How to Write a New Grad Nurse Resume that Gets You Hired

Recruiters understand that recent graduates may not have a lot of work experience right out of the gate. Nursing graduates aren’t expected to have years of experience, but they are expected to have some experience and plenty of skills. Your resume writing process should incorporate your best skills and any relevant experience.

The structure of any resume will partially depend on the resume format that you use to present it. There are three main resume formats to choose from: the chronological resume highlights work experience, the functional resume highlights skills and the combination resume highlights both. Your new grad nursing resume will likely be a combination or functional resume, depending on how much relevant experience you have.

 

 

This section is the resume header containing your contact information. List your full name, phone number, email address and any job networking profile links including your LinkedIn. If you hold a nursing title, you can put it next to your name like, “Hazel Storey, CNA”.

 

 

This section is 2-3 sentences that highlights the most important skills and talents you want to show off to a hiring manager. A hiring manager will read the resume summary first, so be sure to feature your skills and qualifications here!

 

 

Your nursing skills will make a great impression on a new graduate resume when you lack clinical experience. Make sure that the skills you list on your resume match the required skills on the specific job posting. Here are a few skills you might want to include:

• Patient care
• Clinical rotations
• Basic Life Support (BLS)
• Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)
• Recording vital signs
• Time management

Skills are extremely important in this resume template, so list your best hard skills and soft skills in this section of your resume.

 

 

Even if you just graduated, you can still complete the work experience section of your resume. Include your previous work history whether nursing related or not and list volunteer experience, academic work and internships. Although these may not have been paid jobs, they’re still considered relevant experience. List your experience in reverse chronological order, with the most recent experiences at the top.

 

 

As you would expect, your education section will likely include your nursing school information. Relevant memberships and certifications in the healthcare field can also go in this section. If you have any relevant coursework that you want to list, add it below your college experience.

Here are a few additional tips to help you write your new grad nursing resume:

 

Do:

• Add any graduation honors to your resume. If you graduated cum laude, you can include it as a way to showcase your skills.
• Read the job description before you write your resume. That way, you’ll be able to tailor your resume directly to what the hiring manager is looking for.
• Check for nurse resume examples at ResumeHelp. These examples can help you determine what your resume should look like.

Don’t:

• Include your high school on your resume. If you went to nursing school, it’s assumed you either graduated high school or have a high school equivalent.
• Add your GPA to your nursing resume unless requested. While graduation honors are definitely a great way to show off your knowledge, your GPA doesn’t typically help much.
• Completely bypass the work history section. Just because you don’t have a traditional work history, your internships and volunteer work can be included.