The nursing profession is a career in which candidates seem to be able to find job opportunities easier than other professions. Health care facilities and hospitals strive to maintain a good nurse to patient ratio with continual demands for qualified health care professionals. There is competition for jobs with progressive employers offering top salaries and benefits.

Nurses that work in an emergency room labor under pressure making life and death decisions with diagnoses and assessments that need to be accurate. Problems need to be handled often with a lack of staff and resources. Resumes should be written centering on skills and traits to work in these conditions.

1. Highlight soft skills. Many employers like to see specific accomplishments that show what candidates have done successfully in previous jobs. Characteristics like dependable, reliable, and compassionate may not be relevant to many occupations. However, in jobs like nursing where interaction with patients is constant, these skills can help differentiate your abilities. Don’t overlook being a team player and good organizer.
2. Show specialized training. The medical profession is becoming more specialized with technological advancements. Health care agencies are continually in need of certain clinical skills to meet government requirements. Display your expertise with bullet points showing certifications that employers are looking for.
3. State size of previous employers. One thing that catches the attention of hiring managers in the health care field is stating the size of previous facilities you worked in. By showing the number of beds a facility had, you give a measure of experience. A health complex with a large capacity shows that you worked with many patients with different conditions. Give specific information on working with others to show you can work as part of a team.
4. Include regulatory know-how. Health care agencies work under requirements set by state and local regulatory agencies. Be sure to illustrate your ability to meet compliance standards. A health care facility operates under pressure to meet these requirements. Hiring is often geared towards applicants who ease the fears of health care providers. Candidates should include keywords relevant to compliance standards to capture the attention of hiring managers.
5. Show off technical skills. Do not be afraid to give knowledge of technical abilities. New federal health care legislation requires medical records to be electronic. Maintaining charts of patients will require more technical knowledge. Medical devices and equipment will become more advanced with improvements in technology.