INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nicu Nurse positions are at a 9% growth rate, which is as fast as average. With that said, there are currently 3,080,100 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 276,800 to 3,356,900 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Nicu Nurse jobs was $75,330 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $53,410, and the highest 10% more than $116,230.
Our conclusion? The Nicu Nurse job market is wide open for candidates.
Top NICU Nurse sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a NICU Nurse resume experience section
NICU Nurse Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real NICU Nurse resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Working in NICU under direction of Dr. Rosen, on call for 24 hours at a time
- Help over 40 mothers with malnourished children by giving health education
- Obtain health history and current concerns, record patient vitals, and perform a brief assessment on up to 30 patients per day
- Provide specialized care for premature newborns in a level III environment
- Identify needs and problems of neonate through clinical observation and physical assessment
- Manage patients with cardiac monitoring, pulse oximetry, incubators, intravenous infusions through PIV/PICC/UAC/UVC lines, NG/OG tubes
- Provide physical comfort measures to infant including positioning, holding, and pain management
- Collaboration with physicians and NNP's while implementing appropriate protocols, documentation and care plans
- Led a team of 5 nurses for audit programs to ensure all staff are well-informed and to date with safety standards and in-house protocols
- Contributes to quality nursing care through excellence in customer service and performance improvement techniques
- Assesses parents and families psychosocial status and implements an appropriate plan of care
- Provides instruction to the parents of the patients on health care education and on health improvements
- Spot checks of my results by manager/preceptor returned 99% correct findings
- Worked with Multi-disciplinary team to provide Direct Patient Care to critically ill term and preterm infants
- Educate infant's families on well baby care and follow-up procedures prior to discharge
- Care for infants on multiple ventilators including; A/C vents, high frequency oscillators, jet ventilation, Inhaled Nitric Oxide, monitoring of ABGs/ CBGs and other modes of respiratory assistance
- Maintenance of patient parenteral and enteral total fluid intake, central and peripheral lines, respiratory care, NG/OG feeding, and development care
- Communication and anticipation of family needs and reactions while caring for patient to ensure optimal care and satisfaction
- Providing care and maintenance of multiple medications and fluid drips
PRO TIP
Don't make the same mistake everyone else does. What we mean is, don't list your NICU Nurse job responsibilities instead of your achievements. Recruiters know what you do. They want to know what kind of difference you can bring to their company. Focus on what you've accomplished.
Action Verbs for your NICU Nurse Resume
Recommended reads:
NICU Nurse Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your NICU Nurse resume
- Health Policies
- Central Line Access
- Patient Care
- Vital Signs
- BLS (Basic Life Support)
- NRP
- Emergency Handling
- Ecmo
- GCP
- Communication
- Compassion
- Patience
- Flexibility, adaptability, and emotional stability
- Proactive, ethical, and responsible nature
- Honesty
- Team-player
- Strong work ethic
- Time management
PRO TIP
Add a Talent Section to your resume, where you can pick your top 3 soft skills and describe how you used them to complete a project or balance departmental communication.
Recommended reads:
NICU Nurse Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your NICU Nurse Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your NICU Nurse resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
NICU Nurse Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your NICU Nurse resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
Highlight specific past projects that you’re most proud of in your summary. It sets an excellent tone for the rest of your resume. You can talk about all of your former jobs in your work experience section later on.
Recommended reads:
Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your NICU Nurse resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
NICU Nurse Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
NICU Nurse Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you feel that you don’t have high chances in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your NICU Nurse resume:
NICU Nurse Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your NICU Nurse resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great NICU Nurse Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
