Resume example · ATS-friendly

Registered Nurse Resume Example

Nursing applications are screened on hard credentials before anything else: licence, state or region, certifications, and unit experience. This example puts those where an automated screen will find them, and shows how to phrase clinical work as evidence rather than a duty list.

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Sample registered nurse resume

The same resume in the Modern, Executive and Elegant templates. Switch between them to see how the layout changes, then copy the structure into your own.

Minimal and left aligned, with thin rules and a near black accent.

Alex Morgan

Registered Nurse, Medical-Surgical / Telemetry

alex.morgan@example.com
(555) 555-0100
Austin, TX
linkedin.com/in/alex-morgan-example

Summary

Registered nurse with 6 years on medical-surgical and telemetry units, currently holding an active RN licence plus BLS and ACLS. Experienced with 5:1 patient ratios on a 32-bed unit, charge-nurse rotation, and precepting new graduates. Comfortable in Epic and in the handover discipline that keeps a busy unit safe.

Skills

Patient assessment and triage
Medication administration and titration
IV insertion and central line care
Wound care and dressing management
Electronic health records (Epic, Cerner)
Care planning and discharge coordination
Patient and family education
Infection control protocols
Telemetry and cardiac monitoring
Interdisciplinary handover (SBAR)

Experience

Registered Nurse

Northwind Labs, 2022 to Present

Managed a 5:1 patient assignment on a 32-bed med-surg/telemetry unit, including post-operative and cardiac monitoring patients.
Precepted 8 new graduate nurses through unit orientation; 7 completed onboarding and remained on the unit past their first year.

Associate Registered Nurse

Brightline Group, 2019 to 2022

Served in charge-nurse rotation for a 24-nurse unit, coordinating admissions, staffing assignments and rapid-response escalation.
Contributed to a unit falls-prevention initiative (hourly rounding and bed-alarm compliance), as part of the team that reduced falls on the unit over two quarters.

Education

Bachelor of Science

Riverton University, 2015 to 2019

Sample content. Alex Morgan, the employers and the school shown above are fictional, and the contact details are reserved placeholders.

How to write a registered nurse resume

Licence first. Put the RN licence, its jurisdiction, and its expiry near the top with BLS/ACLS/PALS beside it. Many healthcare screens filter on exactly these strings, and a licence buried under Education can be missed entirely.

Name the unit type and the ratio. 'Med-surg, 5:1, 32-bed telemetry unit' tells a nurse manager more in eight words than a paragraph about compassionate care.

Spell out acronyms once: 'Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)'. Postings vary in which form they use, and matching both covers either.

Why registered nurse applications get screened out

These are the failures specific to this role: the ones a generic CV guide will not warn you about.

Licence number, jurisdiction or expiry not stated, so an automated credential check fails.
Certifications listed as acronyms only, when the posting screens for the full term.
No unit type or patient ratio, leaving acuity impossible to judge.
Duty-list bullets copied from a job description rather than describing what you handled.
Two-column or table layouts, which are common in nursing templates and parse badly.

What drives pay for this role

Nursing pay is driven less by years and more by four things: the jurisdiction you are licensed in, the unit and its acuity (ICU, ED and specialty units typically pay above general med-surg), shift differentials for nights and weekends, and specialty certifications. Employment model matters too, travel and agency contracts price differently from staff positions, with correspondingly different stability.

Registered Nurse resume questions

Where do I put my licence details?: In a dedicated Licensure and Certifications block near the top, above or immediately after the summary. Include the licence type, jurisdiction, and expiry date. This is frequently the first thing screened, automatically.
How do I present clinical rotations as a new graduate?: Treat them as experience with the same structure: unit type, duration, patient population, and what you were responsible for. Name the setting and acuity rather than listing every skill you observed.
Should I include continuing education?: Recent and relevant items, yes: especially anything matching the unit you are applying to. A long list of older courses adds length without adding signal.
Does a nursing resume have to be one page?: No. Clinical experience, licensure and certifications legitimately take space, and two pages is normal and accepted in nursing. Do not cut credentials to hit an arbitrary page count.

Before you send this: run your own version through the ATS resume checker to confirm it parses, or see how an ATS reads your resume in your browser first.