Once you complete your nursing degree, the stage is set for your next career move. Although finishing nursing school is a huge accomplishment, looking for entry-level jobs can be challenging. Without an extensive work history, it may be hard to create a professional-looking resume that showcases your unique qualifications. Fortunately, we have a resume-writing guide and example resume to help you get started.
Before someone can become a nurse, they have to complete a dedicated nursing degree and earn a license. Nurses also need to complete many hours of supervised clinical work, which allows them to apply their newly-acquired skills in real life.
When you create your resume, it’s important to showcase your education, as well as your personal skills, unique competencies, and clinical experience. Since nursing students don’t often have a lot of formal work experience, highlighting these details is a good way to flesh out your resume and make yourself a more competitive candidate.
In this guide, we’ll briefly explain how to feature these highlights. We’ll also describe how to include your contact details. Finally, you can view our nursing student example resume to help to create a professional and well-formatted document.
Once you’re ready to write your resume, you can start by placing a header at the top of the page. This should include your name, email address, phone number, city, and state. Underneath the header, include a brief introduction, also called a resume summary. This comprises one to three sentences that express your intent and highlight some of the most impressive aspects of your background.
On a typical resume, you would fill the body of the document with your work experience. As a nursing student, you can use a slightly different format. Start by listing your educational credentials, followed by your professional certifications and licenses. This is a good way to immediately display your credentials to recruiters.
Finally, you can complete your resume by describing the clinical rotations you completed during your degree program. This shows that you have had the opportunity to put your skills into practice with actual patients. Make sure to include the names of the hospitals or clinics you worked at, along with your duties, the number of hours you worked, and the dates that you started and ended your internships.
Before they can embark on a successful career, nursing students need to cultivate a range of hard and soft skills. These are some of the competencies that you can include on your resume:
Medication management
Collaboration and interpersonal skills
Communication and active listening
Time management and organization
CPR and BLS certification
Empathy and compassion
Professional ethics and confidentiality
IV placement
Infection control
Safety and hygiene management
Charting, software skills, and medical data management
Patient assessment
Summary example
Patient-focused Registered Nurse skilled in providing evidence-based, high-quality care, advancing patient education, and advocating for patient needs. Experienced in navigating fast-paced environments, while integrating COVID-19 restrictions for patients and staff. Dedicated to disease management and upholding safety regulations. Demonstrated ability in a wide range of areas, including Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage, moderate sedation preparation and monitoring, central line access, and blood transfusion administration.
Employment history example
Registered Nurse, Emergency Department at Norman Regional Hospital, Norman, OK 2021 — Present
Maintain optimal efficiency when admitting patients with emergent symptoms, in addition to conducting a full workup and diagnostic testing. Oversee a large patient caseload and contribute to comprehensive care in collaboration with cross-functional medical staff. Interpret diagnostic testing, including EKG, irregular telemetry, and low oxygen readings.
Streamline open communications on patient healthcare to immediately alert physicians to changes in patient status.
Ensure infection control by adhering to appropriate safety and sterilization protocols and techniques.
Prioritize patient comfort by educating patients on conditions and treatments via an exemplary bedside manner.
Registered Nurse, Emergency Department at SSM Health St. Anthony, Oklahoma City, OK 2019 — 2021
Aided in treating a high influx of patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while navigating emergent situations effectively and efficiently. Exhibited sharp attention to detail and initiated treatment plans, while tracking any changes in patient health status. Informed patients about safe medication consumption, discharge plans, follow-up appointments, and at-home care options.
Maintained infection control standards, HIPAA regulations, safety protocols, and disease management requirements.
Produced ideal outcomes for custom healthcare plans by providing holistic care in conjunction with healthcare teams, patients, and families.
Mitigated errors by proofreading charts, utilizing barcode medication administration, and confirming results of diagnostic testing.
Education example
Master of Science in Nursing, FNP, Texas Woman’s University , Denton, TX Present
Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 2022
Associate of Applied Science in Nursing, Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma City, OK 2019
Registered Nurse #123456, Oklahoma Board of Nursing BLS, ACLS, PALS, American Heart Association