INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Travel 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 Travel 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 Travel Nurse job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Travel Nurse sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Travel Nurse resume experience section
Travel 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 Travel Nurse resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Provided first class medial care, travel counseling and education to over 500 clients traveling abroad to ensure they have a safe and healthy trip.
- Recruited two additional travel nurses, overseeing their education and training ensuring they provide expert travel advice for our clients.
- A member of the clinic leadership team involved in managing the clinical and administrative performance of the interdisciplinary care team and clinic.
- Ensures care team follows center-specific policies, protocols, and procedures while maintaining service level expectations, customer service and compliance standards.
- Most 'weeks booked' during initial 6 month on-boarding
- Leveraged excellent communication skills to build lasting rapport with Travel RNs
- Core Values Award - Rookie of the Year
- Provide compassionate care for the critically ill patients and families
- Coordinate care for the critically ill between doctors and interdisciplinary team
- Management of equipment for critically ill patients ( Ventilators, Bipap, CRRT, Intra Aortic balloon pump)
- Consistently achieved over 100% of sales quota as a Recruiter
- Executed a minimum of 70 daily outreaches to prospective candidates
- Successfully placed candidates in top ranked facilities
- Achieved growing my business within the company and created a lasting trust with clients
- Supervised orderlies, nursing assistants and licensed practical nurses
- Designed 50+ strategies customized to patient and family overall health
- Provided general competency courses for 300 staff in the department of pediatrics
- Taught healthy interventions and restraint courses 2 times per week to over 100+ health practitioners
- Led a team of 5 medical workers for audit programs to ensure all staff meet safety standards
- Helped 50+ family members by giving health education
- Provided direct patient care to 500+ kids suffering from autoimmune diseases
- Conducted individualized patient assessments and performed medical procedures to 500+ patients
- Acted as consultant regarding treatment of chronic diseases regarding 100+ patients
- Organized and prioritized care for 3-4 acutely ill patients each shift
- Managed care of 22 personal care home residents
- Managed care of 10+ hospital patients
- Monitored 100+ patients' fluid intake as well as output to detect problems
PRO TIP
Make sure to relate your experience to your job description, but never lie. That’s not tolerated and will show up in the face-to-face interview later on.
Action Verbs for your Travel Nurse Resume
Recommended reads:
Travel 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 Travel Nurse resume
- Healthcare
- Nursing
- Patient Care
- Surgical
- NIHSS
- ACLS
- BLS
- FNP-BC
- Acute Care
- 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.
Travel Nurse Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Travel 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 Travel 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.
Travel Nurse Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Travel 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 Travel Nurse resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Travel Nurse. 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.
Travel 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.
Travel 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 Travel Nurse resume:
Travel 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 Travel 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 Travel 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.
