Nursing CV example with writing guide + CV template [Get noticed] (2023)

When applying for a nursing role, a great CV is crucial to the success of your applications.

Your CV needs to show recruiters and potential employers that you have the right mix of qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge to work as nurse and provide a high level of care to patients.

This guide will walk you through every step of creating an interview-winning nursing CV and even has a nursing CV example you can use for inspiration.

Guide Contents

• Nursing CV example
• Structuring and formatting your CV
• Writing your CV profile
• Detailing work experience
• Your education
• Vital skills for your nursing CV

Nursing CV Example

This is an example nurse CV to give you a general idea of the layout and content of a nursing CV.

However, when creating your own CV, you should take into consideration the roles you are applying for and the specific areas of nursing you specialise in.

The rest of this guide will show you exactly how to populate each area of your CV, and the skills you should be highlighting.

Structuring and formatting your CV

When creating your nursing CV, how you structure and format it, is just as important as the content listed within it.

Now, more than ever, people have very low attention spans when it comes to reading – especially recruiters, who sometimes see hundreds of CVs per day.

So, making sure your CV is structured and formatted in a way that is easy to read, and allows recruiters to pick out the information they need is crucial.

The structure and format of your CV have two core purposes:

• They create the initial first impression by putting together a professional looking document that potential employers will take seriously

• They create a logical structure to allow readers to read and navigate quickly

This infographic will serve as a good for putting your CV’s structure together.

Formatting tips

Use the following guidelines as much as possible to ensure your CV stands out and looks professional.

• Stick to simple, easy to read fonts, such as Arial

• Don’t use too many colours – black text on a white background works best for readers

• Keep it simple and to the point – no unnecessary distractions like images or graphs.

CV structure overview

When structuring your nursing CV, it’s very important that you make it easy to read, with no big chunks of text, and that all of the most important information is easy to see on first glance.

Your CV should feature the following sections.

Name and contact information – should be listed directly at the top of the page so it’s easy for recruiters to contact you

Personal statement/profile – a short introductory paragraph summarising your skills, experience and knowledge within nursing

Work experience – List your roles in reverse chronological order to showcase your ability to apply your skills and knowledge

Education and qualifications – List out your qualifications related to nursing, and include the key details of each one

Contact details

Your contact details should always be placed at the very top of the page and should be impossible to miss.

Information to include:

• Name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Location

You’re not obligated to disclose the following and they will not affect hiring decisions:

• Full address
• Your date of birth, nationality, and sex
• A photograph

Your nursing CV profile

This section should go directly under your contact details at the top of the page.

Your profile or personal statement is your chance to shine and get noticed, but you have to be mindful of people’s time, so keep it short, punchy, and to the point.

In order to ensure that recruiters keep reading your CV, here are the key things to include in your profile section:

Nursing qualifications – Provide an overview of your most important nursing qualifications

Environments you have worked in – Perhaps you’ve worked in private care homes, or maybe you’ve worked across a number of specialist hospital wards – employers will want to know this.

High level nursing skills – Skills like patient care, medication provision and ward hygiene will be important to most nursing roles

Nursing experience – Whether you are a newly qualified nurse, or have 20 years experience, you must make your experience level clear here

Quick tip:If you worry that your written English isn’t perfect, try using our CV builderto eliminate the risk of making mistakes.

Core skills section

To create a snap shot of your skills, add a core skills section underneath your profile.

It’s simply a bullet-pointed list of your most relevant talents spread out over 2 or 3 columns.

The effect this has, is that it shows recruiters a great summary of your skills that they can digest within seconds of opening your CV – great for a positive first impression.

Work experience

In your work experience section you need to list your previous roles in reverse chronological order like the diagram below.

You should focus on your nursing experience, writing plenty of detail in nurse roles, and much less detail in non-nursing roles.

In case you have no employment history in nursing – for example, if you’ve just graduated, you can also list any volunteer work or university placements to compensate.

How to structure your role descriptions

To provide an easy and pleasant reading experience for recruiters, lay your roles out like so:

Here’s a brief outline of what to include in each section:

Role outline

A sentence or two describing who you work/worked for, and what the overall purpose of the role is.

E.g.

“Delivering ongoing care within a 28-bedded geriatric ward to elderly patients presented with acute to chronic health problems”

Key responsibilities

List the key tasks you carry out during your role, and show how they impact your employer, colleagues and patients.

E.g.

• Ensuring the timely and accurate completion of all administration and documentation
• Conducting patient assessments, planning and supervising the safe and compassionate delivery of care
• Liaising with ward managers and doctors to arrange plans and schedules

Achievements

Add any achievements made during the role, that have made a big positive effect in your workplace.

E.g.

Contributed significantly to raising standards across local community nursing; observing and mentoring Junior Nurses, and improving care metrics by an average of 10%

Quick tip:If youworry that your written English isn’t perfect, try using our CV builderto eliminate the risk of making mistakes.

Education and qualifications

When applying for a job as a nurse, it’s important to make sure you have the right qualifications for nursing.

Anyone wishing to work as a nurse, regardless of the role, must possess a degree in nursing.

Your education and qualifications should come directly after your work experience, and be listed from the most recently achieved.

Any qualifications relevant to the role you’re applying for should be listed in this section.

Vital skills for your nursing CV

Although every nursing role will be different, there are certain skills that are essential to nurses across the board.

Here are a few of them…

Patient care – The ability to care for patients is paramount to a nurse’s skill set and should be evident throughout your CV.

Knowledge of medication– Administering medications and understanding their effects is another crucial skill for most nurses.

Ward management – Not only is this skill useful if you plan on climbing the ranks within a ward, but it will also show that you know how a ward is run, andhave a deeper insight into staffing levels and patient bed allocation charts.

Hygiene and health – Ensuring you know what your patients area eating, and that they are clean and comfortable in their beds

Conclusion

When applying for nursing roles, a good CV that’s well structured and formatted in a professional, clear way is essential.

It’s also important to highlight your key skills, and show what you can bring to any role so you have the best chances of standing out and being selected.

Hopefully this guide has provided you with some useful tips to get you started.

Good luck!