Nursing Resume Writing Guide for 2021 Image

Top 10 Details to Include on a Nursing Resume and 2021 Writing Guide

It’s difficult to write a compelling nursing resume in 2021. For starters, nursing professions encompass hundreds of skills and career details. Therefore, it’s difficult to determine which details you should include on your resume. Moreover, it’s difficult to differentiate your nursing resume from all the others with the same exact skills! In this article, we draw on over 40 years of combined experience as nurse recruiters to provide everything you’ll need to create exceptional nursing resumes for 2021.

Our 2021 nursing resume writing guide is packed with information. Below is a table of contents to help you navigate. Simply select a link and you’ll be taken to the beginning of the topic:

Please note that we created this guide for experienced nurses. However, it’s also useful for students and new-grads.

If you’re a student or new-grad, then be sure to check out our guide for New-Grad Nursing Resumes. If you’re a travel nurse, then be sure to check out our guide for travel nursing resumes.

Guide For New Grad Nursing Resumes

Guide for Travel Nursing Resumes

Screening Nursing Resumes for Content

First, let’s take a look at how healthcare employers screen nursing resumes.

Hiring managers, recruiters and software evaluate nursing resumes based on two general factors. First, they evaluate resumes based on the degree to which the content of the resume matches the job description.

This evaluation process is technical and robotic. Either the resume includes variables the employer seeks or it does not.

Second, they evaluate a resume based on how well it conveys that the candidate can excel at the job. This evaluation process is more subjective.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the content evaluation process nursing resumes typically go through.

Nursing Resume Content and Applicant Tracking Systems

In the vast majority of cases, you will apply for nursing jobs through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). An ATS is a software application that helps employers manage the hiring process. If you’re filling out an online job-application, then you’re almost certainly using an ATS.

It’s important to note that most ATS’s allow healthcare employers to choose which ATS features they want to use and which they do not.

How “Knock Out Questions” Affect Nurse Resume Screening

“Knock Out Questions” might be the most commonly used ATS feature in the healthcare industry.

Have you ever applied for a job online where the application asked you a question like, “Do you have 2 years of recent ICU Experience?” Or, “Do you have any violations on your nursing license?”

If so, then you have answered Knock Out Questions. Essentially, if you provide the wrong answer, then you’re out. It doesn’t matter what your resume says.

What Happens to Your Nursing Resume in the ATS?

In any case, several things can happen when you upload your resume to an ATS.

First, the ATS might “parse” the content and automatically add it to the online application where applicable. This saves you time.

Second, the ATS might extract all of the resume’s content and enter it into a separate file in the ATS. Recruiters and hiring managers might use this version of your resume instead of referring to the actual document you upload. That’s right, it’s possible that your actual resume is never even seen.

ATS Ranking Systems for Nursing Resumes

Next, it’s possible that the ATS will score your nursing resume. The score is based on how the content of the resume matches the content that the employer programs the ATS to look for.

Then, the Applicant Tracking System might rank all the resumes from highest to lowest score. Recruiters can then start reviewing the highest-ranking resumes first.

We’ve seen other articles about nursing resumes claim that these scoring systems are standard in the healthcare industry. Our experience indicates otherwise. Instead, healthcare employers often do not make use of the resume scoring features.

That said, you must still optimize your nursing resume for the employer’s desired content.

Human Review of Nursing Resume Content

More importantly, several humans review nursing resumes during the hiring process. Like the ATS, they also screen for the employer’s desired content.

Additionally, the humans evaluate the resume to determine if the candidate can excel at the job.

For most employers, a recruiter is the first human to review resumes. Afterwards, recruiters may or may not contact desirable candidates to ask a few questions and determine if the candidates are still interested in the job.

Once this process is complete, recruiters typically forward the best candidates to the hiring manager. Here again, the hiring manager typically reviews resumes for the desired content and judges whether the candidate can excel at the position.

It’s important to note that the “best” resumes are almost always the ones with all the critical details the employer desires. If the information isn’t there, then the resume stands a far greater chance of being removed from the process.

The Two Content Goals for a Nursing Resume

Essentially, the screening process necessitates that your nursing resume achieves two general goals pertaining to content.

2 Resume Goals

  1. The Objective Goal: Make sure your resume includes content the employer wants to see.
  2. The Subjective Goal: Utilize your creative writing skills to differentiate yourself and demonstrate that you will excel at the job.

Accomplishing these goals is easier said than done. Each goal has its own set of challenges. We’ll discuss those challenges and provide tips for overcoming them in the sections that follow.

4 General Types of Content for Nursing Resumes

First, it’s important that we have a basic understanding of the 4 general types of content that are applicable to all resumes.

Hard Skills

Hard skills have two main characteristics. First, you can learn them in a classroom, from a book, or on the job. Second, they are often quantifiable.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are subjective and typically unmeasurable. They are often referred to as “interpersonal skills”. They commonly define how you interact with other people as well as how you manage yourself and your personal responsibilities.

Duties

Duties are more general in nature relative to hard and soft skills. Basically, you often utilize your hard and soft skills to accomplish your duties.

Accomplishments

Accomplishments convey how well you performed in your previous roles. They are often measurable. However, accomplishments can also involve the achievement of goals, awards and honors.

BluePipes: Professional Networking and Career Management Tools for Healthcare Professionals

Accomplishments vs. Duties on Your Nursing Resume

It’s important to note that the conventional wisdom on resumes contends that your resume should be “accomplishment driven”. Advocates of this approach advise against listing skills and duties on your resume.

However, nursing is a skills-based profession. Healthcare employers need to know that you have experience with the highly technical skills they’re seeking.

At the same time, healthcare employers want to know about your accomplishments too.

Fitting all of this information on your nursing resume is a major challenge. Managing this challenge represents a key difference between nursing resumes and most other resumes.

There are two key solutions to this problem. First, there are certain critical details that every nursing resume should include when applicable. These critical details implicitly convey tons of information so you don’t need to list your duties and skills. We discuss these details below.

Second, use your creative writing skills to frame your nursing skills and duties within statements that convey your accomplishments whenever possible. Essentially, you knock out two birds with one stone. We provide specific examples below.

And remember, not everything on your resume needs to be an accomplishment. The point is to make sure you’re thinking about your accomplishments and including them when you can. This is what will make your nursing resume stand out from the crowd.

Making Content Lists for Your Nursing Resume

Before we put our creative writing skills to work on our nursing resume, it’s best to create lists of potential content we might want to use. This practice is akin to making “word clouds”. However, we’re not going to make a “cloud”; we’re going to make some simple lists.

We recommend that you make lists for the following 6 categories:

Resume Content Lists

  • A list of terms from the specific job posting
  • A list from researching the potential employer
  • A list of your current and previous jobs’ measurables
  • A list of your accomplishments from current and previous jobs
  • A list of your duties from current and previous positions
  • A list of your hard and soft skills

Trust us, this is much less work than it seems. You only need to complete the lists that are specific to you one time. Once that’s done, you can focus on making lists that cover the employer’s you apply with, which is relatively quick and easy.

It’s an exercise that will save you tons of time in the long run. It will help you quickly create compelling nursing resumes customized for specific jobs. Let’s take a look at each list in detail.

List of Terms from the Nursing Job Posting

As we mentioned above, one of the primary goals for our nursing resume is to make sure that it includes content that matches the job requirements. The first step toward that goal is creating a list of terms from the job posting.

It’s a seemingly straightforward process. However, it’s tricky if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Let’s take a look at an example.

Below is a list of terms we pulled from an actual job listing for an ER Nurse. Click this link to view the job listing.

Sample List of Nursing Job Post Terms

  • Job ID: 2018-60127 (you can use this on your nursing cover letter)
  • Employment Type: Full Time
  • Department: Emergency Services
  • Shift: 12 Hour Nights
  • provides, coordinates and directs care to individuals and families using a holistic approach
  • The nursing process
  • critical thinking
  • problem solving
  • provide care within a safe and confidential environment
  • collaborating with members of the healthcare team
  • providing leadership
  • personal/professional development
  • conducting him/herself professionally
  • demonstrate behaviors consistent with the core (Mercy) values in support with Methodist Hospital and the Mission and Philosophy of Dignity Health
  • Current California RN license
  • One (1) year of experience as an RN in the Emergency Room, or a related field of nursing, required (Two (2) years preferred)
  • AHA BLS
  • AHA ACLS
  • AHA PALS
  • MICN
  • ENPC
  • TNCC
  • CEN

As you can see, this list includes hard skills and soft skills. It also includes a few items you might not think to put on your nursing resume; the shift and employment type for example.

The list also includes mention of the hospital’s values, mission and philosophy. However, these items are not defined. Therefore, you may want to find definitions for them when you research the employer.

Creating a List from Employer Research

The truth is that employer research is most useful for job interviews. However, it doesn’t hurt to conduct employer research to help with your nursing resume.

When conducting employer research for your nursing resume, you want to find details about the employer that converge with your own experience. When you’re successful, it’s a great way to differentiate yourself and gain an edge over other candidates.

Unfortunately, every employer and individual are different. Therefore, we won’t be able to provide an exact example. However, here is a list of considerations:

Employer Research Tips

  • Review the employer’s website in detail. Look specifically for a “Press Center” (like this one) or some other page where the employer is issuing news about themselves.
  • Check the company’s social media accounts (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter).
  • Search for News on the employer (select the News option when searching on Google).
  • Use “Hospital Compare” on Medicare.gov to see how a hospital stacks up.
  • Use LinkedIn to discover connections or request introductions to current employees and contact them to inquire about details.

Creating a List of Your Current and Previous Jobs’ Measurables

When we use the term “Job Measurables”, we are referring to anything that is quantifiable. Here are some examples:

Your Own Measurables

  • Your own performance evaluation scores
  • HCAHPS scores
  • Nurse/Patient Ratios or Caseloads
  • Cases per day or per month (you, the unit and the hospital)
  • Find out how your current employer quantifies themselves and their performance
  • Find out how your current employer quantifies you and your performance

Creating a List of Your Job-Related Accomplishments

Contrary to popular opinion, you can include both individual and team accomplishments on your nursing resume. Here are some examples of accomplishments:

Sample Accomplishments

  • DAISY Awards
  • Your personal performance evaluation scores
  • You were promoted and/or given charge duty
  • Your Emergency Room unit achieves a Quest for Zero award during your tenure
  • Your hospital achieves Magnet status recognition during your tenure

If you have difficulty determining your accomplishments, then we recommend reviewing your previous job performance reports/reviews.

Creating a List of Job Duties for Your Nursing Resume

Job duties are difficult to articulate for your nursing resume. To simplify, we recommend that you review your current official job description. This will help you articulate your duties in a way that is standard to the industry.

Almost every employer maintains an official job description for all positions, so it shouldn’t be difficult to obtain. In fact, your previous employers might even provide access to your former job descriptions.

If all else fails, we recommend that you review job advertisements for similar jobs.

Here are some examples:

Sample Duties

  • Assess patient and family needs
  • Develop plans of care
  • Coordinate and direct patient care
  • Ensure the physiological, psychosocial, safety, learning, rehabilitative, spiritual, cultural and self-care needs of patients and their families are addressed
  • Administer medications

Creating a List of Hard Skills for Your Nursing Resume

The nursing profession is absolutely loaded with hard skills. In fact, nearly every nursing specialty has hundreds of hard skills. Here are some examples:

Sample Hard Skills

  • 12-Lead Placement
  • 12-Lead Interpretation
  • Arrythmia Interpretation
  • Ventricular Assist Device
  • Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump
  • Foreign Language Proficiency
  • General Computer Skills (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.)
  • EHR Proficiency (Epic, Cerner, etc.)

Here are some helpful questions to consider when you develop your own list:

Hard Skill Primer Questions

  1. Did you start IVs?
  2. Did you administer medications? Which medications?
  3. What type of patients did you care for? Renal? Cardiovascular? Neuro? Ortho? Rehab?
  4. What was the age range of the patient population you cared for?
  5. What specific equipment do you have experience with? Did you read strips? Work with vents? Trachs? Balloon pumps? Swan-Ganz? da Vinci Surgical System?
  6. Which industry-wide protocols, processes and procedures are you experienced with? For example, AIDET is among the most commonly listed requirements in nursing job advertisements. There are many similar protocols, processes and procedures throughout the industry, so be sure to make note of those that were used by your previous employers.

For additional assistance, we recommend that you join BluePipes and complete one of our free nursing skills checklists.

We have skills checklists for every major nursing specialty. You can download them as PDF documents and use them to apply for jobs or bring them to job interviews.

Soft Skills for Your Nursing Resume

Given that nurses care for patients and commonly work in teams, it’s obvious that soft skills are a very important part of the profession. Here are some examples:

Sample Soft Skills

  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Communication Skills
  • Teamwork
  • Time Management
  • Work Ethic
  • Patience
  • Flexibility

We recommend that you review various job-postings to help you identify potential soft skills to include on your list. Remember, include only those skills that are truly relevant to you.

Deciding What to Include on Your Nursing Resume

Obviously, you won’t have enough space to include all the information from your lists on your nursing resume. You will need to determine which details will make the cut. Remember, the two primary objectives are as follows:

2 Resume Goals

  1. The Objective Goal: Make sure your resume includes content the employer wants to see.
  2. The Subjective Goal: Utilize your creative writing skills to differentiate yourself and demonstrate that you will excel at the job.

Matching Your Nursing Resume to Job Requirements

Other websites make it sound like you only need to match the content of your resume to the content in the job posting. Doing so, they say, will ensure your resume includes all the content the employer seeks.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. First, employers don’t always include every detail they’re looking for in the job description.

For example, many nursing managers want to know if candidates have experience on units with a similar number of beds to their unit. Therefore, resumes that include this information will get more attention. However, you will rarely if ever see a job description that mentions the number of beds in the unit.

Second, some job descriptions are so massive that you won’t be able to fit all the information on a resume even IF you had all the desired skills and experiences. As a result, you’ll be stuck wondering what to include.

What Content Makes the Cut?

Therefore, we provide a list of the top 10 details to include on your nursing resume. This list is based on over 4 decades of combined experience as recruiters who worked with hundreds of hiring managers. We often say that including these details will never get your resume rejected, but missing them might.

These details will not fill out your entire resume. Rather, they will serve as a base. You can then use your content lists to determine opportunities to shine with specific employers.

Please review this list carefully as you will most likely uncover details which are missing from your nursing resume.

Top 10 Details to Include on Your Nursing Resume

10. Professional Affiliations:

Many employers want to know if you belong to any professional associations. In fact, they’ll often ask about this on their job applications. Membership demonstrates your commitment to honing your skills.

Therefore, if you belong to associations like the American Association of Critical Care Nurses or the Emergency Nurses Association, then include the following details on your nursing resume:

Professional Affiliation Details

  1. Affiliation name
  2. Your date of admission
  3. Offices held
  4. Brief description of your role or reason you chose this group over others

Example professional affiliation statement:

Member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses since 2014. Secretary of the Sacramento, CA Chapter since 2016, collaborating, sharing best practices and developing leadership skills with local colleagues.

9. Honors – Awards – Special Assignments – Volunteer Work:

As with all resumes, a nurse’s resume should include any honors and awards they’ve received. Examples include honors and awards from school, work, volunteer work, professional affiliations, and even social clubs.

Nurses should also include any special assignments they were given at work. Did you ever take charge-duty? Did you do any scheduling, mentoring or precepting?

You should also include honors and awards earned by teams that you contributed to. Did your Emergency Department earn a Lantern Award? Did your hospital achieve Magnet Status during your tenure?

You may choose to place these items under their own heading. However, this isn’t necessary. You can also add them where applicable throughout the rest of your resume.

Examples:

Selected as Relief Charge in recognition of demonstrated organizational, leadership and teamwork skills.

Contributed to knowledge management and learning development efforts on a PICU that achieved a gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence during tenure.

Elected President of a Sigma Theta Tau developing honor society and made significant advancements toward chapter status during tenure.

8. Specific Nursing Education Details:

You must include the degree you earned (ADN, ASN, BSN, MSN, etc.). When you don’t include it, recruiters and hiring managers are more likely to remove your resume from consideration in favor of other resumes that include it.

This is because employers almost always have a degree requirement and/or a preference. Meanwhile, the staffing office can’t obtain this information easily on their own.

Here is a list of education details for your nursing resume:

Education Details

  1. Name of school (required)
  2. City, and State (required)
  3. Degree earned (required)
  4. Beginning date – Completion date (optional)
  5. GPA if it was really high (recommended)
  6. Achievements, awards, scholarly organizations and activities (recommended)

Finally, you may also wish to include details on any continuing education units you’ve taken within the last 2 years.

Bonus:

If you are bilingual, then be sure to include it on your nursing resume! According to a recent study from TalentNeuron, “bilingual” was the second most commonly required skill listed on nursing job advertisements.

Example:

Education
Bachelor of Science, Nursing (BSN)
California State University Sacramento, Sacramento, CA
  • Graduated magna cum laude (3.75 GPA)
  • Dean’s Award 2017: Exemplary Student
  • Recieved the Elizabeth Moran Award for Excellence – An award based on faculty nominations for a student who demonstrates academic excellence in nursing, critical problem solving in the clinical setting and potential for leadership.

7. Nursing License and Certification Details:

We highly recommend that you include the following for your licenses:

License Details

  1. License type (LPN, RN, NP, CRNA, etc.)
  2. Licensing State/Body
  3. Name on license if different from name on resume
  4. License expiration date
  5. License number
  6. If the license is part of the Nurse Licensure Compact, then state it clearly.

Many people argue that nurses should not put license numbers on their resumes as a matter of privacy. However, nursing license numbers are a matter of public record.

Anyone can easily obtain a license number from a state’s Board of Nursing using the basic information on all resumes. However, the recruiter’s job is easier if you provide the license number. In a competitive job market, that could make all the difference in the world.

When it comes to certifications, we highly recommend that you include the following for every certification you hold:

Certification Details

  1. Certification name (BLS, ACLS, PALS, TNCC, etc.)
  2. Certifying body (AHA, etc)
  3. Expiration date, or date acquired if it has no official expiration date.

Example:

RN – Registered Nurse, CA, expires: Dec, 2022, # 625384

BLS – Basic Life Support, AHA – American Heart Association, expires: Dec, 2022

ACLS – Advanced Cardiac Life Support, AHA – American Heart Association, expires: Dec, 2022

6. Availability:

Unlike many professions, nurses work round-the-clock. Therefore, your resume should convey the shifts you’re willing to work and indicate your willingness to relocate when applicable.

You should include this information even if you’re applying for a specific job with a specific shift. You never know if the employer has another opening that is unadvertised which you may qualify for.

Moreover, employers store resumes in their ATS for future use. Recruiters will use the ATS to find candidates in their database who match future job requirements.

Availability can have its own heading on your resume. However, it’s best to simply add your availability to your Professional Summary.

Example:

Registered Nurse with over 7 years of Emergency Room experience, willing to work Day Shifts or Night Shifts within a 1-hour drive of Sacramento, CA.

5. Computer Skills:

According to a recent study by TalentNeuron, “Electronic Medical Record” was the most commonly required skill in nursing job advertisements. “Epic Software” and “Meditech”, popular EHR software packages, were also on the list.

It’s imperative that you list any and all EHR / EMR experience you have. You may also want to include any other computer experience you have just in case it may be of value to the employer, or to at least demonstrate that you have computer skills if you lack experience with EHRs.

Of course, billing codes are a big part of EHRs. Both ICD10 and ICD 9 are among the most commonly listed skills in nursing job advertisements. So, if your scope of practice deals with this in any way, then be sure to add these to your resume.

You can include a separate heading for Computer Skills on your resume. Or, you can include your computer skills in your resume Summary. You could also mention them in your job descriptions.

Example:

Epic Credentialed Trainer, over 3 years of experience with Meditech, and strong Microsoft Office skills.

4. Facility Details

Various Facility-Details tell the potential employer a ton about your experience with very few words. Here are some examples:

Facility Details

  1. Facility Type: Designations like Acute Care Hospital, Short Term Acute Care, Long Term Care, Long Term Acute Care, Skilled Nursing Facility, etc.
  2. Trauma Designation: Include the trauma center level (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5).
  3. Teaching Hospital: If you worked at a teaching hospital, then mention it.
  4. Rural Designation: Designations like Critical Access Hospital, Rural Referral Center, etc.
  5. Magnet Status

You can include these details under the specific job description in your resume’s Work History section, or in your resume’s Summary. For example, if the job you’re applying for lists trauma hospital experience as necessary or desired, then it’s a good idea to identify your trauma experience in the resume Summary to make it stand out.

3. Number of Beds:

Just like the facility type, bed-counts tell the potential employer a ton about your experience with very few words. Include the following:

Bed Count

  1. Total beds at the facilities you worked
  2. Total beds in the specific units in which you worked

2. Unit Details

Unit details also tell the employer a lot about your experience with few words. Consider including the following details and others like them when available:

Unit Details

  1. Unit Type (MS, TELE, ICU, CVICU, ER, L&D, etc)
  2. Match your vernacular to the prospective employer. If the employer calls it “Emergency Department” and your old job called it “Emergency Room”, then go with Emergency Department.
  3. Do not use things like “3 West” or “4 North”. Nobody else knows what that means.
  4. The nurse-to-patient ratio
  5. Number of patients per day (you and the unit as a whole)
  6. Number of support staff (LPNs, CNAs, or MAs, etc.)
  7. Did the unit take trauma patients?
  8. Did the unit routinely deal with overflow from other units? If so, what types of patients were seen from overflow?
  9. If you floated to other units, then you should include information on those units. In doing so, include the percentage of time you spent in each unit.

1. Properly Framed Skills, Duties and Accomplishments in Your Work History

The most important thing we want to convey regarding the details you include in your work history is what NOT to do. Simply put, do not list duties one after the other each on a single line. For example:

Do Not Do This!

  • Provided patient care
  • Administered medication as needed
  • Collaborated with care team
  • Applied the nursing process to patient care

First, this wastes a lot of space. All of these items could be listed continuously within the same bullet point. More importantly, it fails to differentiate you and demonstrate that you will excel at the job.

Unfortunately, tons of nursing resumes use this approach. We’re not going to. Instead, we’ll combine skills, duties and accomplishments into cohesive statements in order to maximize results with less space.

Example Job Details for Nursing Resume

Provided patient care in a Cardiac ICU that took care of post-coronary intervention patients with IABP’s and Impella heart pumps, and post cardiac arrest patients requiring therapeutic hypothermia.

Integral member of unit’s Quality Assurance Team tasked with identifying and evaluating quality issues, managing patient census, and allocating staff assignments.

Selected as an original team member for the hospital’s new CVICU. Assisted in developing the unit’s policies and procedures and ensuring the unit’s successful launch.

Implemented discharge planning and provided health care education to the patient and significant other to promote recovery.

Selected to collaborate on Patient Satisfaction Taskforce tasked with developing, testing and implementing related policies and procedures.

Achieved highest possible quality review scores for duties realted to training and educating patients and families on ESRD.

Listing Skills

Finally, we don’t want to scare you away from listing hard skills on your nursing resume. Again, nursing is a skills-based profession and listing skills is sometimes necessary.

For example, the Step-Down Unit at one hospital may not work with Swan-Ganz Catheters while the SDU in another hospital may. Therefore, you’d want to highlight such skills if you have them. Additionally, you could list skills in order to match the job requirements.

That said, we recommend against a heading specifically for listing skills. Instead, list them with your job details. Or, list them in your summary. For example, you might include the following on your resume if you’re applying for a position in the CVICU:

Example Skills Statement

Proficient with starting IVs, Intra-aortic balloon pumps, 12-Lead Placements, 12-Lead Interpretation, AICD Insertion, Beta Blockers, Argotroban, Atropine and other cardiovascular medications.

How to Format Your Nursing Resume

Now that we have all our resume content ready, we need to decide on a format and a layout. We’ll discuss format first.

Generally, there are 3 resume formats. Let’s take a quick look at each.

Chronological Resume

The most common resume format is chronological. It emphasizes the candidate’s work history. It includes sections for Summary, Work History and Education. Work History and Education are listed in reverse chronological order. Hence the name.

Functional Resume

A functional resume emphasizes the candidate’s skills, prior responsibilities, accomplishments and various other attributes. A functional resume may or may not include a section for Work History.

Combination Resume

Simply put, a combination resume combines the attributes of chronological and functional resumes.

What is the Best Resume Format for Nurses?

The best resume formats for nurses are the chronological resume and the combination resume. We urge nurses to avoid the functional resume format.

Now, you’ll see many articles on nursing resumes that recommend functional resumes for new-grads, nurses making career transitions, and nurses reentering the workforce after some time away. While this is the generally accepted recommendation for all industries, we believe it’s not a good choice for nurses.

First, if you’re a new-grad, then you can add your clinical rotations in lieu of work history. New-grads can also include work history outside the healthcare field. Select this link to view our article for new-grad and student nursing resumes.

Second, most nursing employers will only consider skills that the candidate utilized on the job within the last 2 to 3 years. As a result, a skills-based resume won’t work for new-grads or nurses who are reentering the workforce after many years away.

The only reason we can imagine for nurses to use a functional resume format is if they are not a new-grad and have absolutely no work history to list. This is a very rare scenario. Again, we urge nurses to use the chronological and combination resume formats.

Choosing a Layout for Your Nursing Resume

The “layout” of your nursing resume refers to how you organize content on the page. In theory, there are an infinite number of possible layouts.

However, we can split layouts into two general categories. There are one-column layouts and multi-column layouts.

The traditional resume we’re all used to seeing uses the one-column layout. It’s a classic F or E pattern. Each line spans the width of the page.

People commonly refer to multi-column resumes as “Modern Resumes” or “Contemporary Resumes”. The reader must review content by section as opposed to drawing their eyes down the page while scanning from left to right.

What is the Best Layout for Your Nursing Resume?

We strongly urge nurses to use the traditional one-column layout. This recommendation is backed by our experience. It’s also backed by numerous studies.

For example, a study from TheLadders in 2018 found that recruiters spend an average of 7.4 seconds on their initial screening of a resume. While we believe this overdramatizes the reality, we agree that you have little time to catch a recruiter’s eye.

Perhaps more importantly, the study found that the top-performing resumes shared several common traits. They are as follows:

Common Traits of Top-Performing Resumes

  1. Clearly marked section and title headers
  2. Very simple layouts conducive to traditional F or E-pattern reading tendencies
  3. Bold job titles with bulleted lists of accomplishments
  4. A detailed summary at the top of the page

The worst-performing resumes also shared common traits. They are as follows:

Common Traits of Worst-Performing Resumes

  1. Cluttered layouts with multiple columns, long paragraphs and little white space.
  2. Layouts that did not make use of clearly defined section headers to draw the viewer’s eyes down the page.
  3. Keyword stuffing.

As you can see, the research strongly supports a traditional one-column layout for your nursing resume.

What Headings / Sections Should be on a Nursing Resume?

The research also supports the use of clearly marked section and title headers. Below is a list of potential headings or sections for your nursing resume. We also indicate if we feel the section is required, optional, or if you should avoid it altogether.

Personal Information Section – Required

Your name serves as the title header for your personal information. Include the following personal information atop your nursing resume:

Personal Information

  1. Full name
  2. Full address
  3. Telephone number: Use cell phone numbers whenever possible. Many employers use recruitment software with text messaging.
  4. Professional email address: Refrain from using email addresses that are unprofessional.

Also, you should consider creating an email address just for job search purposes. You should also consider using burner phone numbers. Unfortunately, many job boards and related services sell your contact information to third parties who will inundate you with marketing messages.

How To List Nursing Credentials on Your Resume

You should list your nursing credentials after your full name in your Personal Information atop your nursing resume. According to the American Nurses Credentialing Center, they should be listed in the following order:

Nursing Credentials

  1. Highest earned degree
  2. Licensure
  3. State designations or requirements
  4. National certifications
  5. Awards and honors
  6. Other recognitions

Objective Section – Avoid

Many articles and advisers recommend that new-grads and others with little experience use an Objective instead of a Summary. They assert that there isn’t anything to summarize. Therefore, it’s better to provide an Objective that tells the employer what your goals are.

We, and many experts, completely disagree. First, everyone has a Summary to provide. Additionally, you can always include an Objective-Statement in your Summary.

That said, we firmly believe that you should avoid telling the employer how they can help you. And that’s essentially what Objective Statements do. Objectives almost always say, “Hey, here is my employment goal, help me achieve it.”

Instead, use every opportunity to convey why and how you will excel at the job. That’s what a summary is good for. Summaries say, “I’m the solution to your problem. Here is why.”

Summary Section – Required

As mentioned above, studies show that resumes with clearly defined Summary headings perform better than those without. The Summary is a place for you to provide a quick, intriguing snapshot of who you are and how you can help the employer achieve their goals.

Select this link to discover how to write an amazing Summary for your nursing resume.

Licenses and Certifications Section – Recommended

As we mentioned above, we strongly recommend a title-heading for Licenses and Certifications. Every nursing job requires them. Therefore, they should be prominently displayed on your nursing resume.

Please select this link to view the information we recommend you include.

Nursing Skills Section – Avoid

Many articles recommend that nurses include a title-heading for Nursing Skills on their resume. We recommend that you avoid doing this for several reasons.

First, a skills title-heading is the cornerstone of a functional resume. We want to avoid this resume format at all costs.

Second, we recommend that you include a select set of skills within carefully crafted statements. You should select the skills based on the job description, employer research, rarity of the skill and/or demand for the skill.

Third, if you include the details we recommended above, then you’re already giving the reader a thorough idea of your skill set. For example, if you list that you previously worked in a 32 bed ICU at a level 1 Trauma and Teaching Hospital, then the reader has a very good idea of your skill set.

Finally, we want to avoid “keyword stuffing”. The study we cited above found this practice is counterproductive. Our experience indicates the same. A Skills section almost always involves keyword stuffing.

Work History Section – Required

It goes without saying that the Work History title-heading is required on your nursing resume. Throughout this article, we’ve offered tips on what to include in this section. Below is an example:

Work History
University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN
Staff RN, Apr 01, 2015 – Present

24 bed ICU in a 581 bed Level I trauma and academic medical center. Recipient of Magnet, Comprehensive Stroke and Comprehenesive Cardiac Center designations.

  • Patient population includes medical and trauma patients in addition to recovery of cardiac and vascular
    surgical patients at nurse to patient ratio of 1:1-3 dependent on acuity
  • Specialized training includes targeted temperature management, Impella, IABP, CRRT
  • Active in unit leadership and shared governance as relief team leader, representative on unit council, unit
    representative on hospital EMR committee, preceptor of new employees, head of unit journal club
  • Multiple Daisy award nominations and Guardian Angel award recipient
  • Cerner EMR software

Should you Highlight Job Title or Employer on Nursing Resume?

Traditionally, career advisers recommended that you prominently display the names of employers on your resume. More recently, many recommend that you prominently display the job title on your resume instead. So, what should you do?

Well, the argument for highlighting job titles asserts that job titles say more about your experience and qualifications than do employer names. However, this isn’t always the case in nursing.

For example, “Staff RN” is a very common job title in nursing. You could be a Staff RN at a Long Term Care Facility, a Rehabilitation Center or a Level 1 Trauma Acute Care Hospital.

Therefore, we recommend that you highlight the names of your employers in most cases. The person reviewing your resume will know more about your experience if they see “UCLA Medical Center” than if they see “Staff RN”.

Education Section – Required

It also goes without saying that the Education title-heading is required on your nursing resume. Below is an example:

Education
Associate of Science, Nursing (ASN)
Sacramento City College, Sacramento, CA, 2005-2008
  • Graduated magna cum laude (3.75 GPA)
  • Fluent in Spanish

Optional Sections

The sections below are all optional. You may choose to include them for any number of reasons. Also, these sections are good to add if you have limited work history and have chosen to use a Combination Format for your nursing resume.

Specialties Section – Optional

A Specialties title-heading is the best way to make your specialties stand out. It’s also a great way to add some white-space to your resume, which will make it easier to read. Here is an example:

Specialties
ICU – Intensive Care Unit (5 years of experience)
SDU – Stepdown Unit (2 years of experience)

You can add Specialty information in your Summary if you prefer. This will save space, but it will not stand out on the page as prominently.

Computer Skills Section – Optional

As we mentioned above, computer skills are becoming increasingly important in the healthcare industry. Below is an example:

Computer Skills
Epic: 7 years
Meditech: 3 years

Professional Affiliations Section – Optional

As we mentioned above, professional affiliations are important to many hiring managers. Below is an example:

Professional Affiliations
AACN – American Association of Critical Care Nurses
Sacramento Chapter – Member since 2014
  • Chapter Secratary since 2016

Honors and Awards Section – Optional

Of course, Honors and Awards are what resumes are all about! If you have many to highlight, or even a couple of prestigious ones, then you may choose to include a title-heading for them. Below is an example:

Honors and Awards

DAISY Award – Received over a dozen nominations. Award winner for November, 2018. (http://www.daisyfoundation.org/daisy-award/honorees/your-name)

Dianne Lanham Award Winner, 2018 – Recognizes the importance of leadership competencies as a component of nursing practice at the point of direct care.

Volunteer Work – Optional

Nurses are among the most caring and compassionate group of folks in any community. They routinely engage in volunteer work and greatly appreciate that their peers do as well.

If you have a consistent and long-tenured history of volunteer work, then you should certainly consider including a title-heading to highlight it on your nursing resume. Below is an example:

Volunteer Work

Mercy Ships: Spent two weeks in 2016 and 2017 providing patient care in the Operating Room of the Africa Mercy, the world’s largest NGO hospital ship.

Loaves and Fishes: 2015 – Present: Provide assistance in multiple areas including resource allocation / distribution and clinic support.

Formatting Tips for Your Nursing Resume

Resume formatting involves things like fonts, margins, sizing, etc. Resume formatting affects both the humans and the applicant tracking systems that read your resume.

As the study we cited above indicates, humans respond better to resumes with clean fonts and appealing white-space. Meanwhile, images and various uncommon formatting characteristics can confuse applicant tracking systems.

Follow these formatting tips to make sure your nursing resume is appealing to humans and software.

Nursing Resume Margins

The margins on your resume will affect how much content you can fit on one page.

However, margins also affect the amount of white-space on your resume.

Too much content makes your resume look busy and cluttered, which we don’t want.

Using 1-inch (1”) margins all around the document is the standard approach. That said, most experts agree that margins of .5” to 1” are best for your resume.

Whatever you choose to do, just make sure that the top margin is equal to the bottom margin and the left margin is equal to the right margin.

How Long Should Your Nursing Resume Be?

The conventional wisdom contends that resumes should be 1 page. As a result, many people are tempted to use tiny margins and cram as much as they can on one page.

Please don’t do that! The conventional wisdom is wrong. In fact, 2-page resumes are actually more successful.

In a study conducted in 2018, recruiters were 2.3 times more likely to prefer 2-page resumes.

If you’re still not convinced, please review our article on nursing resume length. Either way, please do not cram your resume with content just to make everything fit on one page!

Nursing Resume Font Type

Simply put, your nursing resume should use a font that is standard, common and simple. Do not use cursive, calligraphy or handwriting fonts. Also, do not use fonts with awkward angles or variances in font weights.

Here is a list of clean, simple fonts for your nursing resume:

Font Families

  1. Calibri
  2. Arial
  3. Verdana
  4. Times New Roman
  5. Georgia
  6. Cambria
  7. Helvetica
  8. Book Antiqua

Nursing Resume Font Size

Most resume resources recommend a minimum font size of 10pt. However, it’s a little more complicated than that.

Different fonts have different units of measurement. Therefore, the size of Times New Roman using 10pt is much smaller than Arial using 10pt.

We agree that you should not use less than 10pt for any font type, but the minimum size for certain font types, like Times New Roman, should be 12pt. You’ll need to run some comparisons between fonts to determine whether the base font size for a particular font type is small or large.

With that in mind, you also want to use different font sizes and font weights to highlight certain aspects of your nursing resume. It’s good to experiment with this aspect of your resume, but the table below will help:

Nursing Resume Font Size
Content Type Font Size Font Weight
Your Name 20pt – 24pt (2x the Description font size) Bold
Your Contact Information 10pt – 12pt Normal
Section Headings 14pt – 16pt Bold
Employers (or Job Titles) 12pt – 14pt Optional (Bold or Normal)
Descriptions 10pt – 12pt Normal

Document Type

Unfortunately, the internet is littered with misinformation and outdated information on what document types are best for resumes. This is largely the result of misconceptions about which document types applicant tracking systems can handle. So, let’s set the record straight for nursing resumes.

First, the ATS will let you know what document types it supports. For example, most ATS’s will display supported document types in clear view. The example below is from Davita Kidney Care. They use WorkDay which is one of the largest applicant tracking systems.

Select image to enlarge

Moreover, nearly every applicant tracking system will prevent you from uploading unsupported document types. The example below is from Dignity Health. They use iCims which is one of the largest applicant tracking systems.

Select image to enlarge

A significant percentage of nursing jobs will go through one of the following ATS’s:

Healthcare Applicant Tracking Systems

  • Taleo
  • HealthcareSource
  • iCims
  • WorkDay
  • HealthStream
  • BrassRing
  • SuccessFactors
  • PeopleFluent

ALL of these ATS’s will let you know what document types they support. And they ALL support PDF and .doc formats among others. In fact, it’s difficult to find an ATS that does not support these document types.

Naming Convention for Your Nursing Resume

We recommend you name your nursing resume document as follows:

Firstname_Lastname_Credentials_Resume.pdf

Example:

Jennifer_Smith_BSN_RN_CCRN_Resume.pdf

Additional Items to Avoid on Your Nursing Resume

We’ve mentioned several things to avoid throughout this article. Here are some additional items to avoid on your nursing resume:

Things to Avoid

  • Avoid “special characters”. Standard bullet points (black dots) are fine. Don’t use arrows, checkmarks or other special characters in your lists
  • Do not include images or graphics on your nursing resume
  • Make no mention of references
  • Avoid using the “Header” and “Footer” for anything important. The ATS may not recognize them.
  • Make no mention of expected, current or previous compensation
  • Check for spelling errors and then check again
  • Avoid details about your private life
  • Avoid using obscure title-headings. Stick with the basics like “Summary”, “Education” and “Work History”
  • Avoid using scripted text from Resume Generators. These services advertise professionally written resume phrases to help you build your resume. You can check out this article for more information on resume builders for nurses.

Nursing Resume Samples

Kudos to you for making it through our nursing resume guide! We’re confident that you’ll create an amazing resume by following the tips herein.

Below are some sample nursing resumes so you can see everything in action. We created these resumes with the free nursing resume builder on BluePipes.

BluePipes helps you manage your entire nursing career on one platform. You can create career related documents and manage your licenses, certifications and clinical records all for free. Join today to simplify your nursing career!

Select a link or image to view the sample nursing resume:

Sample Nursing Resume – 1

CVICU RN – Full Format

Sample Nursing Resume – 2

CVICU RN – Basic Format

Sample Nursing Resume – 3

ER RN – Full Format

Sample Nursing Resume – 4

ER RN – Basic Format

Sample Nursing Resume – 5

Telemetry RN – Full Format

Sample Nursing Resume – 6

Telemetry RN – Basic Format

Good luck with your nursing job search!

72 replies
  1. alexandria soros says:

    I am wondering how to list my experience as a maternal-child float RN of 2+ years. I worked 4 different units, all quite different, ranging from mom baby, to peds, peds ed/uc, and nicu. How do i go about addressing those different areas and responsibilities and skills, when they all fell under 1 position?

  2. bricallia says:

    Thank you for the information, its very helpful. This site is of so much help to me. thank you, and it is also free. Its amazing, I just can’t appreciate it enough

    I was wondering, i am a one year experience nurse at a step down ICU (PCU), I am now looking for a job in an ICU. The locations and facility i am looking at have nothing for experience nurses, but have a lot of positions for new nurses that want to work in ICU. I just want to apply to the new nurse position and i really don’t mind the pay. Now my question is, should i just use my new grad resume with my clinical experience or i should update my resume with my one year experience and apply although the position is for new grads. please i will really appreciate any advise. thanks you
    Bricallia

  3. Jesse says:

    Hi Kyle,

    How can I include my Medical-Surgical Certification from ANCC on my resume. Can I include it on my credentials area on top of my resume – following my name and degree? I ask because the ANCC instructs to do so on their website. I’ll be honest it’s somewhat confusing though, at least to me. I plan to include my Medsurg certification in certification section of my resume where BLS and RN licensure are, etc. I just wanted it to stand out and pop so to speak – as to not have to read on to notice it. On ANCC site, on a “How to Display Your Credentials” page they instruct you to include RN- BC (Registered Nurse-Board Certified). Was hoping you could clarify or add something else.

    Great web site … thanks.

    Regards,
    Jesse

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Thanks for the inquiry, Jesse, and my sincerest apologies for the delay! Your Medical-Surgical Certification from ANCC is considered a “National Certification” and should be listed after your name at the top of your resume and in the Licenses and Certifications section of your resume. The order for listing credential after your name is:

      1. Highest Degree Earned
      2. State License
      3. National Certification
      4. Nationally Recognized Honors and Awards

      I hope this helps!

  4. Karen says:

    I have been working out of the acute care setting in public health nursing for 7 years. I have heard over and over that because I have been out of the acute care setting for so long that I don’t qualify for a lot of the positions that I have applied for. Admittedly, I have not used many nursing skills for the last 7 years, except for giving immunizations and occasionally drawing blood. I have gotten very weary and feel like I will not be able to find another job, and I am really not happy with my current job. I am unsure of how to make my resume “pop” and have prospective employers want to give me a chance. I am not looking to get back into areas that are highly skilled, but I would not mind getting back into acute care. Any ideas???

  5. Katie says:

    Kurt, I am an RN at a VA hospital in cardiac telemetry. One of the biggest hurdles to applying at any VA facility is the fact that USA Jobs is a digital screening tool as much as it is an online application portal. Matching as many keywords in the functional statements for your desired role in your application can be the difference between getting an interview and being passed over. Hope this helps!

  6. Jessica says:

    Hello Kyle,

    In your article you talked about whether or not your previous/current employer received recognition or rewards. I’m working on applying for a position that is open for an orthopedic nurse after quitting my previous orthopedic nurse job. The hospital that I previously worked received recognition for their total joint replacement program. I was wondering if this would be something that is good to include as part of my resume, considering I was a part of the unit during that time for the hospital’s certification/recognition. If so, how would you go about including that in without making it seem just a random fact listed and make it more as an accomplishment for myself also since I was a part of that unit/team during that time.

    Thank you,
    Jessica

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Thanks for the inquiry, Jessica. Yes, this is definitely something you can include on your resume. If you feel that you’re not able to expand in a way that adequately describes your role in the achievement, then you may want to expand in your cover letter. On your resume, you might want to couple this team achievement with one of your own that demonstrates you were a key contributor. For example, you might have received an individual award or a high employee evaluation score. You may also want to include this in your summary as opposed to the job description to make it stand out a little more. I hope this helps!

  7. Susan Leong says:

    Hello Kyle,

    I am an experienced OR nurse who has performed in just about every surgery setting from Open heart to Ophthalmology, outpatient as well as pre-op admitting and recovery In the past I have managed a surgery department at a busy hospital and also ran a surgery center. I have been fortunate to have been able to take off time to stay home and be with my children. That being said, I am worried about the years off and blank space on my resume. How would you go about filling in the gap? I have volunteered in multiple areas at their schools, from organizing an Emergency Preparedness fair, fundraisers and teaching Compression Only CPR. My license and continuing CEU’s have always rained current. Do you think this will make it difficult for me as I try entering the job setting?

    I appreciate any suggestions you might have.
    Thank you,
    Susan

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Susan,

      Thanks for the inquiry. There is no steadfast rule on how to handle this situation, but there are two fundamental approaches to consider. First, you can consider a “Functional Resume.” Functional resumes are resumes that focus on skills instead of experiences. In your case, you would focus on all of your OR experience. You might have a small section to list your previous employers. or you may even choose to leave it out entirely. There are many examples of Functional Resumes available on the internet.

      Second, you could use a traditional chronological resume. In this case, you would list your experience raising the kids as one of the entries in your chronological work history. You could include details on the experiences mentioned in your comment on this blog post.

      Again, there is no right or wrong way. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. To answer your question, yes, this situation is always a bit of challenge. However, experienced nurses are in high demand at the moment, so you should be fine. Also, I’m personally inclined to recommend the chronological format. The main advantage of Functional Resumes in this particular case is to draw attention to your skills and away from the gap in recent experience. However, employers are going to find the gap no matter what. So, I think it’s best to embrace it. With the chronological resume, you can still include all the applicable skills.

      I hope this helps!

  8. kurt says:

    I have worked in home health and corrections for about 5 years now. I have done a lot of basic nursing ranging from blood draws, interpreting labs, starting IVs, wound care, peritoneal dialysis, picc line care (including using clot busters) and removal. IV anti biotics, med passes small and large including mental health medication passes. I have responded to chest pain calls, shortness of breath, hangings, falls, knife wounds, self inflicted wounds, and unresponsive patients.
    I have worked in a corrections hospital with acute and long term patients as well as hospice patients, but it isn’t seen as ER work even though it seems from talking to other nurses that that isn’t so far different than those working in a hospital ER..

    Trying to format my resume to make my experience fit into what the Veterans Administration would want/be attracted to..

  9. Chris Nelson says:

    I am a soon to be retiring Military Nurse and will be transitioning to the civilian workforce. How important are listing awards? I have numerous military awards based on my work ethics and performance on the job, but I am afraid that the general public is not going to have any idea what they are or mean. Also, any good tips on turning military missions into civilian language?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Chris,

      Thanks for your service!! I think it’s a great idea to add the awards to your resume. You could do one of two things. Simply list them out by their official name. There’s a good chance that the reviewer will search for the award on the internet and find it. Or, you could add a very brief description of the award in parentheses. For example: X Award (earned for valor in action). Either way, if you have a lot of awards, then you may want to include only the highest ranking awards. If you choose to list many of them, then put them in columns or in a continuous stream separated by commas to save space.

      Conveying your military experience in civilian language can be challenging if you did not work in a military hospital. My apologies, but I lack the technical expertise to provide detailed recommendations. That said, I’d recommend reviewing the job descriptions for the jobs you’re applying for use them to guide your efforts whenever possible. I hope this helps and thanks again!

  10. Emily says:

    I have a position working in a “float pool” (we call it the Mobile Unit). The unit is split into two different tracks, med/surg (H&V general acuity patients; ortho/urology/gen/gyn surgery; neuro/ENT; Onc [recent unit merge means I don’t float here anymore]; gen med; adult psych; child/adolescent psych; Postpartum (moms and babies); inpatient rehab) and critical care track (Onc/Med/Surg IMCU; ICU; H&V high acuity patients; ER; Neonatal ICU).

    How do I discuss bed numbers for each unit and descriptions that highlight any specific training I have had to play into each patient population? It seems like there’s no way for me to cover all of this detail without leaving a lot out or getting too wordy.

    I also accepted a critical care position, but have not transitioned yet. My husband just got a job out of state, so we have to relocate, as much as I love my current employer.

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Emily,
      This is a great question; thanks for posting it here! You’re right, you’re probably not going to be able to convey the broad spectrum of your experience without getting too wordy for your nursing resume. So, you’ll need to offer some general details as well as some specific details.

      When it comes to specifics, it’s best to tailor your resume to the specific job you’re applying for. Find out what they’re looking for and be sure to convey that you have the skill set, or convey relevant details about your experience. I believe this is the most important consideration for your resume.

      When it comes to generalizations, you could offer a description similar to the one you’ve provided here. For example:

      I worked on a Mobile Unit, or Float Pool, caring for Med/Surg patients 50% of the time and ICU patients 50% of the time. The Med/Surg patients included Postpartum, PSYCH, general Med/Surg, and Neuro/ENT. The ICU patients included ER, NICU and general ICU. Unit sizes varied from 5 beds up to 25 beds.

      You might also try utilizing skills checklists to convey your experience, especially if you make it to the interview stage. Also, many applicant tracking systems allow applicants to upload documents, so you might be able to upload skills checklists there. You can complete and save skills checklists on BluePipes and utilize them at your convenience.

      I hope this information helps!

  11. Rebecca says:

    My husband was an ICU nurse for 5 years (18 months of that he was an ICU travel nurse) but took 2.5 years off to work in another field. He’s now applying for nursing positions as we prepare to move. Should he address the clinical gap in his resume? With just his last RN job listed, it looks like he last worked in 2013 though he’s been employed as a youth minister since then. How should he handle this?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Rebecca,

      Yes, you should address the gap in the resume. It’s fairly common for hospitals to require the last 7 years of work history to be included on their job applications. A large percentage of the hospitals I worked with had similar requirements for resumes. Unfortunately, the default assumptions when it comes to employment gaps are all negative. Do your best to tie the experience into nursing. I believe most career advisers would recommend the same. I hope this information helps!

  12. Michaela says:

    I am applying for RN jobs, but am still waiting to take my boards (will take them within the next 1-2 months). How should I address this on my resume?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Michaela,

      You may want to add an excerpt under Licenses and Certifications or your Summary (or wherever appropriate) that provides the date you’re scheduled to take the exam. For example: RN: Scheduled for NCLEX on July 9, 2015. I hope this helps!

  13. Emily says:

    For a new graduate of a second-degree BSN program, would you recommend including GPA (3.9) on a resume?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Thanks for the question, Emily! Yes, I recommend adding a great GPA to your nursing resume. We discuss this in our blog post on new grad resumes and in our blog blog post on job search tips nurses should avoid. Many people argue that your GPA doesn’t matter. They say that all that matters is that you’re licensed. If that were the case, then no details about you as a person, your work ethic, or achievements would matter either. And we know that’s not true. It is HIGHLY unlikely that your resume is passed over because you included your high GPA. Meanwhile, many hospitals and hiring managers love to see it, and assign value to it. So yes, by all means, add it. I hope this helps! Great work, by the way!

  14. Debbie Ruth says:

    Hi Kyle,

    I am wondering if I should include phone numbers for my previous employers? If yes, which number should I use – the general number, the unit, or HR?

    Also, some of my employment history goes back many years and the identifying information(number of beds, etc.) has changed. I do not have the correct information from when I worked there. How should I list this information? Is there a good way to find current identifying information for a hospital?

    Thanks in advance for your response.

    Debbie

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Debbie!

      Thanks for posting these great questions! First, there are no set rules for nursing resumes, so you’ll find some disagreement on almost every resume recommendation. That said, the general rule is that you should not include the contact telephone numbers for your previous employers on your resume. In fact, you don’t need to include the complete address either. The city and state will suffice for your resume. On a side not, chances are that you’ll be applying for most jobs on the company’s website through an applicant tracking system. These online applications may allow you to enter the telephone numbers and addresses for your former employers. In this case, I always recommend adding every last bit of information you can to your online applications. Again though, that’s separate from your resume. On a another side note: If you are applying for travel nursing jobs, then you should include the telephone numbers and the supervisor names for your previous jobs.

      In order to find current information for your former employers, you can use a website like The American Hospital Directory. They have a free hospital profile lookup tool. I recommend using the “advanced search” for best results. Please note that the links to these pages are underlined in blue. Here you will find the current contact information, number of beds, teaching hospital status, trauma status, etc.

      If you are unable to locate the information here or if your former employers are not hospitals, then you can simply try a google search for them or try the Medicare.gov site. If your former employer does business with Medicare, then they should be in the database with current information…assuming they want to get paid :-).

      Now, about your older work history. Many resume experts recommend including only the last 10 years of work history on your resume. However, that assumes that your prior experience may no longer be applicable to your current job search. Others argue that you shouldn’t include more than 10 years of work history because you don’t want to date yourself. They’re concerned about “ageism” in the hiring process. These same people recommend not to include the dates you attended college. Ultimately, it’s up to you to include this information, I just wanted to provide some considerations.

      I hope this information helps. Please let me know if there are further questions!

      Thanks,
      Kyle

  15. Kathryn Tonelli says:

    Help! I have over 22 years of clinical experience including ICU, hemodialysis, and outpatient surgery ctr (pre and pacu), and for the last 6 years (in addition to the 22 years) I’ve been reading electronic charts to extract data and support level of care (I’m told this is utilization review by a friend but we never called it that in work). Now Ive been laid off (it was a large comp layoff). I’m trying to get into QA, UR, pre cert or case managment. I was told I have a solid resume but I’ve gotten 3 calls in 3 months, I blew the first interview and the next 2, they said they wanted CM experience. What do I need to do to get into these fields? Any suggestions?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      We’re sorry to hear about your current situation! It’s always difficult to break into an entirely new field. However, it sounds as though you have some experience to build on. Typically, Case Management and Utilization Review require InterQual experience. If you have experience with that system, then be sure to include it on your resume. Otherwise, see if you can obtain some training in it. Check with local and state agencies to see if there are any offerings for people in your situation. Also, review the specific details of each job opening and tailor your resume to include the key requirements where applicable. Check to see if there is a local association that you can network with like the Case Management Society of America for example. Ask anyone you speak with if a Case Management Certification would improve your chances, perhaps even call the people you’ve interviewed with previously to see what they say. If so, look into certification.

      We hope this information helps!

  16. Raquel says:

    Hello Kyle,
    I have been reading through some of this thread and was wondering if you do any resume/cover letter revisions? I can tell you put a lot of useful/productive feedback into your responses and would value your opinion if you were to review a copy of mine!

    P.S. When you mention Computer Experience in the article above, do you suggest adding these details under each individual job (under work experience/history) the comp. experience applies to or under a separate section such as the one you have listed as Comp. Experience?

    Thank you for all your time and effort!

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hi Raquel!
      Thanks for reaching out! My sincerest apologies, but I do not do resume/cover letter revisions. Thanks so much for your interest though. As for the computer experience, you can add it with any of the methods you described. The important thing is that it’s there.

      The resume builder on BluePipes.com lists computer experience under a separate heading. We do this as way to ensure that members recognize and record it and perspective employers and recruiters are able to easily locate the details on the members’ profiles and resumes. Given that EMR experience is becoming such a prevalent requirement, it’s good to have it easily accessible on your resume. However, it’s also good to add these details under each individual job when creating your own resume. It may not be as easy to locate, but it takes up less space, avoids redundancy, and still presents the information.

      We hope this information helps!

  17. oksana peterson says:

    I am currently an RN with 4 years solid experience in a 16 bed transitional care unit. Now I’m trying to move to a more challenging position. Prior to immigrating to America I was a medical doctor for 9 years in ER. Would it be wise to mention that experience? …maybe describing my duties and medical college?

  18. David Hildreth says:

    Kyle,
    I work in a program that enrolls military medic and corpsman and gives credit for their military experience towards an intensive BSN-RN program. My question is what should the graduates highlight on their resumes? Many have extensive trauma and nursing care experience. Suggestions?

  19. Abelina Maldonado says:

    Hi! I have a question / concern. I just finished my 2nd year of nursing and on a med Surg unit. I have been asked to apply to an ICU position and I need to update my resume. I don’t know what to include. Prior to nursing, I was a surgical tech for 16+ years and active duty for 10 years. I really enjoyed your blog and will refer to it when updating my resume!

    Thanks- Abbey

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Abbey,

      We’re glad to hear the information was useful. Congratulations on being asked to apply for an ICU position. That’s a good sign! 🙂 Sounds like you have a lot of great experience to include on your resume. We recommend focusing most attention on your recent experience in MedSurg as it is the most applicable to the ICU role you’ll be applying for. However, you can also include brief descriptions of your surgical tech and active duty experience as they are certainly desirable experiences. Relate all your work history descriptions to the ICU position. To do so, find out as much as possible about the job and the unit. We hope this helps!!

  20. Windy says:

    Oh MY! I’m sooOOO grateful to have found your blog page! I was about to do my sister a grave disservice –as you’ve mentioned. Indeed, the day of the one page crammer is passe’. Especially with the value of the keyword in electronic filing. Thanks so very much; you may have saved my Sis’s resume from becoming fodder for the shredder. [[shudder]] ~Wendy

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      We’re glad to hear the information is useful. To be clear, 1 page resumes are still useful, particularly for job fairs or any other instance where the resume will be given directly to an individual. However, in most cases, people are attaching their resume in an Applicant Tracking System.

      In this case, it’s still good to be brief and choose your words wisely. Don’t be overly verbose and don’t “keyword stuff.” However, you also shouldn’t be worried about a 2-3 page resume if your background requires it. Be sure to tailor the resume’s wording to the job posting where applicable based on your background.

      We hope this helps!

  21. Leigh says:

    Thank you for this article! I realized that my resume was not up to par by reading this. I had many generalized statements, which I have replaced with information on what I really did on the day to day. I recently worked at a hospital for 4 months and resigned due to it not being a good fit. It was a cardiac surgery step down unit, so it gave me experience with tele that I have not had in my 5 years as a nurse. Should I include it on my resume?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      You’re welcome! We’re glad to hear you found the information useful. This is a tough question. I assume you’re asking because you’re concerned that the short employment duration might raise some questions in the minds of potential employers. That’s a valid concern. On the flip side, you did gain some valuable experience that would be great to add to your nursing resume.

      There is another issue to consider. Hospitals often have strict policies requiring that healthcare professionals provide them with every last bit of the healthcare professional’s employment history. Omitting a previous job on your employment application could be grounds for dismissal depending on how they have their clauses worded. Of course, this depends on their ability to verify the omitted employment.

      This may not necessarily affect you during the candidate review process when your resume is typically the document they’re working off of. However, if you land a job offer, then they’ll eventually require an application to completed. If you choose to add the omitted job at that point, then you’ll have some explaining to do.

      Utltimatly, the decision is yours. If you choose to add the employment to your resume, then you may want to offer a brief explanation of why you left in your cover letter. It’s all about the story you tell.

      We hope this helps.

  22. Kristin C says:

    This is all great information but I do have a question. I am a recent BSN grad and licensed RN trying to land my first job. Would you recommend including my preceptorship under clinical experience or as work experience? I have seen it both ways in examples online.

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Thanks, Kristin. We’re glad to hear this information on was useful. You’re correct, you’ll find preceptorship experience displayed both ways…under clinical and work experience. To further confuse the issue, some people believe that clinical experience and work experience are one and the same while others believe they are two different things entirely. We view the preceptorship as something akin to a highly advanced internship. For all intents and purposes, it is work experience. However, it doesn’t constitute a traditional employment relationship. Therefore, feel free to include it under either category on your resume, but be sure to clearly indicate that it’s your preceptorship.

      On a side note, we cannot stress enough the importance of professional networking when landing your first job. 70%-80% of all jobs are obtained through networking. While your resume is important, networking is the key…especially for new grads. We hope this information helps. Best of luck!!

  23. Heidi F says:

    Great info – I could have used that for my last job application! Do you have any tips / strategies to prepare for job interviews? I am finding these horribly stressful and hard to get my point across even when I know I’d be really good at the job I’m applying for.

  24. Alice Bybee says:

    I LOVE this information! Thank you.
    Here’s my question. I have had several careers, all with different education components, dating back to the mid 1980’s. How far back should I go? None relate to my current field (new nursing graduate). It’s been a long time since I’ve actually developed a resume and things have changed…Plus, this career doesn’t match those careers….
    Is it appropriate to ask a nursing instructor to be a reference? Are references included now-a-days?
    Many, many thanks!
    Alice

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Alice,

      We’re glad to hear the information is helpful!! Congratulations on your recent graduation from nursing school! Yes, it’s a great idea to ask an instructor to be a reference. Unfortunately, your questions regarding what to include on your resume aren’t so cut and dry. I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of career consultants would say you shouldn’t put references on a resume. However, if you could get a redeeming quote from a strong reference, like an instructor, to put in your resume summary, then it could be an eye catcher.

      You’re right, things have changed! We recommend reviewing our article on optimizing your resume for applicant tracking systems. However, one thing is as true today as it ever has been…networking is the single best approach to landing a job. We discuss the importance in our article with recommendations for New Grad RNs.

      It’s tough to recommend that you leave off your past education. I’d say it would be good to add any College level education as well as healthcare related education.

      We hope this helps!! Best of luck!

  25. Rebecca Whisner says:

    Hi Kyle:

    Excellent information! Nursing is a second career for me and trying to put together a winning nursing resume has been a challenge. You are right on the money….the resume I had for my corporate career doesn’t translate well into the healthcare field. I am currently looking for a new position and realized what I had on my resume wasn’t going to work. I was destined to be one of those that got lost in the system. The tips you provided have been so helpful. I feel confident that I am submitting a resume that will get me noticed. Thank you again for providing such valuable information.

    Rebecca

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Rebecca,

      Congratulations on your new career path! We’re so glad you found this information useful. We wish you the best of luck in your job search. We hope you’ll consider joining BluePipes.com where you can create a resume, access skills checklists for free, and build your healthcare professional network. Please excuse my shameless sales pitch 🙂

      Please let us know if we can help with any questions.

      Kyle

  26. Teresa R Clem says:

    I have read this post with great interest. Due to a job opportunity for my husband, we moved from KS to PA in 2012. Even securing an interview has been daunting! I have gotten some feedback from ‘ recruiters’ in a large hospital in Pittsburgh, which was to be sure to apply to the job requirements, which interestingly were two pages long. How is that possible? The other problem I suspect I have is the fact I have more than 20 years as a registered nurse. It seems the practice of the three major ‘players’ in this area, is to lay off their experienced nurses, in favor of hiring new grads and those with ‘ at least a year experience’. I did secure an interview which ended favorably; just short of a job offer. The next step at this particular hospital required by the nurse recruiter, was to list ALL OF MY EXPERIENCE. I have been in nursing since 1974! LPN in 1977 and BSN in 1989. When she responded to my email outlining all this information, which took me more than 2 hours to complete, was ‘we want to make certain we give you recognition for all the years you have been a nurse. AND, that was the last I heard from them. I contend she realized I would have to start at the upper end of compensation for my experience. Do you know of anyone who may be advocating for the ‘older nurse?’ Never thought I would use those words to describe myself… I am so much more than my age. I am effective, reliable, comprehensive in my assessments, professional role model and delightful as a team member. Please give me some feedback relating to these concerns. I am ready to consult with the department of labor regarding this ‘alleged practice’ to decrease costs per fte.I think it’s a shame!
    Best Regards,
    Teresa Clem,RN,BSN

  27. cris* says:

    really good information here! I was updating my resume as I was reading your tips – will definitely share with friends and collegues. Thank you so much!

  28. Thuy says:

    Hello, This was very thorough advice. I’ve yet to figure how to be concise yet detailed with these tips in mind. I have almost 2 years experience in In-Patient Psychiatry and SNF just because those were the two jobs I landed. However, I always wanted to do L&D or NICU. I did my preceptorship in 2011 in L&D. How can I use my experience and make it appealing for L&D again?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Thuy,

      We’re glad to hear that you found the information useful! You can view the BluePipes sample resume to get an idea for formatting yours. Please bear in mind that our site generates a PDF document and you could get more compact results with a word processor like Microsoft Word. Also, you might be interested in reading our post on resume length.

      You can find creative ways to translate your Psych and SNF experience to NICU and L&D. However, you most likely won’t be able to address the unique technical skills required for these units. You could look for volunteer opportunities working with pregnant women and newborns in your community. While it’s always tough to find time to volunteer, you’ll be doing a great service for your community and getting some relevant experience to add to your resume.

  29. Narvis Handford says:

    Thank you for this very interesting article. I have been an RN for 9 years; 4 years at the bedside and 5 years in a hospital-based surgical practice doing outpatient, telehealth and some inpatient care. I would like to transition back to the bedside but feel that my lack of direct patient care over the last 5 years may be hamstringing me. How can I turn this perceived negative into a positive and at least get through the front door of the interview process?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hello Narvis,

      You’re welcome, we hope you found the article useful. Yours is a legitimate challenge that many nurses share. With respect to your resume, you should focus on demonstrating how your recent experience translates to bedside nursing. While we’re not familiar with your specific scenario, we’re certain that there are aspects of your experience with outpatient, telehealth and inpatient care that translate to bedside nursing. Carefully review the job duties and qualifications of bedside nurses, and not just those found in the job descriptions of online job postings, to get ideas for framing your recent experience in a way that applies to bedside nursing. Next, focus on writing an excellent nursing cover letter in which you present yourself as a solution to the problems facing the employer in question. Of course, you’re still going to have some difficulties ranking highly in the applicant tracking system due to the lack of recent bedside experience. Therefore, networking is a must. Nearly 40% of all new-hires are the result of employee referral. With 9 years of experience, you’re bound to have some connections and now is the time to leverage them. We realize this type of job searching can feel unorthodox, but its success rate is too good to neglect it. Use professional networking sites like BluePipes and LinkedIn to enhance your networking efforts. Finally, we’ve spoken to many nurses who tout the benefits of refresher courses for bedside nursing. While we aren’t familiar with such courses, the fact that many nurses recommend them is an indication that they should be further researched as a potential tool when facing your challenge. We hope this information helps…and Good Luck!!

  30. Amanda says:

    i have a question regarding applying to nursing positions. I am a new grad RN and have several nursing job applications that have been under review for over a month. Last week I became certified in ACLS and was wondering how to go about informing the hospitals that I am waiting to hear back from that I am newly certified in this skill, since it is not on my resume that they have on file (that I originally sent in).

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Amanda,

      Congratulations on your recent achievements! This is a great question. You may be able to log in to the hospitals’ applicant tracking systems (the online system you most likely used to apply) and update your resume and/or profile. Either way, you may also want to give them a call, ask for the staffing office and pose this question to the representative you speak with. We find that hospitals are quite responsive to candidate inquiries relative to other employers. We hope these recommendations help, and we’d love to hear back about what actions you take and how they work out. Good luck!

  31. Brittney @ The Nerdy Nurse says:

    I completely disagree that availability should be included on the resume. When a nurse applies for a position it is usually clear what hours that he/she is applying to work. I actually think it’s a bit juvenile to put availability on your resume.
    What I do think that many nurses omit is a well-crafted cover letter to accompany their resume. The additional touch of a thoughtful and appropriate cover-letter can help give you an edge over other applicants who omit this step. I found some good details on cover letters for nurses here: http://bit.ly/1dDy8If .

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Thanks for the feedback, Brittney. Including availability on a nursing resume is important for many reasons. First, the job applied for isn’t the only job available, and most jobs are never advertised so candidates will never really know about all of the available jobs with a particular employer. Second, job specs don’t always display every last pertinent detail. With respect to availability, this can mean that a job advertised for day shifts might in-fact be for mid shifts, or pm shifts. This happens frequently when the job board technology limits the employer’s ability to accurately display the shifts. Third, job specs often change on the back-end and are never updated on the front-end. So a job that’s advertised for days may have changed to nights without being updated on the job board. Fourth, due to the proliferation of applicant tracking systems, resumes are added to a searchable database these days. So resumes are searchable for future job openings. Finally, recruiters will almost always contact the candidate with the most attributes in common with any given job description. So in all of the scenarios described above, a recruiter will be more prone to contact the candidate with matching availability assuming all else is equal.

      Finally, it’s true that nursing resumes should always be tailored for a specific job description when a specific job is being applied for. However, a plurality of jobs are filled via networking and referrals. In such cases, it’s rare that a specific job is being applied for. Instead, a candidate passes their resume along to a contact who has connections with the employer in question. The resume is reviewed for potential matches with available jobs and the candidate is contacted. Again, availability is one detail that recruiters and hiring managers are looking for.

      Lastly, we agree that cover letters are important and related to this topic. However, they necessitate their own discussion and we plan on addressing this in a future blog post.

  32. Manuela says:

    This is great information! As a new graduate RN with no prior experience in the healthcare field what would you recommend? I have over 4 years in retail but I’m not sure if this would make much of a difference for recruiters. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

  33. Michele says:

    Hi there! Wow this information is great! Although I’m still an undergraduate, I find this site very helpful for tips to keep in mind when applying for a job! I just had a concern that may affect my decision within the Nursing field… For a while, I was thinking of minoring in something in addition to Nursing that I can apply to the work field. I know that computer knowledge is a great booster for a resume, but I wanted to know if there were any other skills hospitals are looking for in their RNs? Thank you again for the detailed explanations!

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Thanks, Michele! We’re glad you found the information useful! Yes, computer knowledge is a great booster for the resume. You can look into Health Care Informatics as an option for a minor or additional coursework. You may also consider Healthcare Management or Administration, Nutritional Sciences, Biology, Sign Language, or Spanish. In fact, Spanish is a huge selling point these days. As a side note: make the absolute most of your preceptorship. Be at your best and use the opportunity to network with everyone you can. We hope this information helps!! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  34. Dashia says:

    This is great information! Thank you!

    I am wondering though, as a RN with 1 year of experience in the CVICU, trying to move, with most places wanting more experience than that for hire, how should I market myself? I have done all of these critical care elements, but just not a ton of it. Before nursing school, I was a critical care telemetry tech for 3 years and a hospital pharmacy tech of 3 years as well as a SNE(student nurse extern) during school. Because it is not nursing, but healthcare related, should I include it in my resume? It seems juvenile but pertinent to add some experience. Thanks!

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      We’re happy to hear you found the information helpful, Dashia! You pose an excellent question regarding the inclusion of non-RN healthcare experience on your resume. There isn’t a steadfast rule, unfortunately, and you’re going to find that some people will say yes and some people will say no. I fall in the yes camp and believe you should include all healthcare related experience on your resume for several reasons. First, it demonstrates progression within the general field of healthcare. Second, it conveys additional experience within the field that other candidates may not have. Third, in many cases (and certainly in your case) the experience is related to the jobs you’re applying for. Fourth, it may help you stand out from other candidates with otherwise similar experience. Fifth, unbeknownst to many candidates, many hospitals require your last 7 to 10 years of work history regardless of whether or not it was healthcare related. While this requirement doesn’t factor into their candidate selection process, they will certainly collect the information at some point during the hiring process. Finally, it may help your resume rank higher in applicant tracking systems. I hope this information helps!

  35. Liza says:

    Hi. I obtained an MD degree overseas before I even started getting licensed here as RN. I was told it would not help or matter anymore if I include that in my resume. What would you suggest?

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Liza, I hope all is well. I recommend including your overseas education. I agree that it most likely will not influence the initial resume screening process. However, it could have influence later in the process. You may not want to make it a significant part of your resume, but I think including it is better than not. It certainly enhances your personal story.

    • Kyle Schmidt says:

      Hey Michaele, My apologies for the delay. We’ve been busy transferring our blog to this new domain. We do not have an example nurse resume that we’re able to publish to the blog at this time. However, we will work on getting one up soon. Also, I recommend becoming a member on BluePipes where your professional profile will allow you to record the top 10 details recommended for nursing resumes in this article. You can then print your BluePipes profile as a resume.

  36. Aimee R says:

    Thanks so much!! This clarifies a lot for me. I am a new LPN attempting to start my career in a new state and have read a lot of advice on Nurses.com that is wrong. I’ll take the advice of a recruiter over general opinions anytime. Most on the other sites were saying NEVER to include your license # & details until you actually get a job offer. Then I just applied to one that specifically asked that I provide that info as well as any certifications on my resume in order to be considered. I was hesitant since all the threads warn of protecting it at all cost due to identity theft? I’m glad you clarified this and some other points.

    I do have one question that is not addressed in your article. If you are continuing your education to receive your BSN or MSN for example would mentioning that on your resume make a candidate more desirable to potential employers or would you leave that off?

    • travelhealthtip says:

      Hey Aimee, I’m glad to hear that you’ve found the information useful. Great question!! I think it’s a great idea to add your education in progress to your resume. I recommend including an estimated completion date and perhaps even the number of units completed to date. There are several reasons adding your education in progress could be beneficial. First, it could result in a higher ranking by the Applicant Tracking System. Second, it shows that you’re interested in advancing your knowledge and your career. Third, it demonstrates your own personal motivation.

      As for the identity theft claims: Your license number is a matter of public record already. Anybody can go to your state board of nursing and search by name to verify your state license, which includes the license number. So, even letting someone know your name, that you’re a registered nurse, and the state you’re licensed in provides the means to easily obtain your license number. Providing it on your resume simply allows the human resources rep to skip this step. Which increases the chance that your resume will be passed up the chain. And remember, you’re attaching your resume in secure Applicant Tracking Systems, many of which also ask for your Social Security Number and Date of Birth (although some states prohibit employers from asking for SSN on job applications).

      • Carol says:

        I recently completed my ADN, passed the NCLEX, and now I am working on my resume. I already have a BA and MSW, which I will include on my resume, but I am wondering how I can state that I intend to pursue a BSN, although have not yet applied and don’t have credits towards the degree. Thanks for your advice.

        • Kyle Schmidt says:

          Hey Carol,

          Congratulations on your recent achievements! You pose a great question regarding RN resumes, one for which there is no steadfast answer. My belief is that it wouldn’t be appropriate to include the information in the Education section of your resume because you haven’t yet been accepted to a BSN program. However, you could certainly add it there once accepted to a program. Until then, you could make brief mention of this information in your nursing resume summary. We hope you find this response useful. Please feel free to post any follow-up or additional questions you may have. Good luck!!

          • Carol D says:

            Hi Kyle,

            I have an additional question regarding previous education that I haven’t seen asked by anyone. I’m an older new grad. I recently had someone look at one of my resumes and give me her input. She deleted all but my nursing education (Associates Degree). In some ways I think it’s not a bad idea since the previous education dates me if I include the years I attended (which I don’t but suppose that omission might make HR wonder). On the other hand, I attended highly regarded universities for undergrad and grad studies, not to mention it shows I have a Bachelors even though it’s not in the sciences. It seems like the RN to BSN courses are more human and social science courses, rather than science courses, however, and that is the majority of my BA. OK… That’s some background info, now I’ll get to the point 🙂 I know that resumes should cover only the last 10 years of employment history. Do you think this ‘rule’ also applies to education? Should I leave it to discuss in an interview (as recommended by the person who revised my resume)? I’m feeling very conflicted about this. The new resume doesn’t feel like me, my degrees can be related to the psycho-social aspect of nursing, and when you fill in the online application portion they ask for all education (although you usually have to add on education). I would greatly appreciate your insight and recommendation.

            Regards,
            Carol

          • Kyle Schmidt says:

            Hey Carol,

            My sincerest apologies for the delay. Congratulations on your recent graduation! This is a tough situation. Both sides of the argument have merit. Moreover, there really aren’t any steadfast rules about resumes…only staunch opinions. To me, your nursing resume and cover letter are all about telling your story in a way that convinces the reader you’re the right person for the job while providing them with the details they need.

            Personally, I’d keep the education details on the resume, and use a brief portion of the cover letter to tie that education into the story about you being the best candidate for the job in question. Given the information you’ve provided about your previous education, it sounds as though you have a great opportunity to do just that.

            Again, there is no right or wrong answer here. You may even try it both ways. Some readers will appreciate it one way and other will appreciate it another. However, I’m of the belief that all education is valuable.

            I hope this information helps. We’d love to hear back about how it all works out!!

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