Travel Nurse Resume Must Haves

A Few Tips on Organizing Your Professional Puzzle: Travel Nurse Edition

Hello All! Welcome to The Travel Nurse Brief’s Very First Newsletter!

 

TNB is a collection of experience and knowledge that our team, Modern Healthcare Solutions – composed of healthcare recruiters, nurses and executives – has learned over the years. Our hope is that these short briefs will help nurses and healthcare staff alike, navigate the ever-changing world of traveling.  

With That Said… Let’s Talk Resumé Building.

By now I’m sure you’ve noticed that those yoga-like scrubs only help so much in securing your most wanted contract. What’s next? The next step, after securing those buttery scrubs in three different eccentrically named colors, is to reinvent your resume. 

How Can I Showcase Myself to Nurse Managers So That I Always Get the Contract I Want? 

You’re not applying for a Ph.D. program, so those 5 extra pages regarding your publications can go. Nor are you trying to join the frenzy of wall street finance where no one has the time to read anything more than 300 words (1 page). With that said, let’s get on with our riveting resume building tips – travel nurse edition.  

With over 100 years of collective recruiting and nursing experience, the number of resumes that we’ve written, seen & revised is soundly in the five-digit figures & here’s what you need to know…

If you’re short on time and have to build your new resume with one sentence to guide you, here it is:

Streamlined, Concise, and to The Point, While Still Effectively Highlighting Your Specific Skills. 

What Do Hospitals Want to See? 

• Hospitals (when hiring for travel nurses) don’t really care to see typical resume building words and phrases such as, “Great Decision-Making Skills”, “Critical Thinker” and “Spearheaded ‘x’ Campaign.” They certainly don’t care if one of your top skills is “Excel Spreadsheets.” When was the last time you, as a nurse in your professional career, submitted formal documentation on an Excel spreadsheet?  
• Hiring teams filter through hundreds of applicant profiles and select the best candidate for the position, based on the specific experience you have listed as it relates to the department. 
• The only thing the hiring manager is interested in, is your experience as it relates to the position itself. Example – When applying for an ICU role, if you’ve had 10 previous ICU assignments, word on the street is that you’re an ICU nurse. We don’t need to review your daily functions, we don’t need to know that you take vitals, monitor ICP, check vent settings, reposition, etc.  – That’s implied by the fact that you’ve been doing this for 20+ years.
• Thus, the question you should ask yourself before applying for the particular assignment is: “Am I experienced enough within this department to function in this role effectively?” If you are, list the experiences that qualify you, if not, a different opportunity awaits.  

Recap: 

1. Keep resume simple – focus on past travel assignments and key skills needed for this specific department.  

2. Streamline resume for easy visibility and readability, different than your traditional resume.  

Resume Formatting 101:

• To start, a resume should always have your demographic information at the top, this includes name, profession and specialty, phone number, email address, and your FULL permanent home address. That last part is important – it’s all obviously important – but we need your full home address, specifically if you’re applying to a position in the same state that you live in. This is important because the distance between you and the facility determines whether you’re a travel candidate or a local candidate, and how your contract is built. 
• Following, we have the Candidate Highlights portion, this includes: The highlights of your professional experience and career. Sell yourself. 
• Thirdly, a section is need for Licenses and Certifications. Self-explanatory.
• Last, but certainly not least, is your Professional Experience section. This section includes facilities worked at with start and end dates (Month & Year). Location of facilities, your profession & specialty, if you were part of a float pool, or floated to other units at all, type of position – per-diem, travel, perm – and if you ever held positions such as Charge or Nurse Manager. Don’t forget to add in which EHR/EMR systems you’re most comfortable using! Epic, Cerner, Meditech, etc.

Let’s Sum It Up: 

• Straight-Forward; No Resume “Fluff”.
• Organized & Concise. 
• Dates & Facts.
• Experience & Skills – Candidate Highlight Reel 
• Are You Qualified for The Position?
• Credentials & Certifications.
• Be Prompt and Prepared for Any Follow-Up! 

 

 

 

Thanks For Reading! We Hope This Helps!

 

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