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What is a Nursing CV? - How to write a nursing resume [2024]

Two nurse practitioners evaluating the nursing cv of a candidate

What are the tips for creating a Nursing CV in the UK? - A guide

Nursing is a wonderful career in the UK where you can help people and make a big difference in their lives. As you take the first step to pursuing your dream job, one important thing to take care of, is your CV. Your CV should show what makes you special and why you care about helping people. Having a good CV can really help you stand out when lots of people are applying the same job. In this article, we talk about how to make an effective CV for a nursing position. 

What is a nursing CV?

A nursing CV is a detailed document that gives a professional summary of a nurse's qualification, experience, and skills. It gives a brief description of the NHS they previously worked in the UK. It includes a detailed description of academic credentials and experience. The CV also talks about the skills of nurses. It is used as a marketing tool, like a chance to brag about how awesome you are. You should keep your CV up to date and add new stuff as your career grows. 

A nurse’s CV includes the below sections in it, 

  • Contact information 
  • Professional summary 
  • Education  
  • Skills 
  • Work experience 
  • Certifications 
  • Licenses 
  • Hobbies 

How to write a nursing CV?

Follow the below steps to complete a CV, 

1) Add contact details  

Start your nursing CV by including the below details on the top of it. This shows employers can easily reach out to you. 

  • Name 
  • Phone number 
  • Email address 
  • Address
2) Create a professional summary 

A professional summary is a brief paragraph at the start of your nursing CV. It is usually one to two sentence long. You can introduce yourself to the employer in this section. It let you to highlight your strengths and skills that make you a good fit for the position. You can also brief your career achievements in this part.  

3) Add your work history

In this section, you have the opportunity to showcase your previous work experience in the healthcare field. For those new to healthcare, it is important to highlight any instance you have provided assistance to others. You can also include the internship information if there is any. This section serves a vital part of your nursing CV. It gives a picture of you background and capabilities within the healthcare sector

4) Describe your education

Employers usually want nurses to have a specific academic background. So, it is good to include your education information’s inside your CV. You can include your college education program, and your degree type inside this section. It will be helpful if you include the starting and ending dates of each education program. 

5) Highlight what sets you apart

To make sure your CV stands out, you can add some sections to the CV. 

  •     You can add any certificates you have related to nursing or healthcare 
  •     You can highlight the skills that matter for the job. Check the job ad and mention any skills they want that you have. 
  •     If you got a prize in a past nursing job, think about putting it on your CV. You could also add awards for healthcare, leading, or taking care of others. 
  •     Including various community service experiences on your nurse CV can show that you're ready to help others, which is important in nursing
  •     If you are a member of a healthcare-related group mentioning about it in the CV can show how committed you are to your job. 
  •    Including hobbies on your CV that show you are good at care of others like gardening will make it interesting for the employer. You can also mention hobbies that show your technical skills or speak another language. 
 What are some key tips to consider when creating a nursing CV? 

1) How you set up and organize your CV is really important for how well it does. When employers see a badly organized document there is a higher chance they decide not to consider those candidates, without even reading their CVs. The initial step is to ensure that you provide correct document that includes all the necessary information. 

2) It is really important to double-check that your CV is accurate, easy to read and includes all the most important information in the right order. When writing about your professional skills, focus only on the most important ones and your personal qualities. Also try to use the language of your nursing. 

3) Keeping your nursing CV up to date is really important. Your CV needs to be finished and current, regardless of how much experience, training, or qualifications you have.  Recruiters often get frustrated when CVs are missing important information.  

4) Employer has no time to read a long essay kind of CV during the hiring process. That means every piece of information you add should be helpful or important. While preparing your CV take care to include the information’s like contact details, NMC registration and PIN, core skills, employment experience and education. 

5) Try to include hard skills and soft skills in your nursing CV. Hard skills are the specific crafts and techniques you learn for your particular nursing specialty. Examples of hard skills are prescribing, restraint techniques and wound dressing.  Soft skills means an individual’s personal traits like communication skills.

6) If there are any periods in your work history where you weren't working, you should explain why. It could be a temporary job change, a break from work or time off due to illness. Make sure to mention and clarify these gaps. 

7) You should always make sure there are no errors in your nursing CV. It can give hiring managers a good impression of applicants. You can check and correct your CV using online tools for spelling and grammar. 

Nurses Group is the leading nursing staffing agency in UK. We provide skilled and qualified nurses to healthcare facilities nationwide. Get in touch with us if you need skilled nursing professionals. 

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