6 Essential Components for your Nursing Resume

6 Essential Components for your Nursing Resume

We have already discussed how to conduct yourself during an interview when difficult questions are thrown your way. Your responses may make or break getting that callback. However, you may not make it to the initial interview without a striking resume. Consider every time you apply; it serves as a first impression. Think about the objective goal of your resume, what are you trying to say about yourself? Find your nursing resume objective and feel confident in your job hunt. Be sure to have these 6 essential components on your resume to help you stand out amongst the hundreds of applicants.

Nursing Education & Training

Including your education on your nursing resume is one of the most important aspects to have, especially if you are a recent graduate and applying for your first nursing position.

Employers almost always have a degree requirement when hiring specific types of nurses. Since there is a standardized process to becoming a registered nurse, education, licensure, state designations, and certifications are essential to include. Use this space on the resume to demonstrate your nursing accomplishment statement.

Start with your highest level of education and work your way back. You do not always need to include your GPA, but this will may boost your chances if you are early on in your career and lack the number of years of experience. This is the time to display your nursing student achievements and all the work you had to do to get to where you are now.

Detailed Experience

It is incredibly important to be as detailed as possible when writing about your previous work experience on a resume. The layout should be as followed: job title and specialty, facility name, and employment dates. After this, begin listing your responsibilities within that role. Be sure to list the facility and unit-specific information that pertained to that job. For example:

• Facility Type (Acute Care Hospital, Short Term Acute Care, Long Term Care, Long Term Acute Care, Senior Nursing Facility, etc.)
• Unit Type (General Medicine, Psychiatric Care, Med-Surg, Neurology, Pediatrics, Geriatrics, Skilled Nursing and Plastics, etc.)
• Number of Beds per Unit

Nursing Resume Skills

Some may argue that the skills section is overlooked on resumes, but this can be useful when trying to indicate to employers that you meet the requirements of the position.  Nursing resume skills should be selected based on the job description and use those as keywords on your resume to help it stand out against other applicants. Important skills to include can range from basic care, technical, administrative, leadership, or computer skills.  This is another time to show off the skills that you learned and that nursing accomplishment statement.  Nursing resume skills will help you stand out.

Resume Objective

Making a nursing resume objective will help you stand out to the hiring manger; it shows the career goals and states the potion that you are applying for. A resume objective is great way to showcase your career ambition and shows what you can do for the company. Keep the objective short and sweet. Just a couple of productive sentences shall do.

Awards, Affiliations and Accomplishments

Including awards or affiliations that you have received or have been a part of during your education or career are great additions to have on your resume. Employers will want to know if you belong to any organizations such as the American Nurses Association or Sigma Theta Tau, the international honor society of nursing. Nursing student achievements that would be beneficial to include on your resume can include academic recognition, competitive scholarships, fellowships, grants, or internships.

Volunteer Work

Including volunteer work on your resume is a great way to showcase your passions for the field of work you are in. Again, if you are early on in your career and lack years of work experience, volunteer work can improve your chances by showing employers you have been exposed to the different healthcare settings.

Your Healthcare Career Counselor

Working with a healthcare recruiter can give you the opportunity to land your dream role. However, deciding what partner to work with is critical because not every agency is the same.

At RNa Partners, we strive to find you an employer with which you can thrive and build a career. We will help you polish up your resume and interviewing skills and direct you toward a job suited to your interest.  We work with Premier health systems with openings in almost all acute units. Our client is the largest health care employer in the state of Georgia, so we work with some of the highest compensating health systems around the country. Ready to make the push to a new career? Contact Us today to get started.