Stunning New Grad Nursing CV Examples for You to Use

Recruiters understand that recent graduates may not have a lot of work experience right out of the gate. Nursing graduates aren’t expected to have years of experience, but they are expected to have some experience and plenty of skills. Your CV writing process should incorporate your best skills and any relevant experience.

The structure of any CV will partially depend on the CV format that you use to present it. There are three main CV formats to choose from: the chronological CV highlights work experience, the functional CV highlights skills and the combination CV highlights both. Your new grad nursing CV will likely be a combination or functional CV, depending on how much relevant experience you have.

 

 

This section is the CV header containing your contact information. List your full name, phone number, email address and any job networking profile links including your LinkedIn. If you hold a nursing title, you can put it next to your name like, “Hazel Storey, CNA”.

 

 

This section is 2-3 sentences that highlights the most important skills and talents you want to show off to a hiring manager. A hiring manager will read the summary first, so be sure to feature your skills and qualifications here. An eye-catching summary will prompt recruiters or hiring managers to keep reading your CV to learn about your job experience. Visit our Summary for CV page on how to craft a summary that gets attention.

 

 

Your nursing skills will make a great impression on a new graduate CV when you lack clinical experience. Make sure that the skills you list on your CV match the required skills on the specific job posting. Here are a few good skills for CV you might want to include:

• Patient care
• Clinical rotations
• Basic Life Support (BLS)
• Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)
• Recording vital signs
• Time management

Skills are extremely important in this CV template, so list your best hard skills and soft skills in this section of your CV.

 

 

Even if you just graduated, you can still complete the work experience section of your CV. Include your previous work history whether nursing related or not and list volunteer experience, academic work and internships. Although these may not have been paid jobs, they’re still considered relevant experience. List your experience in reverse chronological order, with the most recent experiences at the top.

 

 

As you would expect, your education section will likely include your nursing school information. Relevant memberships and certifications in the healthcare field can also go in this section. If you have any relevant coursework that you want to list, add it below your college experience.

Here are a few additional tips to help you write your new grad nursing CV:

 

Do:

• Add any graduation honours to your CV. If you graduated cum laude, you can include it as a way to showcase your skills.
• Read the job description before you write your CV. That way, you’ll be able to tailor your CV directly to what the hiring manager is looking for.
• Check for nurse CV examples at CVHelp. These examples can help you determine what your CV should look like.

Don’t:

• Include your high school on your CV. If you went to nursing school, it’s assumed you either graduated high school or have a high school equivalent.
• Add your GPA to your nursing CV unless requested. While graduation honours are definitely a great way to show off your knowledge, your GPA doesn’t typically help much.
• Completely bypass the work history section. Just because you don’t have a traditional work history, your internships and volunteer work can be included.