Tips for Writing a Nursing Resume That Gets the Interview

Creating a superior nursing resume can open doors to opportunity…whether it’s career advancement, a new job or a change in career paths.

Today’s economy has resulted in lower patient census and hiring freezes throughout the healthcare community. Merely filling out an application will not guarantee you a second look.

Make Yourself Stand Out

Supplement the traditional “job application” with a nursing resume that highlights accomplishments and skills…highlighting:

• quality patient care
• managerial expertise
• saving your previous employer money

Focus on Employer Needs

Check out the job description of the position you are applying for. Research the facility and what the employer’s needs are.

How do your past tasks support these needs? By highlighting certain past experiences, you can make yourself sound exactly like the person the prospective employer is looking for.

Be Specific

Whenever possible, give specific numbers or percentages of accomplishments. Go over your past accomplishes and determine how successful you were. Try to obtain specific numbers for your best accomplishments and skills (especially making quality improvements and saving money).

This is no time to be shy. You’ve accomplished a lot in your career. Just make sure you are honest.

Examples:

• Under my management, we experienced an improvement in patient satisfaction from 70% to 92%
• Our unit sick time decreased from 80 hours per week to 24 hours per week
• I implemented safeguards in urinary catheterization, decreasing urinary infections by 90%
• Maintained current ACLS skills and was team leader for all Codes on my shift

Again, focus on the specific accomplishments and skills that the prospective employer will be looking for. Keep it short and sweet. You don’t have to list everything…just the hot topics.

Power Packed Action Words

Writing resumes is a sales project. Position your qualifications in the best possible way by using strong action words.

“Managed” is much stronger than, “responsible for”.

Use words like “authored, conceptualized, developed, doubled, managed, negotiated, analyzed, mastered, reduced and utilized”. They are powerful action words that can better highlight your experiences.

If you are posting your resume on a job site, these power packed words may be keywords that the employer is searching for. Keep the best in the top one third of the page for best results.

Use Bullets and White Space

Bullets are easier to scan and stand out in the text. Prioritize the most important bullets first. Keep paragraphs short, with double spaced breaks.

Follow these basic guidelines and your nursing resume will land on top of the pile.

Here’s a nursing resume sample for your use. Tweak it to fit your experience and potential work situation.