Nurse Resume

About This Resume

Whether you enjoy writing about yourself or see the resume as one more form between you and the unit, nurse managers still rely on it to check your license, your specialty and the kind of patients you have cared for. The key to a strong nursing resume, then, is to put those facts near the top and state them plainly but with enough detail to show your usual patient load. Although new graduates have less to list, they can stand out with clinical rotations, a strong preceptorship and the certifications they already hold.

A nursing resume is distinguished from most others in that the first thing a reader checks is a credential: your active license, the state that issued it and whether it is a multistate compact license. Next come the unit and the load. Managers want the type of unit you worked (medical-surgical, telemetry, ICU, labor and delivery), how many patients you usually carried and whether you worked nights or twelve-hour shifts. Certifications such as BLS, ACLS or PALS belong near the top as well, with expiration dates, because many units cannot put you on the schedule without them.

What to Include

• License type, issuing state and expiration date, with a note if it is a multistate compact license (add the number only if the posting asks)
• Certifications such as BLS, ACLS, PALS or a specialty credential like CCRN, CEN or PCCN, each with its expiration date
• For each job, the unit type, bed count and your usual number of patients per shift
• Charting systems you have used, such as Epic, Oracle Health (formerly Cerner) or Meditech
• Charge nurse, preceptor, rapid response or unit committee roles
• For new graduates, clinical rotations with the unit, the type of facility and the hours, plus your capstone or preceptorship
• Shift and schedule, such as nights, weekends or twelve-hour shifts, if the posting names one

Nurse Resume Sample

Tips for Your Nurse Resume

• If you are a new graduate, put a clinical experience section above your work history. List each rotation's unit, the kind of facility and the hours, and give your capstone the most detail, since it is closest to the job you want.
• Show the load in every entry. Instead of "Provided patient care," write "Cared for 5 or 6 telemetry patients a shift on a 32-bed unit," which tells a manager how busy your shifts really were.
• Leave patient names, room numbers and anything else that could identify a patient off the page, even when a bullet describes a hard shift you are proud of.
• Give each certification the same three details: its full name, the body that issued it and its expiration date, because a missing date makes a reader wonder whether a card has lapsed. If you do not have a specialty certification yet, you should also include the one you are working toward, following the same format, with the month you plan to take the exam.
• Use the unit names from the posting. Hospitals call similar units by different names (step-down, progressive care, intermediate care), and screening software often looks for the exact words.
• Group travel or float pool work under one heading with the agency or pool name, then list each assignment's unit type, facility size and length.
• Show one change you helped make, such as a fall-prevention huddle or a new discharge checklist, and what happened on the unit afterward.
• One page works for most new graduates. Two pages are normal once you have several units, certifications and charge experience to list.