10 Nursing Resume Examples That Worked In 2021

Why this resume works

• As a registered nurse (RN) you want to be sure you include your license in your title, as is done on this resume. This applies to any nursing license that you have. This is a clear, immediate signal to the employer that you are qualified.
• Make sure you're specific as to your practice area in your past nursing and healthcare work experiences. A potential employer should quickly be able to see how many years of experience you have in dermatology or emergency room experience for example.
• Whenever possible, quantify the scope of your past experiences in terms of number of patients or beds where you worked.

Why this resume works

• A resume objective is by no means required on your registered nurse resume. If you are ever faced with the choice of including a resume objective or including more relevant work experience and you want to fit your resume on one page, always go with more work experience.
• If you've had the opportunity to do work outside of a clinical setting in your career, be sure to include it. This kind of experience can really help you stand out in the crowd of job applicants.
  • For example, have you worked on a community outreach program? Did you have the chance to do public speaking? Did you lead an initiative to standardize or organize documentation practices?

Why this resume works

• As a nursing student, you've gained plenty of clinical experience during your rotations! It is standard practice to talk about your experience during your clinical rotations. The key is to be specific as to what you contributed or learned during this time in school.
  • How did you provide assistance? Did you witness anything especially noteworthy? What did you learn? 
• When you're writing your nursing student resume, you can include any relevant classes you took while in school. As you gain more experience the "education" section of your resume will take up less and less space so you'll exclude this information.

Why this resume works

• As a new grad nurse your experience during your clinical rotations can (and should) be included on your resume. It's also important to list any other healthcare experience you have. This can be paid experience (EMT, CNA, etc..) or volunteer experience.
  • If you don't have experience, that's okay! Just talk more about your clinical rotations. You can also mention non-healthcare specific work experience if you have it.
• Your nursing resume skills should try to match keywords mentioned in the job description? Does the job description talk a lot about compassionate care for example? Then you should include the phrase "compassionate care" in your skills section.

Why this resume works

• Your nurse practitioner resume should make it very clear what license you have. Whether it's an APRN license or an NP license, include your designation right after your last name on your resume. This quickly makes it clear to the potential employer that you're qualified for the role.
• If you decide to include a resume objective (and you most likely shouldn't) it should be specific for each job you're applying to. Your resume customization shouldn't stop there. It means more work, but customizing your resume for each job you apply to can increase your chances of getting an interview by over 20%!

Why this resume works

• When you're an experienced nurse with several years of experience, try to demonstrate the different kinds of specific responsibilities you've had throughout your career. What kinds of clinical techniques have you done? For example, have you done catheritizations, administered specific tests, or worked on diagnosis for specific types of disease?
• If you have 5+ years of experience, it's important that your work experience takes up the most space on your resume.  This means keeping your education and skills section to a minimum. With more text, however, you have to ensure your resume is easily readable and digestible. Our resume builder can help with that.

Why this resume works

• When you're applying for a more specialized nursing role like an ICU nurse position, have your job title (right under your name on most resumes) match the title of the job you're applying to.
• Even if you don't have specific ICU experience, any nursing experience can be made applicable. Some skills in nursing are universal.
  • Do you provide effective patient care? How have you done it? Those are the essential questions you should ask when trying to write your "work experience" bullets.
• As annoying as it can be at times, the ability to write clear, thorough documentation is an invaluable skill to have as a nurse. Can you talk about your experience demonstrating that? This is especially important if an administrator is involved in the hiring decision for the nursing role you're applying to.

Why this resume works

• As you build your certified nursing assistant (CNA) resume, it's a good idea to include any work experience you have even if it's not healthcare related. Having a job (any kind of job) demonstrates a degree of responsibility that is always desirable in a potential employee.
• Much like if you were applying for an RN role, you should include your license right in your resume title (right after your last name like above). This will immediately signal to the employer that you deserve an interview as you're qualified for the role.
• Do you have any licenses like BLS and/or CPR? Include these as well as your CNA in a dedicated "Licenses" section on your resume.

Why this resume works

• As a traveling nurse you should make it clear when talking about your past work experiences whether they were traveling nursing contracts or not. An employer wants to get a sense for whether you have previous travel nurse experience or not.
• Your job title ("Travel Nurse (RN) in the resume above) should include your RN license.
• More likely than not, you don't need to include a resume objective or resume summary on your travel nurse resume. Leave more room for your work experience. Your goal should be to keep your resume to one page so real estate is very valuable!

Why this resume works

• When you're applying for a new job as a charge nurse, it's really important that you've demonstrated an increasing level of responsibility throughout your nursing career. Have you had the opportunity to manage or lead co-workers? Have you ever trained a nurse? Led scheduling? Any project or experience you've had in a leadership position should be included.
• If you have more than 5 years of experience, your resume can extend to two pages (if you have less than 5 years of experience, keep your resume to one page). This means you should include any and all meaningful responsibilities you've had in your past roles.