Surefire Tips To Supercharge Your Nursing Résumé

 By Lynn Horne, RN, OCN

This is an exciting time for nurses! The U.S. Department of Labor reports that employment of nurses is expected to grow 23% over 10 years. The fastest employment growth is projected in physicians’ offices, home health care facilities, and outpatient care centers. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expects that 800,000 nursing positions will go unfilled by 2020!  

With such encouraging projections, nurses face both benefits and challenges in the job search marketplace. Certainly, job openings are not scarce, but competition remains high for promotions and the best positions with top employers.  

Your nursing résumé is the key component of your job search arsenal. A focused, keyword-rich résumé can open doors, but a general, poorly written résumé can close them. Creating a nurse's résumé is difficult, notably because there are no rules. There are expectations and guidelines, but the information included and the format chosen to emphasize your top qualifications will depend entirely on your individual background.  

Many nurses choose to enlist the services of a professional resume writer. Professional resume writers who specialize in working with nurses and other healthcare professionals offer skills that would take the average job seeker years to master. This expertise can give you an edge over the competition.  

Creating a nursing résumé is difficult, but if you decide to take on this challenge without the support of a professional résumé writer, follow these tips to make your nursing résumé stand out: 

1. Understand the differences between nursing résumés and general business résumés. 

       Nursing is a highly specialized career field and an appropriate résumé may not follow conventional guidelines. When applying for most jobs, you would include all of your past work experience, regardless of whether it is relevant to your current career goals. However, a nursing résumé should have a strong focus on nursing-related qualifications and experiences only. It may be appropriate to include other experiences, but this will depend entirely on your background.     

       Further, it can be appropriate to include more information on volunteer and educational achievements on a nursing résumé, while this is often not recommended for general business résumés. Educational achievements, rotations during college, nursing honor societies, and scholarships may also contribute to the effectiveness of your résumé.  

2. Do your homework. 

       In addition to researching employers and job opportunities, it is important to keep up with hiring trends and current resume techniques. The preferences of nurse recruiters and hiring managers change as the job search landscape changes. For example, for many years, an objective statement appeared at the top of every nursing résumé. This is no longer recommended. Furthermore, the one-page résumé myth continues to circulate, despite repeated findings that many nurse recruiters prefer a more detailed two-page résumé. Whether your résumé should be one or two pages depends entirely on your individual background and career goals.  

3. Do not use a résumé template. 

Microsoft Word and other word processing applications offer free résumé templates. Do not use them! Résumé templates are designed to fit the “average” job seeker. This “one size fits all” approach does not work with nursing résumés. Not only are these templates designed for general business job seekers, but your résumé should be tailored to showcase your greatest skills and qualifications.  

4. Start out with a strong profile or summary of qualifications. 

       An effective nursing résumé begins with a strong Profile or Summary of Qualifications that incorporates nursing-specific keywords, key credentials, and achievements. An objective is not recommended. Depending on your background and goals, it may be appropriate to include a title immediately preceding your Profile or Summary of Qualifications. This serves to “frame” your résumé by immediately telling the employer who you are. 

       When developing your Profile or Summary of Qualifications, keep these tips in mind: (1) begin with accurate, appropriate, and interesting modifiers, (2) provide a glimpse into the scope of your experience and qualifications, (3) use employer-centric language, and (4) stay concise. 

5. Detail your nursing experience.  

       While it may be tempting to simply copy and paste your job description into your résumé, potential employers know what nurses do on a day-to-day basis. Rather than provide a general description of what nurses are responsible for in your organization, focus on what sets you apart and the value you offer your next employer. Potential employers are not interested in what you were “responsible for” in your past positions; they want to know what you accomplished!  

6. Use keywords  

       Keywords are a critical, but often overlooked, component of writing an effective résumé. With employers receiving hundreds of résumés in response to a single job opening, most large and medium-sized organizations now use résumé databases where they can search for specific keywords to find the right candidate. Keywords are standardized, descriptive words associated with specific disciplines or industries. Keywords can make or break your job search, but it is difficult to know what keywords should be used. Ultimately, if you apply for a job with an organization that searches résumé databases for keywords, and your résumé does not have the right keywords, your job search with that organization is over.  

7. Proofread, proofread, proofread! 

Grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors can turn an effective résumé into a liability. The importance of proofreading cannot be understated. If you approach the résumé casually, hiring managers and recruiters may make assumptions about your job performance. A sloppy document with errors will not project the right image.