Nurse Resume Example for Registered Nurses

Nursing is a licensed profession. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that registered nurses must have a nursing license issued by the state in which they work, and that to become licensed, nurses graduate from an approved nursing program and pass a qualifying exam. That exam is the NCLEX, which the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) describes as a nurse licensure exam. Other requirements, such as a criminal background check, vary by state.

Because of this, hospital recruiters usually check credentials before anything else. Give them a Licenses and Certifications section with the license type, the issuing state board, and expiry or renewal dates for life-support cards such as BLS and ACLS. If you hold a multistate or compact license, or are waiting for a license by endorsement in a new state, say so in plain words and confirm the details with the board of nursing where you will work.

BLS lists three common education paths for registered nurses: a bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN), an associate's degree in nursing (ADN), or a diploma from an approved nursing program. Name yours exactly and add the school and completion date. New graduates should also list clinical rotations, because they are real patient care experience. Write the specialty and setting, for example "Clinical rotation, pediatrics, 120 hours, sample children's hospital". Experienced nurses can drop rotations and let their unit experience speak.

O*NET lists the core work of registered nurses as recording patients' medical information and vital signs, administering medications and monitoring for reactions, keeping accurate records, reporting changes in condition, and coordinating care plans with the healthcare team. Every RN does those tasks, so a bullet that only repeats them adds little. Make your bullets specific instead:

• State the unit, population and typical patient load ("five to six adult post-operative patients per 12-hour shift").
• Add quality work you took part in, with a result from unit data you can explain.
• Mention teaching roles, such as precepting new graduates or leading a skills day.
• Include systems and equipment if the posting names them, for instance telemetry or a specific EHR.

Never include patient names, dates of care or anything else that could identify a patient. Unit-level numbers, like falls or readmissions across a year, are the right level of detail.

Large health systems almost always use an applicant tracking system. Greenhouse, one such system, lists graphics, photos, tables, headers and footers among the reasons a resume fails to parse. Keep to one column, standard headings and a text-based PDF; the free templates in the resume builder are built that way. After editing, run the ATS basics check to catch missing contact details or date gaps, and read how it scores on the ATS test method page. Leave off a photo and your age, which Harvard's career office lists among things not to include on a US resume.