Healthcare and education
Registered Nurse resume example
Nursing resumes are screened for licenses, certifications and specialty first, often automatically. This example puts the RN license and certifications where a tracking system and a nurse manager will both see them, then shows the unit, patient load and the improvements you contributed to.
Opens in the Sembis editor with this example filled in, on the free Classic template. Replace the details with yours and download an ATS friendly PDF. No card needed.
An example: the person and employers are made up.
Registered Nurse resume summary examples
Two or three sentences at the top of your resume that say who you are, what you’re good at and what you’ve achieved. Pick the one closest to your level and swap in your own facts.
New graduate nurse with a BSN and clinical rotations in ICU, emergency and medical surgical units. Licensed RN with BLS and ACLS, ready to learn fast and work any shift.
Registered nurse with 6 years in ICU and medical surgical care at a Level I trauma centre. CCRN certified, charge nurse experience and a preceptor for new graduates.
Nurse manager with 12 years of clinical experience and 4 years leading a 45 person ICU team. Improved staff retention and patient satisfaction scores while keeping to budget.
More in the guide: how to write a resume summary.
Bullet points for a registered nurse resume
Strong bullets start with an action verb, say what you did, and end with a result someone can measure. Use these as patterns, with your own numbers.
Stuck for the first word? See 180+ resume action verbs.
- Cared for 2 critically ill patients per shift in a 28 bed ICU
- Precepted 9 new graduate nurses through orientation
- Helped keep central line infections at zero for 14 months
- Served as charge nurse on night shift
- Educated patients and families on medications and discharge plans
- Introduced a standard SBAR handoff with the nurse manager
- Documented care accurately in Epic for every patient
- Responded to rapid response and code blue calls as part of the team
Skills to put on a registered nurse resume
Tracking systems match your resume against the words in the job posting, so list the skills you really have using the posting’s own terms. Hard skills belong in a skills section; show soft skills through your bullet points.
Hard skills
- Patient assessment
- Critical care
- Medication administration
- IV therapy
- Ventilator management
- Wound care
- Telemetry
- Patient education
- Care planning
- Epic
- Cerner
- BLS
- ACLS
- Infection control
Soft skills
- Compassion
- Calm under pressure
- Communication
- Critical thinking
- Teamwork
- Time management
How to write a registered nurse resume
01
Put your license and certifications at the top
Many hospitals filter on RN license, BSN, BLS, ACLS and specialty certifications. Include them in your headline and a dedicated section.
02
Name the unit and patient ratio
"ICU, 2 patients per shift" or "Med surg, 5 to 6 patients" tells a nurse manager exactly what you're ready for.
03
Include improvements, not just duties
Infection rates, falls, patient satisfaction and precepting all show you contribute beyond your assignment.
04
Check what a tracking system sees
Before you apply, run your finished resume through the free ATS resume checker to see the exact text a parser pulls out, and fix anything that comes out scrambled.
Tailor it to each registered nurse job
Paste a job posting into Sembis to see which of its keywords your resume is missing, and let AI suggest rewrites you approve one by one.
