Elena Prokopets
Claire Briggs Webber, CPRW
A career as a travel nurse offers an unbeatable degree of flexibility. You can pick assignments across multiple states (and abroad!), take time off in-between postings, and still receive a lucrative paycheck. Travel nurses can be paid over $50 per hour, plus company-paid housing accommodations, which can bring your total income to six figures.
If you’re ready to explore the sea of opportunities out there, it’s time to dust off your resume. This post provides a sample travel nurse resume to use as a reference and some extra helpful tips!
Travel Nurse Resume Example (Word)
Travel Nurse Resume (plain text)
Angie Myers, Registered LPN
Phone: 000-000-000 email: travel.nurse@email.com
Resume Summary
Licensed practical nurse with 4+ years of clinical experience and a background in the hospitality industry. Proactive, energetic, and empathetic professional with a strong work ethic and passion for providing exceptional patient care levels. Partnered with 5+ healthcare institutions and 10+ rehabilitation facilities.
Skills
- Intravenous therapy
- Pain management
- Basic life support
- Patient and family education
- EHR proficiency
- Geriatrics care plan development
- Emotional intelligence
- Active listening
- Critical thinking
- Stamina
- Flexibility
- Teamwork
Travel Nurse
Self-employed
September 2020-present
Specialize in providing geriatric care, particularly to patients with mobility and memory problems.
- Work with three different healthcare institutions in palliative care, geriatrics, and Cardiac ICU units.
- Provided effective, timely, and compassionate care to over 100 patients per shift during the height of the pandemic.
- Partnered with the People’s Community Nursing And Rehabilitation Center on developing over 20 individualized patient plans for improving elderly patient coordination and mobility.
- Educated patients and families on end-of-life choices, plans of care, and options to improve the quality of life.
Licensed Practical Nurse
Cherry Gorge State Hospital
October 2019 – August 2020
Worked as an LPN in the palliative care unit, managing between 6 to 12 patients per day, including terminal cancer patients.
- Administered narcotic treatments and managed dosage. Coordinated pain management programs.
- Provided and managed intravenous therapy to patients. Highly skilled in placing IVs and catheterization.
- Liaised with the patients’ families to obtain necessary permissions and inform them about different care options.
Senior front-desk administrator
Colorado Springs Resort
June 2015-October 2017
Worked at Colorado Sprigs Resort chain, starting as a trainee and progressing to the ranks of the Senior Administrator in charge of handling VIP clients and delegations.
- Recruited, trained, and coached a team of 10+ front-desk associates for the resort chains.
- Maintained exceptional levels of customer service and courtesy. Voted as the best front-desk staffer four times in a row during 2018.
- Created and coordinated personalized vocational schedules for VIP clients. Booked activities, restaurants, and events, based on the customer profiles.
- Effectively handled a range of administrative, financial, and marketing activities for the resort chain.
Education
Herzing University
AAS in Nursing (LPN)
September 2017-September 2019
NCLEX-PN certification exam, passed in September 2019.
How to Write a Travel Nurse Resume
The easiest way to write a resume fast is by creating an outline first. Grab a free resume template to have some structure in front of your eyes. Start filling up each section progressively – first the work experience and education, then your resume summary and skills. Then apply the following tips to add polishing touches.
Decide On the Optimal Format for Work Experience Section
As a travel nurse, you likely held a lot of short-term contract jobs or perhaps even juggled several gigs at once. So the question is: Should you list each employer separately or include a consolidated entry?
The short answer is — it depends on your experiences. If you want to keep your resume compact (remember, the ideal resume length is one page!), it’s best to create one “master” entry for your travel nursing experiences, just like in the sample above. Doing so is also a great way to cover up the potential gaps on your resume for periods of being in-between jobs.
On the other hand, if you’re new to the field or want to draw more attention to the different types of institutions you worked with, do create separate entries for each employer in reverse chronological order.
Don’t Discard Your Transferable Skills
For many, nursing might not be the first career choice. Especially, when it comes to travel nursing — a career path that often appeals to career-changers, late-bloomers, and anyone else seeking a more dynamic, yet rewarding lifestyle.
If you have transitioned to nursing, you may have slightly less traditional experience compared to other candidates. But you also have some “secret advantage” — your past work experiences and transferable skills.
Sure, clinical skills are important, but so are your soft skills such as strong interpersonal skills, great organizational capabilities, and excellence in time management. In the travel nurse resume above, you’d noticed how the candidate mentions her hospitality work experience. A long tenure as a front-desk staffer exemplifies her strong commitment to providing good customer service (and patient care by proxy).
So think of the ways how your past work experiences can be adapted to the nursing career. For example, if you previously worked in an admin position, you can use this work experience to exemplify your self-management skills.
Focus on Your Nursing Skillset
Travel nurses often come from different backgrounds. Some might be certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs). Others may be Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS). Make sure to specify your clinical background immediately in the resume header area. Doing so ensures that you’ll convey the right impression to the reader.
Next, go a bit more precise in a featured Skills section. Summarize your main clinical competencies, bring up a couple of technical skills, and top things with some soft skills.
If you’re short on ideas, check out our big list of nursing skills for a resume.
Final Tip: Use Persuasive Language
Show that you’re a competent, tenured professional by using strong verbs in your resume and cover letter. Strong verbs are specific, descriptive, and evocative. They suggest the type of impact that you’ve made or an accomplishment you have delivered.
Examples of strong verbs include “Led”, “Initiated”, “Established”, “Managed”, etc. Use them to add more persuasion to your job application documents.
