Beginning with research
Job Market
Researching about the job market is necessary to know what sort of demand does the role you want to get in have. Whether the market is saturated whether the salary levels are not matching the working hours etc. These factors one can only know if you are out there trying to understand the market. There are couple of ways you can do this. If you have already been in the industry we would make the reasonable assumption that you will know some people in the industry and you can try to contact them to know whether the market is doing well or not before you jump into this role.
We suggest you also go on professional social media websites such as LinkedIn or Glassdoor or Monster.com etc. and hospital websites to know whether there are job available. You may also encounter existing nurses online and ex-nurses of the medical centre and you can communicate with them to understand whether the requirement exists or not.
Job Description
Each of the facilities will have their own job descriptions, while most of them will be along the same lines for the same role of critical care nurse, however, some might differ slightly to accommodate more responsibilities or the pay structure may be different. You need to know what the job descriptions are in the market to make the career decision basis your own professional and personal requirements.
Reading different job descriptions will also help you create your own resume, which we will explain better in the 'Customisation' section, however, to give you an outline, it helps in writing a better a resume.
Self Assessment
Self- assessment is not what you think! It is an exercise to help you realise your own professional life and introspect hardly on what all you have done. For this exercise you may have to collect all the proofs of your experiences, achievements, trainings, licenses, education to help you formulate better points that will get you the attention of the hiring manager.
Company Research
Company research or in this case it will be called the research of the hospitals or medical centres in the ICU nurse job market. The medical centre you want to be working will have some core values, mission statement and vision statement, will have a way of working. You will want to understand all of that since you're not just a nurse and a healthcare professional but you are also an employee at their place. Which will make you understand that it is a job and you need to know how well you will be treated at the organisation.
By reading about the different medical centres you can form your own opinions also learn how the centres work and most of all how the employees and ex-employees have been treated their.
Customisation
As previously briefly touched upon, customisation is a very nice way to get noticed by your hiring managers. It is when you incorporate whatever you had to do before this stage, which is collating information about the market, job descriptions, company, and even self- assessment and then creating a resume using all of that knowledge.
The knowledge that you have gained needs to be tailor made for each medical centre you will be applying to you. We suggest you take some extra efforts in creating a custom resume for each place as that will dramatically increase your chances at getting selected or shortlisted.
It is the ability to incorporate the values, the language, and key words in to your resume. That will first help you clear if the medical centre has ATS - applicant tracking system in place which eliminates most of the candidate resume's before it even reaches the eye of a human. The ATS will see the key words and give you the go ahead.
Proof Reading
Proof reading is the last stage of completing your resume. For this we would suggest you bring in your friends or people you trust and show them your version of the resume and get their feedback. Any feedback is good feedback, and it is better than nothing! Try to get feedback along the lines of whether the skills you have put, your qualifications, your points, are they making sense, are they creating an impact on the reader.
Moreover, for other aspects like grammar, spellings, syntax, and semantics, use online free tools that use AI to detect and even correct. We would highly suggest using our tools, templates, and formats to create a worry free resume!
Formats for ICU nurse resume
Functional resume format
Functional resume is for people who are either freshers or are switching their field. As ICU nurses which is a very specialized field, we understand within them you can switch but you won't be able to from a different career line unless you have the right licenses and education. Therefore, if you are switching from a type of nurse to critical care nurse be sure your skills, licenses and education is perfect for the role. As a fresher you don't need to worry as the hiring manager will keep that in mind.
In this type of resume, the skills, education, licenses, and certifications will be given priority therefore, put them first. For your skills, do elaborate them with at least one example.
Reverse chronological order resume format
The reverse chronological ICU nursing resume format is more suitable for professionals that have had some experience. The experience section is given more priority, however, your licenses, education and certifications will also be given priority however, they can be below your experience section.
Combination resume format
The combination or hybrid ICU nurse resume format is for those who blend in the elements of both. If you believe your skills over power your low experience then put it above and lead with your skills, and if not then you can reverse the priority.
ICU nurse resume sample outline
Contact information section-resume header
Full Name: Mention the name as per your government ID
Mobile Number: Mention the mobile number that is on you at all times
Email Address: Provide a professional email ID, and if you don't have one create one. We suggest you do not give your personal email ID as it might get in your way
Permanent Address: Providing your home address is not compulsory however, if you do you can also shorten it to your area and area code
LinkedIn Profile: Whenever you provide your LinkedIn profile, be sure to update it thoroughly
Resume summary
The resume summary is also called the resume objective statement. As somebody who will be working in the hospital in the critical care sector you will need to be specific as to why you are the best candidate and what you're looking for in the job.
The great ICU nurse resume summary can provide a key achievement while you were employed at the previous hospital or a medical centre. The achievement can be explained with respect to the experience in the resume however, mentioning here can aid in your candidacy.
Professional experience
Job title and Company:
Before you get down to what the role and responsibilities were as a registered nurse elsewhere, you first need to mention what medical centre or hospital you were working for. The name of it after your designation, perhaps head nurse or registered nurse in some department etc.
Dates of Employment:
A line below the title and the company name you need to mention the dates of the stint. They can be mentioned in two ways and ideally we suggest you go with the first. Look below to find the way in which the dates are represented:
- Month- Year
- Month
Once you choose how you want to represent your dates in the resume, we suggest you stick to that one way and use it everywhere you have dates. The dates shall also be in the format of 'From-To'.
Month- Year to Month- Year i.e., 04-2022 to 10-2022
Job Description/ Key Responsibilities:
A line below the dates is when you star writing points about the job or the experience. These pointers should cover what your key responsibilities were. Your key responsibilities can come from your job description or how you create the point from inferences to the companies values.
We suggest that you quantify as many responsibilities as possible, where your skills and knowledge led you to complete the action on time with efficiency and effectiveness.
Each of the experience should contain 3 to 5 points, does not have to be between these, there could be more or less depending upon how much priority you would like to give that experience, however, this just the average, and will allow you to cover as many points as possible.
Key Achievements:
Key achievements will sit beneath the roles and responsibilities section. As a registered nurse you might want to quantify some of your experiences as achievements, or anything that allowed you to stand out in an environment that is competitive. The achievement shall be associated to the role it self and not something from your personal life. You can frame points where your skills led you to achievement something which is not very common and you were recognized for it.
Education section
Education Qualification Name:
The education will need where you completed your degree/s from. Your undergraduate and and/ or post graduate. The name of these degrees will be clearly mentioned in your degree certificate, and we suggest you use the same name as is.
Your Licenses and certifications for Nursing will not come here, as this space is solely for professional education.
Institution Name:
The name of the institution will also be as per what the degree certificate shows.
Location and Date:
The location of where the institution was present. The location can just be the 'State, Area'. The date can be in the following format:
- Month- Year to Month- Year
GPA (Optional):
Mentioning your grade point average is optional. If you are already an experienced and registered nurse then you don't need to mention your grades as your experience will speak louder than your grades, however, if you are someone who has recently graduated then you should mention it.
Licenses & Certifications
In this section we suggest you list all the professional Licenses and Certifications yo completed that enhanced your career as a registered nurse and is critical for the job role itself. You can list the full name of the License and the Month and Year you received it in. For example:
License Name - LC (04/2022 - 08/2022)
Skills section
We will provide you with the right skills that a critical care nurse would need and require to be put in the resume. You just have to select and put them in the resume. The skill words will also act ask key words which will help you clear the ATS and help catch the attention of the hiring managers as well.
📌 List of relevant skills for your ICU nurse resume:
- patient care
- ICU nurse skills
- vital signs
- monitored vital signs
- monitored patient vital signs
- administer medications
- life support equipment
- basic life support equipment
- medical procedures
- intensive care unit
- patient records
- patient outcomes
- administered medications
- medical equipment
- soft skills
- hard and soft skills
- patient needs
- educated patients
- administer medication
- communication skills
- technical skills
- notified physicians
- chest tubes
- lab values
- patient conditions
- patient care plans
- emergency situations
- performed assessments
- problem solving
- clinical changes
- multi task
- nursing
Bonus tips
Keywords
Please select the key words from our curated list for creating the best resume that will help you clear the ATS and create a more appealing and impactful resume.
📌 List of relevant keywords for your ICU nurse resume:
- measurable achievements
- nursing
- patients
- c suite members
- problem solving
- family members
- interdisciplinary team members
- ICU nurse
- patient care
- patient care plans
- ICU nurse positions
- critically ill patients
- nursing manager
- multi disciplinary team
- Great ICU nurse
Cover letter
Header
The header will contain your contact information, same as the resume. It will have your full name, your phone number, your email ID, your house address, your LinkedIn profile if you have one and maintain it.
Salutation
The salutation is how you start of your cover letter. It is how you greet the hiring manager i.e., 'Respected hiring manager', 'Dear hiring manager'.
Introduction
The introduction of a cover letter is crucial to set context to the whole cover letter. It is where you relay your confidence, your character, your enthusiasm and your willingness to add value to the organization you are applying to.
Body
The body of the cover letter is where you highlight your key achievements and recognitions, whether they be related to your work or education or certifications. You can highlight your skills and abilities which has helped you garner efficiency and effectiveness in the way you work.
Elaborating your experiences in a narrative gives the hiring manager a chance to create a positive perception of you in the light of examples.
Conclusion
The conclusion paragraph is where you seal your enthusiasm and express your gratitude of being able to be part of this application process and express how you will add value while the organization you are hoping to be shortlisted in will help achieve its goals.
Closing
'Sincerely' or 'Warm Regards' are some of the ways in which you can close your cover letter and pay your respects to the hiring manager, and then sign off your name beneath it.
References
If you have previously worked as nurse, we would believe that you will have gained some reputation and some of your seniors who will have appreciated your work. We suggest to ask them to be your references which will help your cause to further your candidacy in the job/ role you will be applying to for critical care nurse.
Conclusion
In conclusion we hope you got some much needed guidance on how to create a Critical care nurse resume. We would be elated to have you go through our website which has as perfect resume builder with is powered by AI - artificial intelligence and creates resume and gives suggestions like ChatGPT. Please go through our collection of formats and templates which we are sure will help you get the next job! You will also find particular ICU nurse resume sample or ICU nurse resume example that you may be looking for during your job search!
