Without registered nurses (RNs), healthcare as we know it would cease to exist. They’re the glue that keeps hospitals together, and nurses serve on the front lines in the service of their patients.
RNs are more in demand now than ever, but the road to becoming a nurse is still challenging. Whether you’re working toward your BSN or becoming a nurse practitioner, hard work is required.
You shouldn’t have to be an expert at making a resume or writing a nursing student cover letter.
After analyzing numerous resumes from nursing students, we’re sharing the best resume-writing practices along with eleven excellent nursing student resume samples that are succeeding in 2025.
Why this resume works
- Nurses must undergo clinical rotations in school, so you should include this relevant experience on your nursing student resume.
- If you’ve held multiple full or part-time nursing roles, you can omit your rotations, but otherwise, leave them in. They’re great experience!
- You’ll hear many arguments for and against having a career objective, but we only recommend adding one if 1) you’re undergoing a career change or 2) you just finished nursing school, and this is your first full-time nursing job.
- If those circumstances fit, add an objective! Just remember you have to tailor it to each job you apply for. If you don’t have time to do that, then skip this part.
Why this resume works
- You likely have plenty of experience as a registered nurse (RN), but remember that you should try to keep your nurse practitioner student resume to a single page.
- If you’re on the border between one page and two, try some handy resume formatting tricks, like reducing the font size and page margins to fit more content (while keeping an eye on overall readability). Don’t make your text too small, or it’ll be hard to read.
- Choose a professional resume template where you can include certs on your resume if you’re a licensed registered nurse (RN) and have passed the exam. Also, include the state(s) where you’re certified since, sometimes, certification doesn’t carry over.
VIew more nursing student practitioner resumes >
Why this resume works
- The absence of paid work experience shouldn’t create a hole in your beginner nursing student resume. Seize the opportunity to show skills acquired in practical classes, volunteer opportunities, and research projects.
- Narrow down your focus on critical thinking, data gathering and analysis, and other skills that shore up your competency.
Why this resume works
- Due to your shortage of real-life nursing experience, emphasize your soft skills and how you have used them in your class work and practicals.
- Show your research, communication, and problem-solving skills and crown them with adding your experience gained from clinicals on your nursing student clinical experience resume.
Why this resume works
- Just because your experience is limited doesn’t mean the recruiter will go easy on you. Our friendly advice? Wow them with a tailored career objective section in your new grad nursing student resume to show them a little bit of who you are.
- Ideally, your career objective should be a punchy paragraph summing up your relevant experience, skills, and intentions. Take Lennox, for instance; he divulges that he brings nursing internship experience and handy interpersonal skills, all essentials for nailing a junior RN position. A couple of sentences is your sweet spot for this statement.
Why this resume works
- When creating a great graduate nursing student resume, the little things matter, so make sure you build your resume right by being consistent in punctuation.
- When it comes to fixing your resume, consistency is key. For example, your work experience bullet points should end the same, either with or without periods.
- Some nursing jobs require additional certifications (beyond an RN) but don’t assume a hiring manager knows your certifications. Instead, add a certifications section to prove you have an ALS, CPR, or EMT certification.
- Do you need a nursing student cover letter? Keep reading for a cover letter template you can edit and adjust as needed!
VIew more graduate nursing student resumes >
Why this resume works
- Your relevant educational background and license say you’re the ideal fit. However, the recruiter has probably seen another licensed vocational nursing student resume showcasing the same qualifications. So, what could be your saving grace here? Try highlighting transferable skills from past projects.
- Did you see how Isolde doesn’t shy away from mentioning she designed promotional materials for a book fair while serving as a library assistant? That subtly signals creative chops, suggesting she could be the innovative force the hiring facility needs to bring new ideas to life. However, always prioritize a relevant internship, then line up your project entries right after (reverse chronological order, remember).
Why this resume works
- Now, no one’s expecting a college student to have the world’s greatest work experience. So don’t stress too much on actual jobs. As long as you can add projects that showcase your nursing abilities, you’ll be in a good position.
- Be creative with the bullet points in your pre nursing student resume and start each one with strong action words like Monitored and Undertook to be straightforward and convey your impacts from the get-go.
Why this resume works
- Still in college and looking to spread your wings via internships? Congrats! Just make sure your nursing student intern resume contains all the skills you’re good at.
- It’s fine to only have projects and no related work experience. However, if possible try being innovative with placement. Include skills for any non-healthcare job to prove your versatility in using healthcare software/devices in real-life scenarios as well.
Why this resume works
- If you have any experience in the healthcare space or leadership expertise outside of healthcare, include them in a hobbies and interests section on your resume (also titled “activities”).
- Volunteer experience is a good idea, especially if it relates to healthcare.
- Most people understand the importance of nursing, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to demonstrate the direct impact of your work. So how can you quantify your impact on your nursing student for externship resume?
- If you can, include numbers. For example, how many people did you work with? How many rotations did you serve? Did you increase efficiency or productivity by a quantifiable amount? There are numbers there if you know where to look!
View more nursing student for externship resumes >
Why this resume works
- If you’re looking to land your first full-time nursing position out of nursing school, then play the part. That means putting down your title as “registered nurse,” not “nursing student.”
- This is especially true if you already have an RN certification. If you do have certification, make sure to list it in a separate section, along with the year you got certified!
- Your nursing student (no experience) resume works best if you include only a handful of relevant skills in your resume’s skills section.
- List any specialties you might have (like pediatrics or geriatrics), plus technical skills like clinical documentation.
Related resume guides
Need Help with Your Nursing Student Cover Letter?
It’s satisfying to finish writing your resume, but don’t forget about writing a cover letter, too! We’ve got you covered (get it?) with a cover letter template you can edit in Google Docs and Word.
Why this cover letter works
- When writing your graduate nursing student cover letter, emphasize how your background will benefit the new company. For example, spotlighting technical specialization and adaptability in high-key work environments is great!
- Always tie your skills to the organization’s values by pulling phrasing like “shape the future of healthcare” from their website’s mission statement.
- If you have stand-out experience, like exemplary bedside manner or familiarity with a specialized area like pediatrics, showcase these.
- Always make sure you list your certifications in your graduate nursing student resume, of course—but it doesn’t hurt to mention them in your cover letter, too!
- It’s also ideal to establish how much experience you have alongside your qualifying certifications at the intro to your cover letter.
- An extra resume tip: your resume should be concise, but your cover letter should tell a story about your qualifying background.
How to Write a Nursing Student Resume
Writing a nursing student resume isn’t easy: you don’t have enough direct work experience. However, you can still craft a resume to get the job. How?
To write a standout nursing student resume, pay attention to the following:
- Use an easy-to-scan and read format
- Highlight relevant experience
- Showcase transferrable skills
- Leverage your career objective
- Take inspiration from these expert-approved resume examples
Now let’s help you write a resume that gets your first real nursing job.
Craft a summary of your nursing student qualifications
With no direct work experience, you have more room to use a summary and talk more about your potential. Use this opportunity to showcase your enthusiasm, transferable skills, and goals for your career.
Also, align your professional summary with the job description. For instance, if the employer is looking for a patient-centered professional, you should showcase examples of how you put the interest of patients first in previous roles as an intern or during practical projects.
What are some examples of student nurse resume objectives?
Entry-level RN student resume objective
Dedicated nursing student seeking an entry-level RN position at Stanford Health Care. Eager to apply clinical knowledge, strong communication skills, and a patient-centered approach to provide high-quality care and support a collaborative healthcare team in delivering exceptional patient outcomes.
Nursing student intern resume objective
Nursing student with impeccable data analysis and interpersonal skills looking to add on real-life clinical experience in a community-centric health champion like ChristianaCare. Terrific timekeeper, team player, and critical thinker, passionate about bridging the health services access gap among vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Choose the right resume format
The reverse chronological format is the best choice for your nursing student resume because it lists your qualifications from the most recent, showing your career progression and a timeline of your experiences that make you the most suitable candidate for the job. Also, this layout is ATS-friendly and gives recruiters an easy time when they review your resume.
Demonstrate practical nursing student experience
It doesn’t matter that you’re just beginning your career journey; you still have much to show for your experience. Internships, practical projects, coursework, volunteer work, and charity work can be listed here. All you need to do is use active verbs, show impact, and use relevant tools, challenges, and lessons learned.
Ensure that what you add here is relevant to the role and shows your understanding and knowledge of the medical field.
Example of work experience for a nursing student applying for an RN position
Include relevant education and certifications
You should add your nursing education, coursework, and training to boost your interview chances.
How to add education to your nursing student resume
Bachelor of Science
Nursing
University of Delaware
2021-Current Newark, DE
Also, if you have any certifications, awards for outstanding work, or special licenses, include them in your resume. They show your unique qualities and move you closer to getting the job. Only include them if they’re relevant to the role you’re applying for.
Examples of certifications/licenses for a nursing student’s resume:
- Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification
- Phlebotomy Certification
- Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) Certification
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) License
- Medication Administration Certification
What skills should be on a nursing student resume?
Almost every employer uses applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen applications before landing on a real-life hiring manager. That’s why you must include relevant keywords that describe skills and other clinical terms listed on the job description. There is a high chance that your resume won’t pass the screening phase if it lacks these crucial phrases.
Both direct and transferable skills will distinguish you from the other applicants. Highlight your competencies in nursing tools and soft skills acquired during internships, practical projects, and other activities outside the traditional classroom.
Examples of skills for a nursing student’s resume
- Time Management
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
- Pulse oximeters
- Lexicomp
- Cerner
- SPSS
- HIPAA
- Patient intake and discharge
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Nursing Student Resume FAQs
Customize your nursing student resume to the specific job you’re applying for. You should showcase relevant skills, add education, coursework, training, and briefly summarize your professional profile.
One page is enough to show your strengths and convince recruiters you’re the right candidate for the job. Don’t include everything you can think of; only include your education, experience, projects, coursework, certifications, and contact information. Be brief and only add what adds value to your qualifications.
It’s a resume that includes the clinical experience that a nursing student acquired from a healthcare institution to learn hands-on skills from experts. Most importantly, the resume highlights clinical skills and unique qualifications that other candidates may not have.
BeamJobs has a comprehensive list of resume examples where you can find the perfect nursing student resume sample that you can use to write yours. We also help you, like many other successful job seekers, build a resume from scratch, optimize it for your dream job, and help you write a cover letter to complete your application.
Stephen is the co-founder and CEO of BeamJobs. He started his career in data fulfilling the dream of little kids everywhere: working for an insurance company. He then moved on to work in edtech for a company called Chegg before venturing out to start BeamJobs. Things have come a long way after countless “learnings” (fancy word for mistakes), and BeamJobs has now helped 2.5M+ people create their perfect resume. Stephen and BeamJobs have been featured on awesome sites like Business Insider, Chicago Tribune, Dallas News, Baltimore Sun, the Daily Press, Zendesk, HubSpot, and loads more.
