Outline of a Resume and
Formatting Help for Writing a Resume for Nursing Jobs in Canada

Start your nursing resume with your name and contact information including your mailing address, telephone number.

This is sometimes called the caption area on your resume.

Put your full name in boldface font.

Keep your name on the left and your contact information on the right of the page.

Your name should be in bigger font size at least 13-14 points.

Include the initials of your nursing designation if you are registered (RN, RPN, LPN).

If you are not registered yet and are seeking employment on an interim or temporary permit specify that in your cover letter and only include your post-secondary education credentials such as BSN or BN after your name on your resume.

In 5 - 10 lines describe the skills and qualifications you bring to the position you are seeking. In should be brief and concise and is best suited to your nursing resume if you have nursing experience.

Include special certifications or proficiencies earned in your nursing career such as telemetry expertise, certificate in IV therapy or certification in gerontology

Do not include this section if you have no nursing experience to highlight.

Use a heading followed by bulleted points for this section.

This section of the resume will describe your education and nursing experience. You can add specific information about your specialized skills or awards and accomplishments in each section or include a specific heading for that.

Use the following headings:

Professional Experience - give a description of each place of employment or position you have held in nursing. Do not include work experience that is not related to nursing. If you have specific volunteer experience that required nursing knowledge and skills you can list it here and indicate that it was a volunteer position.

Education - list the schools you attended to acquire your post secondary education.

Professional Organizations - list any professional nursing organizations that you belong to. If you are registered or licensed as a nurse elsewhere and your nursing license is still current you can list it here including your license or registration number.

Add more headings if appropriate but only include information that is relevant to the position your applying for.

Place the education heading first if you are a new graduate and have no nursing work experience.

Use a heading format for each information section.

All headings in your resume should standout and use the same format including the type and size of font.

Headings should be left aligned not centered.

Use a reverse chronological format under each heading, listing the most recently acquired experience or skills first.

Place the dates of the work experience or the date that you acquired the education last.

Do not include information about your grades or your GPA on your nursing resume.