How to write a nurse CV
As a professional nurse yo
ur CV needs to demonstrate your achievements and the maintenance of the high levels of clinical excellence associated with your role. In approaching how to write a nurse CV, focus the CV towards your target roles. Moreover, it needs to provide a compelling case for calling you to interview. Simply copying and pasting your job description is not enough, you need to show how well you have performed in your roles.
Presentation and formatting
Your nursing CV will often be the first thing any new employer sees about you. Creating a good first impression is vital. Aim for a two-page CV format to keep things brief. Make sure the formatting is consistent, the headings clearly labelled and use a modern typeface like Calibri or Tahoma at a minimum of 11 point. Of course, your nursing CV should be free of spelling mistakes and any kind of grammatical errors.
Position yourself in line with your target nursing roles
You want the reader to see the relevance of your CV as soon as they start reading it. So, state clearly whether you are a mental health, paediatric, nurse practitioner or whatever is your nursing specialism. You could create a tag line to highlight your area of expertise but at the very least clearly position yourself in the first line of your professional profile. The reader will then concentrate with interest.
Show the difference you make in your nursing CV
Copying and pasting a job description into your nursing CV will create a generic profile of a role. Dry and impersonal, it makes it very difficult for the reader to come to a positive impression about you. Much better to give specific examples of achievements. These could be KPIs or compliance objectives met, special projects, awards, accolades or any measurable improvement to the performance of your team or provision of better care for patients.
Qualifications and certifications
You should include all your relevant professional and academic qualifications. When writing a nursing CV you want everything to flow in order of importance with all the most essential information on the first page. If you are just starting out in your nursing career then your qualifications may be your biggest strength so put these at the front, after your professional profile. As an experienced nurse your work experience will take precedence over qualifications so place the qualifications section at the back of the CV.
When writing your nursing CV keep three things front of mind. Firstly, to position the CV in line with your target nursing roles. Secondly, to ensure your CV looks the part – professional and error free. Finally, make sure you state specific examples of achievements and support these with facts and figures.
This article is written by Neville Rose, Director of CV Writers. Please do connect with me via LinkedIn.
Check out our CV writing service with details of our packages that include LinkedIn profiles, cover letters and more. You can get things started with a Free CV review. I am also a qualified career counsellor and provide Career Counselling services for people looking to change career paths.
