Are you considering a travel nursing assignment? Building your travel nursing resume is an essential first step in the process. Most healthcare professionals assume that filling out an online agency application is all that’s required to begin their travel nurse job search. However, leading medical staffing firms can receive countless applicants for a single open contract. Including a well-crafted nursing resume can quickly highlight your professional differentiators and separate your candidate profile from the competitive masses. More importantly, submitting a current and thorough account of your work experience can help medical recruiters quickly find the best open assignments for your specific skill set and preferences.
A Well-Crafted Travel Nursing Resume Showcases Your Unique Experience and Skills
Don’t risk getting lost in the digital shuffle. Follow these six tips to create a complete and focused resume that commands attention and helps you land your next dream job. When developing your resume, consider:
Relevant Work Experience
Like most industries, travel nursing recruiters will always want to see a detailed account of your relevant work experience. Go through your previous positions and list the facility or practice, your job description, and a list of daily responsibilities and accomplishments. Omit tasks that are overly generalized or already presumed, such as “managed patient load” or “delivered patient care”. Instead, get specific, highlighting tangible and quantifying results or achievements that showcase your skills, abilities, and talents as a clinician.
Note: When outlining your work experience, also include facility type (Hospital, LTAC, LTC, Rehab), hospital trauma level, number of beds of the facility, and the unit you worked on with patient ratio. Remember to include any time you’ve floated to another unit- that will make you even more marketable! This highlighted experience is relevant to further differentiate your professional specialties and background.
Professional Education
Always include the degree you’ve earned on your travel nursing resume. Beyond listing ADN, ASN, BSN, or MSN, you’ll also want to outline other relevant details such as school name, city, state, and dates attended. You should also highlight your GPA and any other achievements, honors, and accomplishments attained during your time at your alma mater.
All Licenses and Certifications
Including all licenses and nursing certifications is essential to helping your recruiter find opportunities that match your capabilities. When listing your credentials, you should include:
- License or certification title
- License or certification number if applicable
- Date obtained as well as expiration date when applicable
- Licensing state
- Full name of certifying entity
- Note if you hold a compact nursing license
The Applicant Tracking Systems
Most leading travel nurse agencies utilize an applicant tracking system (ATS) to conduct an initial screen on submitted information as well as accelerate the hiring process. An ATS will perform a computerized analysis of your resume, itemizing your individual skills, and even possibly ranking your profile against other candidates in the system. When drafting your resume, consider the ATS by mirroring the language used in the job opening whenever possible. For example, if the job uses an acronym or abbreviation in its description, use the acronym or abbreviation in your resume as well.
Formatting also comes into play when considering an agency’s ATS. Most applicant tracking systems will parse out the text in your resume as coded and categorized data. Make it as easy as possible for your recruiter’s digital solution to break down your skills and experience by keeping your formatting simple:
- Avoid overly intricate fonts and unnecessary line breaks
- Use plain bullets whenever possible to make text easy to digest
- Avoid unnecessary graphics, tables, colored text, and columns
Computer Skills
The healthcare industry continues to embrace and leverage cutting-edge innovation, making experience with a technology an in-demand skill. Always include a Computer Skills section on your resume, listing all computer charting systems you’ve used, how long you used them, key functions you performed, and any specific training and/or advanced trained you received.
Proof and Spell Check
Yes, grammar and spelling matter. A 2013 report released from CareerBuilder revealed that 58 percent of hiring managers would automatically dismiss a candidate’s resume due to typos. Once you’ve got all the vital details into your draft, proof and spell check it thoroughly. Sites like Grammarly or RezScore can help you detect resume blunders before you submit it to your travel nurse recruiter.
Lastly, your travel nurse recruiter is your biggest advocate and advisor. A reputable recruiter will offer resume advice and suggestions to help you in this process. Be sure to find a recruiter who will make resume recommendations to you that highlight all of your skills and achievements, ensuring you get the assignment of your dreams.
Contact ARMStaffing today to learn more about building your nursing resume, or click below to apply to one of our current open opportunities.
