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As a nursing student, you’ll be relying less on traditional work experience to fill out your resume and more on the skills you’ve gained through coursework and student nursing placements. Even without much experience, you can distinguish yourself by listing your student nursing experience the same way you would paid experience, focusing on your accomplishments and making sure to include relevant skills and keywords.
If you’re still a student and don’t have any relevant paid work experience, that doesn’t mean your resume should be blank. You can list your student nursing experience in your professional experience section, listing the location you worked at as the employer and “student nurse” as your job title.
Even without paid work experience, you’ll be graduating with plenty of the skills you’ll need in your first role. Include a skills section at the bottom of your resume where you list a few of the skills that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for — typically between 5-10 skills.
We spoke with hiring managers at top hospitals and healthcare organizations like Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Kaiser Permanente to gather their best tips for nursing student resumes. Here's what they said will help you stand out and get hired:
Employers want to see the hands-on patient care experience you've gained during your nursing program. Be specific about the types of clinical rotations you've completed:
Quantify your experience where possible, like the number of patients you cared for or skills you performed. This gives a concrete picture of your capabilities.
A resume summary is an optional section that appears at the top of your resume, just below your contact information. It provides a brief overview of your professional background, skills, and career goals. While a summary is not strictly necessary, it can be particularly useful for nursing students who are looking to provide additional context about their experience and qualifications.
It's important to note that you should never use an objective statement in place of a summary. Objective statements are outdated and focus on what you want from an employer, rather than what you can offer them. Instead, use your summary to highlight your most relevant skills and experiences, and to explain how they make you a strong candidate for the nursing position you're seeking.
As a nursing student, your work experience section should showcase your clinical skills, patient care experience, and any relevant healthcare-related roles. This section is crucial for demonstrating your hands-on experience and proving that you're ready to take on the responsibilities of a nursing role.
When writing your work experience section, focus on highlighting your most relevant experiences and accomplishments. Use strong action verbs to describe your responsibilities and quantify your achievements whenever possible.
When describing your work experience, use strong action verbs that showcase your nursing skills and responsibilities. This helps to make your resume more engaging and highlights your contributions to each role.
Examples of strong nursing-related action verbs include:
Administered medications, changed dressings, and monitored vital signs for post-operative patients in a fast-paced surgical unit.
By using strong action verbs, you paint a clearer picture of your responsibilities and make your resume more impactful.
Your education section is a key part of your nursing student resume. It shows hiring managers that you have the necessary knowledge and training to succeed in the role. Here are some tips to make your education section stand out.
The skills section of your nursing student resume is critical. It's where you showcase your qualifications and training. Hiring managers and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) scan this section to decide if you have the right expertise for the role.
In this section, we'll cover exactly what to include and how to write your skills effectively. Let's dive in.
Here are examples of popular skills from Nursing Student job descriptions that you can include on your resume.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Nursing Student job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more likely you should include it in your resume.
Use our free resume checker to get expert feedback on your resume. You will:
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