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:
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.
Hard Skills | Soft Skills |
---|---|
Emergency medical response | Communication |
HIPAA compliance | Critical thinking |
Medication management | Empathy |
Patient relations | Organization |
Vital signs monitoring | Travel logistics |
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:
Action Verbs | |
---|---|
Administered | Advocated |
Assessed | Collaborated |
Diagnosed | Documented |
Implemented | Monitored |
Resolved | Treated |
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.
Senior Travel Nurse, Roche, New York
June 2018 – present
Junior Travel Nurse, Johnson & Johnson, Philadelphia
May 2017 – May 2018
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:
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.
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
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), September 2013 – May 2017
Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY
Certifications
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.
Senior Travel Nurse, Roche, New York
June 2018 – present
Junior Travel Nurse, Johnson & Johnson, Philadelphia
May 2017 – May 2018
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
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