INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nursing 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 Nursing 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 Nursing job market is wide open for candidates.
Top nurse extern sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
A nurse extern resume experience section to be proud of
Writing a strong experience section for your nurse extern resume.
- List your previous jobs in chronological or reverse-chronological format;
- Use no more than 4-6 bullets per position;
- Mention only relevant work experience;
- Describe the tasks you were responsible for and how you managed to exceed expectations;
- Show you’re able to take charge by choosing action verbs over buzzwords.
Looking for real-life examples of what a strong experience section looks like? Check out our suggestions below!
- Patient Assessment
- Epic Documentation - RN
- Patient Care Management
- Administered medication to assigned group of patients with 100% accuracy based on nurse's instructions.
- Recorded and documented patient data, including vital signs, treatment plans, and progress notes in compliance with hospital standards.
- Assisted in educating patients and their families on various health topics, improving patient satisfaction score by 20%.
- Collaborated with interdisciplinary team to develop individualized care plans for patients, resulting in a 15% reduction in hospital readmissions.
- Demonstrated effective communication skills with patients, families, and healthcare team members, ensuring clear understanding of patient needs and care plans.
- Assisted in the management of patient care for an average of 7 patients per shift.
- Performed technical treatments and procedures with 100% accuracy, including wound care, phlebotomy, and IV insertion.
- Collaborated with registered nurses to prioritize patient care based on patient acuity and nursing assessments.
- Assisted in the development of individualized care plans for patients, resulting in improved patient outcomes.
- Demonstrated effective communication skills with patients and families, ensuring understanding of care plans and expectations.
- Assisted in the care of 10+ patients per shift, consistently ensuring their comfort and safety
- Administered medication to patients under the supervision of registered nurses, reducing wait times by 20%
- Collaborated with interdisciplinary team members to develop care plans that met patients' unique needs
- Demonstrated excellent time management skills, completing tasks in a fast-paced environment with minimal errors
- Documented patient information accurately and in a timely manner, contributing to the continuity of care
- Assisted in the care of 15+ patients per shift, consistently ensuring their comfort and safety
- Collaborated with nursing staff to develop care plans that met patients' unique needs
- Demonstrated excellent communication skills, effectively communicating with patients and families to provide emotional support and comfort
- Documented patient information accurately and in a timely manner, contributing to the continuity of care
PRO TIP
Include quantitative data throughout your Nurse Extern resume to impress the hiring manager. Real facts and figures that show off your competency as an audit manager go a long way. Did you reduce the costs of audits? Manage a large team? Boosted efficiency? Show off the real numbers!
Action verbs for your nurse extern resume
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Taking Control of Your Nurse Extern Resume’s Skills Section
A skills section that shows what you're capable of includes:
- Keywords from the job advert to help you pass ATS;
- Both hard and soft skills, incl. technical skills and people skills;
- Skills that are relevant to the position you’re applying for;
- No more than 15 skills – to keep your resume readable.
Top skills for your nurse extern resume
Excel
CPR
Bilingual
Cannulation
BSL
Scout/Scrub
Patient care
ACLS
Customer service
Communication
Compassion
Patience
Flexibility, adaptability, and emotional stability
Proactive, ethical, and responsible nature
Honesty
Team-player
Strong work ethic
Time management
PRO TIP
When describing your experience, don’t go too far from its terminology. Recruiters use ATS systems to filter resumes based on them having certain keywords, so make sure you use at least a few keywords mentioned in the job description.
Recommended reads:
Nurse extern resume header: tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your nurse extern 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
Some companies, states, and countries have non-discrimination policies about what kind of information can be included on your Nurse Extern resume. This might include a photo (which is often included in a resume header and might be on personal web pages you link to). You can always email the company’s HR department to ask about their policies before you apply.
A nurse extern resume summary that spotlights your achievements
Checklist: A strong nurse extern resume summary:
- Use adjectives that highlight the character traits you’re most proud of;
- Mention 1-2 of your biggest achievements;
- Add keywords from the job advert to increase your chances of passing ATS;
- Keep the recruiter’s attention by going for short sentences.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
When writing a resume summary or objective, avoid first-person narrative.
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Creating an impressive education section for your nurse extern resume
The Education Section: Checklist
- List your degrees in reverse-chronological order;
- Include your degree subject, place of study, name of institution, and year of graduation;
- Add a line or two about your relevant certifications;
- Mention some classes and projects that have helped you gain additional skills.
Top Certifications for your Nurse Extern resume
Home Health Aide, Nurse Aide, Caregiver Certification Course
Become A Certified Home Health Aide, Personal Care Aide, Nurse Aide/ Caregiver At The End Of This Course. Enroll Now!!
Maths For Nurses
Pass your drug calculations test with ease
Nursing Professionals Get Motivated! Motivation For Nurses
A Month Of Encouragement For Nurses and Those In Nursing School Taking Nursing Courses
OET Preparation for Nurses: Writing
Improve your score in the OET Nursing Writing Sub-test
OET Writing for Nurses
The Ultimate Guide to Passing the OET Writing Sub Skill
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Nurse Extern. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
A professional format for your nurse extern resume
There are some aspects worth taking into consideration when choosing the format of your Nurse Extern resume. These include the position and company you’re applying for, your total years of experience, whether you’ve been through some employment gaps, and so on.
Generally speaking, there are three basic resume formats for you to choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
The reverse-chronological resume format is just that: all your jobs listed in a reverse-chronological way, starting from the most recent and moving backward. It’s great for highly experienced professionals with over 10 years in the industry behind their backs. The reason for this: it’s almost entirely focused on experience and achievements.
The functional skills-based resume format, on the other hand, is just the opposite. It’s based on your skills, personality, and expertise. It highlights what you’re capable of even when you don’t have sufficient work experience. This makes it great for students, recent graduates, or people with larger career gaps.
If neither of these sounds like you, go for the combination resume format. It’s a combination of the best characteristics of other formats, which makes it great for showcasing different aspects of your career and education. It also gives you plenty of options to choose from – in terms of colors, structure, and sections.
Check out our additional tips on perfecting your Nurse Extern resume’s style and layout:
- Choose traditional 1-inch resume margins;
- Go for a serif or sans serif resume font that’s easy to read yet looks professional (e.g. Arial, Verdana, or Calibri);
- Keep your Nurse Extern resume short: one-page template are preferable, but if you have over 10 years of experience, you can also go for a two-page format;
- Save your resume as PDF and choose a suitable name, e.g. NameSurnameResume;
Tired of looking for ways to make your resume stand out? Read this article!
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.
Additional sections for your nurse extern resume
After drafting the required sections of your Nurse Extern resume, it’s now time to move to something a bit more fun. There are a number of sections you can add to your resume depending on the company, the position, and how you’re feeling in general:
Adding the right kind of creativity to your nurse extern resume
It is through creativity that we express ourselves. And trust us, it’s important to show at least a bit of your personality if you want to leave a strong first impression.
But what are the ways to add creativity to your Nurse Extern resume? Well, you can either go for a colorful and engaging template, or you could add some out-of-the-box sections, such as ‘life philosophy’ or ‘what my typical day looks like’.
It’s up to you! Just make sure that the level of creativity matches the position, the company, and the industry you’re applying for.
What makes a great nurse extern 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.
