How To Write a Nurse Manager Resume
To write a strong nurse manager resume, you must create an accomplishment-driven document highlighting your health care leadership and medical expertise. Balancing the delivery of patient care and personnel management responsibilities can be immensely challenging, especially given higher patient volumes in hospitals. Create bullet points that tell a compelling story of how your career within the medical field has positively impacted patients and health care organizations. This guide will help you translate your nursing career into a powerful marketing document.
- Entry-Level
- Mid-Career
- Senior-Level
1. Summarize your nurse manager qualifications in a dynamic profile
Create an engaging snapshot of your career that highlights the strongest aspects of who you are as a health care leader. Begin with an opening sentence that showcases your title, years of experience, and three to four health care-related skills that align with the job posting. Emphasize your value to hospitals and your ability to drive patient-centered care principles. Focus on how you’ve improved the delivery of medical services and supported diversity and equity within the health care field.
Professional Profile - Example #1
Profile
A nurse manager with over 10 years of professional experience, specializing in patient care, health care administration, policy development, and cross-functional leadership. A strong history of managing multidisciplinary teams and driving improvements to patient care delivery.
Professional Profile - Example #2
Profile
A nurse manager with seven years of experience in health care, specializing in patient advocacy, telemetry, patient-centered care, and infection prevention. A strong history of leading high performance nursing teams to deliver empathetic and compassionate care to patients.
Adept at driving continuous improvements for clinical operations.
2. Add a compelling section featuring your nurse manager experience
To build an impactful professional experience section, focus on your accomplishments and valuable contributions. Metrics are essential for assessing the quality and efficiency of patient care within a hospital environment. As a nurse manager, you have direct ownership of these metrics, and it’s important to provide specific numbers to enhance the impact of your bullet points.
For example, reducing average length of stay and improving patient room turnover are important to highlight, mentioning that you enhanced these metrics despite having an occupancy rate of over 90%. This provides important context for the hiring manager, as it’s much more difficult to achieve these operational improvements when patient levels are abnormally high.
Professional Profile - Example #1
Nurse Manager, Riddle Hospital, Glen Mills, PA | September 2016 – present
- Oversee a team of 25 LPNs, RNs, and nursing assistants for a 300-bed hospital, develop and allocate a $2 million operating budget, and reduce employee turnover by 21% through the development and implementation of optimized clinical workflows
- Educate patients and families on medical procedures, diagnosis, treatment options, and prognosis with empathy and compassion during critical health emergencies
- Drive the development of policies and clinical care standards in coordination with physicians, hospital administration, and leadership
Professional Profile - Example 2
Nurse Manager, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA | July 2015 – present
- Oversaw clinical operations for a 245-bed hospital, built and managed a team of over 25 registered nurses, and coordinated 24-hour operations for seven patient care units, including Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICUs), Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICUs), Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICUs), ambulatory care, and neonatal intensive care
- Drove change management initiatives to improve nursing metrics, utilization, patient flow, and OR staffing and reduced average length of stay from four days to three
- Improve patient room turnover rate by 10% during periods of over 90% occupancy and ensure compliance with infection prevention and COVID-19 safety protocols
3. List any education and certifications relevant to nurse managers
Demonstrate your qualifications by highlighting your health care degrees and certifications. Start by listing your highest level of education, degree, institution and graduation date. In addition to your nursing license, pursue other medical credentials to showcase further your commitment to continuous learning and development within the health care space. The Certified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML) and Certified Clinical Nurse Leader (CCNL) credentials are both strong options to help advance your career.
Education
Template
- [Degree Name]
- [School Name], [City, State Abbreviation] | [Graduation Year]
Example
- Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Nursing
- Columbia University, New York, NY | 2014
Certifications
Template
- [Certification Name], [Awarding Organization], [Completion Year]
Example
- CNML, ANOL | 2017
- Registered Nurse, State of New York, License #12345
4. Outline your most useful nurse manager skills and proficiencies
Employers often rely on applicant tracking system (ATS) to identify qualified candidates during the hiring process. To ensure your resume matches these requirements, incorporate specific keywords the organization is looking for. As a nurse manager, it is important to showcase a mix of skills that demonstrate your leadership capabilities and subject matter expertise within the medical field. Below, you’ll find a list of keywords that you may encounter in your job search:
| Key Skills and Proficiencies | |
|---|---|
| Acute care | Case management |
| Clinical operations | Electronic Medical Records (EHR) |
| Health care leadership | Health care management |
| HIPAA | Multi-disciplinary teams |
| Oncology | Orthopedics |
| Patient advocacy | Patient-centered care |
| Patient education | Pediatric care |
| Surgical care | Wound care |
| Team management | Telemetry |
| Trauma care | Treatment plans |
5. Feature your leadership capabilities
Employers want to see career achievements highlighting nurse managers’ leadership capabilities within the health care industry. The scope of your management responsibilities in this type of role is often far-reaching. In addition to leading nursing teams and patient care units, you’ll also be coordinating with multidisciplinary teams, physicians, hospital leadership, and patients daily. Show this aspect of your background to demonstrate your managerial approach and leadership experience.
How To Pick the Best Nurse Manager Resume Template
When selecting your template, prioritize structure and readability over visual appeal. Heavy use of colors and bulky graphics may look nice, but they can distract the reader from your content. Seek a template that organizes your content effectively and fits your brand. Hiring managers will always be more interested in your achievements and qualifications than the style of your template.
Nurse Manager Text-Only Resume Templates and Examples
- Entry-Level
- Mid-Career
- Senior-Level
John Bergsen
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]
123 Bridge Street, Boston, MA 12345
Profile
A Nurse Manager with eight years of professional experience, specializing in clinical operations, case management, acute care, and people management. A proven track record of leading diverse nursing teams to achieve positive outcomes and improve patient care. Adept at identifying opportunities to reduce operational costs and enhance organizational effectiveness.
Professional Experience
Nurse Manager, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
July 2015 – Present
- Oversaw clinical operations for a 245-bed hospital, built and managed a team of 25+ registered nurses, and coordinated 24-hour operations for seven patient care units, including SICUs, PICUs, MICUs, ambulatory care, and neonatal intensive care
- Drove change management initiatives to improve nursing metrics, utilization, patient flow, and OR staffing and reduced average length of stay from four days to three
- Improve patient room turnover rate by 10% during periods of 90%+ occupancy and ensure compliance with infection prevention and Covid-19 safety protocols
Nurse Manager, St. Robert’s Hospital, Boston, MA
June 2013 – July 2015
- Managed a team of 30+ nurses in a high volume medical facility with 260 beds and oversaw all aspects of patient care delivery, including intake, assessment, treatment planning, telemetry, and safe discharge
- Delivered mentorship to team members and built a collaborative work culture centered on diversity and inclusion, resulting in a 15% increase in employee retention
- Evaluated nursing performance, drove continuous improvement, and monitored KPIs to ensure compliance with departmental goals and objectives
Education
Master of Science (M.S.) Nursing
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA May 2011 – May 2013
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Nursing
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA September 2007 – May 2011
Key Skills
- Healthcare Management
- Patient Flow
- Human Resources Management
- Clinical Operations
- Acute Care
Certifications
- Certified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML), May 2013
- Registered Nurse (RN) State of Massachusetts, License #12345678, May 2011
- Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification, May 2011
Frequently Asked Questions: Nurse Manager Resume Examples and Advice
What are common action verbs for nurse manager resumes?-
Usage of verbs plays an integral role in impression management, so make your bullet points as proactive as possible. For example, avoid using a term such as “facilitated” when beginning a sentence, as this detracts from your ownership of the accomplishment. Instead, choose verbs such as “led,” “managed,” or “coordinated” to emphasize your achievements. To help keep your content fresh and compelling for the reader, consider these common action verbs for nurse managers:
| Action Verbs | |
|---|---|
| Administered | Communicated |
| Conducted | Coordinated |
| Delivered | Diagnosed |
| Directed | Drove |
| Educated | Enhanced |
| Evaluated | Identified |
| Interfaced | Implemented |
| Improved | Led |
| Managed | Oversaw |
| Performed | Planned |
| Supported | Treated |
How do you align your resume with a nurse manager job description?-
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for nurse managers was $101,340 in 2023. There’s no shortage of demand for skilled health care leaders, as studies predict a 28% increase in job growth for nurse managers over the next 10 years. Although you’ll encounter numerous opportunities in the open market, you must align your resume with the job description to capitalize on them. Analyze each job posting, and be sure to incorporate keywords that emphasize your people management skills and knowledge of clinical operations.
Brand yourself as a highly effective communicator within your space. Companies value candidates with the leadership capabilities to help them achieve their strategic health care objectives. In addition to managing nurses and health care teams, draw attention to specific examples of you interfacing with diverse patient populations and hospital leadership. This will showcase that you can work effectively across all levels of the organization.
What is the best nurse manager resume format?-
Reverse chronological is the ideal resume format for nurse managers. This ensures that your most recent and relevant experience is featured towards the top of your document. Functional resume formats are generally considered outdated by recruiters, as they don’t offer a structure to create detailed bullet points. Hiring managers want to understand what makes you unique as a health care professional, and only listing skills won’t help you generate interviews on the open market.
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Adding a matching cover letter can help strengthen your job application. This lets you tell the hiring manager more about who you are as a professional and why you’re the ideal fit for their organization. In the middle paragraphs, be sure to mention something specific about the hospital’s reputation, mission statement, or culture and why this draws you to apply for the position. For more insights, visit our health care cover letter guide.
