When your dream travel assignment comes up, setting yourself apart from the other applicants is vital. Your resume will be the first thing that the hiring manager sees, so it’s important that you set a good initial impression. So many times, we see resumes that are lacking and not highlighting how qualified a candidate is! Don’t miss out on an interview because your resume is not what it should be. Here are 16 tips for creating the ultimate travel nurse resume:

Intro and Contact Information for your Travel Nurse Resume:

1. The top of your travel nurse resume should always have your full legal name and contact information. This would be the time to create a professional email address if you do not already have one. In other words, it’s time to retire 2Cute4U@hotmail.com.
2. Include 1-2 sentences at the top of your travel nurse resume summarizing your experience. Example: ER RN with 5+ years of Level 1 Trauma experience, licensed in WA, IL and TX. You may want to include your shift preference here, but it is not necessary.

Work experience to include on your Travel Nurse Resume:

3. List your work experience in chronological order on your travel nurse resume, from most recent to oldest. These entries should include: full name of the facility, specific unit, start and end date, city, state, and facility type (trauma, teaching, etc.)
4. When listing the unit you worked in, be sure to specify the type. For example, the unit name may be “5N” or “Apollo”, but you’ll want to specify that it is a Cardiac Stepdown unit.
5. Include the charting systems that was used at each place.
6. Specify what type of job each one was. Was it a permanent staff position? PRN? Travel?
7. Include any sort of supervisor experience, such as charge nurse experience.
8. Include 2-3 bullet points listing what your responsibilities were. Be as specific as possible on your travel nurse resume. (Here is a great place to mention that you are capable of floating.)

Certifications and Licenses to include on your Travel Nurse Resume:

9. List all of your current certifications and nursing licenses, including expiration dates.
10. Specify your license type. (LPN, RN, NP, etc.)
11. If you have a compact state license, you’ll want to mention that here as well.

Education:

12. Your education details should include the full name of the school you graduated from, the degree you earned, when you graduated, and the city and state.
13. Be sure to include any awards or academic achievements on your travel nurse resume.

Format:

14. Use a professional font on your travel nurse resume. Good, safe examples would be Garamond, Calibri, Gill Sans, and Cambria. Stay away from anything over-the-top or too cliché, such as Comic Sans, Century Gothic, and Papyrus.
15. Don’t forget to spell check!
16. Export your resume using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. No use of notepad and definitely no copying and pasting directly into the body of an email! Your recruiter will thank you for sending your resume in a suitable file type.

As a final tip, doing your travel nurse resume all at once can be overwhelming and make it easy to miss important details, so update your resume every time you take a new assignment. Whenever you’re looking for a new assignment, you’ll be ready to go!