How To Write a Military Nurse Resume
Seeking a role as a military nurse often starts with crafting a strong resume that showcases your qualifications and skills. Some of your key highlights will include not only your nursing specialty areas but also your aptitude to excel within a military organization. Explore our list of strategies and resume examples to get your resume in tip-top shape.
1. Write a dynamic profile summarizing your qualifications
Sharing key highlights of your nursing career is the best way to connect with the reader. Start by listing your job title, how long you’ve been working, and a few specializations that make you a strong candidate for a specific job posting. You can also mention how you’re experienced working with military patients or in nontraditional health care environments.
Profile Example #1
Patient-focused mental health nurse with more than five years of experience in the United States Air Force. Committed to professional integrity and excellence in all endeavors.
Profile Example #2
Efficient medical-surgical nurse with more than five years of military hospital experience. Build and maintain positive relationships with diverse health care professionals. Engage productively with government leaders and facility administrators. Bilingual: fluent in English and Spanish.
2. Add a detailed professional experience section
As a military nurse, it’s important to outline your relevant professional strengths and accomplishments. Describe, for example, your ability to provide emergency medical treatment, counsel patients, or collaborate with other health care professionals.
If you do a specific type of nursing, such as medical-surgical or mental health, be specific about how you helped improve patient outcomes in those areas as well.
Professional Experience Example #1
Mental Health Nurse, United States Air Force | November 2017–Present
- Foster positive relationships with patients and their family members to help address complex mental and behavioral health topics
- Safely provide medical treatments and services to airmen at various locations
- Help doctors determine and communicate accurate patient diagnosis and prognosis
- Perform regular health assessments of each assigned patient
- Closely monitor patients’ vital signs, relaying updates to the provider as needed
Professional Experience Example #2
Medical-Surgical Nurse, BCB Health | November 2017–Present
40 hours per week | Salary: $XX | Supervisor: John Bergsen (123) 456-7890
- Collaborate with doctors, nurse assistants, physical therapists, and other health care team members
- Facilitate patients’ preparations for and recovery from routine surgical procedures
- Educate and instruct patients on their prescribed medications
- Administer necessary medications and vaccines to enlisted personnel
Highlights:
- Worked with nurse managers to enhance several key sanitation procedures, raising efficiency by 8%
- Recognized for helping build a more positive and collaborative work culture among nurse staff
3. Include your education and certifications
In addition to your professional experience, your resume should include your nursing education and licensing credentials. List your degree programs and any other education you completed that might be relevant to the job posting.
Education
Template:
[Degree Name]
[School Name], [City, State Abbreviation] | [Graduation Year]
Example:
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN | 2017
Licensing
Template:
[License Name, State, Year]
Example:
Registered Nurse (RN), State of New York, 2021
4. List relevant key skills
A key part of nearly any resume is a list of pertinent professional skills. This is a quick way for readers to see what you can contribute to the position. Listing your skills using strategic keywords is often important to help your resume get past applicant tracking system (ATS) screening. This list of common nursing key skills can help as you create your resume:
| Key Skills and Proficiencies | |
|---|---|
| Basic Life Support (BLS) | CPR |
| Cross-functional coordination | Electronic medical records |
| Emergency medical treatment | Equipment sterilization |
| Health care team collaboration | Infection prevention |
| Medical services delivery | Medication and vaccine administration |
| Mental and behavioral health services | Military personnel health and readiness |
| Patient and family relations | Patient documentation |
| Patient health examination | Process streamlining |
| Regulatory compliance | Vital signs monitoring |
| Work culture improvement | Wound care and treatment |
5. Include extra details for a federal application
Any time you apply to a job in the federal government, you need to give more details about each job you’ve held. These extra details include your salary, hours per week, and supervisor’s email or phone number. For a full overview, see the government’s own federal resume guide.
Example
Medical-Surgical Nurse, BCB Health | November 2017 to present
40 hours per week | Salary: $XX | Supervisor: John Bergsen (123) 456-7890
How To Pick the Best Military Nurse Resume Template
Choosing the best resume template for military nursing is a matter of personal preference, but it’s best to stick with ones that are clean and professional-looking rather than creative and graphic-heavy. Especially when seeking a military or government position, your resume should look organized and crisp. When in doubt, follow the government’s federal resume template.
Military Nurse Text-Only Resume Templates and Examples
Years of Experience
- #1
- #2
- #3
Kevin Morrison
123 Windermere Rd, Seattle, WA 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected]
Profile
Patient-focused mental health nurse with more than five years of experience in the United States Air Force. Committed to professional integrity and excellence in all endeavors.
Areas of Expertise
- Health care team collaboration
- Medical services delivery
- Medication & vaccine administration
- Mental & behavioral health services
- Patient & family relations
- Patient diagnosis & prognosis
- Patient documentation
- Patient health examination
- Task prioritization
- Vital signs monitoring
Professional Experience
Mental Health Nurse, United States Air Force | November 2017–Present
- Foster positive relationships with patients and their family members to help address complex mental and behavioral health topics
- Safely provide medical treatments and services to airmen at various locations
- Help doctors determine and communicate accurate patient diagnosis and prognosis
- Perform regular health assessments of each assigned patient
- Closely monitor patients’ vital signs, relaying updates to the provider as needed
Certified Nursing Assistant, UUM Hospital, Seattle, WA | September 2015–October 2017
- Gained strong foundations in patient and family relations in an acute care setting
Education
Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Raheem Richardson
123 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected]
Profile
Efficient medical-surgical nurse with more than five years of military hospital experience. Build and maintain positive relationships with diverse health care professionals. Engage productively with government leaders and facility administrators. Bilingual: fluent in English and Spanish.
Key Skills
- Cross-functional coordination
- Equipment sterilization
- Healthcare team collaboration
- Medical services delivery
- Medication & vaccine administration
- Patient & family relations
- Patient diagnosis & prognosis
- Patient documentation
- Patient education & instruction
- Patient health examination
- Process streamlining
- Surgery preparation & facilitation
- Task prioritization
- Vital signs monitoring
- Work culture improvement
Professional Experience
Medical-Surgical Nurse, BCB Health | November 2017–Present
40 hours per week | Salary: $XX | Supervisor: John Bergsen (123) 456-7890
- Collaborate with doctors, nurse assistants, physical therapists, and other health care team members
- Facilitate patients’ preparations for and recovery from routine surgical procedures
- Educate and instruct patients on their prescribed medications
- Administer necessary medications and vaccines to enlisted personnel
Highlights:
- Worked with nurse managers to enhance several key sanitation procedures, raising efficiency by 8%
- Recognized for helping build a more positive and collaborative work culture among nurse staff
Certified Nursing Assistant, MEQ Hospital, Nashville, TN | September 2015–October 2017
36 hours per week | Salary: $XX | Supervisor: Meera Patel (555) 456-7890
- Gained strong foundations in team collaboration in an acute health care setting
Education
Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Languages
- Fluency in Spanish | Proficiency in Italian
Melissa Anderson
123 Pine Brook Dr, Miami, FL 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected]
Profile
Registered nurse with more than five years of experience in the United States Army. Calm and decisive in high-pressure work environments, and adapts readily to new challenges and conditions. Dedicated to helping military personnel regain their physical health and readiness to serve. Naturally curious and committed to gaining and applying new skills. Equally effective working independently or on a team.
Key Skills
- Basic Life Support (BLS)
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- Electronic medical records
- Emergency medical treatment
- Equipment sterilization
- Health care team collaboration
- Infection prevention
- Medical services delivery
- Medication & vaccine administration
- Military personnel health & readiness
- Patient & family relations
- Patient diagnosis & prognosis
- Patient documentation
- Patient health examination
- Regulatory compliance
- Task prioritization
- Vital signs monitoring
- Wound care & treatment
Professional Experience
Registered Nurse, United States Army | November 2017–Present
- Deliver emergency medical treatment to infantrymen
- Provide wound care and treatment, prioritizing urgent tasks in a fast-paced setting
- Update patient health information to ensure thoroughness and accuracy
- Maintain strong knowledge of and compliance with Department of Defense regulations
- Sterilize medical equipment to help maintain a clean and sanitary health care setting at all points
Certified Nursing Assistant, TMM Hospital, Miami, FL | September 2015–October 2017
- Highly efficient and adaptable in an acute care setting
Education
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
- Master’s degree – Nursing
- Bachelor’s degree
Frequently Asked Questions: Military Nurse Resume Examples and Advice
What are common action verbs for military nurse resumes?+
Writing the experience section of a resume can be challenging in terms of finding the right action verbs. Review the list below of common nursing-related verbs to help you create a military nurse resume.
| Action Verbs | |
|---|---|
| Administer | Care |
| Collaborate | Coordinate |
| Deliver | Document |
| Educate | Ensure |
| Examine | Improve |
| Maintain | Monitor |
| Prevent | Prioritize |
| Provide | Relay |
| Sterilize | Treat |
| Update | Vaccinate |
How do you align your resume with a military nurse job posting?+
When you find a job posting that intrigues you, look for any details about the work environment. Add a line or two to your profile summary that emphasizes something in your background that makes you well-suited for the role. For example, if the posting describes the organization as patient-focused, you could add something like: “Committed to providing top-quality patient care and positive health outcomes.” This simple exercise can help tailor your resume to show why you’re a great fit.
What is the best military nurse resume format?+
Most job seekers should use the combination (or hybrid) format. True to its name, this format combines two important features of other resume formats: the chronological format’s experience section and the functional format’s profile section. (The resume examples on this page all use combination format.)
By fusing these two features, a combination resume offers the best of both worlds. The experience section lets you outline your recent work history. At the same time, the profile section lets you display your career highlights at the top, regardless of whether they’re from that work history or another part of your background. As a result, you can present yourself clearly and strategically. With this format, you give hiring managers the best view of your experience and relevant strengths, so they can make an informed decision to call you for an interview.
Expert advice: include a cover letter with your resume
Including a corresponding cover letter with your resume is another way to stand out. You can add some additional context to your work history and give a glimpse at the person behind the resume. For more tips and examples, look over our nursing cover letter guide.
