Nursing skills

Use a simple, clean format that highlights your skills and experiences. Focus on readability by using bullet points and short phrases to present your skills. Properly organize your resume into education, experience, and skills sections.

“Adding a skills section to your resume is a great way to draw the recruiter’s attention to your most relevant strengths and competencies.”

– Ashley Watkins, NCRW, NCOPE, Job Search Coach

For example, a nurse’s bullet points might look like this:

• Provided high-quality patient care in a busy 30-bed medical/surgical unit, maintaining a 98% patient satisfaction score.
• Implemented an improved infection control protocol, reducing the rate of hospital-acquired infections by 15%.
• Coordinated a multidisciplinary team in the development and execution of individualized care plans, resulting in improved patient outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to manage medical emergencies calmly and efficiently, leading to increased survival rates.

Hitting all the top job requirements with your skills list will help you rank highly for a keyword search within an applicant tracking system. But don’t stop there. Add context for every skill elsewhere in your work experience. If a recruiter is excited by leadership in your skills section, the first thing they’ll do is skim your work experience to figure out when, how, and how much you used that skill.

As you list your responsibilities, it’s also important to highlight your major accomplishments wherever you can.

“For soft skills, it’s often more effective to demonstrate them in the context of your past work experience. Instead of merely stating “excellent team player”, you are better off saying “collaborated with a cross-functional team of 6 on a new product launch that boosted sales by 30% in one year”. Examples of specific accomplishments or business outcomes speak louder than buzzwords.”

– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor

Instead of saying,

“Conducted patient education.”

You could say,

“Conducted patient education initiatives on topics such as medication management, self-care, and disease prevention, leading to a 20% decrease in readmission rates.”

Using these detailed and quantified statements, you can effectively highlight your nursing skills and achievements, making your resume more attractive to potential employers.

If you’re applying for a role requiring a broad skillset, categorize your skills.

“If you opt to include a designated skills section on your resume, include up to 10 of your core competencies. Excessive skills lists are overwhelming and sometimes confusing to the reader.”

– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter

For instance, someone applying for the role might benefit from segmenting their skill lists as follows:

Clinical Skills:

• Patient Care: Delivered high-quality care to patients across diverse medical conditions.
• Medication Administration: Accurately dispensed prescribed medications, reducing administration errors.
• Emergency Response: Demonstrated ability to act swiftly and accurately in emergency situations, improving patient survival rates.

Leadership and Teamwork Skills:

• Team Coordination: Collaborated effectively with multidisciplinary healthcare teams to provide comprehensive patient care.
• Conflict Resolution: Successfully mediated conflicts within the healthcare team, maintaining high morale and efficiency.
• Mentorship: Guided junior nurses and nursing students, promoting professional growth and skill enhancement.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills:

• Patient Education: Conducted patient and family education on disease management, medication, and self-care procedures.
• Empathy: Provided emotional support to patients and their families during challenging medical situations.
• Multicultural Sensitivity: Effectively communicate with patients from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Technical Skills:

• Electronic Health Records (EHR): Proficient in using EHR software for accurate and timely patient data documentation.
• Medical Equipment Operation: Skilled in operating various medical equipment and tools.

Compliance and Safety Skills:

• Infection Control: Implemented infection control measures, reducing hospital-acquired infections.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensured adherence to healthcare regulations and standards, passing all external audits with high ratings.

This method of categorizing skills allows potential employers to understand your diverse expertise quickly and makes your resume more readable.

Use numbers to quantify your achievements wherever possible. This helps potential employers understand your abilities and the impact you can have on their organization.

“Recruiters and hiring managers are looking for relevancy of how and when you applied those skills, so provide examples of this in your experience section. Bonus tip: Don’t just insert the skill like a task–include results.”

– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter

Instead of saying,

“Collaborated with the healthcare team.”

You could say,

“Collaborated with the healthcare team to achieve a 10% improvement in discharge planning and coordination.”

Using numbers gives hiring managers a better sense of your value and demonstrates your expertise in the nursing field.

Quantifying your achievements makes your resume more compelling and effectively communicates the impact you can have on a potential employer’s organization.

Read the description carefully and emphasize the relevant skills and experiences. Highlight the skills that the employer seeks and provide examples of how you’ve used those skills in your previous roles. Doing so can demonstrate that you’re a strong fit for the position and increase your chances of being invited to an interview.

“The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach doesn’t work when it comes to your resume. For every job application, tailor your skill set to match the job description. Most companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that filter candidates based on keywords and skills listed in the job description. So, research the role you’re applying for and distill the skills required.”

– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor

In order to do this, “you must first understand what skills are most important for the target role,” says Ashley Watkins.

Here’s an example of how to tailor a nurse resume to a job description:

Job Title: Nurse Manager at a Healthcare Facility

Requirements:

Experience with patient care coordination, strong leadership skills, data-driven decision-making, and knowledge of healthcare regulations and compliance standards.

Tailored Resume Description:

• Orchestrated patient care coordination initiatives in a busy 50-bed medical/surgical unit, resulting in a 20% increase in patient satisfaction and a 15% decrease in hospital readmission rates.
• Led and mentored a team of 25 nurses and healthcare professionals, fostering a high-performance culture that boosted overall team efficiency by 35% and reduced staff turnover by 25%.
• Spearheaded healthcare compliance initiatives, ensuring 100% adherence to healthcare regulations and successfully passing all external audits over a three-year tenure.

“Focus on the sought-after and in demand skills. A great way to figure out what is currently in demand is by researching current job openings from your preferred companies and reading through the posting. Pay close attention to the preferred requirements section and build your skills section based on this list.”

– Chelsea Jay, Career & Leadership Development Coach – Seasoned and Growing

Start each bullet point with an action verb. An action verb expresses an action, such as “create,” “build,” “manage,” “lead,” or “implement.”

Action verbs grab the reader’s attention and paint a vivid picture of what you accomplished at work.

Action verbs make your resume more interesting to read. They also show the kind of can-do attitude that employers are looking for.