How to write a resume for nursing and healthcare jobs

That means a clinical resume is organized a little differently from an office resume. Credentials sit near the top, each job names the unit type and the kind of patients, and bullets describe care, safety and teamwork rather than sales-style results. New graduates lead with clinical rotations instead of paid experience.

What people hiring in nursing and healthcare usually look for

In general terms. Every employer is different, so read each posting closely.

• A current license or certification for the role, listed the way it appears on the license itself.
• The care setting and unit type for each job (for example med-surg, emergency, long-term care, home health or outpatient clinic).
• The patient population you cared for (adult, pediatric, geriatric, behavioral health) and the usual patient load, if you know it.
• Required certifications for the unit, such as life support courses, with their expiration dates.
• The charting or electronic health record systems you have used, named as [EHR system] until you fill in the real name.
• Evidence of safe practice and teamwork: handoffs, precepting, committee work, infection control or quality projects you took part in.

How to structure a nursing resume

• Licenses and certifications first. Put them right under your name and summary. Write each one the same way: type, state, and expiration. Add a license number only if the posting asks for it.
• Clinical experience by unit. For each job: title, employer, unit or department, city and state, and dates. Then three to five bullets about care, safety and coordination.
• Clinical rotations (new graduates). List each rotation with the facility, unit and hours if your program recorded them. Treat them like jobs, with one or two bullets each.
• Skills that match the posting. Group them: clinical procedures, systems and equipment, and languages. Only list procedures you have done and could describe.

Three layouts cover most situations, each in one column with standard headings:

• Clinical Experience First: Working nurses and clinical staff with paid experience in one or more units. Order: Summary, Licenses and Certifications, Clinical Experience, Education, Clinical Skills.
• Credentials and Skills Forward: Experienced staff moving to a new specialty or setting, where certifications and skills are the strongest match. Order: Summary, Licenses and Certifications, Clinical Skills, Clinical Experience, Education.
• New Graduate: New graduates and newly certified staff whose clinical rotations are the main experience. Order: Summary, Licenses and Certifications, Education, Clinical Rotations, Clinical Experience, Clinical Skills.

Example bullet structures

These are structures, not real results. Replace every [placeholder] with your own facts, and leave out any number you can't back up.

• Provided [type of care] for [number] patients per shift on a [number]-bed [unit type] unit, including [patient population].
• Administered [medications or treatments] and documented care in [EHR system] following [facility] protocols.
• Assessed and monitored [condition or vital signs] and escalated changes to the [provider or charge nurse] using [handoff method, e.g. SBAR].
• Educated patients and families on [topic, e.g. discharge instructions or wound care] in [language(s)].
• Precepted [number] new [nurses, CNAs or students] during their [number]-week orientation.

Action verbs for this field

Summary structures

• [License type] with [number] years of [unit type] experience caring for [patient population]. Skilled in [two strengths from the posting]. [Certification(s)] current through [Month Year].
• New graduate [license type] from [program] with clinical rotations in [unit types]. Ready to bring [strength] and [strength] to a [setting] team.

More structures by situation (career change, returning after a layoff, new graduate) are on our resume summary examples page.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the license or certification line off the top half of the page, or listing it without a state or expiration.
• Describing tasks every nurse does ("provided patient care") without naming the unit, the population or the load.
• Listing every procedure you saw in school as a skill, instead of the ones you performed and could discuss.
• Including patient names, identifying details or anything that could be protected health information.
• Using unit abbreviations a recruiter outside your hospital wouldn't know, without spelling them out once.

Do it yourself, or have it done

Questions

Other resume guides: skilled trades and construction, cdl and truck driver, teacher and education, and the career services page. Got laid off? See what to do after being laid off.

General information, not career, legal or employment advice. We are not career counselors, and nothing here promises interviews, offers or a particular result.