travel nursing assignments look good on a resume

Travel Nursing Resume Examples: Elevate Your Nursing Career

• December 25, 2023
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Advancing Your Nursing Career

In the ever-evolving field of nursing, it’s essential to continuously seek opportunities for growth and advancement. Travel nursing is one such avenue that can elevate your nursing career to new heights. By embracing travel nursing and crafting a strong resume, you can open doors to exciting professional experiences and take your career to the next level.

The Benefits of Travel Nursing

Travel nursing offers a range of benefits that can significantly impact your career trajectory. One of the key advantages is the opportunity to explore new locations and healthcare settings. As a travel nurse, you can work in various hospitals, clinics, and healthcare facilities across different cities or even countries. This exposure allows you to gain valuable experience in different healthcare systems, broaden your clinical skills, and enhance your cultural competence.

Another benefit of travel nursing is the potential for higher earnings. Travel nurses often receive competitive compensation packages that can include higher base pay rates, housing allowances, travel reimbursements, and other bonuses. These financial incentives can contribute to your overall career growth and financial stability.

Additionally, travel nursing provides opportunities for personal and professional growth. By adapting to new environments, collaborating with diverse healthcare teams, and working with a wide range of patient populations, you can enhance your adaptability, communication skills, and clinical expertise. These experiences can make you a more well-rounded and marketable nurse in the long run.

The Importance of a Strong Resume

When it comes to pursuing travel nursing opportunities, having a strong resume is crucial. Your resume serves as a marketing tool that showcases your skills, experience, and qualifications to potential employers. A well-crafted resume can make a significant impact and help you stand out from the competition.

A strong travel nursing resume should highlight your relevant experience, skills, and certifications. It should clearly demonstrate your ability to adapt to new environments, collaborate effectively with diverse teams, and provide high-quality patient care. By tailoring your resume to each position you apply for and quantifying your achievements, you can effectively communicate your unique value as a travel nurse.

Including key sections such as a summary statement, work experience, skills, certifications, and education is essential for a comprehensive travel nursing resume. These sections allow employers to quickly assess your qualifications and determine if you are a good fit for their organization. Remember to prioritize the most relevant information and use action verbs to describe your accomplishments and responsibilities.

Crafting a strong travel nursing resume is a vital step in advancing your nursing career. It serves as a gateway to exciting travel nursing opportunities and positions you as a highly qualified and desirable candidate. By investing time and effort into creating a compelling resume, you can increase your chances of securing rewarding travel nursing assignments and taking your career to new heights.

Highlighting Travel Nursing Experience

As a travel nurse, your unique experience in different healthcare settings and locations is a valuable asset that can set you apart from other candidates. When crafting your resume, it’s essential to effectively showcase your travel nursing experience to capture the attention of potential employers. Here are some key tips on how to highlight your travel nursing experience on a resume.

How to Showcase Travel Nursing Experience on a Resume

• Create a dedicated section : Start by creating a separate section specifically for your travel nursing experience. This allows you to highlight your various assignments and the skills you gained during each one.
• Include specific details : For each travel assignment, provide the name of the facility, location, and the dates you worked there. This information gives employers a clear understanding of your experience and demonstrates your adaptability to different healthcare environments.
• Highlight diverse clinical experiences : Describe the specific units or departments you worked in during each assignment. If you gained experience in different specialties, such as ICU, ER, or pediatrics, be sure to mention them. This showcases your versatility and ability to work in a variety of settings.
• Emphasize achievements : Alongside your job responsibilities, highlight any notable achievements or contributions you made during your travel assignments. Did you receive any awards or recognition for your performance? Did you implement any successful initiatives or protocols? Quantify your achievements whenever possible to provide concrete evidence of your impact.
• Demonstrate adaptability : Travel nursing requires flexibility and adaptability. Showcase your ability to quickly adapt to new environments, learn new protocols, and work with diverse teams. This demonstrates your resilience and willingness to embrace new challenges.

Key Sections to Include in Your Resume

In addition to highlighting your travel nursing experience, there are several key sections you should include in your resume to make it comprehensive and impactful.

• Contact Information : Provide your full name, professional email address, phone number, and professional social media profiles (if applicable) at the top of your resume.
• Summary/Objective Statement : Write a concise summary or objective statement that captures your experience, skills, and career goals as a travel nurse. Tailor it to each position you apply for.
• Education and Certifications : List your educational background, including your nursing degree, any specialized certifications, and relevant training programs.
• Licensure and Credentials : Include your nursing license information, along with any additional certifications or credentials you hold. This helps employers verify your qualifications quickly.
• Skills : Highlight your nursing skills, both technical and interpersonal. Include skills specific to travel nursing, such as adaptability, cultural competence, and the ability to work independently.
• Work Experience : In addition to your travel nursing experience, include any previous nursing positions you held. Focus on the most recent and relevant roles, providing a brief description of your responsibilities and achievements.

Remember to tailor your resume for each position you apply for, emphasizing the skills and experience most relevant to the job description. By effectively showcasing your travel nursing experience and including key sections, you can create a stellar resume that grabs the attention of hiring managers in the competitive field of travel nursing.

Travel Nursing Resume Examples

Crafting a compelling travel nursing resume is essential to stand out from the competition and showcase your unique skills and experiences. To help you get started, here are three travel nursing resume examples that highlight different aspects of your travel nursing journey.

Example 1: Highlighting Travel Assignments

In this example, the focus is on highlighting your experience with different travel assignments. This demonstrates your adaptability and ability to thrive in diverse healthcare settings. Here’s a sample format for this type of resume:

Example 2: Emphasizing Flexibility and Adaptability

In this example, the focus is on highlighting your flexibility and adaptability as a travel nurse. This can be especially valuable for recruiters looking for nurses who can quickly adjust to new environments. Here’s a sample format for this type of resume:

Example 3: Demonstrating Multicultural Competence

In this example, the focus is on showcasing your multicultural competence and experience working with diverse patient populations. This can be particularly valuable for travel nurses working in culturally diverse regions. Here’s a sample format for this type of resume:

By tailoring your resume to highlight different aspects of your travel nursing experience, you can showcase your skills and qualifications effectively. Remember to customize each resume based on the specific job requirements and include relevant keywords to optimize your chances of landing your next travel nursing assignment.

Key Tips for Crafting a Stellar Travel Nursing Resume

Crafting a stellar travel nursing resume can significantly enhance your chances of landing your desired travel nursing assignments. Here are some key tips to help you create an impactful resume that highlights your travel nursing experience and skills.

Tailoring Your Resume for Each Position

When applying for different travel nursing positions, it’s crucial to tailor your resume to match the specific requirements of each job. Take the time to carefully review the job description and identify the key skills and qualifications the employer is seeking. Then, ensure that your resume highlights your relevant experience, skills, and achievements that align with the job requirements. By customizing your resume for each position, you demonstrate your genuine interest in the role and increase your chances of catching the recruiter’s attention.

Quantifying Your Achievements

To make your resume stand out, it’s essential to quantify your achievements whenever possible. Instead of simply listing your responsibilities, focus on showcasing the impact you made in your previous travel nursing assignments. For example, mention the number of patients you cared for, the percentage of improvement in patient outcomes, or any awards or recognition you received. Quantifying your achievements adds a tangible and measurable dimension to your resume, demonstrating your effectiveness and value as a travel nurse.

Showcasing Relevant Skills and Certifications

In addition to highlighting your travel nursing experience, be sure to showcase your relevant skills and certifications. Employers often look for specific skills such as critical thinking, effective communication, and proficiency in specialized areas of nursing. Tailor your skills section to include those that are most relevant to the travel nursing positions you are applying for. Additionally, incorporate any certifications you have obtained, such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) or Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), as these can enhance your qualifications and increase your chances of securing desired assignments.

Here’s an example of how you can showcase your skills and certifications in your resume:

By tailoring your resume, quantifying your achievements, and showcasing relevant skills and certifications, you can create a stellar travel nursing resume that captures the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. Remember to proofread your resume thoroughly and ensure that it is well-organized and easy to read. With a well-crafted resume, you’ll be one step closer to advancing your nursing career through exciting travel nursing opportunities.

Crafting a compelling travel nursing resume is a crucial step in advancing your nursing career and standing out in the competitive field of travel nursing. By highlighting your unique experience, skills, and achievements, you can create a stellar resume that captures the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. Remember to tailor your resume for each position you apply for, quantify your achievements whenever possible, and showcase relevant skills and certifications. With these key tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way to securing exciting travel nursing assignments and taking your career to new heights.

• https://www.travelnursing.org/blog/
• https://www.nursingworld.org/
• https://www.healthcaretraveler.com/
• https://www.thegypsynurse.com/
• https://athna.org/

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The Résumé Rx

Travel Nurse Resumes: Best Practices in 2024 (+ Examples)

In this article we will cover what you need to have a successful travel nurse resume.  Based on experience, I know a thing or two about great résumés, personal branding, and professional development. I also know what it takes to be a great nurse, with the help of some of my great friends. In this article we’re merging these topics to share how to optimize your travel nurse resume.

If you landed here but you’re looking for a permanent position, click here to check out my FREE Résumé & Cover Letter Starter Guide!

The Travel Nurse Expert: Sarah

Fortunately, I’ve had the pleasure to become friends with an amazing travel nurse (and mentor to other travel nurses!) – Sarah Gaines.

If you’re not familiar, Sarah Gaines is known in the nursing community as The Six Figure Travel Nurse. She’s the creator of the Travel Nurse Course, and honestly, she’s the travel nurse bestie you always wanted.

After she started travel nursing, she found herself making more money, working shifts of her choosing, and living in the cities she wanted. And from there, she continued finding ways to improve her work flow — and the balance between her time spent in scrubs and her time spent in pajamas.

Sarah joined me in episode 7 of the Nurse Becoming podcast. In that episode, she shared about the perks of travel nursing, what it takes to do well as a travel nurse, and what the specialty can offer that clinical nursing might not.

What Sarah and I didn’t have time for in that episode was to go through exactly what matters when writing a travel nurse resume. Sarah has learned over the years that documenting travel nurse experience on a resume is in fact different from your average resume.

In this post, we are going to break down two common scenarios. How to document travel nursing experience on your resume when:

• You intend to keep traveling, and
• You are done traveling and looking for a permanent position

Before we get into those scenarios, let’s talk about the travel nursing experience for a minute.

Why Travel Nursing is Awesome (& Different)!

Sarah may be a bit biased, but after 20+ travel nurse contracts and earning six figures every year, I can’t say I blame her! Becoming a travel nurse comes with unique opportunities. Travel nurses are often paid more than staff nurses, and the work comes with unique leverage points, like transferable skills. Don’t forget, more freedom of choice (more vacations, anyone?).

With the option to try out different specialities until you find your fit, the possibility of burnout decreases.

And hey, are you reading this and wanting to get into travel nursing? Or currently traveling and wanting to earn more as a travel nurse? I highly recommend attending one of Sarah’s upcoming free masterclasses !

Sarah said ultimately the first step in landing a travel position is to get your resume in order. So that’s where we come in!

Let’s start with the basics.

Why Your Travel Nurse Résumé Matters

Your Travel Nurse resume is your first impression for a hiring manager or recruiter. They will see your work, and what you might be able to bring to their organization or unit.

You wouldn’t show up to a job interview with a coffee stain on your shirt and no idea of the job requirements, would you? Of course not! Well you shouldn’t apply to a job with an outdated, disorganized resume either!

The purpose of your resume as a travel nurse is to showcase your achievements and aptitude. It’s also your opportunity to give an overview of your story before someone meets you in person.

With travel nursing, sometimes there’s no formal interview, so your resume itself holds more weight.

It’s time to break down exactly how to add travel nursing to your resume. As a reminder, we’ll cover two scenarios. 

Scenario 1: How to include experience on your travel nursing resume when you intend to keep traveling

One of the main differences in a traditional résumé and one written for a travel nurse is the layout. Sarah recommends, and I agree, that travel nurse résumés include tables as a way to provide a concise snapshot of your previous experience and assignments.

Travel nurse recruiters are often looking for very specific experience metrics, and including the right information can increase your chances of getting an interview.

It’s also not unheard of to have NO interview! Sometimes your résumé can be enough to get the assignment on the spot.

Here are some essential pieces of information to include in your travel nurse résumé:

• Your availability date
• The census of your previous assignment
• Your charge nurse experience
• Your patient-nurse ratio of your previous assignment
• References who can speak to your skills

Here are some pieces of information that you can leave out:

• Committee work
• Volunteer experience
• Any résumé “fluffers” or extras

Now, if you are a travel nurse and you’re wanting to land that next assignment, you probably need to get your résumé to your recruiter ASAP.

Sarah and I have put our brains together to create a very specific travel nurse resume template and training that will save you some serious time and frustration! Learn more about the Ultimate Travel Nurse Résumé Kit here !

Scenario 2: How to include your experience on your travel nurse resume when you are looking for a permanent position

As mentioned before, some nurses pursue travel nursing as a way to find their preferred speciality or to afford graduate school. For those nurses, traveling isn’t forever, and writing a resume that leverages a travel nurse’s unique experiences and connections is vital.

If you’ve been traveling for a bit and are looking to land a permanent position, keep these two important tips in mind.

1. Keep it short. Your experience is likely more varied than a nurse who has been in just a couple different clinical positions. Listing all the small assignments you’ve taken will probably make your resume a bit too long. Instead, condense the information into broader headings, like “emergency experience” and “pediatric experience.” Or, choose to omit the details of the travel assignments.

Here are a couple of real life examples, to show you different ways to organize your travel nursing resume.

Above is an example of how to condense all your travel nursing experience into one section of your resume, focusing on your skill set.

Alternatively, the example above lists the individual contracts and omits the clinical details other than the department.

2. Tell the recruiter why you’re the best. Highlight any experience that will make you a strong permanent candidate, and include things like unique work experiences as well as any specific or transferable skills. Recruiters often look for specialized experience as well as adaptability, and travel nursing offers both.

As you can see, there’s no right or wrong way to document your experience, regardless of where you are in your career.

But it is important to consider your unique history and the path you are going down. Getting clarity on this will help you put your passions on paper and advocate for your next opportunity!

And if you’re looking for some plug and play options for your résumé, here are some great options I’ve created for you:

• Are you a current travel nurse? Check out The Ultimate Travel Nurse Résumé Kit , my collaborative product with Sarah Gaines
• Looking for a permanent position? Check out my Nurse Résumé Template Bundle

Frequently Asked Questions About Travel Nurse Resumes 

What should a travel nurse put on a resume.

The most important info for your travel nurse resume is:

What How do I write a traveling nurse resume?

How to write a traveling nurse resume:

• Include your personal information. In the header, type your full name and current location and job title.
• Write a professional summary
• Add work history
• Include education
• Mention certifications and licenses
• List relevant skills
• Proofread your resume

What are the main duties of a Travel Nurse?

Travel nurse responsibilities include performing tests, administering medications, writing reports, and informing doctors and other healthcare professionals and treat patients. You will travel to various locations to fill in personnel gaps and carry out your duties as a nurse.

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TravelNursing

Is Travel Nursing Experience Good for Your Resume?

By Melissa Mills, RN, BSN, CCM, MHA

Travel nursing is an excellent want to build up your clinical skills and resume. While you may not see it as black and white as that, nurses who go on travel nursing assignments often are exposed to advanced technology practices and procedures that benefit them and their future patients.  

Having a balance of both clinical and softer skills is key to taking what you learn while on a travel nursing assignment and staying competitive. When coupled together, a nurse with this balances makes for a well-rounded, hard-working employee. Below are some of the most popular soft skills a recruiter or hiring manager look for when reviewing your travel nursing experiences.

Interested in travel and looking for more? Connect with us .

Top reasons why travel nursing improves your resume

Communication

According to a study on Communication in Nursing Practice , published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health , good communication with your patients improves the quality of care you provide. 

Your travel nursing experiences will provide great opportunities to enhance these skills. With each new assignment, you must be able to communicate your clinical skills, level of experience and comfort with various types of patients . Being exposed to different electronic medical records and documentation protocols will also increase your ability to communicate with your team.

From the minute you step in a unit, you will be depending on your new team and vice versa. Collaborating with others effectively is the essence of teamwork.

With every new travel nursing experiences comes a new team composition. Learning to be flexible and attuned to what skills you need to be successful will be very important. And, including teamwork on your resume lets potential employers know that you will be an asset to the overall work environment. 

RELATED :  Team-based Care: Getting Doctors and Nurses to Work Together

Professionalism

It requires being dependable, reliable, and a hard-worker. Professionalism is the combination of the small things you do every day that communicates who you are in a big way. The nurse manager on each unit will need you to be the missing link to their staffing needs. This skill will be invaluable to your career for many years to come.

Problem Solving

During your travel nursing experiences, you will learn new protocols, state laws, and more -- problem-solving is a much-needed asset. Including problem-solving on your resume allows recruiters and hiring managers to know you have what it takes make quick, accurate decisions in times of crisis.

Flexibility

A nurse who is flexible is dependable, regardless of what is thrown at him or her. Flexible nurses are calm in stressful situations. Every nurse has a certain level of flexibility, but with more travel nursing experience, you will not only possess this skill, but also excel at it.

Flexibility also shows that you have a certain level of creativity. Being able to look at a situation and find two or three “right” answers is important in high-stress nursing units. 

Travel nursing experiences provide many skills. You will gain clinical skills and soft skills that will help you achieve the nursing career you desire throughout your professional life.

• BROWSE  travel nursing jobs  in your specialty; or   APPLY with TravelNursing.com   to get started.

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5 Travel Nurse Resume Examples For 2024

Travel Nurse Resume

Travel nurse 2 resume, travel nurse 3 resume, travel nurse 4 resume, travel nurse 5 resume.

• Travel Nurse Resume Writing 101

As soon as he started typing the email “ [email protected] ,” Leo realized something felt off about his travel nurse resume. He’d been super lucky to get his first LPN job after graduation, thanks to a recommendation from a professor who recognized his skill set and potential . . .

. . . But, now ready to shift into the role of a traveling nurse, Leo realized he’d never fully fleshed out a professional resume (or email)! He recognized that his current layout wasn’t formal enough to cut it—but how could he update it and do his qualifications justice?

Not all nursing students are fortunate enough to jump into their careers immediately after school. But with the right resume format and a thought-provoking AI cover letter , you’ll be set to impress during your next travel nurse interview!

Microsoft Word

Google Docs

Related resume examples

• Charge Nurse
• Telehealth Nurse
• Nurse Consultant

What Matters Most: Your Skills & Previous Experience

As you draft your resume for that travel nurse job you’re eyeing, the most important part is ensuring your skills align with what your potential future employer expects of you.

Not sure what skills to include ? The best place to start is by closely reading the job description! They’ll probably mention some key hard and soft skills they expect employees to have, so it’s there, you need to include on your travel nurse resume!

If they’re not included, chances are high recruiters or applicant tracking systems (ATS) will skip over your resume. By taking the time to read the job description, you’ll be a step ahead of the competition!

9 Most In-Demand Travel Nurse Skills

• Multi-state nursing license
• Nurse Licensure Compact
• Registered Nurse (RN)
• Advanced Practice RN
• Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)
• Valid driver’s license
• Flexibility
• ASN or BSN degree

Sample Travel Nurse Work Experience Bullet Points

Without a doubt, the single most important part of your resume (which will often be the make-or-break factor for if you get that interview) is your work experience.

But wait! This doesn’t mean you need to list out every responsibility from your last several jobs. On the contrary, the focus needs to be on something else: impact.

Put it this way: you need to use this section to focus on what kind of actions you took, and what kind of benefit (or quantifiable outcome) that led to.

For example, this could be anything like improving company productivity or increased internal awareness on a clinical practice.

Not sure yet how to visualize that? Here are a few examples to get your creative juices flowing.

• Trained 20 1st year nurses in best gloving and gowning practices, resulting in 100% compliance in RNs who were previously not adhering to best practices
• Increased HCAHPS scores by 10% through regular feedback and feedforward cycles with oncology RNs
• Fostered a culture of organized documentation and improved efficiency by 18% for healthcare providers interacting with new patients
• Triaged patients entering ER, expediting treatment for patients requiring immediate care by an average of 35 minutes
• Led a team of 10 audit medical workers to ensure safety standards were met by all staff

Top 5 Tips for Your Traveling Nurse Resume

• Being a travel nurse is a demanding job. Make sure it’s clear that you’ve undertaken a lot of responsibility, using active verbs like “led,” “contributed,” or “provided.” Don’t underestimate yourself!
• As much as possible, be specific. Don’t say you worked in an infectious disease ward, mention how many beds were in the ward and how long you worked there. Whenever possible, use numbers. If not sure, estimate (as long as it’s within reason!)
• If you’ve had any senior roles or helped to train or guide junior RNs, that’s good to mention. This can help show that you’re reliable and can handle the extra responsibility, which is always a good look.
• Recruiters skim through resumes, and if it’s too long, chances are high they’ll miss crucial information. Keep it short and sweet, while focusing on the unique aspects from each travel nurse job you had.
• A travel nurse resume is your place to shine, so focus on what you do well. Are you particularly skilled in advanced life support? Have you worked in satellite facilities more often than your peers? It should 100 percent be on your resume!

Frequently Asked Questions

• Yes, it’s absolutely vital that you include these on your travel nurse resume, even if you’ve been in the industry for years. Include all relevant licenses and degrees, like RN, APRN, and LVN, as an ATS may be scanning resumes, and could reject yours based on lack of certain keywords, like relevant certifications.
• Customizing your resume doesn’t mean completely rewriting it, don’t worry. You just need to make sure you include any relevant skills the job description asks for. Plus, make sure your previous experience highlights any relevant responsibilities that the job you’re applying for requires.
• At most, it should be a full page long, no matter how hard that sounds. If it’s less (maybe because you’re earlier on in your travel nurse career), that’s also fine, but don’t make it too lengthy! Remember, you can always share more details about your job achievements in your nurse cover letter .

• • Supervised orderlies, nursing assistants and licensed practical nurses
• • Designed 50+ strategies customized to patient and family overall health
• • Provided general competency courses for 300 staff in the department of pediatrics
• • Taught healthy interventions and restraint courses 2 times per week to over 100+ health practitioners
• • Led a team of 5 medical workers for audit programs to ensure all staff meet safety standards
• • Helped 50+ family members by giving health education
• • Provided direct patient care to 500+ kids suffering from autoimmune diseases
• • Conducted individualized patient assessments and performed medical procedures to 500+ patients
• • Acted as consultant regarding treatment of chronic diseases regarding 100+ patients
• • Served meals, cleared tables, monitored 12 tables and provided exceptional customer service to up to 30 customers
• • Managed to serve 300+ customers at breakfast
• • Refined multitasking skills covering 5-8 tables at a time by seeking efficient ways of completing tasks
• • Worked 14 hours a day, 5 days per week

5 Travel Nurse Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

Your travel nurse resume must highlight your adaptability and diverse clinical experience. Showcase the range of healthcare settings in which you've worked effectively. Demonstrate proven proficiency in various specializations or departments relevant to travel nursing. Ensure to quantify your accomplishments with statistics or examples when possible.

All resume examples in this guide

Traditional

Travel Nurse resume example

Resume Guide

Travel Nurse Resume Example

Resume Format

Resume Experience

Hard & Soft Skills

Certifications & Education

Summary/Objective Tips

Additional Resume Sections

Key Takeaways

Travel nurses often have a vast array of clinical experiences across different locations and specializations.

Each assignment requires its own set of skills like medical techniques, interacting with patients, and specialization training.

It can be challenging to consolidate all of those experiences into a concise and effective travel nurse resume.

We’ve created a guide to help you highlight the most relevant experiences for the job you are applying for, while also demonstrating your versatility and adaptability.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• How to format your travel nurse resume to catch the attention of recruiters
• How to quantify past achievements to show potential employers how you will impact success at their company
• How to present the right combination of skills and tailor your travel nurse resume for your target job
• How to highlight relevant certifications so that hiring managers see that you’re qualified to fill the role

If you’re looking for something a little different from a travel nurse resume, check out some of our guides for similar roles:

• Company Nurse Resume
• Nurse Practitioner Resume
• Nurse Educator Resume
• Practice Nurse Resume
• Nurse Resume
• Travel Nurse Cover Letter

Travel nurse resume example

Here’s what this applicant does well in their resume:

• Experience as a travel nurse : Demonstrates a strong background in providing patient care, including designing strategies for overall health, teaching health interventions, and conducting patient assessments.
• Leadership skills : Illustrates leadership capabilities through supervising nursing staff, leading medical worker teams, and acting as a consultant on chronic disease treatments.
• Certifications and skills : Highlights relevant certifications like the Certified Nurse Educator, and specific skills essential for the role, such as acute care, surgery, and patient care management.

How to format a travel nurse resume

Format is the first thing recruiters notice when they look at a resume. Make a good impression and demonstrate your organizational skills with a travel nurse resume that’s clear and easy to read.

Travel nurses cycle through assignments that can make resumes seem fragmented if not presented well. Make the hiring manager’s job easier by summing up your experience in concise sections.

Consider these key elements for a travel nurse resume format that catches recruiters' attention:

• Reverse chronological layout  - As the name suggests, a reverse chronological layout focuses on your work experience  in reverse chronological order. Show that you are committed to your role and have gained clinical experience with a history of travel nurse assignments.
• Professional header  - Include a header at the top of your resume  that clearly states your title and professional contact information. Make a good introduction by including a certification or specialization associated with your role.
• Single page  - Travel nurses need to meet specific requirements that vary by location and assignment. Save recruiters time by summing up short-term assignments and including relevant information only, ensuring it all fits into one page .
• ATS optimized  - Select fonts and file formats that are optimized for Applicant Tracking Systems . Use Enhancv’s resume builder to accomplish all of the above and give your travel nurse’s resume the best chance of making it to a human recruiter.

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The top sections on a travel nurse resume:

• Contact information:  Because a recruiter needs to be able to get in touch with you.
• Professional summary: Outline your key qualifications and create a compelling snapshot of your career.
• Skills and certifications:  Since travel nursing often requires specific skills and certifications, this is crucial for a recruiter.
• Work experience:  A chance to show a recruiter your past experience and accomplishments in nursing, especially in different locations and settings.
• References:  Important for verifying your skills and experience through your previous employers or colleagues.

Stand out to recruiters by prominently displaying the right information on your travel nurse resume.

What recruiters want to see on your resume:

• Relevant certifications:  Specialized certifications show the nurse has the required skills for specific assignments and adherence to medical regulations.
• Prior travel nursing experience:  This is valued as it shows adaptability to different work environments, a vital trait for travel nurses.
• Clinical skills in high-demand  areas:  These indicate the ability to handle challenging assignments in areas such as ICU or labor and delivery.
• Flexibility: This is key for a travel nurse as assignments could be in varying locations and schedules.
• Recommendations or references:  These are important for a recruiter to verify your performance in previous assignments and assess reliability.

How to write your travel nurse resume experience

The experience section of your resume lists your work history  along with 3-4 bullets highlighting your top accomplishments in the role. Show potential employers what you’ve achieved as a travel nurse while gaining clinical experience in the field with real patients.

Don’t just write a list of generic roles and responsibilities. Highlight specific instances where your skills were put to use and achieved results.

Let’s look at an example of a travel nurse’s resume experience section.

• • Cared for patients at new hospital
• • Assessed patients and referred specialists
• • Trained other nurses in inventory procedures

What doesn’t work in this example:

• No numbers: "Cared for patients at new hospital" misses an opportunity to convey the scope of work this candidate has experience with. Use real numbers and data to quantify past successes.
• No clear evidence: "Assessed patients and referred specialists" expects hiring managers to take the candidate’s word for it instead of showing specific examples. Don’t leave anything up to the imagination and include clear evidence of your claims.
• Generic tasks: "Trained other nurses in inventory procedures" doesn’t highlight any successes or the use of industry skills. Include measurable outcomes and specific tools and techniques to show proficiency in the role.

Let’s make a few changes and take another look.

• • Cared for 500+ patients at the launch of a new pediatric hospital.
• • Assessed individual patient needs and referred families to specialists in newborn care.
• • Trained 35 nurses in MedSupply inventory software that reduced errors by 15%.

What works in this example:

• Quantifies impact: "Cared for 500+ patients at the launch of a new pediatric hospital" gives hiring managers a clear idea of this candidate’s experience with patients and specialized knowledge of pediatric care.
• Evidence of success: "Trained 35 nurses in MedSupply inventory software that reduced errors by 15%" shows how this candidate has achieved success using tools that are relevant to the target role.
• Industry skills: "Assessed individual patient needs and referred families to specialists in newborn care" shows how this candidate has used their training on the job and what they will bring to their target company.

How to quantify impact on your resume

Unlike permanent staff who can speak to long-term projects or quality improvement initiatives, travel nurses may struggle to convey their impact in concrete terms.

Focus on achievements that highlight immediate impact and rapid adaptation skills. Show potential employers how you will impact success by providing measurable results.

Here are a few areas to consider while quantifying impact on your travel nurse resume:

• Include the number of states or countries where you've worked: This shows geographical flexibility and readiness to adapt to different cultures and institutions.
• Document the number of assignments you have completed: This provides an overview of your experience in different medical teams and settings.
• Specify the number of patients you managed daily or per shift: This demonstrates your ability to handle workload and stress.
• State how many procedures or treatments you've performed: This reflects your hands-on experience and competence.
• Specify the number of years or months in specialty areas: This highlights your expertise in particular fields.
• Mention any significant reduction in readmission rates under your care: This demonstrates your effectiveness and impact as a nurse.
• Highlight your quickest response time in emergency cases: This shows how efficient and quick-thinking you are in high-pressure situations.
• Specify your perfect attendance record, if any: A record of consistent attendance shows reliability and dedication to your role.

How do I write a travel nurse resume with no experience

If you’re making a career change or applying for your first job as a travel nurse, then you need to highlight experiences outside of work history.

The best approach is to write a functional resume that focuses on transferable skills  rather than experience to show potential employers how you’ve prepared for the role.

Follow these steps to write an effective entry-level travel nurse’s resume:

• Choose a functional resume layout
• Focus on transferable skills
• Present credentials and licenses clearly
• Tailor every section to fit your target job

Don’t pad your experience section with irrelevant jobs  just to fill space. Only include roles that are relevant to your target position  and focus on transferable skills.

Being a travel nurse requires a dynamic set of skills so there is a wide range of jobs that show transferable skills.

Previous roles in healthcare can highlight medical training and clinical experience. Service jobs can demonstrate your ability to interact with people. Even consulting or management roles can highlight your experience traveling for short-term assignments.

How to list your hard and soft skills on your resume

Travel nurses are skilled medical professionals. You also have the interpersonal skills to provide compassionate care to patients and the flexibility to relocate for weeks at a time.

Your travel nurse’s resume will present your skills in two major categories.

Hard skills are the technical knowledge  and abilities needed to perform job duties, whereas soft skills are the interpersonal and communication skills  needed to interact with others.

Hard skills tend to be straightforward and can appear in a simple list form. Here is an example of hard skills on a travel nurse’s resume.

Only include hard skills that you’re proficient in and are relevant to your target job. Show potential employers that you have the right combination of skills to fill the role.

Here are a few more hard skills to consider for your travel nurse’s resume.

Best hard skills for your travel nurse resume

• Intensive Care Unit (ICU) skills
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) skills
• Emergency Room (ER) skills
• Operating Room (OR) skills
• Electrocardiogram (EKG) operation
• Ventilator care
• Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)
• Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) skills
• Telemetry skills
• Medical software proficiency (EPIC, Cerner)
• Cpr Certified
• Surgical assisting skills
• Phlebotomy skills
• IV therapy skills
• Wound care skills
• Cardiac Care skills
• Knowledge of healthcare laws and regulations
• Bilingual or multilingual
• Familiarity with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems

Soft skills can be open to interpretation and are most effective when provided with an example. Be specific in your soft skills and avoid overused buzzwords on your resume .

Here is an example of a soft skills section on a travel nurse’s resume.

Here are a few more soft skills  to consider for your travel nurse’s resume.

Best soft skills for your travel nurse resume

• Adaptability
• Problem-solving skills
• Communication skills
• Time Management
• Stress tolerance
• Multitasking ability
• Interpersonal skills
• Attention to detail
• Cultural sensitivity
• Self-motivation
• Leadership skills
• Initiative taking
• Resilience  
• Decisiveness
• Critical thinking

How to list your certifications and education on your resume

Minimum education requirements for travel nurses typically include an associate's degree in nursing (ADN) or a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) is required. Travel nurses must also be registered nurses (RN).

Additional licensure and clinical experience requirements may vary by location and organization. Be sure to research the necessary qualifications for your target job.

Your education section should include :

• Name of institution
• Name of degree
• Years attended

Let’s look at an example of a travel nurse’s resume education section.

Your travel nurse certification section will include  any certifications in nursing and specializations.

Here is an example of a certification section on a travel nurse’s resume.

Show a commitment to your career by continuing to gain certifications in the industry as trends and demand evolve. Increase your employability by keeping your travel nurse resume up to date.

Here are a few more certifications to consider for your travel nurse’s resume.

Best certifications for your travel nurse resume

• Basic Life Support (BLS)
• Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN)
• Oncology Certified Nurse (OCN)
• Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN)

How to write your travel nurse resume summary or objective

A summary or objective is an opportunity to introduce yourself and your value in the industry as a travel nurse. It captures your career history and top accomplishments in 3-4 sentences.

Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a slight difference between a summary and an objective.

A summary is a brief introduction  that summarizes your career and top achievements. An objective looks to the future  and captures what you are hoping to achieve in your new position.

A summary is more suitable for candidates with experience in the field. Entry-level candidates are more likely to focus on an objective.

If you have at least some experience in the field as a travel nurse, combine them by writing an introduction, a career highlight, and a goal you share with your target employer.

First, let’s take a look at a travel nurse’s resume summary example that is less effective.

• Unclear experience: “Experienced travel nurse with a passion for patient care” doesn’t provide any specifics to show hiring managers what this candidate has accomplished. Use numbers and examples in your summary to get your message across clearly.
• General claims: “ Skilled in cardiac care technologies” doesn’t speak to specific skills or industry knowledge. Take the opportunity to share a top career highlight and show how you have used your skills to achieve success.
• Blanket statements: “Seeking opportunity as a travel nurse with a new agency” gives the impression that this resume is being mass-emailed to job openings. Tailor your resume to your target job so hiring managers know you did your research on their company.
• Highlights specialty: "Cardiac Care Certified Travel nurse with 8 years of experience in the field” speaks to this candidate’s specific experience and training. Show potential employers why you’re the right fit with a strong opening line.
• Quantifies  impact: “ Expert in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) with a 98% patient satisfaction rating” shows how this candidate has used their skills to achieve success. Potential employers want to see how you will impact success at their organization.
• Targeted goal: “Seeking opportunity as Lead Travel Nurse with Cardiac Care International” shows that this candidate has researched the company and is bringing solutions to their specific role.

Additional sections for a travel nurse resume

If you’ve developed relevant skills outside of the traditional career path, you may want to find other ways to incorporate them into your travel nurse resume.

Additional sections on your resume can be a great way to show how you’ve prepared to work as a travel nurse in unique ways.

Here are a few sections to consider adding to your travel nurse’s resume:

• Languages  - Speaking more than one language can be a great skill for a travel nurse, especially for assignments that cover areas where multiple languages are spoken.
• Continuing Education   - With the medical field constantly advancing and evolving, travel nurses need to stay current on the latest trends and technologies. Increase your employability by updating your resume with new industry knowledge.
• Volunteer Work   - Volunteering is a great way to develop soft skills necessary for travel nurse assignments like adaptability, communication, and decision-making under pressure.

Key takeaways for writing a great travel nurse resume

Congratulations! You’re just about ready to send that amazing travel nurse resume out into the world. Before you go, let’s review a few key points from this guide.

• Format your travel nurse resume in concise sections that sum up assignments so recruiters can get a clear idea of your experience quickly and clearly.
• Include only relevant skills and information, so hiring managers know that you have the right combination of industry knowledge to fill their specific role.
• Quantify your achievements by using real numbers and measurable data so that potential employers can see how you will impact success at their agency.
• Keep your travel nurse resume up to date by staying current with industry trends and continuously earning certifications in your field.

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6 Nursing Resume Considerations for Travel Nurses Transitioning to Permanent

A significant percentage of those who engage in travel nursing will eventually make the transition back to permanent employment. Conveying your travel nursing experience on your nursing resume in a way that both masks the perceivable negatives and capitalizes on the great experience you’ve gained can be challenging. Understanding the issues at play will help you formulate the best possible strategy.

The problem of short term employment as a travel nurse

One of the “perceivable negatives” your travel nursing work history is the seemingly erratic nature of your employment history as a travel nurse. Most travel nursing jobs are 13 weeks and maintaining your tax-home in order to continue to accept tax-free stipends means you won’t be working in any one location for very long. You may even take 4, 6, or 8 week jobs . And you may also work some PRN here and there to fill in gaps or make some extra money.

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To compound problems, you will most likely have worked with several different staffing companies. The resulting employment history can make you look unemployable to the untrained eye. How are you to account for this work history in a way that conveys your professionalism?

This is actually more difficult than it seems and there may be no clear-cut answer, at least as far as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are concerned. ATS’s are the computer programs used by pretty much every hospital in the country to automatically rank nursing job applicants. To accomplish this, these systems utilize sophisticated resume parsing features that search resumes for keywords applicable to the job in question and feed the data into a database that presents the information to recruiters and screeners. They’re also programmed to understand the context the keywords are used in to guard against people tricking the system by loading their resumes with random keywords. If they’re smart enough to do that, then they’re smart enough to recognize a choppy employment history.

How to Put Your Travel Nursing Work History on Your Resume

So your task is to determine how best to display your work history in a way that explains both its choppiness and its amazingness. I have seen resumes utilize several approaches to handling this conundrum. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages. Let’s cover each of the approaches to gain a better understanding of the issues at play.

Listing the Agencies Prominently

First, you could list only the agencies that you worked with as the employers and provide a generalized job description that draws on all of your experiences cumulatively. One advantage to this approach is that it will demonstrate a little more stability. Chances are pretty good that you worked with fewer agencies than hospitals, so each work history entry will have a longer time span than if you were to list the hospitals individually.

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Another advantage of this approach is that your work history will list your actual employers which is the technically correct thing to do on your resume. While your work was conducted at the hospitals, your actual employers were the agencies that you worked with.

The disadvantage of this approach is that it will be difficult to convey detailed information regarding the various settings in which you worked. Things like the number of beds in the hospitals, number of beds in the units, trauma levels and teaching statuses among other variables are all important items to include on your nursing resume. And if you worked at a premier hospital, then you certainly want that to stand out.

Furthermore, when your resume makes it through the initial screening process, recruiters and hiring managers will routinely look up information on your employers to get a better idea of your background. If you have the agency prominently listed or list only the agency, then this could be a turn-off. Moreover, this approach may not be beneficial if you worked with several different agencies. You’ll still be giving the impression that your work history is unstable.

Listing the Hospitals Prominently

Another approach is to list the hospitals you contracted with prominently and put the name of the agency in a less prominent position. Perhaps you list the agency in the job description or near the name of the hospital (Cedars Sinai via ABC Staffing). The obvious advantage is that you’re able to highlight the great hospitals you worked with and convey your work experience in a way that centers on the hospital as opposed to the agency.

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The disadvantage is that that your work history will most likely appear very choppy. It’s possible that this results in a lower ranking for your resume in the applicant tracking system. In addition, you could confuse the resume parser with this unconventional approach. The resume parser could potentially make a mess of the employer name. Worse yet, the resume parser may be thrown entirely out of whack and make a mess of the entire resume.

This isn’t the end of the world. In most cases, it just means that the parser won’t transmit your data into the appropriate fields in the data base. However, the resume should still be able to be ranked based on the keywords and content it includes.

List Your Travel Nursing Experience Prominently

Another approach is to put your travel nursing work history on your nursing resume as a stand-alone heading, as if it were one job. In this scenario, you simply list the start date and end date of your travel experience and provide a brief description of some of the more appealing aspects of travel nursing from a hiring manager’s perspective. For example, you use “Travel Nurse” as the heading, list the dates and a description like:

• Completed travel nursing assignments at various hospitals throughout California, Texas, and Florida. Successfully became an integral part of the teams with less than 1 week of orientation. Demonstrated flexibility and willingness to float with each travel nursing assignment.

The advantage is that this approach allows you to portray your entire experience as a single event. This can persuade the screener to view your experience as steady employment as opposed to a series of short term gigs. However, you run a big risk of confusing the Applicant Tracking System’s Resume Parser. Listing your employment history in this manner is highly unorthodox, so the resume parser may end up misinterpreting the text and displaying it incorrectly in the system. In which case, your resume might rank very low and the person screening the resume may end up looking at a mess.

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Moreover, you won’t necessarily be listing your employers, which is one of the main objectives of a resume. It will also be difficult to pack all the amazing details about your experience under one heading.

Agencies with Hospital Subheadings

In our opinion, the best approach for displaying your travel experience on your resume is to prominently display both the agencies and the hospitals. With this approach, you would list the agency, your dates of employment with the agency and your job title with the agency. Below the agency, perhaps indented a bit, you would list each of the hospitals you worked with, the dates of employment, unit, vital details about the hospital and unit, and a detailed description of the types of patients you saw, workload, etc. Remember, always try to conform your resume to the job posting you are applying for. This is similar to what would be recommended for an employee who received promotions with the same employer over time.

Again, this approach allows you to prominently display the hospitals you’ve worked with and provide details for each hospital. Remember, the fact that you’ve worked with so many great hospitals and have learned so many different systems along the way is one of the amazing benefits of travel nursing that is great to highlight on your resume. Meanwhile, it allows you to condense your work history by agency which adds the appearance of greater employment stability.

However, if you’ve worked with multiple agencies , perhaps even going back and forth between agencies, then your resume will still appear a bit choppy. But this is okay considering that the only other alternative, highlighting your experience as a stand-alone experience, could be a disaster for applicant tracking systems. And besides, you want to display your work history in reverse chronological order so that resume parsers can easily interpret it.

The disadvantage to this approach is that your resume could end up being really long. However, these days, there is little need to be concerned with your nursing resume’s length . First, applicant tracking systems don’t consider the length of your resume. And in many cases, your resume is never actually printed out.

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However, if you’re emailing your resume directly to an individual or handing it to someone in person, then you should indeed keep it brief, preferably one page. In this case, one of the consolidating methods described above is probably best.

The BluePipes profile and resume features are perfect for travel nurses who want to display their travel nursing experience by agency and hospital. As a professional networking service dedicated to healthcare professionals, BluePipes has accounted for the unique working arrangements, like travel assignments and PRN, that healthcare professionals engage in.

For example, the BluePipes profile builder allows travel nurses to enter the agencies they worked with, and then add their particular assignments under each agency. Members can then render their profiles as a PDF resume that is formatted hierarchically with the agency on top and the hospitals indented under the respective agencies . Of course, you could also use the BluePipes profile builder to display your travel nursing work history in any of the aforementioned formats.

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Consideration for Your Address

Finally, another “perceivable negative” that travel nurses need to contend with is location. Applicant Tracking Systems are often programmed to give higher rankings to candidates who are closer to the facility in question. It’s very likely that you’ll be on the road when you’re in the process of applying for permanent positions. It’s not prudent to suggest that you enter a “dummy address” because you’ll most likely be signing a statement attesting to the truth and validity of the information you’ve provided at the end of the online application process. However, this is an important issue to be aware of nonetheless.

As always, please let me know if there’s anything I missed and please provide any of your own experiences in the comments section.

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Thank you for the excellent advice!

Thank you for the info. I am starting a new job in 2 business days, and the new company’s HR dept waited until the last minute to verify employment. Now they say that they need to talk to my direct supervisors from assignments completed 7 yrs ago. I don’t remember the names of the many shift supervisors that I reported to and one company does not exist anymore. Any tips for those of us who are dealing with HR at a company who insists on verifying ever single date with both the travel company and the placement? The HR dept clearly did not plan ahead, since they have had over a month to get this done. The really annoying part is that they hired a company to do the full employment and background check. There were no discrepancies. What is the best way to deal with a company that wants names of supervisors and details from yrs ago? I have been including more info on the most recent contracts when possible. How do I explain this to someone who has never verified this stuff for a former traveler?

You’re welcome and we’re sorry to hear about your difficult situation. This is becoming an increasingly common scenario. Hospitals are implementing these strict policies in order to ensure they’re hiring the right candidate because the hiring and onboarding process is so expensive. Moreover, they feel it demonstrates due diligence in case of malpractice.

My experience indicates that the best approach is to do everything you can to get them the information they want while trying to find a sympathetic ear to understand your situation. First, I realize that you may have exhausted every avenue, but a demonstrable act of trying is sometimes all “the show” they need. It demonstrates to them that you really want the job, have nothing to hide, etc.

Second, it sounds as though your contact(s) in HR are unaware of how supplemental employment works. You didn’t work for the hospitals and they have no record of your employment with them. That’s part of the point with supplemental staffing. You worked for the agencies; they’re the ones with the records. That said, the vast majority of hospitals typically want to know which hospitals you worked with while traveling. Try to find someone who understands the dynamic. You may even be able to get those you’re currently working with to side with you by trying your best to get them the information they’re asking for.

Additionally, ask them how they would handle these situations if it didn’t involve travel nursing. Supervisors leave all the time and companies go out of business all the time, hospitals included. So these scenarios happen to perm folks as well. Ask them how they would handle it. I know that in the case of supervisors leaving or being unattainable, a simple employment verification typically suffices….and in your case, the employment verification is going to be done by the agencies. Walking them through this circle may help them connect the dots.

We hope this helps. We’d also love to hear back about how it works out (and I’m confident it will work out) so that we can share with our readers. Best wishes.

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How to Craft a Great Nursing Resume for Travel Assignments and Per Diem

Setting yourself apart in nursing starts with a great resume. As a nurse, your resume serves as a place where you can showcase both your education and practical skills in an attractive way to employers. Since the resume is often the first thing an employer will read when browsing job applications, ensuring your nurse resume highlights you best is essential.

Want to grab the best travel nursing and per diem nursing positions? Check out our pro tips for crafting the best nurse resume to help you score job opportunities and set yourself apart from other applicants.

• Include the most up-to-date information in your resume so gaps or incomplete information prevents you from getting the assignment you want.
• Use important keywords to make your resume easy to scan and communicate your experience quicker than long-winded sentences.
• Keep your resume as clean and organized as possible to make it easier for the reader to get the information they’re looking for.

The Importance of a Strong Resume in Nursing

Keeping your resume up-to-date is vital in nearly all job fields. However, a strong resume is essential for nurses and other allied health professionals to make an impression on potential employers. As things change and you learn new skills, you’ll want to make sure you continue to update your resume with the latest and most up-to-date information.

Not only does a strong nurse resume help you stand out in a sea of other applicants, but it’s essential to maintain your eligibility on Medely. Keeping your resume updated with accurate information ensures your profile is validated in our system, helping to pair you with the best travel nursing and per diem nursing opportunities.

Be As Specific As Possible

As you begin to craft your nursing resume, remember that it’s essential to be as specific as possible. You’ll want to tailor your resume toward the nursing position you’re interested in.

For example, if you’re interested in oncology nursing, your resume should reflect your skills and experience in that specific subset of nursing. Providing as much detail as possible can help you receive notifications for jobs best aligned with your career goals. Employers who review your resume seek practical skills and experience that can translate to their role.

Consider the Length of Your Resume

In today’s era, employers receive hundreds of online applications for job opportunities posted on several sources. With this in mind, you’ll want to be mindful of the length of your resume, as employers reviewing resumes may be short on time. A resume that is too lengthy may end up being ignored, whereas a resume that is too short may lack substance.

Aim to keep your resume as concise as possible without sacrificing key details. It may be helpful to have several versions of your resume, depending on which types of nursing positions you intend to apply for.

Include Keywords for Easy Scanning

As mentioned above, you’ll want to ensure your resume targets the type of position and organization you are applying for. Larger healthcare organizations and hospital systems are overwhelmed with applications, which means they may use resume software to help them narrow down applications.

Use keywords and buzzwords that employers may look for to ensure your nurse resume gets noticed. These keywords may vary depending on the type of position. To help you determine which keywords to use, review the job posting and required skills/education. Some words may indicate significance.

Don’t Skip Proofreading

While minor spelling and grammatical problems may seem insignificant, these small errors can reveal much about an applicant. Employers are looking for applicants that pay close attention to detail.

Before submitting your resume to any position, ensure you’ve triple-checked it for spelling, formatting, and grammatical errors. It is sometimes helpful to have another person review your resume, too.

Highlight Technology & Computer Skills

In today’s advanced healthcare system, staying up-to-date with the latest technology is crucial to many nursing jobs. As healthcare jobs continue to go digital, it’s crucial to showcase your experience with specific software or technologies used in nursing. Not only does this show employers that you already have technological skills, but it also shows a willingness to embrace technology and learn new abilities.

Highlight What Makes You Unique

While resumes were once cut and dried, today’s resumes leave more room for creativity and uniqueness. Consider your resume a chance to highlight what makes you unique or different. For instance, it could be worth including if you speak multiple languages. Other examples of additional information to include are:

• Attendance at conferences or significant events
• Hobbies that relate to your field
• Courses you’ve taken
• Volunteer experience

Other things that make you unique may also include your accomplishments. Consider adding any professional accomplishments you’ve achieved on your nursing resume, including hard and soft skills. Hard skills are those involved in day-to-day job functions, whereas soft skills highlight your personality, such as solid communication or the ability to work well in a group setting.

Choose Clean & Legible Formatting

Although using a fancy or creative resume format may be tempting, simple is best. Your selected formatting should be clear and professional, using font size and type that is easy to read. In section headers, using bold font can help draw the reader’s eye to the most critical information.

Many people also make the mistake of trying to fit too many words on a page by decreasing the margin size. Your resume should have some white space to ensure text is not too overwhelming for the reader.

Join the Medely Network for More Nursing Opportunities

Once you’ve crafted a great nursing resume, it’s time to start looking for jobs. If you want per diem nursing or travel nursing opportunities, join Medely today . Medely offers nurses and other allied health professionals great opportunities, providing more control over your work-life balance.Learn more about joining the Medely network to earn more and book per diem nursing assignments on your schedule. Once accepted, Medely will send you notifications tailored to your assignment preferences. We make it easy for you to find reliable nursing work that aligns wi

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The Ultimate Guide to Nurse Resumes: Examples, Template, and Practical Tips

Resume writing can stir up anxiety for most, and it can be difficult to find resources that speak specifically to nursing resumes. Our profession's unique nature, combined with its varying clinical and non-clinical roles, often makes it challenging to structure our experience to fit the guidelines of a standard resume. 

So, how do you effectively capture the depth and value of your experience as a nurse on your next job search? Whether you’re a travel nurse looking for your next travel nursing job , a new grad nurse seeking your first role, or a nurse looking for your next staff role, this guide has got you covered with tons of helpful tips - you can even download a version of your resume, ready to submit! 

Let’s get started! 

How Travel Nurse Resumes Are Used

The importance of a strong resume, ideal format and length for any nurse resume, nurse resume template, new grad resume advice, travel nurse resume tips.

• Download Your Perfect Resume Template

To really understand how to write a great travel nurse resume, you have to know how it’s used in the application process. The traditional image of a hiring manager with thick-rimmed glasses leafing through an endless stack of papers no longer applies to the general job market, let alone travel nursing. Recruiters primarily dissect your resume, and the hiring manager typically gets only the pertinent info of the candidates the recruiter has passed through to them.

Moreover, the use of applicant tracking systems (ATS) is becoming increasingly prevalent in most industries, including healthcare. An ATS is a piece of technology that can quickly screen applications to filter out those without the qualifications that the position needs- before your resume even gets to the recruiter! While this system might seem impersonal, it's absolutely possible to have them work in your favor- you just have to work the system!  The key is making sure that you have designed your nursing resume to be readable by the ATS and to include key qualifications for the role you’re applying to. Follow the information outlined in this guide and you’ll be good to go! 

Despite the nursing shortage, the most sought-after positions remain incredibly competitive, so it’s important to make a strong first impression through your resume. Even though hiring managers may not spend much time reading your resume, it’s still one of the best ways for a company or recruiter to quickly have a sense of what you bring to the table. Having all the information about your professional qualifications and work history succinctly summarized in one place will allow your recruiter to quickly determine which positions will be a good fit. By creating a solid resume base, you can easily add on and adapt it to each role you apply to in the future, so let’s get started! 

Before writing your resume, you’ll need a foundation to build upon. That's where your travel nurse resume outline comes in: it's a skeleton that organizes all the information you’ll need into neat, streamlined sections. Whether it’s seen by a recruiter, a hiring manager, or an ATS, the general rules that should guide the way your template looks and how it is written remain the same.

Formatting Your Nurse Resume

When it comes to formatting your nurse resume, always remember to keep it simple. Because your application will likely go through an ATS at some point, you want to make it as easy for the tracking system software to read as possible.  So while we’re all for aesthetics, you’re going to need to leave the pizzaz for the actual interview. 

Here are some tips to keep your resume ATS-friendly (and reader):

• Avoid fancy headers or footers.
• Avoid special fonts. We recommend Arial, Trebuchet MS, or Times New Roman. 
• Keep font size easy on the eyes.  For headers, aim for 28-35pt, individual section headers 14-16pt, and body content: 10-12pt.  Don’t go smaller than 10- no ones likes reading fine print! 
• Don't insert pictures, videos, graphs, or any other visuals.  Using a straight line is the only acceptable graphic. 
• Keep it black and white (no fancy font colors or backgrounds).  Do this and you’ll get to show your true colors when you are given the opportunity to speak with the manager. 

Ideal Length of a Nurse Resume

When it comes to nursing, especially travel nursing, having a longer-than-normal resume is okay.  In an industry where it’s common for nurses to switch jobs as frequently as every one to three months, it’s actually expected by hiring managers that your resume will exceed one page! However, for in-person networking, it may be wise to have a short and sweet version with only your most recent and/or relevant work experience listed​.  

A good travel nurse resume concisely details your professional accomplishments, and grammar and vocabulary play a huge role in that. Focus on including a skimmable list of your professional accomplishments, not writing a long essay about them. Structure your entries as bulleted lists, and keep your bullet points as straight-forward as possible, beginning each bullet point with a verb or adjective to avoid writing full sentences.  

Every nurse resume, whether you’re a new grad nurse, an experienced nurse, or travel nurse resume, should have these key sections:

Contact Information: 

Include your full name, phone number, email address, and location.

Professional Summary:  

A brief, compelling statement about your career goals and value proposition.  Ideally, you should optimize this section to include as many relevent keywords you find in the job description as possible.  Doing this will set off bells within the ATS that you are a good match for the job! 

Licenses and Certifications: 

Be sure to note if you have a license in hand for the job you’re applying to! Also, highlight your certifications- all of them! Everything from the basics required for the role, like BLS, all the way to where you’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty, like CCRN.  

Work Experience: 

Detail your professional experience with a focus on achievements, not just duties. In this section, it’s great to include your facilities trauma level, number of beds, and any magnet certification.  This helps to paint the picture of what that experience was like for you!

Education: 

Finally, be sure to list your educational background, with your most recent education listed first.  If you were a scholarship recipient or received any special awards or honors in school, be sure to include that too.  

Bonus sections:  

You want to be sure to include anything that makes you stand out, so if you have volunteer experience, speak multiple languages, received a Daisy or another award, or led any research or major projects, be sure to create a section for those as well! 

As a new grad, you might feel like you don't have much to put on your resume, but that's not true. Here's a few things you should incorporate in order to create a standout new grad nurse resume:

• Focus on Clinical Rotations: Even if you don't have paid work experience, your clinical rotations during nursing school provide valuable experience. Detail the skills you've gained and the types of medical settings you've been exposed to.
• Make Your Education Section Robust: Put more weight on your educational background. In addition to your degree, include any relevant coursework that may have been outside of the normal track, any projects you took lead on, or any research you contributed to.

Travel nurses face unique challenges when crafting their resumes due to how frequently their experience is changing. Here's some advice to create an impressive travel nurse resume:

• Highlight Your Adaptability: Travel nurses need to adapt quickly to new settings and teams. Include examples of your adaptability and teamwork in your work experience section by noting floating assignments you took or other ways you went above and beyond to be flexible and helpful. 
• Detail Each Assignment: We know it may grow to be a long list, but for each of your travel nursing assignments, include the location, facility type, unit type, and dates. Be sure to highlight any specific achievements or challenges you overcame.  Managers hiring travelers are looking for someone who is confident and experienced- ready to hit the ground running! 
• Show off Your Leadership and Curiosity: Travel nursing requires confidence and lifelong learning.  Show that you’re committed to being the best nurse you can be through continuing education opportunities and roles where you can contribute to the education of others, such as taking a charge or preceptor role. 

Download Your Perfect Resume Template! 

Creating a resume, especially a travel nurse resume, can be a daunting task. That's why at Trusted Health, we're committed to helping you ease the burden. When you sign up for a Trusted profile and enter your work experience, we'll do the heavy lifting for you. Our platform will organize your professional journey into a sleek, ready-to-go resume.

No more worrying about formatting, keywords, or what to include and exclude. With Trusted Health, you get a resume just like the one above that's tailored to your career, designed to impress, and ready for download as a PDF. All you have to do is create a profile and enter your information! We’ll do the hard work for you. 

So why wait? Sign up for a Trusted profile today and conquer your nurse resume worries! Get ready to step into your next adventure with confidence.

Audrey McCollough, RN, BSN, is a pediatric critical care nurse who traded her scrubs for a laptop to come work internally at Trusted two years ago. With eight years of critical care experience and four years of travel nursing under her belt, Audrey now uses her experience and expertise to support others in the healthcare industry, particularly her fellow nurses. When she's not at work, Audrey loves to explore the great outdoors! Hiking, skiing, or just soaking up nature's beauty - Audrey is all about it.

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5 Tips to Make Your Travel Nursing Resume Stand Out

A travel nursing resume that makes a great first impression is key to landing a highly-desirable contract position. Healthcare systems will receive stacks of resumes from recruiters for those interested in an opening and fulfill the requirements of the position.

Based on the resumes, interviews are set up to fill the position. Your resume should include all the needed information as clearly as possible, and show your experience, licensure, and certifications. A resume is a time to brag about oneself.

Use this time to list objectives, professional experience, education and certifications as well as references.

Looking for a travel nursing assignment? Talk to a recruiter today.

1. State a clear and concise objective

In the objective statement, state very clearly why you are best for the position including highlights of your capabilities including charge nurse, trauma experience, and shift consideration.

Use the objective section of the resume as a way to introduce yourself and tell the hiring manager the most important parts of your resume. Imagine if they never read the rest of the resume, will the objective statement tell them enough to be interested.

2. List all professional experience

This may be long and tedious but it is VERY important that the healthcare system knows the type of experience you may have including the types of locations previously worked.

For those that have been travel nurses for a significant period of time, this might be a long list but including all is important. Do not make this section wordy. Clearly state the hospital, length of time of employment, and any special positions held including charge nurse.

Highlight the unit worked and anything special about the unit including if it is a trauma unit, ECMO, total body cooling unit, as well as the number of beds.

More specifically include the following:

• Hospitals and bed size
• Trauma Level
• Type of unit/floor worked
• Electronic Medical Record used during contracts
• Agency name (this should be under the actual facility worked)

3. Include all states in which you are licensed

Include all states where you are licensed along with the license number. With the implementation of the eNLC, only the state of original licensure should be listed as well as any individual state licenses. Adding the license number makes it easy for healthcare recruiters to look up the license and expiration date.

Ready to start travel nursing? Start here.

4. Brag about your education and certification s

This is the time to brag about your education and certifications. This might include current schooling or any advanced practice education. Make sure to include BSN education including if it was obtained online or in-person.

Certifications should include specialty ones such as RNC and CCRN. It should also include generic bur required certifications such as BLS, ACLS, PALS, and NRP. The expiration date should be included because most contracts will require these not expire during the time of the contract.

5. List your references

Do not just state “References Upon Request.”

References will be required for all travel nurses. List their full name, credentials, contact information including email and phone number as well as how they are connected to you. Giving references advance notice is essential as travel nurse contracts are often time-sensitive and an offer can be obtained without the references being completed.

Keep in mind that refreshing your reference list with more current contacts is recommended and will keep previous references from being called more over time.

Helpful Tips for Your Travel Nursing Resume

• After each contract, updating a resume will make it easier for the next contract.
• Don’t add extra fluff. Be as specific and relevant as possible.
• Don’t be modest. Brag about your accomplishments!
• Don’t worry about the length of the resume. Including all relevant professional experience and certifications is more important.

Should you tailor your travel nursing resume to each contract position?

Generally, this is not advisable or needed but for highly desirable contracts such as those in Hawaii and California this might be essential.

Review the healthcare systems website and be aware of buzzwords used and the mission statement. This will require more work and the resume would need to be altered for each position submitted to. After reviewing the website and understanding the hospital, align the description of yourself with that of the hospital. If the hospital is a cardiac center of excellence, make sure that all cardiac experience is listed and emphasized in the objective.

A travel nurse’s resume will constantly be a work in progress and should be something that gives an employer a general sense of a potential employee. With more and more nurses wanting to take the leap into travel nursing, making sure a resume stands out is important. Following these guidelines will make sure yours is at the top of the pile.

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Aug 25, 2023

10 Tips to Improve Your Travel Nursing Resume

A well-crafted nursing resume is crucial in today’s competitive job market because it serves as your first impression to potential employers. Whether you’re a seasoned nurse looking to advance your career, a recent graduate entering the workforce, or a travel nurse looking for your next assignment , a strong resume can open doors to exciting opportunities. Here are 10 tips for nurses to improve your resume and increase your chances of landing your desired nursing position.

• Clear & Professional Formatting Choose a clean and professional resume template. Use consistent and professional looking fonts and bullet points for a polished look. Keep the layout organized and easy to read. When including your contact information, consider obtaining a professional sounding email address if you don’t already have one.
• Objective or Summary Write a concise and impactful professional summary or career objective at the beginning of your resume. This brief paragraph should showcase your nursing expertise, experience, and unique attributes that make you a valuable candidate.
• Licensure and Certifications List your state nursing license(s) and any relevant certifications, such as ACLS, BLS, PALS, etc. Include expiration dates where applicable.

• Highlight Achievements Rather than merely listing job duties, emphasize your accomplishments and contributions in previous roles. Use quantifiable metrics, such as improved patient outcomes, assisted in training [x number] new staff members, managed a caseload of [x number] patients per shift or successful implementation of specific new protocols. This will demonstrate your potential impact to prospective employers.
• Showcase Clinical Skills Detail your clinical competencies, such as IV insertion, wound care, medication administration, electronic health record systems and patient assessment. Highlight technical and interpersonal skills that make you a well-rounded travel nurse.
• Address Gaps in Employment If you have any significant gaps in employment, it is recommended to address these between your work experience on your resume. This is a common occurrence for many travel nurses, and not something that will prevent you from getting an assignment. You may simply add a brief explanation such as “medical leave” or “parental leave.”
• Keywords and Action Verbs Incorporate industry-specific keywords and action verbs in your resume. These keywords can be drawn from the job description and will help catch the attention of recruiters. A few examples of action verbs for nurses include administered, collaborated, and implemented.

• Showcase Cultural Competence Highlight any experience working with diverse patient populations and your ability to provide culturally sensitive care. This can also include previous volunteer work.

Before submitting any resume, don’t forget to proofread and ask a colleague or friend to review it for feedback. Remember, your resume is your first impression to potential employers. By following these tips that will showcase your skills and dedication to nursing, you’ll increase your chances of standing out as a strong candidate in the competitive travel nursing field.

If you’re interested in a nursing career with better pay, adventure and more freedom, consider browsing Aequor’s open travel nursing positions . Apply for positions that you may be interested in and get connected with one of our dedicated recruiters today!

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Travel Nurse Resume Templates and Examples for 2024

Travel Nurse Resume Template Example

How to write a travel nurse resume, check out related examples, travel nurse resume template text example.

If you’re looking to work as a travel nurse, start by crafting a resume that showcases your credentials, skills, and willingness to travel. From patient relations to key medical specializations to your specific state licenses and certifications, share what makes you the ideal candidate. Follow the examples and tips below to elevate your resume.

As a travel nurse, it’s important to highlight your commitment to excellent patient care as well as your expertise in various areas of nursing and skills transferable to different roles. Your travel nurse resume should include the following sections:

Contact information

Professional experience, education and certifications.

Your resume should have your most up-to-date information so recruiters can get in touch with you for potential work opportunities. Provide your full name, current contact information (phone number, email address, and city/state location), and a link to your online professional profile.

Your Name (123) 456-7890 [email protected] City, State Abbreviation Zip Code LinkedIn | Portfolio

The start of your resume should summarize your background and qualifications. In two to three sentences, share the highlights of your nursing career, specializations such as if you’ve worked in emergency medicine or pediatrics, and any relevant certifications or experiences you want to include. The goal is to capture the reader’s attention and illustrate why you’re a good match for the job you’re seeking. Nursing specializations can also help you stand out from competitors.

A highly qualified and adaptable travel nurse holding a Doctor of Nursing Practice from New York University, with previous degrees from Johns Hopkins University and University of Pennsylvania. Experienced in rapidly adapting to new work cultures and environments while managing travel logistics and maintaining active nursing licenses in multiple states. Advanced knowledge and skills in emergency medical response, nursing, cross-cultural communication, and travel logistics management have been demonstrated in roles at Roche and Johnson & Johnson.

As a travel nurse, you’ve likely acquired a number of skills in your various assignments. Share the ones most relevant for the positions you’re applying for, and make tweaks based on the specific job postings. For example, if you’ve worked in cardiology, surgical units, and with ICU patients in the past, and you’re seeking a travel job in a hospital network, note the skills relevant for that opportunity. Include a mix of hard and soft skills as well.

To give you an idea of some possible skills you can include, see our table below.

Common hard and soft skills for travel nurses

Resume writer’s tip: use specific action verbs.

When creating the professional experience section of your resume, using impactful action verbs can bring your resume to life and elevate your past achievements. To help you brainstorm, here’s a list of action verbs that could work well on a travel nurse resume:

This section of your professional resume will describe your work history and take up the bulk of your resume. Start with your most recent job and work backwards. For each position, include the employer name, location, start and end dates, and bullet points that describe your most relevant accomplishments and duties. When possible, quantify your contributions, whether it’s talking about patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, or infection prevention data.

Professional Experience

Senior Travel Nurse, Roche, New York June 2018 – present

• Apply critical nursing expertise to handle emergency situations in different hospitals within New York state
• Show adaptability and quick decision making while working in rapidly changing work cultures and environments, ensuring seamless delivery of health care services
• Successfully managed housing and travel logistics that led to a 100% attendance record in nursing assignments across the state

  Junior Travel Nurse, Johnson & Johnson, Philadelphia May 2017 – May 2018

• Demonstrated vital nursing knowledge and skills in various hospital settings across Pennsylvania state​​
• Coordinated with multidisciplinary teams to improve care delivery, resulting in a 15% increase in patient satisfaction
• Efficiently handled own travel and housing arrangements, securing comfortable accommodations near assigned hospitals and managing travel times effectively

Resume writer’s tip: Quantify your experience

Organizations are interested in the value that you can bring and appreciate candidates who can share metrics and data about their workplace achievements. You might include patient satisfaction scores, the number of patients you cared for or the nurse-to-patient ratio in your unit, and other indicators of quality work.

Here’s an example of how it could look on your resume:

• “Coordinated with multidisciplinary teams to improve care delivery, resulting in a 15% increase in patient satisfaction.”
• “Worked with multidisciplinary teams to provide patient care.”

Resume writer’s tip: Tailor your resume for each application

To grab the attention of recruiters and hiring managers, take some time to update your travel nurse resume to reflect what each specific employer is looking for. Although the job outlook for RNs is expected to grow faster than average , this will help create better alignment between you and the role you’re seeking. For instance, if the job description is looking for someone who has experience working with children and you worked in a pediatric clinic, that would be a key experience and skill set to highlight in the profile section.

What if you don’t have experience?

If you’re new to travel nursing, share your general nursing or clinical experience. You can include past health care jobs, clinical rotations (if you’re fresh out of school), or related volunteer experience or academic achievements and nursing certifications .

Hiring managers for travel nursing will need to see that you’ve completed the necessary schooling and are licensed to practice in their state. List each school you attended with degree name and date completed, along with any professional certifications in nursing specializations.

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), September 2017 – May 2018 St. John’s University, Queens, NY

Certifications

• Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN), Pediatric Nursing Certification Board, January 2019
• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists, March 2018
• Certified Registered Nurse Infusion (CRNI), Infusion Nurses Certification Corporation, October 2017

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Your Name (123) 456-7890 [email protected] City, State Abbreviation zip code LinkedIn | Portfolio

A highly qualified and adaptable travel nurse holding a Doctor of Nursing Practice from New York University, with previous degrees from Johns Hopkins University and University of Pennsylvania. Experienced in rapidly adapting to new work cultures and environments while managing travel logistics and maintaining active nursing licenses in multiple states. Advanced knowledge and skills in emergency medical response, nursing, cross-cultural communication, and travel logistics management have been demonstrated in roles at Roche and Johnson & Johnson.

• Collaboration
• Empathetic communication
• HIPAA compliance
• Medication administration
• Vital signs monitoring

Junior Travel Nurse, Johnson & Johnson, Philadelphia May 2017 – May 2018

• Demonstrated vital nursing knowledge and skills in various hospital settings across Pennsylvania state

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), September 2018 – May 2020 Hunter College, New York, NY

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), September 2017 – May 2018 St. John’s University, Queens, NY 

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), September 2013 – May 2017 Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY 

Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach

Andrew Stoner is an executive career coach and resume writer with 17 years of experience as a hiring manager and operations leader at two Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, and as the career services director at two major university business schools.

ResumeTemplates offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.

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5 steps for building a travel nurse resume.

When you’re applying for travel nursing jobs , your resume has to stand out from the stack on the hiring manager’s desk. You don’t have the luxury of walking into the hospital for an interview and impressing an employer, and video interviews are rare, too.

Fortunately, your recruiter can help you build a travel nursing resume that will get noticed — and, more importantly, get you the job you want. Here are a few tips for getting started.

1. Put your name, credentials and contact details at the top of your resume

Begin your resume with your name in bold letters, followed by your credentials (RN, BSN, for example). For a travel nursing job, a physical address is not as important. However, you should include your phone number and email address immediately below your name so a hiring manager can quickly figure out how to contact you.

Use a simple email address, following a format like [email protected], to be professional and avoid the risk of someone misspelling your email address by mistake. Still using that skaterchick97 email address from high school? Create a new one you only use for job applications.

2. Create an informative profile

Nurse managers know your goal is landing a position at their facility, so leave out the objective section on your resume. Instead, create a brief profile that gives the employer reasons to hire you at a glance. Here’s an example:

• 5 years of ER nursing experience
• Skilled in using both Epic and Cerner EHRs
• Certified ACLS instructor
• Member of the Emergency Nurses Association since 2010
• Available for both day and evening shifts

Your profile should include certifications, professional memberships or skills you feel will set you apart. It’s also important to list your shift availability in the profile section so employers know quickly whether the open job will work for you.

3. Include all licenses and certifications

Use bullet points to list each nursing license you have and include the state where you’re licensed, expiration date, and license number.

For example:

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS

• Registered nurse, Florida, #555555 (expires May 2018)
• Registered nurse, Texas, #777777 (expires Sept. 2018)

Then include all certifications you hold, including advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), pediatric advanced life support (PALS), and specialized certifications, such as a CCRN (certified critical care nurse). List these as separate bullet points as well, and include the expiration dates as you do with the licenses.

While you don’t need to identify the acronyms RN or CPR, it’s a good idea to write out other acronyms so there are no misunderstandings — especially if you list a certification like CORN (certified operating room nurse).

4. List your relevant work experience

List your jobs in reverse chronological order (most recent job first), starting with the name of the facility. If possible, write a brief summary for each employer that includes:

• The type of facility (long-term care, trauma center, senior nursing facility)
• The hospital’s designation (level III trauma center, magnet hospital, teaching hospital)
• The number of beds

Including this information tells the employer a lot about your nursing experience and can help you stand out from other candidates. If you don’t know these details, do a quick online search or visit a hospital ratings website like Health.USNews.com.

Then use at least three bullet points to describe what you did while you held that position. Start each sentence with an active verb, such as treated , cared for or instructed .

Here’s an example:

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Operating room nurse Intermountain Medical Center , Salt Lake City, Utah                                                  Sept. 2012 – Dec. 2014

Intermountain Medical Center is a level I trauma center with 468 beds.

• Provided care to trauma and heart attack patients in 56-bed emergency room
• Instructed new nurses in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS)
• Worked as charge nurse, overseeing 10 nurses and 2 CNAs each shift

Curious about listing your travel nurse jobs so it doesn’t look like you’ve hopped from place to place? First, include the name of the travel nursing agency you work with and the years you’ve worked with them. Then list each facility where you’ve worked and the months you worked there.

Travel nurse

RNnetwork , Boca Raton, Florida                                                                                        Jan. 2015 – present

I currently work as a travel nurse with RNnetwork. Details about my assignments are below.

St. Mark’s Hospital , Salt Lake City, Utah                                                                  Jan. – April 2015

Level III trauma center with 300 beds

• Cared for trauma patients in 50-bed emergency room

Don’t include any positions that aren’t relevant to your nursing experience (your stint as a fast food worker, for example). These take up space and won’t help you land the nursing jobs you want. If you’re a new graduate and don’t have a lot of work experience yet, add details about your clinical training in the education section.

5. Include all schools you attended

Finally, you should include an education section on your resume that lists:

• The degrees you earned (ASN or BSN)
• The schools you attended
• The years you attended each school
• The city and state of each school

Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore Maryland                                                        Sept. 2010 – April 2013

Bachelor’s of science in nursing

Summa cum laude graduate

Don’t list your GPA unless it is high (at least 3.5). You may consider listing other relevant awards or societies you were part of as well if you’re a recent graduate.

Now that you’ve started putting your resume together or edited your current document, call an recruiter at 800.866.0407. We’re happy to offer personalized help and ensure that you get the travel nursing job you want.

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About the author

Lindsay Wilcox

Lindsay Wilcox is a communication professional with experience writing for the healthcare and entertainment industries as well as local government. When she's not circling typos, she's enjoying fish tacos and hanging out with her family.

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Stand Out with a Winning ICU Travel Nurse Resume

Table of Contents

Whether you've just completed your formal education and looking for your first nursing job, or you're an already experienced nurse wanting to transition into the travel nursing specialty, having a convincing and distinctive resume is vital. Working as an ICU travel nurse requires exclusive skills and qualifications, and employers are highly watchful when they go through relevant resumes. In this comprehensive guide, we'll guide you to understand the exclusive role of an ICU travel nurse , how to effectively craft your ICU travel nurse resume to stand out, and how to capitalize on resume review services to get the necessary edge in the job market.

Understanding the Role of an ICU Travel Nurse

ICU travel nurses play a critical role in providing high-quality care to critically ill patients across the country. As experienced ICU nurses, they bring specialized skills and expertise to hospitals and healthcare systems in need of temporary staffing support. Some of the key duties and responsibilities of an ICU travel nurse include:

• Performing comprehensive assessments of patients admitted to the ICU including evaluating vital signs, lab values, diagnostic results, and changes in condition. This helps identify problems early and initiate appropriate interventions.
• Providing vigilant monitoring and care for patients who are often unstable or dealing with life-threatening health issues. This can involve titrating medications, managing ventilators, interpreting cardiac rhythms, and intervening during emergencies.
• Communicating effectively with the healthcare team including physicians, other nurses, therapists, pharmacists, and support staff to ensure coordinated care delivery.
• Educating patients and their families about the patient's condition, treatment options, and discharge planning while providing emotional support during stressful times.
• Maintaining accurate documentation including comprehensive notes about assessments, interventions, responses to care and changes in patient status.
• Advocating for the best interests of critically ill patients and serving as their voice to ensure appropriate care is provided.

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Essential Duties of ICU Travel Nurses

While all ICU nurses share some core duties, travel nurses take on additional responsibilities related to their temporary positions. Some key duties unique to ICU travel nurses include:

• Quickly adapting to new hospital protocols, technology, documentation systems, and unit culture at each contract assignment.
• Developing rapport and effectively collaborating with new healthcare teams at various facilities.
• Flexibly working different shifts including nights, weekends and holidays to meet staffing needs.
• Learning and adhering to the specific policies, procedures and practices of each ICU.
• Providing mentorship and support to less experienced nurses on the unit.
• Efficiently developing comprehensive knowledge of each patient’s history and care plan even with short orientations.
• Serving as a resource to full-time staff and implementing best practices learned from experiences in other ICUs.
• Maintaining skills, licenses and certifications required for travel nursing including ACLS, PALS, TNCC, etc.

Necessary Qualifications for an ICU Travel Nurse

Being an effective ICU travel nurse requires specialized skills, experience and attributes. Some key qualifications and requirements include:

• A current, active RN license that meets requirements for multi-state travel nursing.
• At least 2 years of recent full-time experience in a high-acuity ICU as an RN.
• Excellent clinical skills, assessment capabilities and judgement related to critical care.
• Strong grasp of life-support modalities like ventilator management, titration of vasoactive medications, IABP therapy, CRRT, etc.
• Demonstrated competence with advanced monitoring including hemodynamic monitoring, interpreting cardiac rhythms and waveforms, intracranial pressure monitoring, etc.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication abilities.
• Ability to adapt quickly, work independently, and handle rapidly changing situations.
• Emotional maturity, sensitivity, compassion for handling stressful scenarios.
• Willingness to relocate for 13 week contracts and serve in diverse settings.
• Physical stamina to handle extended shifts caring for highly unstable patients.

The Benefits and Challenges of Being an ICU Travel Nurse

Working as an ICU travel nurse comes with unique benefits and challenges. Some key advantages include:

• Opportunities to work in prestigious healthcare institutions across the U.S. This provides exposure to different practices.
• lucrative compensation packages that usually offer free housing, travel stipends, higher hourly pay, etc.
• Gain broad experience caring for diverse patient populations and conditions.
• Flexible schedule with opportunities to take time off between contracts.
• Build skills as an independent nurse and learn to adapt rapidly to new environments.

However, ICU travel nursing also comes with challenges such as:

• Frequently relocating and being away from family for extended periods.
• Adapting quickly to new hospital procedures, workflows, documentation systems etc.
• Building rapport and gaining the trust of new healthcare teams.
• Finding short-term housing, relocating, and adjusting to new communities.
• Potential for burnout due to high-stress assignments caring for very ill patients.
• Lack of specialization that comes with staying in one ICU long-term.

Overall, with excellent clinical and interpersonal skills, ICU travel nursing provides unique rewards and opportunities for professional growth.

Crafting a Compelling ICU Travel Nurse Resume

Landing an ICU travel nurse job requires a resume that grabs the attention of recruiters and highlights your specialized skills and experience. As an ICU nurse, you bring critical skills in advanced patient care, expertise with complex medical equipment, and the ability to thrive in fast-paced hospital units. Your resume needs to emphasize these key strengths while also demonstrating your adaptability and discipline as a travel nurse.

An effective ICU travel nurse resume will have an easy-to-scan format that makes your qualifications readily apparent. It should include the standard sections - professional summary, skills, work experience, education, and licensure/certifications. However, the content should be tailored to the unique requirements of ICU travel nurse positions. Follow the strategies below to craft a compelling resume.

Highlighting Your ICU Travel Nurse Skills

The skills section is one of the most important parts of your ICU travel nurse resume. This is your chance to showcase your specialized abilities. Include both hard skills and soft skills relevant to the position.

For hard skills, include proficiencies like:

• Vital signs monitoring
• Administering medications/IVs
• Operating life-saving equipment (ventilators, dialysis machines)
• Providing tracheostomy care
• Managing ICU-specific conditions (sepsis, acute renal failure)

Soft skills to highlight include:

• Clear communication skills
• Ability to quickly adapt to new hospital protocols
• Time management and task prioritization
• Discipline, organization, and record-keeping
• Collaboration with multi-disciplinary ICU team

Back up your listed skills with real examples in the work experience section. Quantify your achievements when possible to provide credibility. For example, "Managed care for up to 10 critically ill patients per shift" or "Led implementation of new ventilator protocols, reducing adverse events by 15%."

Crafting an Impactful Professional Experience Section

Your work history is what really makes or breaks a travel nurse resume. Recruiters want to see that you have extensive recent ICU experience. For each position listed, include:

• Name of employer/hospital
• Your job title and dates of employment
• A brief description of the unit/facility
• 4-6 bullet points summarizing your responsibilities and achievements

Tailor your bullet points to showcase ICU-specific skills. Emphasize experiences like:

• Providing care for critically ill patients on ventilators/CRRT/ECMO
• Developing, updating, and adhering to detailed care plans
• Closely monitoring patients using advanced equipment
• Maintaining homeostasis and preventing complications
• Educating patients' families on conditions and treatment

For an ICU travel nurse resume, list your most recent 5-7 years of applicable work history. Highlight increasing responsibilities over the progression of your career. You can also include relevant volunteer work, leadership achievements, and hospital committee participation.

Certifications and Education: Demonstrating Your Mastery

Your education and certifications section provides evidence that you meet the requirements for an ICU travel nurse. Include:

• Highest completed nursing degree (ADN, BSN, MSN)
• Relevant coursework, honors, and academic projects
• Active RN license number and expiration date
• Certifications like ACLS, PALS, CCRN, CNOR, CEN
• Specialized ICU training programs completed

Any additional certifications directly applicable to the ICU should be included as well. For example, training in ventilator operation, IV infusion pumps, dialysis, or IABP therapy. Ongoing education demonstrates your dedication to advancing your critical care nursing skills.

By following these tips, you can craft an ICU travel nurse resume that stands out. Your resume should paint a picture of an extremely skilled critical care nurse with the ability to quickly adapt in fast-paced hospital environments. With a compelling and focused resume, you can achieve your goals and begin an exciting and rewarding career as an ICU travel nurse.

Standing Out with a Winning ICU Travel Nurse Resume

Crafting a resume that grabs the attention of recruiters and healthcare facilities can be challenging for ICU travel nurses. With so much valuable experience to feature, it's vital to highlight your specialized skills and accomplishments while balancing brevity and impact. By leveraging key strategies and best practices, you can develop a resume that rises above the competition.

First, focus on customizing your resume for each job opportunity. Thoroughly review the job description, noting required qualifications and preferred skills. Then, incorporate keywords from the post and specifically demonstrate how your background aligns. This targeted approach shows the employer you have what they need to excel in the role.

Resume Tips Specifically for ICU Travel Nurses

As an ICU travel nurse, you possess highly specialized experience caring for critically ill patients requiring advanced interventions. Convey this by spotlighting your proficiency with complex equipment, your ability to quickly adapt in fast-paced ICU environments, and your commitment to patient safety and quality care.

Emphasize critical thinking, time management, task prioritization, and discipline coordination. Provide examples of streamlining processes, improving patient outcomes, and acting decisively in emergencies. Quantify your contributions, such as “reduced average patient ventilator time by 2 days.”

Balancing Detail and Brevity in Your Resume

With pages of hard-won achievements to feature, paring down your resume can be difficult. But shorter is better to keep recruiters engaged. Use bullet points, tight paragraphing, quantifiable facts, and keywords to tell your story efficiently.

Place your most relevant skills and experiences up front. Break content into concise sections like Profile, Clinical Experience, and Skills. Draw attention to critical accomplishments while removing extraneous content that doesn’t directly support your candidacy.

Leveraging Action Verbs and Quantifiable Achievements

Active, vivid language helps your ICU achievements leap off the page. Pepper your resume with powerful action verbs like “spearheaded,” “pioneered,” and “transformed” to convey your impact. Quantify accomplishments whenever possible to demonstrate tangible nurse contributions.

For example, “Elevated patient satisfaction scores from 71% to 90% satisfaction through expanded emotional support” has more weight than a vague statement. Bold numbers also enable quick resume scanning.

Harnessing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Many healthcare facilities use ATS software to automate resume screening. Formatting your resume to be ATS-friendly ensures it won't get filtered out.

Use clear section headers, standard fonts/margins, straightforward bulleting, and avoid dense text and tables. Incorporate keywords from the job post throughout your resume to help pass ATS screens.

Effective Use of Keywords in Your Resume

Keywords are critical for tailoring your resume and navigating ATS systems. Thoroughly review job listings, circling all requirements and skills mentioned. Then, work these keywords organically into your resume content.

Focus on weaving in essential hard skills like proficiency with mechanical ventilators, continuous dialysis, and IABP. Soft skills like teamwork, discipline, and communication are also important to spotlight.

Emphasizing Digital Literacy and Technological Proficiency

In today’s ICU environment, digital literacy and comfort with healthcare technology are highly sought-after nurse skills. From electronic charting systems to telemedicine interfaces, highlight your technical capabilities.

Mention expertise with facility-specific EMR systems and tele-ICU platforms. Demonstrate an affinity for learning new clinical apps, devices, and workflows. Savvy technology skills combined with compassionate patient care make you stand out.

Sample Resume and Resume Review Services

Crafting an effective resume is crucial for nursing professionals looking to advance their careers as travel nurses. With the right resume, you can land exciting assignments at top hospitals and command higher pay rates. To create a standout resume, it helps to review examples of successful travel nurse resumes and leverage professional resume writing services.

Read along as we analyze a sample resume for an ICU travel nurse. We'll point out the strengths of this resume and areas for improvement. We'll also discuss the importance of getting your resume reviewed by peers and professional resume writers before submitting it for jobs.

Analyzing a Successful ICU Travel Nurse Resume Sample

Let's take a look at a resume sample for Jane Doe, an experienced ICU nurse seeking travel nurse assignments across the country.

Right away, Jane grabs attention with a powerful resume summary that highlights her ICU nursing expertise, ability to quickly adapt in fast-paced hospitals, and commitment to providing excellent patient care. This concise opening paragraph sells Jane as a skilled, dedicated nurse.

In the professional experience section, Jane uses concise bullet points to demonstrate her proficiencies in key areas like vital signs monitoring, patient health assessments, and prioritizing tasks. The resume provides ample evidence that Jane has the clinical, communication, and critical thinking skills to succeed as a travel nurse.

Importance of Peer and Professional Resume Reviews

While Jane's resume is strong, there is always room for improvement. Having peers and professional resume writers review your resume provides an invaluable objective perspective.

Peers in your nursing network can assess how well your resume convinces the reader of your qualifications. They can suggest areas to expand on key skills and accomplishments. Their feedback will help ensure your resume properly conveys your background.

Meanwhile, professional resume writers bring expertise in formatting, style, and optimizing resumes for applicant tracking systems. They know what hospital recruiters look for and can advise you on crafting the most effective resume message.

Leveraging Resume Review Services

To take your travel nurse resume to the next level, invest in professional resume writing services. This provides you with an expert resume review and rewrite to highlight your top strengths.

Look for certified resume writers with healthcare and nursing experience. Make sure they offer multiple rounds of revisions so your resume can be refined until perfect. They should also optimize your resume for applicant tracking systems to ensure your resume makes it past the initial digital screening stage.

With a professionally written and edited travel nurse resume, you'll have the competitive edge over other candidates. You'll be able to showcase your specialized ICU experience and skills in the best possible light.

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Travel Nurse Resume Examples

Writing a great travel nurse resume is important because it is one of the first things a potential employer will see when they are considering you for a position. It is your opportunity to make a good first impression and sell yourself as the best candidate for the job.

Create your resume Select from 7 professional resume templates

If you're looking for inspiration when it comes to drafting your own travel nurse resume, look no further than the samples below. These resumes will help you highlight your experience and qualifications in the most effective way possible, giving you the best chance of landing the travel nurse job you're after.

or download as PDF

Essential Components of a Travel Nurse Resume

For travel nurses, a well-crafted resume is a passport to exciting job opportunities. It's a showcase of your nursing expertise, diverse experiences, and the unique skill set you bring to dynamic healthcare environments. A tailored resume for travel nursing positions underscores your readiness to embrace assignments in various locations, meeting a critical requirement of the role.

Understanding the key sections of a travel nurse resume is the first step in creating an impactful professional profile. Let's delve into each segment, discussing their significance and what to include, along with tips to make your resume stand out to potential employers.

Keep the language clear and concise for readability, and remember, a resume is not a CV—keep them distinct.

1. Contact Information

At the forefront of your resume should be your contact information, presented clearly and accurately. This section ensures potential employers can easily reach out to you.

Begin with your full name, prominently displayed, followed by your current address. For travel nurses, a permanent address or PO Box is advisable due to the nature of the job. Include a reliable phone number and a professional email address. If applicable, add links to your LinkedIn profile or professional portfolio to provide recruiters with additional insights into your qualifications.

• Current Address
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Professional Online Presence

Accuracy is paramount—double-check your contact details to avoid missing out on potential job offers.

2. Objective Statement

An objective statement on a travel nurse resume should be a concise declaration of your career goals and how they align with the needs of the employer. It's a brief yet powerful section that can set the tone for the rest of your resume.

For instance, an effective objective might read: " As a dedicated registered nurse, I seek a challenging travel nurse position where I can apply my clinical expertise, cultural sensitivity, and passion for healthcare to deliver exceptional care across diverse settings. "

• Remember, the objective is not solely about your desires but also how your employment benefits the hiring organization.
• Ensure it resonates with the employer's mission and showcases your unique qualifications and career aspirations.

Related : Top Travel Nurse Resume Objective Examples

3. Nursing License and Certification Details

This section is the bedrock of your professional credibility, detailing your nursing license and any additional certifications. Highlight your Registered Nurse (RN) license, including the issuing state and expiration date. If you hold a multi-state compact nursing license, emphasize this advantage.

Include relevant certifications such as ACLS, PALS, or CCRN, which demonstrate your commitment to specialized skills and ongoing education. Mention any travel nursing-specific training or certifications, ensuring all information is current and valid.

Avoid listing unrelated certifications that might detract from your core nursing qualifications.

4. Clinical Experience and Specialties

Your clinical experience section is a testament to your hands-on nursing expertise. Detail the types of healthcare settings you've worked in, the departments, and the duration of each assignment. Highlight any high-pressure or critical care experiences to showcase your resilience and adaptability.

• Clearly outline your responsibilities, emphasizing patient care and any administrative duties you've managed.

Specialties should reflect additional training or certifications that set you apart, such as a certification in a particular nursing field. Displaying a range of experiences and specialties can be particularly advantageous for a travel nurse.

5. Education and Training

The education section should list your highest degree first, followed by any additional relevant qualifications. Include the institution, graduation date, and degree obtained. Highlight any specialized training, internships, or residency programs that enhance your suitability for travel nursing roles.

Continuing education, such as workshops or seminars, demonstrates your dedication to professional development. Showcasing a variety of educational and training experiences can underscore your adaptability as a travel nurse.

6. Skills and Competencies

This section is where you can shine a light on the skills that make you an exceptional candidate for travel nursing positions. It's important to balance hard clinical skills with soft interpersonal abilities and cultural competence.

Hard Skills:

Detail your technical nursing skills, including proficiency in patient care, medication administration, and use of medical equipment. Highlight relevant certifications like BLS, ACLS, and PALS.

Soft Skills:

• Emphasize your communication skills, adaptability, problem-solving abilities, resilience, and organizational skills.

Cultural Competence:

Understanding and respecting cultural differences is crucial in travel nursing. Highlight your ability to provide culturally sensitive care.

Leadership Skills:

Even if not applying for a leadership role, showcasing potential leadership qualities can be a significant asset.

Related : Travel Nurse Skills: Definition and Examples

7. References or Recommendations

References or recommendations provide a third-party validation of your professional capabilities. Choose references who can speak to your clinical skills, adaptability, and teamwork in various healthcare settings.

Always secure permission before listing someone as a reference and consider providing them with your updated resume. If possible, obtain written recommendations to further bolster your application.

Typically, references are not listed directly on the resume but prepared on a separate document, ready to be furnished upon request.

In summary, a well-rounded travel nurse resume with strong references or recommendations can serve as a powerful endorsement of your professional and personal attributes, complementing the information presented in your resume.

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