Tips for Writing a Travel Nursing Resume

Creating an eye-catching travel nursing resume is important for any nurse who wants to take the next step in their career and expand their clinical experience. A thorough, detailed resume will help your travel nursing agency accurately represent your abilities and find you the assignment you’ve been looking for.

Your travel nursing resume should be clear, readable, and showcase your work history. But it should also show that you have the potential for growth in your career. Travel nurse resumes should also list your accomplishments, special skills, and experiences with leadership.

Read on to learn how to craft an all-star travel nursing resume!

The Basics

Every job or assignment you’ve taken as an RN is unique and important. There are a few basic details to include with every entry on your resume.

Being specific about previous facilities, units, specialties, and length of employment will help your agency develop a better understanding of your experience. In turn, this will help them provide you with the opportunities in which you are most likely to thrive.

Generally speaking, your resume should include at least these five sections:

1. Summary

Start with a summary of the value you provide as a nurse. This section should be a short but powerful assessment of your best professional qualities.

2. Specialty

Simply list your specialty and how long you have worked in it.

3. Licenses & Certifications

This section will be explained in further detail later on, but use this section to show off all the hard work you’ve done to become a highly-skilled nurse.

4. Professional Experience

Your previous work experience and a list of your role and responsibilities for each position you’ve had.

5. Education

The name of the institution you graduated from, the dates you attended, and the title of your degree. You may also list any academic honors you received in this section.

Be Specific

Avoid general descriptions of your nursing experience. Instead, find the job descriptions of your previous roles and elaborate on them based on your real-life experience.

Highlight any clinical expertise, special procedures for which you are trained, unit-specific patient types, unusual cases, and higher-acuity patients. Being thorough in the descriptions of your nursing experience will help your recruiter make a great match between your skillset and future clinical environments.

Licenses & Certifications

List every single license and certification you have! For each license or certification, list the following information:

The full name of the license or certification
Full name of the organization from which the certification was obtained
When available, include license or certification number
Date license or certification was obtained, and the date it expires
Use correct signifiers and state if the license is a compact nursing license

Distinguish Yourself

Don’t miss the opportunity to let an agency or facility know how great you are! List all awards, special projects, and accomplishments that you have been a part of, as well as any research teams and leadership experience.

This information lets recruiters and potential employers know that you take initiative and are familiar with success.

Grammar & Spelling

Poor grammar and spelling could ruin an otherwise stellar travel nursing resume. Many websites like RezScore and Resume-Check provide instant feedback on grammar, spelling, and the more mundane elements of your resume.

Another excellent writing assistant is Grammarly, a free writing app developed to make your writing clear and professional.

Don’t let your all-star resume get ruined by overlooking the simple details!