An ICU nurse resume usually reflects the necessary skills and knowledge along with the experience. However, to make sure you stand out you should also reflect the sense of sincerity, passion and your willingness to work hard for the patient care.
ICU nurses are usually responsible for taking care of critical patients. They are also responsible taking vital signs of patient and providing quality patient care. They may handle the basic life support equipment and ensure critical care.
Monitoring vital signs every hour and helping the patient with the pain management is necessary in the ICU. Being ready to assist during medical emergency and attending to trauma patients is crucial. And these responsibilities are also related to ICU nurse position.
To ensure the desired patient outcomes, medication administration, patient assessment, patient needs, patient conditions, ICU nurse have to be alert and available during their shift without any breaks.
All these responsibilities are crucial for patient care and any mistake could mean risk to patient's life. As an ICU nurse you may be responsible to administer medications and also attending to life support equipment.
All these high stake responsibilities mean you need to be really good at your job, you need strong skills and knowledge. Your experience in crucial, your performances in every job you have had is important.
What this means is that the hiring managers are going to scrutinize you and your resume very carefully. Because there is no space for mistake or lack of competence when it comes to ICU nurse positions.
An ICU nurse resume should showcase ICU nurse skills, ICU nurse experience and knowledge in a way that helps the ICU nurse jobs candidate stand out. Being a registered nurse or critical care nurse with exceptional skills and experience is good but presenting all the information of your profile is important to get the ICU nurse jobs.
As an ICU registered nurses you may have seen the battle of life and death but the battle of employment out there is not all easy. ICU nurse job market is tough for an ICU registered nurse.
You can refer to some of the ICU nurse job description and learn what are the current trends of requirement and qualifications necessary for the ICU nurse job.
Now you may be wondering since getting the job is so hard in today's ICU nurse job market, what can you do to ensure you get the good job just like you ensure desired patient outcomes during the job?
All you need to do is write a really good job winning ICU nurse resume which will impress the hiring manager. In this article we will tell you how to write such an ICU nurse resume along with some tips for making sure your ICU nurse resume stands out.
Let's dive in!👇
Research the Role
Before you get into anything, you always try to learn a little about it. For example, when you decide to go watch a movie in a theater, you watch the movie's trailer first to get an idea of what to expect.
When you are about to sit down and write an ICU nurse resume, you need to do the same. Research a bit about the role, the job description, industry and the usual responsibilities. refer to our resume examples and templates as well.
You may notice that a really good ICU nurse resume sample has various sections that are written in appropriate order and the information is strategically presented in all the sections.
So how do you decide what to write in your resume and how to write it?
Let's go step by step.👇
Choose the Right Format
First step in writing an ICU nurse resume is to choose a resume format. There are various formats you can choose from: Functional, reverse chronological and combination.
For an ICU nurse who is experienced, you might want to go with the reverse chronological ICU nurse resume format.
Functional resume format focuses on skills and it is suitable for freshers with little to no experience. The combination resume format is useful for those who are looking for career change.
Once you have chosen the ICU nurse resume format for your ICU nurse resume or critical care nurse resume, you can begin writing a great ICU nurse resume.
Accurate Contact Information
On the top of your ICU nurse resume, in the header you need mention the contact information. in this section, you need to write your name in a slightly bigger fonts than the rest of the content.
Next up should be noted your contact number. Add the area code and write the contact number in the most formal manner. Add your professional and formal email address that you use for professional correspondence.
Next you may mention your home address briefly however it is not mandatory.
Write a Compelling Profile Summary
Second section on your ICU nurse resume would be the Profile Summary. Profile or the resume summary is basically the remarkable highlights of your ICU nurse profile.
Keep in mind some of these tips when you write your ICU nurse resume summary: Always use bullet points, keep the information concise and sentences short.
You should keep these rules in mind for the whole resume including resume summary:
- Always use third person and past tense
- Avoid pronouns anywhere in the sentence
- Use action words as much as possible
these rules will help you write a resume that is professional and has the formal language to meet the standards of a job winning ICU nurse resume.
Coming back to resume summary, begin with your professional role or the job title; for example, critical care nurse, ICU nurse, registered nurse and so on.
While describing the resume summary, mention your total years of experience followed by a little background (name of the notable medical facilities or private/public medical facility).
Next mention your key skills and accomplishments. Make sure to quantify the details as much as possible. Use numbers to showcase the important details of your profile.
At last mention what kind of opportunity you are looking for and how you will contribute to provide the best patient care as an ICU nurse.
Describe the ICU Nurse Experience
The experience section is crucial, you need to reflect your skills and knowledge through the experience section.
Note the job title and employer name along with the period of employment with the employer before each experience while describing your work history.
Use bullet points for the details of each experience and try to quantify these details wherever possible. Critical care nurses may be responsible for many tasks such as critical care nursing in the intensive care units, advanced life support equipment, you may have monitored patient vital signs, provided direct patient care, ran diagnostic tests, handled patient records, educated patients on their current conditions, assisted physicians and so on.
You need to mention all these responsibilities. You should also mention any exceptional cases you worked on or challenges you faced and performed well enough to stand out in a pool of job applicants.
Job search is difficult for all the ICU nurse job seekers however with some effort you can stand out easily.
Add the Education Section
As an ICU nurse your education section is important because it is the first step of qualification, without the appropriate degrees you cannot practice as an ICU nurse.
In the education section, mention all the relevant degrees along with the education institute from where you received the degrees. You can briefly mention any relevant coursework or the subjects you majored in as well.
The education section can also include any online programs or course you completed. Any education training should also be mentioned in the education section.
The training as an ICU nurse may have been theoretical and practical you can mention the theoretical training in the education section and the practical training in the experience section.
List the Key Skills
The relevant skills are crucial for an ICU nurse. If you don't know how to take vital signs of a patient, patient could go in critical condition or worse and that cannot happen. You need all the relevant skills for an ICU nurse to get hired.
And the same skills should also be mentioned in the ICU nurse resume carefully. As an ICU nurse, your soft skills are just as important as your nursing care skills. Meaning you need to mention communication skills as well as taking vital signs and other nursing skills.
Make sure you include the key skills from the job description, the hiring managers would be looking for those skills first.
Include Certifications & Licenses
Without proper certifications and licenses no medical professional can practice in most countries. Every state and country has certain laws and rules-regulations in place to ensure ethical and quality care in the field of medicine and health treatments.
To get hired, you must have the right documents. Check the requirements for an ICU nurse in the state and country that you are applying for the job. Make sure you meet all the requirements and mention all the certifications, licenses and registrations you hold in your ICU nurse resume.
Extra
If you have any other information that is relevant to your role and field, you should mention that as well. Any volunteering experience or event attendance or special programs completed should be mentioned in your resume as it will help you stand out.
You can also mention your language proficiency because it enhances your communication. Any hobbies and interests you may have that are relevant should also be included in your ICU nurse resume.
Include Keywords
In the USA, among all the healthcare professions, nursing is on the top! With the 4.2 million registered nurses across the nation!
What this means for you is that the competition is going to be fierce for the various jobs available. You need to really work on your resume to get hired.
The hiring managers use the applicant tracking system or the ATS and it scans the resumes and filters them.
To beat the ATS and get shortlisted by hiring managers, your ICU nurse resume need the keywords. The relevant keywords of your role, responsibilities, industry and job description. Include these keywords in your resume throughout carefully.
Make sure the keywords are not stuffed in a way that compromises the readability of the resume. Pay special attention to job description as it will provide you with the most important and relevant keywords.
Write a Cover Letter
The cover letter is not always mandatory. While job search is difficult, you may understand how important it is to appeal to every hiring manager to consider your application for the opportunity.
Cover letter allows you to personally address the hiring manager and pitch your candidacy. You can describe your skills, education, experience and knowledge in a bit more length than your ICU nurse resume.
You can also talk about your passion, dedication and journey for the role. Your willingness to work hard and learn along with your skills are impressive for a hiring manager and you need to express it all explicitly.
Showcase how good you are at patient care and how you are great at delivering exceptional service as an ICU nurse.
Conclusion
In conclusion, your ICU nurse resume should have all the information presented in formal manner. You can use this article as your guide as well as your checklist while writing your ICU nurse resume.
When you are done writing your ICU nurse resume, make sure you proofread it twice and remove any spelling or grammatical errors. Make sure the crucial details are accurate. At last, save your resume with formal label and compatible format such as PDF or Word document.
You can also check out our resume examples to get better idea of how you should write your resume and what it should look like. Now you know all about writing your ICU nurse resume! Happy job hunting!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do I need a license to get the job?
Every state and country has different laws and regulations for medical professionals. You can check the job description to check the requirements or contact the hiring manager. The state or federal government websites may also have this information.
I'm a nurse practitioner, is this guide suitable for me?
You can use this guide. You may also check out our guide for the particular role of nurse practitioner here.
Do I need the cover letter?
Cover letter are not always mandatory. Although, you might want to write one anyway because it will help you stand out and impress the hiring manager.
