Travel Nursing Tips – Building a Perfect Resume
Travel Nursing Tips – Building a Perfect Resume
So you’re ready to do this. You’ve longed and dreamed to start this adventure and the day is finally here! But where do you start? How do you even begin? Well let’s start with you and your experience. Below are our top tips for creating an effective resume to find you your dream contract!
- Unit & Facility Details
You’ll find when you’re traveling, and probably even while rotating through clinicals, that every unit and hospital has their own way of doing things. Give your new employer the best idea of your capabilities!
List how many beds are on your unit, what your typical nurse patient ratio is, and even if and where you were floated on low census days. As a traveler, you’re typically the first to float, so if the facility sees they can use you beyond your core specialty, they’ll be that much more inclined to give you a shot!
- Advanced Skills
When you’re submitted to a job, typically the first person to screen your profile is a general clinical team member. To them, it seems a nurse is a nurse, is a nurse. They aren’t always aware of the nuances of each specialty. So let’s help them. If you’re an L&D RN that circulates and/or scrubs C-Sections, add that. If you’re an RN with experience in conscious sedation, add that. Vent experience, interpreting EKG strips, pediatric and adult care experience, or anything above and beyond your typical job description, let us know!
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- Certifications
It may seem really obvious but has to be mentioned, please include all of your active certifications with their expiration dates on your resume. You’d be surprised how often profiles are bounced back to your recruiter if this information is missing. If you’re in the process of renewing your expired certification, let us know with a simple “in progress.” It’s important because we try not to make assumptions in this industry. It can lead to very embarrassing and sometimes dangerous outcomes.
- Be Broad
As a travel nurse, you’ll be expected to be flexible with the cases you’re assigned. Again, travelers are generally the first to float. With that said, don’t be too narrow when listing your skills. If you’re an ICU RN and currently work on the Neuroscience floor at your hospital, state that, but in additional to your skills in neuroscience and caring for neurology patients, also note if/when you floated to other ICU floors and what other ICU experience you have. Most likely, you have strong, core ICU skills that you’ve built your neuroscience skills on top of. Unfortunately, we still have to spell it out for the facility. We’ve heard of qualified candidates rejected for being “too specialized” because nothing beyond their specialized skills was listed. Remember? No assumptions are made in this industry.
- We Help You!
When your resume comes through the Axis server, our job is to take your stellar resume and tweak it with every submission to give you the best fighting chance at being offered the position. You provide the base and we add the embellishments to make your resume stand out and to highlight that you’re the Rock Star the facility is looking for. The takeaway here is we want to have your profile buttoned up and ready for submission the day you send it to us, not the week after, or a few days after because you never know when that perfect contract will open up!
We’re here to help, consult, and chat through all of your worries, questions, and hesitations. The steps we take now will only make you more confident in your Rock Star abilities. So take the leap of faith, trust in our skills and knowledge, and trust in yourself. You can do this! Let’s jump in!
Go Ahead. Be a Rock Star, and start planning your travel nursing adventure today!
