A nurse recruiter checks three things first: your RN license, the units you have worked on and the certifications you hold. The faster they find those, the faster you get a call. This example shows how to fit it all on one page without losing what makes you good at the job.
Registered nurse (BSN) with five years of experience on a med-surg unit and in the emergency department. Calm during busy shifts, quick to spot early signs of patient decline and used to serving as charge nurse. Comfortable with Epic, high-risk medication checks and teaching patients before discharge. Looking for a step-down or critical care role with support for a specialty certification.
Many employers have your resume read first by software that filters on these words. Use them where they match your experience: in your summary and in your work experience.
List your RN license with the state and whether it is a compact (multistate) license. Recruiters verify it before anything else, so do not bury it under education.
'Registered Nurse, General Hospital' says little. 'Registered Nurse, 32-bed med-surg unit' tells a manager what acuity and patient load you are used to.
BLS, ACLS, PALS, TNCC, CCRN: list each one with its expiration year. Job postings filter on these exact abbreviations, and so does the software that reads your resume first.
Charge shifts, precepting, unit committees and quality projects set you apart from nurses with the same degree. One line per role is enough.
Say whether you work days, nights, weekends and holidays, and whether you want full time or per diem. Nurse managers want to know this before the interview.
List the license type, state and compact status. The license number itself is optional, since employers verify it through the state board, but some applications ask for it.
One page if you have less than five years of experience, two pages at most after that. Describe the last ten years in detail and keep older roles short.
Yes. List them under a separate heading with the unit and the number of hours. Once you have a year or two of paid experience, you can shorten or drop them.
Why this unit, which experience transfers directly and when you are available. Keep it to one page and skip general lines about compassion.
See the registered nurse cover letter example
Resumate is an AI resume builder for job seekers, at getresumate.com and getresumate.nl. We help candidates get past the filter with a resume, a cover letter and a match per job posting. Resumate is not a recruiter ATS and not a job board.