Crafting a CV that effectively showcases your clinical skills and empathy can be a daunting task in the nursing profession. Our guide offers tailored advice to navigate this challenge, helping you to present a compelling narrative that captures both your professional expertise and compassionate care.
- Applying the simplest CV design, so that recruiters can easily understand your expertise, skills, and professional background;
- Ensuring you stand out with your header, summary or objective statement, and a designated skills section;
- Creating your CV experience section - no matter how much expertise you have;
- Using real life professional CV examples to enhance the structure and outline of your profile.
If you still have no muse to write your professional CV, find some more industry-leading examples.
Structuring your nursing CV layout: four factors to keep in mind
There are plenty of best practices out there for your CV layout and design. At the end of the day, a clear format and concise CV message should be your top priority. Use your CV design to enhance separate sections, bringing them to the forefront of recruiters' attention. At the same time, you can write content that:- Follows the reverse chronological order in the experience section by first listing your most recent jobs;
- Incorporates your contact information in the header, but do skip out on the CV photo for roles in the UK;
- Is spotlighted in the most important sections of your CV, e.g. the summary or objective, experience, education, etc. to show just how you meet the job requirements;
- Is no longer than two-pages. Often, the one-page format can be optimal for your nursing CV.
Before submitting your CV, you may wonder whether to export it in Doc or PDF. With the PDF format, your information and layout stay intact. This is quite useful when your CV is assessed by the Applicant Tracker System (or the ATS) . The ATS is a software that scans your profile for all relevant information and can easily understand latest study on the ATS , which looks at your CV columns, design, and so much more.
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Incorporate a touch of colour in headers or section breaks, but keep it professional and ensure it doesn’t detract from readability, especially in more conservative industries.
The top sections on a nursing CV
- Professional Registration details why it's crucial for legal practice.
- Nursing Qualifications showing relevant education.
- Clinical Experience to display hands-on skills.
- Specialised Nursing Skills relevant to specific care.
- Professional Development emphasising ongoing learning.
What recruiters value on your CV:
- Highlight your clinical experience by detailing the types of medical facilities you've worked in, such as hospitals, clinics, or care homes, and specify any specialist areas such as A&E, paediatrics, or oncology.
- Outline your qualifications clearly, including your nursing degree, registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), and any additional certifications like Advanced Life Support or specialised nursing courses.
- Emphasise your soft skills that are crucial in nursing, such as compassion, communication, and teamwork, by giving examples of how you've applied these in patient care scenarios.
- Include any leadership roles or responsibilities you have undertaken, such as charge nurse positions or mentorship roles, to showcase your ability to manage and guide others.
- Mention your understanding and experience with healthcare technologies and patient record systems, which are integral to modern nursing practice and patient care coordination.
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What information should you include in your nursing CV header?
The CV header is potentially the section that recruiters would refer to the most, as it should include your:
- Contact details - your professional (non-work) email address and phone number;
- Professional photograph - if you're applying hinting at the value you bring as a professional.
Many professionals often struggle with writing their nursing CV headline. That's why in the next section of this guide, we've curated examples of how you can optimise this space to pass any form of assessment.
Examples of good CV headlines for nursing:
- RN, BSc in Nursing | Critical Care Specialist | 7 Years' Experience | Compassionate, Patient-Centred Care
- Paediatric Nurse Practitioner | 10+ Years of Experience | Childhood Asthma & Allergy Expertise | MSc Nursing
- Charge Nurse, A&E | Senior Clinical Leadership | 12 Years' Experience | Trauma & Emergency Response
- Senior Staff Nurse - Oncology | Chemotherapy Certified | Palliative Care | Over 15 Years of Dedication
- Theatre Nurse | Perioperative Care Specialist | BSc (Hons) Nursing | 9 Years Surgical Experience
- Community Health Nurse | Public Health Advocate | Health Promotion & Disease Prevention | 8+ Years Serving Communities
Catching recruiters' attention with your nursing CV summary or objective
Located closer to the top of your CV, both the summary and objective are no more than five sentences long and serve as an introduction to your experience. What is more, you could use either to entice recruiters to read on. Select the:
- Summary, if you happen to have plenty of relevant experience. Feature your most impressive accomplishments and up to three skills that are relevant to the job you're applying for;
- Objective, if you're just starting your career off. Provide your career goals and answer how you see the role you are applying for will match your professional growth.
Judging which one you need to add to your nursing CV may at times seem difficult. That’s why you need to check out how professionals, with similar to your experience, have written their summary or objective, in the examples below:
CV summaries for a nursing job:
- Seasoned Registered Nurse with over 10 years of experience in high-pressure cardiac care units, adept at managing critical situations and providing compassionate care. Proud recipient of the 'Nurse of the Year' award for two consecutive years, underlining a strong track record in patient advocacy and successful cross-functional team coordination in large, urban hospitals.
- Compassionate and dedicated Newly-Qualified Nurse ready to apply comprehensive academic knowledge gained during a Bachelor of Nursing programme, eager to contribute a fresh perspective and up-to-date clinical practices to support patient recovery. Highly skilled in patient assessment and eager to further develop expertise in paediatric nursing.
- Dynamic former Police Officer transitioning to nursing, bringing over 8 years of experience in high-stress environments and a proven ability to remain calm under pressure. Seeking to leverage strong leadership skills and a deep commitment to serve the community into delivering exceptional patient care within a challenging healthcare setting.
- Motivated former Public Health Analyst aiming to contribute 5 years of experience in health data management and policy development to the nursing field, desiring to enrich practical patient care skills and pursue a passion for hands-on support in emergency medicine.
- Driven and compassionate healthcare professional with a recently completed Bachelor of Nursing, aiming to leverage theoretical knowledge and hands-on training undertaken during clinical placements to deliver optimal care and support patient well-being in a resident nurse capacity.
- Eager and resourceful individual with a keen interest in nursing, seeking to transfer robust organisational and communication skills into a supportive clinical role. With a strong commitment to healthcare excellence, looking forward to acquiring hands-on experience and furthering nursing education simultaneously.
How to meet job requirements with your nursing CV experience
We've now reached the essence of your actual CV - your experience section. This is the space where you can list your career roles and on-the-job successes. Many candidates tend to underestimate just how much time and effort they should put into writing this CV section. Your experience shouldn't be a random list of your responsibilities, but instead:
- Match the job description with your skills, values, and accomplishments;
- Start each bullet with a strong action verb, followed up with one key skill and your outcome of applying this skill;
- Spotlight parts of your career history that are relevant to the job you're applying for.
Before we move on, make sure to check out some professional CV experience sections.
Best practices for your CV's work experience section
- Detail your hands-on patient care experiences, specifying types of patients handled, conditions treated, and the level of acuity seen on your shifts.
- Highlight any special nursing procedures or techniques you are skilled in, such as inserting IV lines, wound care or administering medication.
- Include experience with electronic health records (EHR) systems, noting the specific platforms you're familiar with, as accurate record-keeping is essential in nursing.
- Emphasise your collaborative work, mentioning how you coordinated with other healthcare professionals like doctors and therapists to develop patient care plans.
- Describe any emergency medical situations you have managed, outlining your ability to stay calm and effective under pressure.
- Detail your experience in patient education, highlighting how you've helped patients understand their conditions, medications, and self-care techniques.
- Discuss any leadership roles you've taken on, such as charge nurse positions or mentoring new nursing staff, to show your ability to take responsibility.
- Mention any involvement in quality improvement initiatives or committees, demonstrating your commitment to advancing standards of nursing care.
- Note any experience with public health nursing or community health initiatives, if applicable, to display a broader understanding of healthcare beyond direct patient care.
- Spearheaded the implementation of a new electronic health record system, which increased department efficiency by 25% within the first 6 months.
- Coordinated care for an average of 40 patients per shift, with a focus on acute medical cases, maintaining high satisfaction rates and adherence to patient care standards.
- Provided mentorship and supervised a team of 6 junior nurses, enhancing team skills and nursing competencies through regular training workshops.
- Managed a caseload of critical care patients in an ICU setting, improving patient recovery times by 15% through optimized care plans.
- Led a cross-functional team in a quality improvement project, achieving a reduction in hospital-acquired infection rates by 30% over two years.
- Acted as the primary point of contact for patient advocates, addressing concerns and ensuring high-quality service, leading to a 10% increase in patient satisfaction.
- Managed pre-and post-operative care for approximately 20 surgical patients daily, ensuring compliance with clinical guidelines and promoting speedy recoveries.
- Implemented an innovative patient education program on pain management techniques, seeing a 35% decrease in requested pain relief medication over six months.
- Collaborated with interdisciplinary teams to optimize patient discharge processes, resulting in a 20% improvement in patient throughput.
- Conducted primary care and routine check-ups for a diverse patient population of 30 to 50 patients per day in a busy urban clinic setting.
- Implemented a vaccination drive that reached 2,000+ local residents, boosting community health metrics and reducing infectious disease incidents by 40% over two years.
- Championed a patient feedback initiative to adapt care delivery methods, which led to a 15% improvement in treatment compliance among chronic disease patients.
- Managed patient care with specific attention to chronic conditions, effectively reducing emergency room visits by 25% through proactive management strategies.
- Served as lead nurse in a team that successfully integrated a telehealth monitoring system for cardiac patients, supporting remote patient monitoring and timely interventions.
- Drove a patient-centered approach to care for over 30 long-term residents, significantly enhancing quality of life metrics as reported in annual patient surveys.
- Delivered emergency care in a high-pressure environment, attending to over 60 patients per shift with a wide range of urgent medical needs.
- Developed and implemented an emergency department triage training program, which reduced patient waiting time by an average of 20 minutes.
- Pioneered a fast-track system for minor injuries that saw a 50% improvement in patient flow, contributing to the overall efficiency of the emergency services.
- Provided holistic nursing care in a palliative setting, supporting patients and families through end-of-life decisions and delivering compassionate care.
- Led the integration of a digital pain management charting system that enhanced patient comfort levels and reduced medication errors by 20%.
- Mobilized volunteers and community nurses to support in-home palliative care services, extending our outreach to an additional 100 families.
- Orchestrated the learning and development of student nurses during their clinical rotations, increasing student satisfaction scores by 30%.
- Authored a comprehensive clinical procedures manual adopted hospital-wide, setting a benchmark for best practices and patient care protocols.
- Adapted nursing curricula to incorporate the latest evidence-based practices, elevating the standard of care education for future healthcare professionals.
Swapping your professional experience (when you have none) with skills and more
Never underestimate the importance of relevancе when it comes to your nursing CV. Even if you don't happen to have much or any standard (full-time contract) professional experience, this doesn't mean you shouldn't apply for the role. Instead of a bespoke CV experience section:
- Showcase more prominently any internships, part-time roles, and volunteer experience that are applicable to the role and have taught you job-crucial skills;
- Feature a strengths or achievements section with your transferrable skills or talents you've obtained thanks to your work or life experience;
- Write an objective statement that clearly outlines your values as a candidate and defines your career ambitions;
- List your education or certificates that match the job profile closer to the top of your CV.
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Talk about any positive changes you helped bring about in your previous jobs, like improving a process or helping increase efficiency.
Key nursing CV skills: what are hard skills and soft skills
Let's kick off with the basics. You know that you have to include key job requirements or skills across your CV. For starters, take individual skills from the job description and copy-paste them into your CV, when relevant. Doing so, you'll ensure you have the correct skill spelling and also pass the Applicant Tracker System (ATS) assessment. There are two types of skills you'll need to include on your CV:
- Hard skills - technical abilities that are best defined by your certificates, education, and experience. You could also use the dedicated skills section to list between ten and twelve technologies you're apt at using that match the job requirements.
- Soft skills - your personal traits and interpersonal communication skills that are a bit harder to quantify. Use various CV sections, e.g. summary, strengths, experience, to shine a spotlight on your workspace achievements, thanks to using particular soft skills.
Remember that your job-winning CV should balance both your hard and soft skills to prove your technical background, while spotlighting your personality.
Top skills for your nursing CV:
Clinical assessment
Wound care management
Patient care planning
Medication administration
Vital signs monitoring
Intravenous therapy
Emergency response
Medical equipment operation
Electronic health records (EHR) management
Infection control
Compassion
Effective communication
Time management
Teamwork
Problem-solving
Attention to detail
Resilience
Adaptability
Empathy
Interpersonal skills
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Order your skills based on the relevance to the role you're applying for, ensuring the most pertinent skills catch the employer's attention first.
Further professional qualifications for your nursing CV: education and certificates
As you're nearing the end of your nursing CV, you may wonder what else will be relevant to the role. Recruiters are keen on understanding your academic background, as it teaches you an array of hard and soft skills. Create a dedicated education section that lists your:
- applicable higher education diplomas or ones that are at a postgraduate level;
- diploma, followed up with your higher education institution and start-graduation dates;
- extracurricular activities and honours, only if you deem that recruiters will find them impressive.
Follow a similar logic when presenting your certificates. Always select ones that will support your niche expertise and hint at what it's like to work with you. Balance both technical certification with soft skills courses to answer job requirements and company values. Wondering what the most sought out certificates are for the industry? Look no further:
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If you have received professional endorsements or recommendations for certain skills, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, mention these to add credibility.
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Key takeaways
Here are five things you need to remember about writing your nursing CV for success:
- Sort your experience based on the reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent career items, to showcase how you've grown your career;
- Include within your CV header your relevant contact details, a headline that could spotlight your unique value, and a photo - if you're applying for roles outside the UK or US;
- Decide to use the CV summary, if you happen to have more professional experience, and an objective, if you want to showcase your career goals;
- Within the experience section, write your bullets using action verbs, skills, and success, instead of just merely listing your on-the-job responsibilities;
- Prove your technical skills, using your education and certificates, and your soft skills, with your achievements and strengths sections.
