’ and move on to the next resume. It does what it is configured to do, nothing more and nothing less.

While ATS has streamlined the hiring process for employers, it’s also made job search extremely challenging for the job seeker. In fact, 94% of hiring professionals say that ATS has positively influenced their hiring goals, while 80% of job seekers say that their online job search is stressful.

What Other Hiring Technology Might I Encounter?

Recently, some employers have started to use artificial intelligence in a different way - during the interview process. Rather than having strict ATS filters, they offer more candidates the opportunity to interview, but there is a catch.

You don't interview with the employer but with a computer. In these one-way or “on-demand” interviews, you essentially get the opportunity to record your video response to interview questions. After you submit it, hiring managers or recruiters review the video responses before choosing the candidates for formal interviews.

Does Every Employer Use ATS?

While many employers use ATS, there are definitely employers who still rely on human resource professionals to screen resumes. In those instances, a human resources professional usually skims the resumes and invites the most qualified candidates in for an interview.

The problem here is that most employers will receive hundreds of resumes for a single opening. To get through the resumes quickly, the HR professional may resort to a simple scan of the resumes knowing that even qualified applicants may not make it. It’s simply a way to reduce the number of applicants.

In either case, the goal of the modern resume is to ‘sell’ yourself in an organized, targeted manner for a specific role. The best way to design an effective, attention-grabbing resume is by making strong assertions in the beginning followed by supporting evidence.

How to Get Past the ATS

• Target your resume to the specific position. Do this by reading job descriptions and selecting keywords noted in the descriptions - competencies, skills sets, education, and experience.
• Match individual experiences to keywords/key skill sets found within the job posting.  
• Research the employer and target the resume based on the facility's values and culture. 
• Make strong assertions within the top ⅓ of the resume.
• Follow those assertions with supporting evidence.
• Include a “ Professional Summary ” if you are an experienced Nurse.
• Only apply to roles that you match 100% of the “Required Qualifications.” 
• Use simple fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri.
• Never use smaller than 10-point font. See Part 5 for more styling suggestions. 
• Use simple black bullet (dots) points, not special bullet symbols.
• Save your resume as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.
• If using an abbreviation, always spell out the words followed by the abbreviation or acronym. You never know how the abbreviation was entered into the ATS. 
• Use standard, simple section headers such as “Work History” or “Education.”
• Settings you’ve worked in 
• Patient demographics
• Policies/procedures
• EMR/EHR used
• Medications administered
• Equipment used
• Don’t use the same title as at your current employer if it is different from the title in the job description. Use the title in the job description. 
• Don’t overload your resume with keywords. Use them appropriately. Overusing keywords will flag a resume and could cause the ATS to lower your score.
• Don't forget to support the keywords you use with evidence throughout your resume.
• Do not put your contact information in the header section because ATS will not see it.
• Do not include tables because most ATS can’t read them. Other ATS can only read them if their operator programmed them to do so. 
• Do not use creative section headers such as “Where I’ve Worked” because the ATS likely doesn’t understand what that means.
• Don’t include a headshot, graphics, special fonts, photos, colored fonts, or unique bullets. 
• Do not state, “References available upon request.” It takes up too much space and is unnecessary. If employers want references, they’ll ask. 
• Don’t place skills at the bottom of the resume. Many ATS systems only scan the top ⅓ of the resume for keywords. If you have important keywords at the bottom, the ATS may not see them and could disqualify your resume. 
• Don’t use “I” statements; resumes should be written in the third person. 
• Do not rely on resume builder software. Stay in control of your registered nurse resume.

How to Spot an ATS

If you’ve ever visited a job posting and seen an “APPLY NOW” button, you’ve encountered the elusive resume-reading bot. ATS requires candidates to enter data on the front end. 

Maybe you’ve gone through the steps to create a login, complete the application and upload your resume. Perhaps you didn’t realize at the time that you were entering your information into an applicant tracking system.  

Raise your hand if you never heard back from an employer after applying online. Raise your other hand if you received an automated response “thanking” you for your interest and never heard back!

Now, keep in mind that it can be difficult to stand out when you are applying for a job online, especially when there is an ATS involved. As you consider your overall job search strategy, try to think of other ways that can increase your chances of getting a job. Don’t be afraid to ask your network connections for referrals and recommendations, or let friends and family know what type of position you are looking for and where. While your resume is absolutely important, it isn’t the only tool that can lead to you getting a job.

Prior to ever typing words onto your resume, it’s important to first decide on a resume format. There are three types of resume layouts. While we highly recommend the reverse-chronological layout for most nursing professionals, we’d encourage you to make the best choice for yourself.

Here’s a breakdown of the three most popular types of resume layouts: 

1. Reverse Chronological Nursing Resume

This layout focuses on career history and lists jobs in reverse chronological order. We recommend this type of registered nurse resume for the majority of healthcare professionals and will focus the details of this article on the format. It is best suited for:

• New nursing graduates
• Nurses with fewer than 5 roles within the past 5-7 years. 
• Travel Nurses with <10 completed assignments
• Nurses with experience in only 1-2 specialties
• Nurses applying for a similar role
• Nurses wanting to show vertical career progression 

2. Functional Nursing Resume

This nurse resume layout places emphasis on skills and deemphasizes work history. However, it does not pass the ATS test well, and hiring managers overall do not prefer it. We recommend against this layout for the majority of nursing professionals. Typically, people who use this format are: 

• Changing careers
• Have large gaps in employment
• Do have years of experience in the role in which they are applying

3. Combination Nursing Resume

This layout is a mixture of the reverse chronological and the functional resume. While it places emphasis on skill sets, abilities, and accomplishments, it also highlights applicable work history. We recommend combination resumes for nursing professionals with the following background, goals, and barriers: 

• Nurses with experience in multiple specialties and/or medical professions
• Seasoned travel nurses with >10 completed assignments
• Nurses with multiple small gaps in employment
• Nurses looking to change specialties
• Nurses interested in changing careers

Writing a nursing resume can feel overwhelming. It’s no easy task! Nowadays, nursing resumes must be able to pass through resume reading software before it even reaches a recruiter. That’s why we’ve put together THREE nurse resume templates to cater to your unique professional needs and employment situation.

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The first formatting and design consideration you should make when creating your nursing resume is how well an  ATS will read them. We recommend the following comprehensive design and formatting guidelines to appease common ATS systems:

Many experts believe you can achieve the perfect balance of text to white space in your nursing resume using the following margin settings:

• Top Margin: 1"
• Side Margins: .63"

Left alignment is standard since that’s how most people (and robots) read. You may think a justified alignment looks tidier, but it can leave uneven gaps between words and ultimately make text harder to read. 

In the nursing profession, length should not be the focus of the resume. While we recommend 1-2 pages, some nurses may have resumes with 3 (or more) pages.

Don’t stress over length too much. If the resume is slightly over the page amount by a few lines try changing the margin, font style, font size, or shortening statements. The bottom line is it should look visually appealing and should include keywords.

We recommend  Times New Roman or Arial to best utilize the functionality of the ATS. However, this is your personal preference. Take note that Times New Roman can be difficult to read if it is smaller than 11pt.

If you are striving for a resume that looks visually appealing when printed, there are great ways to achieve that without going overboard with design. For example, you could use the “small caps” feature for headings, which keeps the font the same but adds a bit more character and differentiation. Or, you could try a font pairing, using serif fonts for headers and sans serif for body text.

Important Note: Different font styles will take up different amounts of space. See how these identical statements look vastly different despite both being in 11 pt font:

Experienced Travel Nurse with 8 years experience in critical care nursing.

Throughout the resume, there should be different-sized fonts. We recommend the following for each section: 

It’s important to note that 10-point font should be the smallest size on the resume. 

While some ATS systems claim to read colors, we encourage you to simply use black. 

Special Characters

We recommend keeping the resume very simple. Basic bullet points (black dots) may be used when desired. Simple lines are acceptable as well. 

Design Features to Avoid

The following design features are best left off the resume: 

• Multiple font styles
• Special characters

As you’ve learned, ATS systems skim resumes and locate specific information in the correct order. We’d suggest using the following categories and section headers to optimize your nursing resume for ATS scoring.

Contact Information

This is the first section of the resume and does not require a title. Your name should be front and center. Don’t make the recruiter search for it. Make sure it’s the largest font on the page. While there are varying opinions on the exact placement of the name, we recommend a simple classic version in the following format:

Your name should be the first thing a recruiter, hiring manager, or ATS system sees on your nurse resume. It should share a line with your nursing credentials and be in a bold, readable, 18-22 pt font. If you go by a different name, make sure to list both in this section.

Nursing Credentials

Your nursing credentials should directly follow your first and last name on a nursing resume. The preferred order to list these in is Highest degree earned, Licensure, then National Certifications.

We've included a  credential quick reference guide below to help you fill out your resume perfectly.

The days of listing your home address on a resume are over - most employers don't need this information, and we advise against including it on your resume as a security precaution. However, this is a personal decision you can make at your own discretion.

You should never leave your location off completely because many employers have location parameters set in their ATS systems. Ensure you include your city and state in the contact information portion of your nursing resume.

Phone/Texting Number

Oh, technology! Yes, some employers will actually text their candidates. Make sure to indicate if you receive texts and whether the phone number is a cell phone or a home phone. This is a great time to make sure your voicemail message states your full name and is professional.

Email Address

It is in your best interest to ensure that you have a professional email address that does not reveal your age. Age discrimination is real, and listing your birth year or using an antiquated email service like AOL can definitely trigger it.

Your email address should include a variation of your name and some numbers if necessary. You can even make a totally separate email account and use it only for your job search.

LinkedIn Profile

If you have a LinkedIn profile definitely include it. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, you could be missing out on opportunities. Now is the time to create one!

In your settings, you can easily create a shortened LinkedIn URL that doesn’t have a bunch of random numbers and letters.

How Your Digital Footprint Impacts Your Nursing Job Search

Though you may not list it, you should consider your social media and online presence when you complete the contact information portion of your resume. Potential employers will likely look you up online. Many Recruiters tell us that looking a candidate up on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter is one of the first things they do. So, make sure everything you post online is what you would want an employer to see. 

Additionally, online behavior can benefit you. Do you have a nursing-related website or blog? Are you an Instagram celebrity? Maybe you created a successful YouTube channel when you were a newbie nurse. Include all this on your resume if it relates to nursing. This is all part of your unique brand!

Nursing Resume Credential Quick Reference Guide

According to the American Nurses Credentialing Center (AACN), the preferred order is Highest degree earned, Licensure, and National Certification.

Educational degrees include doctoral degrees (Ph.D., DrPH, DNS, EdD, DNP), master’s degrees (MSN, MS, MA), bachelor’s degrees (BS, BSN, BA), and associate degrees (AD, ADN).

Licensure credentials include RN, LPN, CNA, and APRN.

National certification , which is occasionally voluntary for nurses and obligatory for advanced practice nurses, is awarded through accredited certifying bodies such as the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), includes RNBC (Registered Nurse-Board Certified) and FNP-BC (Family Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified).

You may also choose to include awards and honors:

Outstanding achievements in nursing, such as FAAN (Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing).

Other certifications that recognize additional skills, such as the EMT-Basic/EMT, awarded by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians.

Here is an example of contact information on a nursing resume that puts it all together:

Penny Lite, BSN, RN   Los Angeles, CA | Text/Call: (987) 654 - 3210 | [email protected] | www.linkedin.com/pennylitern

Professional Summary

Don’t make an employer (or ATS) search your entire resume for reasons to invite you to an interview. Tell them right off the top exactly why you are the best candidate for the role.

Every position is unique, and this is your first opportunity to optimize the resume for ATS and to also catch the employer’s eye. Spend a little time to target it and let your qualifications and accomplishments shine. 

While there is some debate about how to introduce your resume, we suggest using a professional summary as opposed to a career objective. The professional summary can be formatted in either a short paragraph or a bulleted list asserting qualifications and providing a concise career snapshot.

How to Write a Professional Summary for a Nursing Resume

Think of your resume summary as an “elevator pitch” - a quick, attention-grabbing, loaded statement that entices the reader to want to continue on. Your professional summary is unique to you and should be targeted to a specific role, just like the cover letters career counselors used to tell us about.

However, it could definitely include the following information: 

• Number of years of experience in a specialty 
• Common keywords found in nursing job descriptions e.g., excellent patient care, acute care, family education, compassionate
• Facility designations or info about facilities 
• Supervisory experience and number of subordinates
• Special certifications or awards
• Language abilities
• Soft skills such as patience, compassion, and a cooperative spirit

Nursing professional summary example: 

4+ years nursing experience with strong clinical background in critical care (CCU) and intermediate care nursing (IMCU). Proactively streamlines operations, initiates tasks, and supports the healthcare team while prioritizing excellent patient care. Champions patient and family education by providing compassionate, inclusive care that encourages self-sufficiency. Recipient of the Daisy Award. Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Nursing Skills and Areas of Expertise

List your nursing skills within the top ⅓ of the resume - Don't make the common mistake of adding them last. With the popularity of ATS, this mistake could cost you an interview. This is especially true in nursing, as the profession requires very specific skills. 

Additionally, your hard skills should be directly targeted to the role as expressed in the job description. Is the employer asking for a specific EMR that you are experienced with? List it! Are you an expert at starting IVs because of your five years of experience in the emergency room? List it!

This should not be a generic list of skills but a specific list that is as quantified as possible. It’s possible that if you are a newer nurse or are making a specialty pivot you may not have hard skills to include. In that case, it’s okay to omit this section and highlight your transferable  soft nursing skills within your job history.

While most nurses list their license titles on their resumes, it’s been our experience that they leave off a few very important details - most notably, whether the license is active and the expiration date. 

Why is this important? Including this information lets potential employers know that you are ready to start work ASAP. They don’t have to wait for the licensing process. Including your license number is optional, and you can make this decision based on your privacy comfort. The employer will likely be verifying your license online anyway (this is all public information).

If you are an advanced practice nurse, you may decide to leave off license numbers for privacy purposes, especially your DEA number or controlled substance registration number.

Here’s an example of how to list your licensure:

Registered Nurse - California, #RN00101, expires 4/17/2024.

Certifications and Credentials

This is another key section where some important details are typically missing on the nursing resumes we’ve seen. While most nurses list their credentials, it’s important to list them in a specific manner.

Don’t simply list acronyms, as some ATS systems may not be programmed to read shortened versions. Make sure to list the accrediting body, credential/certification number (where applicable), and expiration date. 

Here’s an example of how to list your certifications and credentials: 

Basic Life Support (BLS), American Heart Association, expires: 12/1/2021

Work History

Employers want to know what you can do for them, period.  Nurse recruiters we’ve talked to will zero in on this section. What are they looking for? Evidence, facts, quantifiable points - proof to support the assertions made in your resume summary.

Vague work histories are particularly frustrating to employers - especially when applicants copy and paste job descriptions. To avoid falling into those pitfalls, try incorporating these tips: 

Use simple section headers such as “Work History” or “Relevant Experience,” these are ATS friendly. “What I’ve Done” is not. 

List your experience in reverse chronological order.  If you have a lengthy employment history, you may consider only including the most recent 10-15 years of experience. This will shorten your resume and also limit the chances that you’ll encounter age discrimination. Looking at the big-picture experience from 25 years ago doesn’t necessarily speak to your recent nursing experience because employers care about what you can do for them now.

Work History Format

Adding your work history in a logical format can help your nursing resume beat the ATS and impress recruiters. We recommend using the following format for each work history segment:

1. Job Title and Specialty

This is a controversial subject, but we believe employers care more about what you’ve done than who you’ve worked for. Use the job title as it is listed in the job posting, or use a more industry-wide job title. Registered Nurse as opposed to Clinical Nurse II. 

2. Facility Name

Add the name of the facility or company you worked for after your job title. You can add this on the same line or a different line, but using the same line will optimize space.

3. Employment Dates  

These are important and can be listed in a number of ways. However, it’s been our experience that specific dates are not necessary for a resume. On an application, yes, on a resume, not so much. You can simply list the months and years (mm/yy - present).

4. Facility-Specific and Unit-Specific Information

This information is helpful and important to employers but is left off the majority of resumes we’ve seen, it includes: 

• Trauma level: level I, II, III
• Facility Designations 
• Total Hospital beds
• Total unit beds

Primary Duties and Accomplishments

This section looks best in a bulleted list of no more than six points and should include duties, noteworthy accomplishments, and achievements. It’s important to emphasize specific duties and not be too vague.

Also, try your best not to simply regurgitate basic nursing duties that would be assumed of your role. This will take up valuable space on your resume and not really tell the reader much about you !

Wondering what specifics to include? Here are a few questions to get those wheels turning:

• What illnesses, injuries, or traumas do you care for? 
• What cases do you work on? 
• What type of medications do you administer and how? 
• What therapies do you perform? 
• What equipment do you use? 
• How have you improved processes? 
• When have I been first or best?
• No. 1 achievement in each position?
• Which achievements have the most impressive numbers?
• When have I been publicly recognized?

Write Strong Nursing Resume Bullets

Wondering how to order your bullets and what to include? Try this: start with a verb leading to quantifiable data or a specific point and include a relevant duty.

Use our comprehensive tables to build compelling nursing resume bullets that make your achievements shine:

Here is a brief work history resume example for nurses that puts it all together:

Registered Nurse, Acute Care - Example Medical Center 09-19 - Present

• Supervised staff of 15 registered nurses, 8 certified nursing assistants, and 7 paramedics while multitasking excellent patient care. 
• Cared for up to 4 patients per shift with acute neurological disorders, including strokes, spinal cord injuries, and head trauma.

Education and Training

In the nursing profession, education and training are of utmost importance. If you have work experience, this section can be fairly brief.  You should list your relevant degrees in chronological order. 

There are varying opinions regarding the specific ordering of education. However, we believe that the degree or certification title should be listed first. Employers care firstly that you have the education requirement they need and secondarily where you obtained the requirement. 

We suggest the following format:  Degree or Certification Title (acronym), Institution Name 

Here’s an example: 

Bachelor's Degree in Nursing (BSN), University of Washington 

Should I Include Graduation Dates on a Nursing Resume?

You are not required to include your college or high school graduation dates on your nursing resume , as it could reveal your age. Age discrimination is the top form of employment discrimination and affects all age groups. If you graduated more than 10-15 years ago, it may be a good idea to omit the date.  But this is a personal decision you should make at your own discretion.

Should I Include My GPA on a Nursing Resume?

Including your GPA in your nursing resume is optional. If you are particularly proud of your GPA, by all means, add it! However, it is not required. If you graduated with honors that you are proud of, you can definitely include that as well. Again the resume is a unique snapshot of you!

Should I Include my Non-Nursing Degrees and Credentials?

If you possess other degrees not related to nursing, it is not necessary to include those on your nursing resume. Some second-career nurses like to list this information, especially if there has been an interesting career pivot or one that brings a lot of value to your role as a nurse. Remember, you are telling your personal, unique story, and you get to decide what to include.

How Do I Add In-Progress Advanced Education Programs?

If you are currently enrolled in higher education to advance your studies within the nursing field, that should be listed on your resume and state that the degree is pending or in progress. However, if you started a graduate degree program, never finished, and do not plan on finishing, it is unnecessary to include it on the resume. 

Should I Include my High School Education?

Nurses do not need to include their high school diplomas on their resumes. The nursing profession requires completion of higher education, and therefore, your higher degree trumps your diploma. 

Awards, Accomplishments, and Affiliations

Though this section is not required, we encourage including awards and accomplishments that are relevant to the nursing profession. These details will provide the potential employer with more proof and evidence of who you are as a nurse. 

In this section, you can include: 

• Awards and recognitions that are specific to the hospital or facility where you work, e.g. the Daisy Award, Employee of the Month, and Nursing Excellence Award
• Professional memberships and affiliations relating to nursing and/or healthcare
• Volunteer work, if it relates to nursing

We suggest the following format: Title, organization, year

Here are a couple of examples:

• Recipient, Nursing Excellence Award, Washington Medical Center
• Volunteer, American Red Cross - Haiti - 2012

Naming Your Nurse Resume Save File

One last thing, saving! Don’t just give your resume any old name! Hiring professionals sometimes receive multiple documents from candidates, and they don’t want to waste time sorting through every document to find the resume. Some prefer to organize resumes by specialty. Tell them exactly which document is your resume. 

We suggest the following format: firstlast_specialty_resume.doc

Here’s an example:

PennyLite_ICU_resume.doc

We’ve seen a lot of resumes over the years, and you might be surprised by the amount of strange information people have included on them. So, here are the top mistakes we’ve seen:

Woot! If you’ve made it this far you should have an excellent understanding of how to write a great nursing resume. We know it’s a lot of information right now, and we hope that you’ll use the information to advance your career.

For a little more help, try using our free resume templates. And when you’ve landed your next interview, check out the next part in this series, The Complete Guide to Nursing Job Interviews .

>> Download free nurse resume templates!

What should be included in a nursing resume?

• A nursing resume should include your education, experience, including clinical, work, and volunteer, any certifications you have, and skills. 

How do I write a nurse resume?

• You can use a template to fill out your nursing resume or fill out your own. 

How do I list my nursing skills on my resume?

• List skills that are in the job description or outline on the facility’s website. For instance, common nursing skills include critical thinking, teamwork, communication, team management, and high ethical standards. 

Do you put RN after your name on a resume?

• You can include "RN" or "RN, BSN"  if you have other credentials. If you haven’t passed your NCLEX yet, you can put G.N. for Graduate Nurse.

How long should a nurse's resume be?

• A nursing resume should be no longer than 1-2 pages. 

What is your greatest skill as a nurse?

• The most valuable skill you have as a nurse may depend on your exact role and specialty, but in general, communication, kindness, empathy, and critical thinking are highly valued traits as a nurse. 

How far back should a resume go?

• If you’re a recent graduate, you don’t need to go to high school, just include your college experience and degree. For experienced nurses, include all relevant experience. 

Amanda is an Ivy-league-educated nurse practitioner and career mentor who helps nurses find and land their dream jobs. She founded The Résumé Rx  in 2018 to help nurses with career and résumé strategy  Learn more about Amanda and her products at  www.theresumerx.com  and follow her on Instagram  @theresumerx.

Angelina has her finger on the pulse of everything nursing. Whether it's a trending news topic, valuable resource or, heartfelt story, Angelina is an expert at producing content that nurses love to read. She specializes in warmly engaging with the nursing community and exponentially growing our social presence.

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7 Registered Nurse (RN) Resume Examples for 2024

Registered Nurse (RN)

Best for senior and mid-level candidates.

There’s plenty of room in our elegant resume template to add your professional experience while impressing recruiters with a sleek design.

Resume Builder

Like this template? Customize this resume and make it your own with the help of our Al-powered suggestions, accent colors, and modern fonts.

• RN Resume by Education
• RN Resumes by Experience
• RN Resumes by Type

Registered nurses (RN) are a profession in very high demand. In addition to a hiring rush during COVID-19, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts a 12 percent growth in demand for RNs through 2028.

Nursing is a tough enough profession in its own right. So, don’t be discouraged if you’re struggling to draft your  nurse cover letter  or  write a resume  that puts your best foot forward.

We’re here to help with seven great RN resume samples that guarantee success in the challenging world in 2024. It doesn’t matter if this is your first job out of nursing school or if you’re a seasoned vet; these resumes are a great starting place when writing or updating your own.

Registered Nurse (RN) Resume

or download as PDF

Why this resume works

• You’re undergoing a career change,
• You just finished nursing school and this is your first RN job, or
• You’re going to customize it to the  nursing job description .
• If none of those are relevant to you, skip the objective!
• Two other relatively common requirements for RN positions (though certainly not all positions) are Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS). Explicitly mention those in your resume if you have them.

RN BSN Resume

• Next, delve into outstanding performances like streamlining shifts and reducing scheduling conflicts. Also, adding measurable impact further elevates your suitability.

New Grad RN Resume

• If the activities are related to healthcare or show you in a professional, positive light and you need some help filling out your new grad RN resume , then include one or two.
• Color is one way to show some personality on your resume while still portraying professionalism. Try a strong accent color while keeping the color basic everywhere else, as seen in many of our  resume examples .
• P.S. You can catch this mistake easily when you take advantage of our  resume builder  and its AI-powered tips. 

Experienced RN Resume

• As you gain more and more experience as an RN, try your best to show a progression in responsibility and ownership on your experienced RN resume. 
• Here’s the trick: Keep a master copy of every job and a working list of job description bullet points for each. Then, pull from this master list and customize it according to the specific role for which you’re applying now.
• Two other quick things you can do to fit more content are to reduce vertical spacing and reduce page margins, which is a simple click of a button in our  resume maker .
• Hit the highlights in your resume, but you can delve further into these details when creating a cover letter .

Travel RN Resume

• Mentioning and quantifying outcomes possible through your keen eye and observation (hint: cut documentation errors by 28%) is a great way to make this attribute count.

Med Surg RN Resume

• Pay attention to the skills, qualifications, and responsibilities listed in the job description to gain ideas on what you should include in your skills section.
• RNs can work in a ton of different areas in medicine. If you’re applying to a specific job (like Med/Surg Nurse) and you have experience in that area, be sure to match your job title to that of the job description.
• White space is a commonly overlooked factor in resume design, and if it’s a concern for you, try simplifying the process by picking one of our  free resume templates .

ICU RN Resume

• Check your resume  to ensure you’re using action verbs that propel your bullet points forward and keep hiring personnel engaged.
• Another way to demonstrate impact is by quantifying it, that is, tying the outcome of your work to a number. By linking a number to your claims, proof of impact becomes clear.
• Ultimately, nursing is a profession involving people. So if you can show that you’re comfortable with the human aspects of the job (patient care, plans of care, family interactions, etc.), speak as much as possible concerning that experience in your ICU RN resume .

Related resume guides

• Physician Assistant
• Medical Assistant

Registered Nurse Resume Examples & Template [2024]

• December 20, 2023
• In Resumes & Cover Letters

Craft a winning Registered Nurse Resume with our comprehensive guide, packed with essential tips and insights. Discover key sections, including work experience, education, and skills, to highlight your expertise in patient care, medication administration, and electronic health records. Learn how to showcase your qualifications effectively and tailor your resume to stand out in the competitive nursing industry.

Are you struggling to present yourself as the best candidate for a registered nurse position? The foundation lies in a strong resume that showcases your skills and experiences and how they relate to the specific job requirements. If you’re not confident in your resume-writing abilities,  we’re here to assist . 

How to write a nursing resume in 7 steps

Step 1: use a registered nurse resume template , step 2:  format your contact information section, step 3: craft a strong summary statement for a registered nurse, step 4: showcase your professional experience, step 5: emphasize top nursing skills, step 6:  listing relevant degrees, certifications, and licenses, step 7: tailor your (rn) resume for specific job applications, step 8: include registered nurse cover letter, faq: registered nurse resume, q1: how many pages should a nursing resume be, q2: how do i address employment gaps in my nursing resume, key sections of a registered nurse resume.

When creating a registered nurse’s resume, it is important to include the following sections:

• Contact information
• Resume summary/objective statement
• Work experience
• Education and certification
• Professional recognitions

Additional Sections (Optional)

• Continuing education, additional training, publications, etc.
• Volunteer work or community involvement related to healthcare

When creating a nurse resume, it can be helpful to use a template that is specifically  designed  for nursing professionals.

Registered Nurse Resume Template 150020 Download it here →

Resume Template in Microsoft Word, Pages

• Ease of use : Resumeway provides pre-designed professional  resume templates  that you can easily customize with your information.
• Professional appearance : Templates with a clean and professional look, making it easy to create a visually appealing resume.
• No additional cost : Once you have access to Microsoft Word or Pages, you can use the templates without any additional charges 

Remember, using a nurse resume template can provide a solid foundation for creating your resume, but it’s important to customize it to showcase your unique qualifications and experiences.

• Place your contact information at the  top of your resume  so that it is easily visible to employers.
• Use a  larger font size  for your name to enhance its visibility and make it stand out.
• Format the rest of your contact details in a way that is  clear and easy to read . You can place them in one or two lines below your name.
• Avoid placing your contact information in the header section of a Word document, as not all applicant tracking systems can properly read and parse information stored in this section.

Make sure to double-check your contact details for accuracy and professionalism.

Read more: 20+ Resume Headline Examples: Stand Out from the Crowd

Crafting an attractive summary for a registered nurse resume requires highlighting your  unique qualifications , skills, and accomplishments in a concise and compelling manner. Tips for creating an attention-grabbing  summary :

• Start with a strong opening : Begin your summary with a captivating phrase or sentence that immediately grabs the reader’s attention. Consider using  action verbs  or powerful adjectives to describe your nursing expertise.
• Highlight your key qualifications : Outline your most relevant qualifications, such as your nursing degree, certifications, and any specialized training or areas of expertise. Emphasize the skills and knowledge that set you apart from other applicants.
• Showcase your experience : Briefly summarize your nursing experience, focusing on the settings you’ve worked in (e.g., hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities) and any notable achievements or responsibilities. Use quantifiable metrics and concrete examples to showcase the extent of your influence.
• Emphasize your patient-centered approach : Highlight your commitment to providing exceptional patient care and promoting positive health outcomes. Mention your ability to establish rapport with patients, communicate effectively, and advocate for their needs.
• Include relevant skills : Incorporate a list of  key skills  that are essential to the nursing profession, such as clinical assessment, medication administration, care planning, and teamwork. Customize your skills to align with the specific requirements of the position you are seeking.
• Keep it concise : Aim for a summary that is concise and to the point, ideally consisting of two to three sentences. Avoid using jargon or overly technical language that may be difficult for non-medical professionals to understand.

Example #1: Senior Registered Nurse Resume Summary “Experienced Pediatric Nurse with 15+ years of expertise focused on neonatal care. Proven track record in NICU environments, having reduced infant readmissions by 20%. Recognized for providing compassionate and individualized patient care.“

Example#2: Junior Registered Nurse Resume Objective “Recent graduate from Michigan University’s Nursing Program, equipped with the latest knowledge in clinical care. Eager to apply learned concepts in a real-world setting and grow as a healthcare professional.”

Read more: 20+ Resume Summary Examples for 2024 [+How-to Guide]

A well-crafted nurse work experience section is essential for a standout resume. It allows you to showcase your relevant work experience and accomplishments in the field. To make the most impact, keep these tips in mind:

• Focus on achievements : Instead of simply listing your responsibilities, highlight your accomplishments  and the impact you made in your previous roles. For example, mention any improvements in patient outcomes, successful implementation of new protocols, or recognition you received for your work.
• Quantify your impact : Whenever possible, include numbers or percentages to quantify your achievements. For instance, mention the number of patients you cared for, the success rates of treatments you administered, or any awards or recognition you received.
• Tailor to the job description : Review the job description and identify the key skills and qualifications the employer is seeking. Customize your experience section to highlight how your previous roles align with those requirements.
• Include specialized experience : If you have experience in a particular specialty or have worked in different healthcare settings, such as hospitals, clinics, or home healthcare, be sure to highlight that experience. It can help you stand out from other applicants.

Charge Nurse Heavenly Care Hospital, New York, NY / June 2016-November 2017

• Led a team of 12 nurses, enhancing the patient-to-nurse ratio by 20%.
• Introduced a patient feedback system, resulting in a 15% increase in patient satisfaction.
• Reduced patient readmission rates by 10% through the implementation of comprehensive discharge procedures.
• Streamlined the patient intake process, reducing wait times by an average of 30 minutes.
• Participated in the design and execution of a new infection control protocol, leading to a 40% decrease in hospital-acquired infections.
• Organized quarterly interdisciplinary team meetings, fostering improved communication and a 15% reduction in clinical errors.

When creating a successful nurse resume, it’s important to include a combination of technical (hard skills) and  soft skills  that demonstrate your expertise and suitability for the role.

Here are some top skills to consider:

Read more: 50+ Hard Skills For Your Resume [In 2024]

When listing relevant degrees, certifications, and licenses on a Registered Nurse resume, it’s important to highlight your qualifications and credentials. Here are some guidelines to follow:

• List your highest level of education first, such as a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree.
• When listing multiple degrees, arrange them in reverse chronological order, beginning with the most recent one.
• Include the full degree name, such as “Bachelor of Science in Nursing” or “Master of Science in Nursing,” rather than abbreviations like “BSN” or “MSN”.

Certifications and Licenses

• Include relevant certifications and licenses that are required or preferred for the nursing position you are applying for.
• Examples of certifications for nurses include Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN), Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN), or Certified Critical Care Nurse (CCRN).
• List certifications after your degrees, using the appropriate initials or acronyms. For example, “MD, MPH, DABFM” or “DNP, PMHNP-BC”.
• If you hold a nursing license, be sure to include it, such as “Registered Nurse (RN)” or “Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)”.
• Create a separate section on your resume specifically for your degrees, certifications, and licenses.
• Use a clear and organized format, such as bullet points or a table, to list your qualifications.

When tailoring your registered nurse resume for specific job applications, consider the following tips:

• Review the job description : Carefully read the  job description  to understand the specific requirements and qualifications sought by the employer. Pay attention to keywords and phrases that are mentioned multiple times.
• Customize your professional summary : To highlight the skills and qualifications that make you an excellent fit for the specific job, tailor your professional summary or objective statement. Showcase your alignment with the position by incorporating keywords from the job description.
• Highlight relevant skills : Emphasize the skills that are directly relevant to the job you’re applying for. Include both technical skills (e.g., wound care, patient education, medication administration) and soft skills (e.g., compassion, teamwork, problem-solving) that are valued in the nursing profession.
• Focus on relevant experience : When listing your work experience, prioritize and expand upon the roles and responsibilities that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for. Provide specific examples of how you have demonstrated your skills and achieved positive outcomes in previous positions.
• Include certifications and specializations : Highlight any certifications, specializations, or advanced training that are relevant to the job. This could include certifications in areas such as critical care, pediatrics, or geriatrics.
• Quantify achievements : Quantify your achievements to provide concrete evidence of your impact. For example, mention the number of patients you have cared for, the percentage of improvement in patient outcomes, or any awards or recognition you have received.

Remember, tailoring your resume for each specific job application increases your chances of standing out to employers and demonstrates your genuine interest in the position.

When writing a  cover letter  for a registered nurse position, consider the following tips:

• Introduction:  Start with a strong opening paragraph that states your interest in the position and briefly highlights your qualifications and experience. Mention how you learned about the job opening.
• Body Paragraphs:  In the following paragraphs, expand on your relevant skills, experiences, and accomplishments. Focus on how your qualifications align with the requirements of the job. Use specific examples to demonstrate your abilities and showcase your passion for nursing.
• Closing:  In the closing paragraph, express your enthusiasm for the opportunity to contribute to the healthcare team. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for considering my application I am eager to provide any additional information or references that might be required.

Registered Nurse Cover Letter Template 150020 Download it here →

The ideal length of a registered nurse resume can vary depending on factors such as the level of experience and the specific job application requirements. In summary, a registered nurse resume should generally be around 1-2 pages, focusing on the most relevant information and showcasing career progression and achievements. Remember to tailor the length of your resume based on your specific circumstances and the job application requirements.

Addressing employment  gaps  in your registered nurse resume is important to provide clarity and alleviate any concerns employers may have. Here are some tips:

• Be brief and direct:  Address the employment gaps briefly and directly in one or two sentences on your resume.
• Focus on overall professional goals:  Explain how the employment gap allowed you to pursue opportunities that align with your overall professional nursing career goals.
• Highlight relevant experiences:  If you engaged in any relevant activities during the employment gap, such as volunteering or continuing education, mention them to showcase your commitment to professional growth.
• Consider a functional resume:  If you have extensive employment gaps, you may consider using a functional resume format that highlights your skills and achievements rather than focusing on chronological work history.

Remember, honesty and transparency are key when addressing employment gaps. Use these tips to effectively address the gaps in your registered nurse resume and showcase your qualifications and experiences.

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Nurse Resume Example & How-to Guide for 2024

As a nurse, you know a lot about taking care of people and helping them be healthy.

But when it comes to resume writing, maybe you could use a little help of your own.

Are there specific resume strategies that nurses should follow?

Just how detailed do you need to be when describing your medical skill set? And how do you highlight all those certifications you might have?

We’re going to walk you through the entire process of creating a nurse resume step-by-step!

• A nurse resume example that is proven to work
• How to write a nurse resume that will get you invited to interviews
• How to make your nurse resume stand out [with top tips & tricks]

Here’s some inspiration to get you started:

A nurse resume example , created with our very own resume builder:

Now, read on to learn how to create a resume that looks as good (or better) than the above example!

How to Format a Nurse Resume

The first step to creating your nurse resume is to decide on a format.

Just like any other career, hiring managers want specific information to jump out at them when reviewing resumes. So nurses need to make sure their resumes are formatted properly.

In 2024, the most common resume format remains the “reverse-chronological” format. So this is your best bet. 

Of course, there are other resume formats you can try…

• Functional Resume - This format is a lot more about your skills as opposed to professional experience. It’s good if you don’t have a lot of experience, are transferring to a new industry, or have gaps in your employment history.
• Combination Resume - As the name suggests, a combination resume is a mix between “Functional” and “Reverse-Chronological.” Meaning, it focuses both on skills AND work experience. You can use a combination resume if you have a lot of work experience or changing industries.

Once you’ve decided on the format, you need to get your resume layout right.

Here’s what we recommend…

• Margins - One-inch margins on all sides
• Font - Pick a font that stands out, but not too much. Do: Ubuntu, Roboto, etc. Don’t: Comic Sans
• Font Size - Use a font size of 11-12pt for normal text and 14-16pt for headers
• Line Spacing - Use 1.0 or 1.15 line spacing
• Resume Length - Don’t go over the 1-page limit. Having trouble fitting everything into one page? Check out these one-page resume templates.
• As a nurse you have probably earned some certifications for different areas of medicine. Create a dedicated section for your certificates so these stand out in your resume.

Use a Nurse Resume Template

Are you used to creating your resume in Word? Painful isn’t it? 

It’s easy to spend more time tinkering with formatting than it actually takes you to fill in the contents.

Then, you decide to make a single, small layout change, and BAM! Your entire resume layout falls apart.

There’s a better way than using Word: use a nurse resume template .

What to Include in a Nurse Resume

The main sections in a nurse resume are:

• Contact Information
• Resume Summary
• Work Experience
• Certificates
• Awards & Recognitions

If you want your resume to stand out more, you can also try these optional sections:

Conferences & Courses

• Professional Affiliations

Interests & Hobbies

Now, we’re going to go through each of those sections, and explain how to write them.

Not sure which sections to use? Check out our guide to What to Put on a Resume .

How to Get Your Contact Information Right

Maybe you’ve created the perfect resume with amazing content on your skills and experience. But if you mess up the contact section, you won’t be getting a lot of interview invitations (mainly because they won’t be able to call your misspelled phone number).

For your contacts, include:

• Title - For nurses, your best bet is likely “Registered Nurse”.
• Phone Number - Double-check, triple-check this. One typo can really mess up your chances of an employer contacting you.
• Email Address - Make sure to use a professional email address ([email protected]), and avoid that email you created back in 5th grade ([email protected]).
• (Optional) Location - Applying for a job abroad? Mention your current location.

How to Write a Nurse Resume Summary or Objective

Fun fact - recruiters spend less than 6 seconds reviewing each resume. This isn’t that surprising, though. You can’t expect them to read the hundreds of resumes they receive from end to end.

So, if the recruiter doesn’t see that you’re relevant for the job in a single glance, your resume won’t even be read.

Now, the question is, what can you do to hook the recruiter the moment they look at your resume.

The answer is simple: use a resume summary or objective .

As a quick intro, both the resume summary and objective are sections that go on top of your resume, just under the contact information section.

The main difference between the 2 sections is that…

A resume summary is a 2-4 sentence summary of your professional experiences and achievements.

• Trauma Certified Registered Nurse with more than five years experience working in emergency care. Compassionate, ethical health-care provider with a proven ability to stay calm during crises. Hold a Master’s of Science in Surgical Nursing. 

A resume objective , on the other hand, is a 2-4 sentence snapshot of your professional goals and aspirations.

• Patient-focused nursing student with 2 years of healthcare experience. Pursuing internships as part of career goal to become Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse.

So, which one do you pick? A summary, or an objective?

As you can see from the above examples, the key difference between the two is that a Resume Objective is better-suited to those who are new to a field (student, graduate, or switching careers). Always go for a Resume Summary if you have already established your career path.

How to Make Your Nurse Work Experience Stand Out

Work experience is the most important section in your resume.

Sure, your medical skills are super important, but so is your professional experience. Here’s how to structure your work experience section…

• Position name
• Company Name
• Responsibilities & Achievements

Brooklyn Hospital

01/2015 - 06/2019

• Obtained and recorded patients’ vital signs, intake and output and blood glucose
• Worked in the cardiatric and oncology wards of the hospital
• Used EHR software to record patient information

Now, if you really want to stand out, you should focus on talking about your achievements instead of responsibilities.

Instead of saying:

“Screen patients upon arrival at emergency ward.”

“Administered emergency ward intake evaluations for up to 25 patients each hour by measuring vital signs and prioritizing cases accordingly.”

So, what’s the difference between the two?

The second one is more specific . You know exactly what the person did, and you can say that he/she can work efficiently. 

The first example, on the other hand, is too generic. Screening patients could be as basic as checking whether they have health insurance and entering their personal information into the hospital system. There is also no mention of how many patients this person is used to handling.

What if You Don’t Have Work Experience?

Maybe you’re a current student trying to land an internship or a recent graduate looking for your first full-time nursing job?

Fortunately, nursing students or graduates gain plenty of practical experience as they navigate their way through their studies. Only so much of the medical field can be taught in the classroom. 

By the time you are in your second year of school, chances are high you’ve been in a health-care facility helping evaluate and treat patients. You may not be a registered nurse at this point, you can absolutely include the skills and procedures you’ve learned in school on your resume.

If you’re a recent graduate, you might want to check out our guide on how to make a student resume !

Use Action Words to Make Your Nurse Resume SHINE!

“Responsible for”

“Worked in”

These are the most common words you’ll find on ANY resume.

And since you want YOURS to stand out, we’d recommend avoiding them as much as possible.

Instead, use some of these power words to make your responsibilities and achievements stand out:

• Administered
• Specialized

How to List Education Right

The next section in any Nurse resume is the “Education.”

This one’s pretty straightforward. Simply list out your education entries, and you’re gold!

• Degree Type & Major
• University Name
• Years Studied
• GPA, Honours, Courses, and anything else you might want to add

MSc in Nursing

University of Southern California

• Relevant Courses: Radiological Nursing, Advanced Surgical Procedures, Oncological Diagnostics

Clear? Good!

Before we move on, here are some of the most frequent questions we get about education on a resume (and their answers!):

• What if I haven’t finished college?

Whether you’re still a student, or you dropped out, you should still mention your degree. All you have to do is include the years studied, and you’re good.

• Do I list my high school education?

Only if you don’t have a higher education. No one cares about your high school education if you have a B.A.

• What goes first, education or experience?

If you have any relevant work experience, then experiences go on top. If you don’t, though, then education.

Still have some questions? Check out our guide on how to list education on a resume .

Top 30 Skills for a Nurse Resume

When the HR manager is going through your resume, they’re looking to see if you have the right skills for the job.

Imagine this: you’re the best nurse in the world and your resume is impeccable. BUT, you still get rejected, because you didn’t mention that you know the exact procedures or techniques that the health centre needs. 

Not sure which skills to pick?

Here are some of the most common nurse skills:

Hard Skills for Nurse Resume:

• Assisting in surgery
• Administration of medication
• Chemotherapy administration
• Bedside monitoring
• Bladder irrigation
• Blood administration
• Emergency room care
• Healthcare software
• Infection control
• Lab testing
• Intramuscularly injections or IV therapy
• Maternal care
• Pain management
• Physical assessments
• Psychiatric care
• Rehabilitation
• Seizure precautions
• Surgery preparation
• Wound irrigation
• Withdrawal of blood samples

Soft Skills for Nurse Resume:

• Attention to detail
• Communication (verbal & written)
• Critical thinking
• Physical endurance (since you will work long hours and have to use sometimes heavy equipment or patients)
• Observation (since you need to track subtle and small changes such as a change in the color or odor)
• As a general rule, we’d recommend not to go overboard with “Soft Skills.” They are certainly important in the medical field, but they are also harder to back up. Doctors need people with hard skills standing next to them, so give these priority. 

Looking for a more comprehensive list? Here’s a mega-list of 150+ must-have skills in 2024 .

Certifications for a Nurse Resume

As we mentioned before, many nurses will attain special certifications as they progress in their careers. These should be highlighted in your resume. For example:

• CPR certified through the American Heart Association
• Family Nurse Practitioner
• Advanced Holistic Nurse, Board Certified

Other Resume Sections You Can Include

At this point, you’re probably ready to wrap up your resume and call it a day.

After all, we’ve covered all the essential sections, right?

Well, not exactly. See, the #1 goal of your resume is to stand out.

And if your resume looks exactly the same as everyone else’s, that’s where you fail.

If you’re already a good match for the job in terms of skills and experiences, these sections could end up being the deciding factor that gets you hired (and makes you stand out from the rest).

As part of their career development, many nurses will participate or even speak at nursing conferences. These are great to list on a resume because they highlight your dedication to the profession.

Meanwhile, nurses also participate in courses devoted to specialized topics in nursing or medicine. Perhaps these courses don’t involve formal certification in a specific area, but they do demonstrate certain career interests.

For example, maybe after five years of working in nursing, you decide to take a course in End-of-Life Care because it’s an area you may want to pursue future certification. Once you’ve taken the course, there’s no reason not to put it on your resume.

If you’ve got the space, try to include a Conferences & Courses section on your resume.

An extra language or two can always come in handy, even if it doesn’t have anything to do with the position you’re applying for. You never know when a foreign language might help save a life.

If you know any foreign language & have extra space in your resume, feel free to add a language section.

Make sure to split the languages by proficiency:

• Intermediate

Now, you might be thinking, “what does my hiking hobby have to do with my profession as a nurse?”

Well, nothing, but it does have something to do with you as a person. Strong teamwork is essential in the health-care field, so doctors and administrators are looking for someone they’ll get along with.

And what’s something you can bond with potential employers about? Hobbies and interests, exactly!

Not sure which hobbies & interests you want to mention? We have a guide for that!

Match Your Cover Letter with Your Resume

Yep, that’s right.

You might be thinking, “A cover letter?! Surely the nursing skills on my resume speak for themselves!”

Well, here’s the thing: cover letters are still very important .

They show the recruiter that you’re passionate about working for THIS position in THIS company, and you aren’t just sending your resume all over the place.

Having a solid cover letter with your resume can significantly boost your chances of getting the job.

The first step to writing a convincing cover letter is to get the structure right. Here’s how to do that.

And here’s what you’d write in each section:

Contact Details

Your personal contact information, including full name, profession, email, phone number, location.

Hiring Manager’s Contact Information

Full name, position, location, email.

Opening Paragraph

Your introduction should be very strong. If you don’t manage to hook the hiring manager here, chances are, they’re not going to read the rest of it. So, mention:

• The position you’re applying for
• Your experience summary and top achievement

Once you’ve got the hiring manager hooked, you can go through the rest of your background. Some of the points you can mention here are:

• Why you want to work for this specific company.
• Anything you know about the company’s culture.
• What are your top skills and how are they relevant for the job.
• If you’ve worked in similar industries or positions.

Closing Paragraph

This is where you:

• Wrap up any points you missed in the body paragraph
• Thank the hiring manager for their time
• End with a call to action. Something like, “I’d love to further discuss how my experience as an X can help the company with Y”

Formal Salutations

Use a formal closing, such as “best regards” or “Sincerely.”

Need more inspiration? We get it - creating a cover letter is very hard work. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with your step-by-step guide on how to write a cover letter .

Applying for a different position in the medical field? Our related resume examples can come in handy:

• Medical Assistant Resume
• Pharmacist Resume
• Dentist Resume

Key Takeaways

If you followed everything we just taught you to the T, you’re pretty much guaranteed to land the job.

Now, let’s go through everything we’ve learned real quick:

• Get the right formatting for your nurse resume. Use a reverse-chronological format, and follow the best practices we mentioned on getting the layout right.
• Use a resume summary or objective to catch the hiring manager’s attention.
• In your work experience section, try to talk more about your achievements than your responsibilities.
• Emphasize hard skills more than soft skills (both are important but hard skills save lives)
• Match your nurse resume with a convincing cover letter.

Suggested Reading:

• Use Resume Keywords to Land the Job [880+ Keywords]
• 26+ Biggest Interview Mistakes (To Avoid in 2024)
• How to Write a CV That Gets Noticed (With 2024 Examples)

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The Best Nursing Resume Guide for 2024 With Templates

Mar 14 2024

Career Resources / Job Searching / Nursing Resume Guide

Reviewed by: Kiley Griffin, R.N.

Imagine a registered nurse going into a patient’s room without a stethoscope or wearing sandals with their scrubs . The patient would feel confused and uneasy. This example is extreme, but it would relay to the patient their nurse isn’t prepared.

The same holds true regarding your nursing resume. You don’t want to walk into an interview without a quality resume to present to the hiring board.

You may be thinking

“I don’t have time to write a resume, and if I did, where would I start?”

Nurses work long shifts, which can make it difficult to devote time to working on anything outside of their scheduled hours. Accordingly, we have created a guide to help you quickly and easily craft a resume. 

This guide will help you enter the interview feeling confident and prepared. We will explore:  

Nursing Resume Templates

Steps to formatting a professional nursing resume, what to include in your contact section, how to get around the ats, writing your nursing resume objective or summary, how to showcase your skills and duties.

• Keys to Writing Your Experience Section

How to Organize Your Credentials Field on a Nursing Resume

Additional sections to add to your nursing resume.

• Write a Cover Letter to Go With Your Resume

Create a professionally-designed, interview-ready resume in minutes.

We’ve provided three sample nursing resumes as guides along with templates so you can create your own.

Hiring experts generally agree that formatting and content are the most critical elements to focus on when crafting a resume. 

Many healthcare employers are now using applicant tracking software (ATS) as part of the hiring process. This means up to 75% of resumes get rejected before the hiring manager ever sees them.

An ATS quickly scans resumes and then sorts and ranks them based on qualifications. Optimizing your format to key on education and experience can help you gain approval from an ATS.

While you can choose how to format your resume, we encourage you to incorporate a reverse chronological design . This format lists jobs beginning with the most recent first. 

Next, it is essential to choose a format that employs effective white space and utilizes efficient subheadings . We suggest that you set your margins to 1 “. You should align your text to the left since it makes it easier for the ATS robots to scan. 

The best fonts to use for an ATS are Times New Roman or Arial . 

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What's your current role?

No need to overthink this. It doesn’t take a quantum leap to make this deduction: Your resume always needs to begin with your name at the top. It would also help to make it the largest font on your resume. 

Next to your name, make sure you include: 

• Credentials : Starting with your highest degree earned, license, state designation, and national certifications.
• Location : You don’t have to include your physical address. City and state will suffice. 
• Phone number : Check that you include the phone number to receive text messages from as some employers will text candidates. 
• Email address : Use a work-appropriate email here. An employer might not take you seriously if your email is: [email protected] . Specifically, for 35% of employers, an unprofessional email address is a major problem.

The applicant tracking software has helped make the recruiting process much more efficient for hiring managers. While there isn’t a definitive process to always beat the ATS, there are general rules to follow to create a resume that will increase your success rate.

• Design your resume to match the job description
• Optimize for the ATS by aligning your resume keywords to the job description
• Use the long-form and spelled out acronyms such as BSN (Bachelor’s of Science)
• Save your file as a .docx, .doc or .pdf format
• Don’t use headers or footers
• Use plain, black bullet points not any special bullet types
• Do not include tables since an ATS can’t read them
• Don’t include a photo or use creative fonts

Think of your nurse resume objective or summary as an elevator pitch. Crafting a good objective is all about precision and brevity.

When to use an objective

Whether you write a nursing resume objective or summary depends on your experience. If you don’t have a lot of experience in nursing, then you should write an objective . Objective statements highlight training and goals for the future. 

Don’t make the mistake of over-emphasizing your relative inexperience. 

Highlight what experience or training you have accumulated. For example, lead with any licensure or state designation you’ve earned to begin your objective. Then go into some of your skills that make you a good fit for the job. 

When to use a summary

If you have experience in the field, we suggest that you use a resume summary. 

Within the summary, make sure you include how many years you’ve been in the field with your designation or licensure and specific field expertise. Then outline your goal in applying. 

Here’s an example:

Hard-working and passionate Registered Nurse with over eight years of management/supervising experience and paramedic background looking to continue to grow and enhance my skills for the wellness of the facility. Currently completing my master’s in nursing with a specialty in Executive Leadership .

A good nursing resume will highlight hard and soft skills. A lot of your job depends on performing specific duties, and the recruiter will hone in on those when scanning your resume. 

Most professions emphasize accomplishments in a resume over skills and duties . For many, accomplishment-driven resumes highlight what an individual can do for a company. However, the nursing field prefers a skill-driven resume . Healthcare employers need to feel comfortable that you can perform the skills necessary for the job.

That said, employers also want to know about your accomplishments as well. The best nursing resumes are able to incorporate a professional accomplishment with a skill.

• Hard skills display your understanding of job-specific roles and obligations (such as taking vital signs or administering medication).
• Soft skills demonstrate your personality fit within the team (such as communication or leadership skills). 

Tailor your skills to the role outlined within the job description. If you have administered chemotherapy drugs or radiation therapies, then place it in there. Be specific! 

Keys to Writing Your Experience Section 

This is the meat and potatoes of your resume. Writing a striking experience section will go a long way in securing a terrific nursing job. 

Nursing recruiters are not looking for fluff or abstraction. They want specific and detailed accounts of your work over the years. 

Make it scannable

To start, you want to use easily distinguishable section headers such as “employment history” or “relevant experience.” These buzzwords make the ATS happy. 

We suggest writing your experience down in reverse chronological order. 

Start with your most recent position and go from there. Now, if you have held jobs dating back to the Reagan administration or when The Sopranos was on TV, maybe don’t include those. 

Try to keep your job history within the last 20 years. 

Quantify your experience

Instead of just listing your responsibilities with bullet points, convey your accomplishments using quantitative measurements when possible.

For example, instead of saying: “Helped discharge patients.”

Try instead: “Administered 10 discharges an hour during my shift. Provided ample health care education to patient and family members.”

The second example is more specific and detailed. It gives your employer a good idea as to your efficiency. Also, “administered” evokes more responsibility than “helped.”

Here’s an example of an excellent experience section:

You should also consider including the unit type you worked in. Did you work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or an Emergency Room ?

Be descriptive

When highlighting your experience, use strong action verbs such as “assisted” or “displayed.” 

Lastly, highlight transferable attributes that can apply to any position , including leadership skills, project development, or communication.

You may have significant credentials to help you secure a great nursing position. There’s no problem with having credentials. The problem occurs when you don’t know how to organize your credentials effectively. 

Imagine a symphony conductor with great individual cello players that don’t know how to play in sync with each other–it would be chaos.

The same goes for organizing your certifications. You may have great credentials, but not arranging them correctly could create issues for your resume. 

Luckily, there is an industry-standard for listing your credentials. 

The following order is encouraged:

Education : Start with the year you graduated, degree type and major, university name, and GPA (if it was 3.5 and above). If you went to a prestigious school, you could also start with that. Additionally, if you are worried about age discrimination, we’d suggest you leave out the years studied. Unfortunately, ageism sometimes plays a role in the hiring of nurses.

2012-2014 Master’s of Science in Nursing Duke University School of Nursing, 3.7 GPA

Your Licensure : With licensure, the important part is determining where to put them. If nurses have one or two licenses they will put them after their degree. However, if you have an extensive list of licenses, it may be better to place them in their own section.

It’s crucial to include the following:

• License number
• License type ( LPN , RN , or CNA )
• Name of the license (if different than the name on your resume)
• State of licensure
• Expiration date
• If you have a license that falls under the nurse licensure compact

Sample Nursing Resume License Entry:

Registered Nurse (RN): License number 3378931 Arizona State Board of Licensing, Active since January 2018

State Designations: These generally include more advanced destinations for nurses at the state level. Examples include the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and Nurse Practitioner . 

Certifications : Your certifications demonstrate a commitment to improving as a nurse. Nurses can work without certifications in many cases. However, some jobs offer pay raises for nurses that have them.

We suggest the following order for listing your certifications:

• Name of the Certification and the Acronym: For example, Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, ACNP-AG
• The Certifying Organization: Such as the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
• The Certificate’s Expiration Date
• The Certification Number

Sample nursing resume certification:

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Current – 2018

Awards and Honors: Your awards and honors can include those received in school or at another job. You want to list the name of the award, the awarding body, and the date received.

You may feel like you’ve put a lot of work into your resume up to this point. You have. Since you’re trying to land the perfect nursing job, you want to make sure that you round out your resume . The other sections you should add to your resume are:

Conferences and courses

List any additional terms you have completed as a nurse and any conferences you may have attended or even spoken at.  

The ability to speak multiple languages gives you a leg up over your other nursing competition. Don’t hesitate to put in if you know other languages and designate your level of proficiency. 

An employer is hiring a human being, not a robot. They want to hire someone who they can get along with, so listing your hobbies and interests may serve you well. Additionally, listing a hobby might give your supervisor an idea of whether or not you’d be a good culture fit on the team.

Before you wrap up your resume, make sure you proofread it , and if you can, have someone else read it over for you.

You don’t want your resume to get rejected because you spelled “stethoscope” wrong. Last, when saving your resume, make sure you cave it as a word document or PDF compared to any alternative, older file.

Write a Cover Letter to Go With Your Nursing Resume

Our last parting wisdom to you is to have a cover letter that complements your resume. 

The cover letter gives your recruiter the confidence that you are interested in them specifically.

Having a great resume is fine and all,  but it’s much like giving someone a handshake and not giving a greeting.  It’s a complementary piece that needs a cover letter to reinforce and expound on the ideas covered within it. 

 In other words, the cover letter explains why you chose the company and helps them understand that you aren’t just spamming several companies with your resume. 

You’ve made it. Congratulations!

By this point, you’ve put a lot of time into your resume. You should feel proud of yourself. You’re on your way to landing that new job. Now, it’s time to prepare for the interview . If you need help with that, we’ve got you covered as well.

Resume FAQs

You can write it either way. However, make sure you separate each with a comma. For example, write Jane Doe, RN, BSN or Jane Doe, BSN, RN.

There isn’t one skill that stands above the rest as nurses have to possess many different skills. However, some of the most important ones include problem-solving, attention to detail, organizational skills and multitasking.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice ( DNP ) is the highest degree a nurse can obtain within academia.

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Nursing Resume Templates | Free Resume Templates for Nurses | How to Create a Resume for RN

Looking for  free nursing resume templates ? Before  nurses can secure their nursing jobs , they must go through the application period. This includes creating a resume , submitting a nursing portfolio, and going through the interview process . Nursing jobs are highly competitive, especially certain specialty areas such as OB GYN and Pediatrics fields. So it is very important that when creating a resume that the nurse creates a resume that will stand out and grab the employers attention.

How to Create a Resume for Nursing Students and Nurses

Think of the resume as an advertisement to the customer (which is the employer) that will lure them in to set-up an interview with you. The resume is a short one piece of piece (no more than two) that gives the employer a short summary of your education, certifications, skills, and achievements.

Try not to confuse the resume with a nurse portfolio. A nurse portfolio is a collection of the supporting documents that supports your resume. For more information on nurse portfolio check out our article on it.

Free Resume Templates for Nurses

These rn resume templates are free for you to use. They were developed by us and you can use them as you please. They are in Microsoft Word .doc format. If you do not have Microsoft Word you can use the FREE open source software known as OpenOffice via openoffice.org. It is completely free!

Once you have downloaded the templates you can edit them and add your own content. Be sure to let you friends on facebook know about these free resume templates!

To download the resume template simply click the picture of the template you like and click open:

Get 16 Premium Nursing Resume Templates & Cover Letters

Check out our job guide called “ Nursing Resume Templates and Job Guide by Nurse Sarah “. Nurse Sarah’s updated eBook guide & template bundle will walk you step-by-step through the entire job process. You’ll learn how to….

• Create a stunning resume and matching cover letter (16 professionally designed templates included with download)
• Ace your nursing job interview with the most common job interview questions (includes sample answers)
• Getting letters of recommendation & putting together your nurse portfolio
• Tips for finding your first nursing job and getting hired fast
• Tips to transition from nursing student to new nurse (talking to doctors, common struggles, etc.)
• Advancing in your career
• And more (see table of contents below)

Resume Templates and Matching Cover Letters Included

You can get an eBook version here or physical copy ( affiliate ad ) here.

Categories to Included in Your Resume

When creating a resume you can include many different categories. Remember that everyone’s resume will be a little different because people have had different experiences. For example, some people have had more educational experience than others and in their resume they should elaborate more on that area.

If you are not in any professional clubs substitute another category to replace it. For example, if you have great references, list them in that place or any volunteer work you have done.

Here are some categories you can include in your resume:

• Educational Experience
• Job History
• Professional Memberships
• Volunteer Work
• Academic Achievements
• Certifications
• Personal Goals
• Publications

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Registered Nurse Resume Examples: Proven To Get You Hired In 2024

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• Registered Nurse Resume Tips

Registered Nurse Resume Template

Download in google doc, word or pdf for free. designed to pass resume screening software in 2022., registered nurse resume sample.

Registered nursing is a step up the nursing ladder, allowing you to provide care directly to patients. Licensure as a registered nurse (RN) is also a pathway to graduate nursing programs, practice as a nurse practitioner, and specialty certification. As an RN, you’ll provide education and advice to patients and coordinate with physicians and other members of your healthcare team, meaning communication skills are also essential.

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Recruiter Insight: Why this resume works in 2022

Tips to help you write your registered nurse resume in 2024,    emphasize hard skills related to nursing.

As an RN, you’ll need a firm grasp on essential skills. Focus on technical skills you’ll need, like phlebotomy, rehabilitative care, triage, and electronic health record (EHR). If you want to include soft skills or more than a handful of hard skills, use your accomplishments to highlight accomplishments that demonstrate them in action.

   Use bullet points provide context on your nursing achievements

Focusing on accomplishments in your bullet points is good, but even better is if you can provide the context for those achievements. A bullet point reading “triaged 50+ patients daily” is far more descriptive than simply “triaged patients.” Try to give clear numbers when talking about the size of teams you’ve led or number of patients you’ve cared for.

As a hiring manager who has recruited nurses at top hospitals like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Johns Hopkins, I've seen hundreds of nursing resumes. The best ones always catch my attention by highlighting the candidate's unique skills, experience, and impact. Here are some tips to make your registered nurse resume stand out:

   Showcase your specializations and certifications

Highlight any specialized areas of nursing you have experience in, such as:

• Critical Care Nursing
• Pediatric Nursing
• Oncology Nursing
• Emergency Room Nursing

Also, be sure to list relevant certifications that demonstrate your expertise, like:

• Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)
• Trauma Nursing Core Course (TNCC)
• Progressive Care Certified Nurse (PCCN)

These specializations and certifications show you have advanced knowledge and skills that can benefit the specific unit or department.

   Quantify your nursing achievements

When describing your nursing experience, provide specific numbers to show the scope and impact of your work. Compare:

• Administered medications to patients
• Educated patients and families about treatment plans
• Administered medications to 20+ patients per shift with 100% accuracy
• Educated 30+ patients and family members per week about treatment plans, increasing patient satisfaction scores by 25%

Quantifying your achievements provides concrete evidence of your nursing abilities and helps you stand out from other candidates.

   Highlight patient care improvements

Did you lead or participate in any initiatives that improved patient outcomes or experiences? Be sure to include them, with specifics:

• Implemented a new fall prevention protocol that reduced patient falls by 50% over 6 months
• Led a team that improved patient satisfaction scores from 75% to 90% in the Emergency Department
• Developed and delivered a diabetes education program to 50 patients, resulting in improved blood sugar control for 80% of participants

Highlighting improvements you've made shows your commitment to high-quality patient care and your ability to make a positive impact.

   Feature leadership and teamwork

Nurses don't just work independently; they lead and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams. Showcase examples of your leadership and teamwork skills, such as:

• Trained and mentored 15 new graduate nurses, providing ongoing support to ensure 90% retention rate
• Collaborated with 10-member interdisciplinary team to develop comprehensive care plans for complex cases
• Chaired the unit's shared governance council, leading 6 nurses to develop and implement unit improvement projects

Highlighting your leadership and collaboration abilities demonstrates you can excel in the team-based healthcare environment.

   Tailor your skills to the job posting

Read the job description carefully and make sure your resume reflects the key qualifications they are seeking. For example:

If the job emphasizes:

• Experience with a specific patient population, like geriatrics
• Proficiency with certain technologies, like electronic health records
• Particular specialty skills, like wound care

Then your resume should specifically highlight your matching experience, like:

• 5+ years of experience caring for geriatric patients in a long-term care setting
• Proficient in Epic and Cerner electronic health records systems
• Certified Wound Care Nurse with expertise in managing complex wounds

Tailoring your resume demonstrates you are a strong fit for that specific nursing role.

   Include relevant volunteer experience and professional affiliations

Nursing resumes shouldn't be limited to paid work experience. Also include:

• Volunteer work, like participating in community health fairs or medical mission trips
• Professional association memberships and leadership roles, like serving on a committee for the American Nurses Association
• Relevant coursework or research projects completed during your nursing education

For example:

Volunteer Experience: - Provided health screenings and education to 200+ uninsured community members during annual health fair - Organized fundraiser for medical mission trip, raising $5,000 to provide care to underserved village in Guatemala

These experiences and affiliations show your dedication to the nursing profession and your ongoing commitment to learning and service.

Writing Your Registered Nurse Resume: Section By Section

  summary.

The resume summary is an optional section that can be a powerful way to introduce yourself and your unique value to employers. While your resume already summarizes your skills and experience, a well-crafted summary can provide additional context and highlight your most relevant qualifications for the registered nurse role you're targeting.

However, avoid using an objective statement, which focuses on your goals rather than what you can bring to the role. Instead, think of your summary as a snapshot of your nursing career, tailored to the specific position and employer.

To learn how to write an effective resume summary for your Registered Nurse resume, or figure out if you need one, please read Registered Nurse Resume Summary Examples , or Registered Nurse Resume Objective Examples .

1. Emphasize your nursing specialties and expertise

When writing your registered nurse resume summary, focus on your areas of specialization and the skills that set you apart. Consider the following examples:

• Registered nurse with 5+ years of experience in various healthcare settings. Skilled in patient care, documentation, and teamwork.

While this summary touches on relevant skills, it's too generic and could apply to almost any nurse. Instead, try something like this:

• Critical care nurse with 5+ years of experience in fast-paced ICU environments. Skilled in managing high-acuity patients, advanced monitoring systems, and collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to deliver exceptional care.

The second example highlights the candidate's specific expertise in critical care nursing and mentions key skills and technologies relevant to that specialty.

2. Quantify your nursing achievements and impact

To make your registered nurse resume summary more compelling, include specific accomplishments and metrics that demonstrate your impact. Numbers help employers quickly grasp the scope of your experience and contributions.

Oncology nurse with 8+ years of experience in top-ranked cancer centers. Skilled in administering chemotherapy, managing central lines, and educating patients and families. Recognized for maintaining a 98% patient satisfaction rating and implementing a new patient education program that reduced readmission rates by 15%.

By quantifying the candidate's achievements, such as patient satisfaction scores and readmission rate reductions, the summary becomes more impressive and memorable.

  Experience

Your work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you showcase your professional accomplishments and paint a picture of your nursing career. In this section, you'll list your relevant work history in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent position.

When writing your work experience section, focus on highlighting your achievements and the impact you made in each role. Use specific examples and metrics to quantify your contributions whenever possible.

1. Use strong nursing action verbs

When describing your nursing experience, use powerful action verbs that showcase your skills and responsibilities. Here are some examples:

• Assessed patient conditions and developed personalized care plans
• Collaborated with interdisciplinary healthcare teams to ensure optimal patient outcomes
• Administered medications and treatments in accordance with physician orders
• Educated patients and families on disease management and preventive care

Avoid using weak or passive language, such as:

• Responsible for assessing patient conditions
• Worked with healthcare teams
• Gave medications to patients

2. Highlight your nursing specializations

If you have experience in specific nursing specialties, make sure to highlight this in your work experience section. This can help you stand out from other candidates and demonstrate your expertise. For example:

• Provided critical care for post-operative patients in a fast-paced surgical ICU setting
• Specialized in geriatric nursing, focusing on the unique needs of elderly patients
• Served as a pediatric oncology nurse, supporting children and families through cancer treatment

By showcasing your specializations, you demonstrate your depth of knowledge and commitment to specific areas of nursing.

3. Quantify your impact with metrics

Whenever possible, use metrics to quantify your impact and achievements in each nursing role. This helps hiring managers understand the scope of your responsibilities and the value you brought to your previous employers. For example:

• Managed a caseload of 20+ patients per shift, ensuring timely and accurate care delivery
• Reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 30% through implementing evidence-based protocols
• Trained and mentored 15 new graduate nurses, supporting their transition into clinical practice

Improved patient satisfaction scores from 75% to 90% within 6 months by implementing a patient-centered care approach and regularly communicating with patients and families.

4. Showcase your career progression

If you've experienced career growth within the nursing field, make sure to highlight this in your work experience section. This can include promotions, taking on additional responsibilities, or transitioning to higher-level roles. For example:

• Promoted from Staff Nurse to Charge Nurse within 2 years, recognized for strong leadership skills and clinical expertise
• Progressed from New Graduate Nurse to Preceptor, mentoring and training new hires on unit policies and procedures

Demonstrating your career progression shows hiring managers that you are committed to your professional development and have the potential to grow within their organization.

  Education

Your education section is a key part of your registered nurse resume. It shows you have the necessary qualifications and training. Here are some tips to make sure your education section is effective and helps you stand out.

1. Put your nursing degree first

List your nursing degree before any other degrees or certifications, since it's the most relevant and important for a registered nurse position. Include the full name of your degree, the school you attended, and the year you graduated.

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA Graduated: 2020

Avoid listing irrelevant or minor degrees:

• Took some online coding classes
• Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts

2. Include relevant coursework if you're a new grad

If you graduated within the past 1-2 years and don't have much work experience yet, you can beef up your education section by listing relevant coursework, clinical rotations, or school projects.

Good examples:

• Relevant Coursework: Advanced Health Assessment, Pharmacology, Medical-Surgical Nursing
• Clinical Rotations: Pediatrics (70 hours), Intensive Care (80 hours), Emergency Department (60 hours)

But keep it focused. Don't list every single class you took:

• Courses: Biology 101, Intro to Psychology, Basic Algebra, Spanish 101...

3. Keep it short and sweet if you're experienced

If you have 5+ years of nursing experience, your education section can be very brief. Hiring managers will be more interested in your work accomplishments.

A good concise education section for an experienced nurse:

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Johns Hopkins University Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) University of Maryland

No need to list graduation years, GPA, coursework, or other details. But avoid making it so bare-bones that it looks like you're hiding something:

BSN State University

4. Add nursing licensure and certifications

In addition to your degree(s), include your RN license and any professional certifications you've earned. These are important qualifications that show your expertise.

• Registered Nurse (RN), Maryland Board of Nursing, License #12345, Expires 06/2025
• Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN), American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2018

Don't bother listing more basic certifications like CPR or BLS, which are assumed. Focus on advanced, voluntary certifications that set you apart:

• CPR Certified
• Completed HIPAA training

  Skills

The skills section of your registered nurse resume is one of the most important parts. It's where you showcase your nursing expertise and specializations to hiring managers. A well-written skills section can help you stand out from other candidates and demonstrate your qualifications for the role.

In this section, we'll walk through key tips for writing an effective registered nurse skills section, with examples of what to do and what to avoid.

1. Tailor your nursing skills to the job description

When applying for a registered nurse position, it's crucial to align your skills section with the requirements listed in the job description. Many healthcare employers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to automatically scan resumes for relevant keywords before a human sees them. If your resume doesn't contain the skills they're looking for, you risk being filtered out early in the process.

Review the job description carefully and identify the key nursing skills, certifications, and specializations they're seeking. Then, incorporate those exact terms into your skills section where applicable. For example:

BLS/ACLS Certified Electronic Health Records (EHR) Patient assessment Wound care Medication administration

Avoid simply listing generic or irrelevant skills that don't relate to the specific registered nurse role, like this:

Customer service Teamwork Fast learner Organized

2. Categorize your nursing skills into subsections

To make your registered nurse skills section easy to read and navigate, consider grouping your skills into relevant categories or subsections. This helps highlight your different areas of expertise at a glance. Some examples of nursing skill categories include:

• Patient Care : IV therapy, medication administration, wound care, catheterization
• Technology : Electronic medical records (EMR), EHR systems, medical devices
• Certifications : Registered Nurse (RN), BLS, ACLS, PALS, specialty certifications
• Specializations : Emergency room, critical care, pediatrics, oncology, geriatrics

Grouping your skills in this way provides a logical structure and flow, making it easier for hiring managers to quickly assess your qualifications. Avoid simply listing your skills in one long bulleted list with no clear organization.

3. Use industry-specific terminology

As a registered nurse, it's important to showcase your knowledge of medical terminology and industry-specific lingo in your skills section. This demonstrates your expertise and familiarity with the field. Some examples of nursing-specific terms to include:

• Patient assessment
• Care planning
• Medication reconciliation
• Charting and documentation
• Telemetry monitoring
• Wound VAC therapy

Using precise medical terms shows that you have the necessary knowledge and training for the role. Avoid using overly general or vague language that could apply to any industry, such as "communication skills" or "detail-oriented." Instead, focus on skills that are specific and relevant to nursing.

4. List your level of proficiency for technical skills

For certain technical skills or specializations, it can be helpful to specify your level of proficiency. This gives employers a better sense of your experience and expertise in those areas. You can use simple descriptors like "Proficient in," "Experienced with," or "Familiar with." For example:

Proficient in EPIC EMR system Experienced with chemotherapy administration Familiar with cardiac monitoring

Indicating your skill level can be particularly useful if you're applying for a role that requires experience with specific technologies, like electronic health record systems. It helps hiring managers quickly determine if you have the necessary background.

However, avoid rating your proficiency for non-technical or soft skills. For example, it would seem odd to list "Experienced in patient empathy" or "Proficient in teamwork." Stick to rating your level only for concrete technical skills or specialties.

Skills For Registered Nurse Resumes

Here are examples of popular skills from Registered Nurse job descriptions that you can include on your resume.

• Quality Improvement
• Patient Education
• Patient Safety
• Emergency Nursing
• Medical-Surgical
• Customer Service

Skills Word Cloud For Registered Nurse Resumes

This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Registered Nurse job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more likely you should include it in your resume.

How to use these skills?

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Registered Nurse Resumes

• Template #1: Registered Nurse
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• Free Registered Nurse Resume Review
• Other Medical Resumes
• Registered Nurse Interview Guide
• Registered Nurse Sample Cover Letters
• Alternative Careers to a Nursing Manager
• All Resumes
• Resume Action Verbs

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Career Advice > Job Search > Resumes and Cover Letters > Home Health Nurse Resume Writing Tips and Sample

Home Health Nurse Resume Writing Tips and Sample

Search resource center.

Getting ready for a new role in home health? Your home health nurse resume determines whether the hiring manager will continue reading your application, so highlight the skills, experience, and qualifications that make you a great candidate. Use our tips and sample resume as a guide so you can put your best foot forward.

Your resume might only need a quick update if you’ve applied to jobs in the past few years. If it’s been a while, it may be time to do a full refresh. Follow our tips as you write and edit your home health care nurse resume:

• Be concise: While your cover letter is a place to show some personality, hiring managers want to look over your resume and find your key qualifications quickly. Use bullet points, organize them into sections, and try to keep it around one page, single-spaced.
• Get Specific: Home health agencies are seeking nurses who understand the needs of the populations they serve. Specific home health nurse resume skills include patient education, home safety checks, tracheostomy care, and more.
• Tailor your objective: Use the home health job description provided by the employer to write your home health nurse resume objective . You can pull phrases directly from the job posting to show that you’re exactly who they’re looking for.
• Use measurable data: When possible, quantify the impact you’ve had on patients and outcomes in the past. For example, include your previous caseload and participation in quality improvement projects to give more authority to your application.

For a comprehensive look at resume writing, refer to our complete nursing resume guide . You can also use our home health nurse cover letter article to enhance your application as well.

Home Health Nurse Resume Sample

Jocelyn jones, rn, rn-bc.

9632 Home Haven Rd.

Phone: 444-444-4444

Email: [email protected]

Compassionate and dedicated home health nurse with 10 years of clinical experience, including 3 in home health. Seeking an opportunity to support patients and their families in their homes alongside a skilled team.

Home Health Nurse

Healthy Home Agency

April 20XX–present

• Conducting comprehensive patient assessments and developing individualized care plans for diverse patient populations.
• Providing skilled nursing care, including wound care, medication management, IV therapy, and disease management education.
• Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to coordinate patient care and ensure continuity of services.
• Documenting patient progress, interventions, and outcomes in compliance with regulatory standards.
• Supervising a team of 2 LPNs, with a total weekly caseload of 30 patients.

RN I, Telemetry

Medical Plaza Hospital

January 20XX–August 20XX

• Monitored cardiac rhythms and vital signs, identifying and responding to changes in patient condition.
• Administered medications, IV fluids, and treatments as prescribed by physicians.
• Assessed patient status and communicated findings to healthcare team members.
• Contributed to central line quality improvement initiatives, leading to a 17% unit-wide decrease in CLABSI.

RN I – 2C Med-Surg

April 20XX–December 20XX

• Provided comprehensive nursing care to adult patients with diverse medical conditions.
• Managed post-operative care, including pain management, wound care, and patient education.
• Supported patients and families in coping with illness and treatment plans.
• Ensured compliance with hospital policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.

Certifications & Memberships

Basic Life Support, American Heart Association (BLS: License #1234567)

Home Health Nursing Certification (RN-BC: License #8765456)

Wound and Ostomy Care Nurse (WOC: License #76543)

Member, International Home Care Nurses Organization (IHCNO)

• Patient assessment and care planning
• Wound care and dressing changes
• Medication administration, management, and education
• Comfortable managing patients with dementia and memory loss
• Disease management education
• Interdisciplinary collaboration
• Strong communication and patient advocacy
• Documentation using Axxess, MatrixCare, and WellSky
• Quality improvement and patient safety initiatives

Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of South Dakota (20XX)

Home Health Nurse Salary

The average home health nurse salary is $87,430 per year. Earning advanced certifications, experience, and continuing education can help you increase your earning potential.

Location is one of the biggest factors in determining your salary. Check out these high-paying states for nurses

Ready to Use Your Home Health Nurse Resume ?

If you’re seeking new nursing opportunities, IntelyCare has you covered. Check out the latest home health nurse roles , and get started finding your next dream job.

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