Important Nursing Skills for Your Resume
Resume & Interview July 23, 2013These days, there are thousands of students entering nursing school each and every year. As more nurses enter the work force, it is important that everyone in the nursing profession keeps their resume up to date with their latest credentials and skills. It is important to have not only an updated resume including the best nursing skills that a person can offer, but to also have a resume that is designed to be clear and concise. A nurse wants to make sure that his or her skills jump off of the resume page and into the administrator’s mind — the resume must stand out in a crowd of possibly hundreds of others.
Essential Nursing Skills for Resume
•Nursing resumes should include a portion about assessments. This is one of the most important skills a nurse must have on his or her resume. Every nurse needs to be able to do a physical assessment on a patient, and does it well.
•A nurse should also be able to prove with his or her resume that he or she is a versatile employee, showcasing work experience in several different types of facilities. On a resume, a nurse should include if he or she has worked in a doctor’s office, clinic, nursing home, hospital, and the different roles he or she took on at each facility. Include the necessary details, but nothing more, a nurse should not bog down his or her resume with too much information. It can crowd the design and make a resume difficult to read.
•A resume should depict that a nurse is not only a good caregiver, but also a good communicator. Communication is one of the most important parts of being a good nurse. The ability to talk with the patient about what is going on and what the doctor is going to do is crucial, and it is also imperative that nurses have the ability to communicate with one another and the doctors effectively. Nursing is a team effort, and everyone must be on the same page — nurses need to be able to relay this skill on their resume through clear, concise wording and a solid layout.
•In addition to expert medical knowledge and technical skills, a nurse should include that he or she has quality bedside manners as well. Bedside manners are not something that is taught, but is more of a learned skill. Quietly and subtly mention this throughout the resume, so it stands out as something you are good at, but it does not need its own section on the nurse’s resume.
•Nurses should make sure that they are considered experts in several different areas. While it is good to have a little bit of information on a wide variety of subjects in the nursing field, it helps a nurse to stand out if he or she has one, two or even three specializations. Specializations might include emergency room, anesthesiology, and neonatal care experience.
Creating a nursing resume to land that dream job as a nurse is not always easy. There are a lot of components that need to be included, and the job seeker needs to walk the fine line of providing relevant details without rambling on and on. Being a nurse is truly a dynamic job, and a nurse’s resume must reflect the variety of challenges he or she takes on every day. This includes not only medical experience and knowledge, but also real world experience, empathy and the ability to care for patients that may be challenging and difficult to take care of. These skills will help any nurse get the job he or she has been dreaming of his or her entire life.
