Travel Nurse Resume: Examples and Guide [10+ Tips]

How does $4,000 a week sound, plus per-diem? Pretty good? But not so fast. To steer clear of the nail-biter jobs in hazardous facilities, you need a travel nurse resume that shines like ER lights. And fast, please, because the clock is ticking. Sound like a big hurdle?

Fear not.

With the right snapshots of your past work in a trusted resume format, you’ll be booking flights and packing your Dansko’s in a hurry. 

Ready? Let’s get you a jaw-dropping resume for travel nurse jobs.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Sample resume made with our builder—See more templates and create your resume here.

Want more healthcare and nursing resume examples? Here you go:

• Charge Nurse Resume Examples
• CNA Resume Examples
• Emergency Nurse Resume Examples
• Healthcare Professional Resume Examples
• Home Health Aide Resume Examples
• ICU Nurse Resume Examples
• Labor and Delivery Nurse Resume Examples
• LPN Resume Examples
• Med-Surg Nurse Resume Examples
• Medical Resume Examples
• Nurse Manager Resume Examples
• Nurse Practitioner Resume Examples
• Nursing Resume Examples
• Nursing Student Resume Examples
• Operating Room Nurse Resume Examples
• Patient Care Technician Resume Examples
• Pediatric Nurse Resume Examples
• Registered Nurse Resume Examples
• Job Resume Examples for All Professions

Sample Travel Nurse Resume Template

Here’s how to write your own Berkeley-Wellness-ready travel nurse resume:

1. Format Your Travel Nurse Resume Correctly

Get off on the right foot with the best resume layout. The charge nurse or hospital administrator can tell a lot about you just by glancing at your resume. If you’re sloppy, they’ll picture you not gloving and gowning when it’s not convenient or cutting corners.

The best resume formats follow a few simple tips::

• Use the chronological resume format to show your most recent experience first. It helps hiring managers get a clear glimpse at who you are right now.
• Clear resume headings make it easy to find your phone number, email, and other key contact info on a resume like a LinkedIn profile.
• There’s no single best font for resumes, but Arial is respected, as are Didot and Cambria. Pick one that’s easy to read because it’s simple and no-frills.
• To name a resume file, follow this format: “Name - Job Title - Resume.pdf”
• Why is the best resume format PDF? Because MS Word resumes deteriorate rapidly once you move them to a different device. PDFs don’t.

“How long should my resume be for travel nurse jobs?” If you have less than 7 years of experience, one page is best. Got more? You can have a 2-page resume, but only if it’s brimming with RN accomplishments. (Not job duties!)

Make all these formatting questions evaporate by starting with a great template. See our selection: Eye-Catching Resume Templates

2. Drop Jaws with a Resume Profile Statement

“Let me tell you all about myself. When I was nine...” Argh! Nope. You need an elevator speech at the top of your travel nurse resume. It’s called a resume profile, and it’s the part that gets the hiring team to read more. Without it, most will ditch your resume in seven seconds.

But there’s no one-size-fits-all introduction for a resume. If you’re writing a resume with no experience, then you need to write a resume objective. In it, tell the hospital or clinic how you hope to help them treat their patients.

If you were walking wards before Florence Nightingale, write a professional summary. It looks the same as an objective—a single paragraph—but it adds a couple of your shining travel nurse moments.

Read more: What to Put on a Resume: Good Things You Should Include

3. Customize Your Travel Nurse Job Description

Ready for the one tip that will get you hired? Avoid writing a cookie-cutter travel nurse resume, packed with all your job duties. Did you treat patients? Educate them? Administer medications? So did every other travel nurse applicant. So how do you get hired?

By knowing how to tailor resume for a specific job.

To tailor-fit your experience on a resume:

• Use the same job title for your past jobs that they put on their job description. If they want an ICU travel nurse, don’t say you were an intensive care travel nurse.
• Add the facility name for each past employer, plus where they’re located and the years and months you worked there.
• Add 3–5 bullet points to each job, but—nevermind what you were “responsible for.” Use action words instead to show what you achieved.
• Want some good accomplishments for resumes for travel nurse jobs? Number of beds on your ward, costs reduced, and anything with measured improvements.

Read more: What Does Relevant Experience Mean? [With Examples]

4. Ink In Your Travel Nurse Resume Education Section 

Can listing education on a resume get you hired? It can if you do it the right way. You could just list your school, degree, and graduation date. Or you could go the extra millimeter and add proof of your technical and soft skills. Guess which method gets more jobs?

Follow these key resume tips:

• To list a degree on a resume, start with your degree and the name of the nursing school you went to.
• Add one or two accomplishments from your schooling or clinical experience.
• Don’t list your GPA on a resume unless it was blisteringly high or very recent

Read more: How to List a Minor and Major on a Resume

5. Prove the Traveling Nurse Skills the Facility Wants

What are the right skills for a job as a travel nurse? That depends on the job ad. You can’t just list all your nursing skills and hope they’ll hire you. That’s like administering random meds without a diagnosis. Choosing the right skills means using the right resume keywords. This approach will make your resume ATS-compliant.

Here's how to add travel nurse skills to a resume:

• Jot down all the nursing skills you see in the job posting.
• Separate your list into soft skills vs hard skills. Soft skills are things like compassion, efficiency, and teamwork.
• Note any technical skills you see too. Technical skills for resumes for travel nurse jobs include working with BiPAP ventilators or administering tube feedings.
• Write a skills list with your best 10 travel nursing skills from the bunch.
• Next, double-check your work history. Tweak your achievements, so they prove you’ve done great things with those skills.

Travel Nurse Resume Skills

• Wound dressing
• Patient education
• Record keeping
• Patient transport
• Budgeting
• Phlebotomy
• Medicine administration
• Electronic health records (EHR)
• Taking vital signs
• Patient care
• Discharge planning
• Telemetry devices
• Chest tubes
• Ventilators
• Lumbar punctures
• Sedation
• Tube feedings
• Glucose monitoring
• Interpersonal skills
• Compassion
• Leadership skills
• Time management skills
• Problem solving skills
• Decision making skills
• Stress management
• Written and verbal communication skills
• Computer skills
• Teamwork skills
• Adaptability
• Organizational skills
• Active listening

Pro Tip: Travel nurses make the most money in New York and the least in North Carolina. Know travel nurse salary by state to get the highest-paying jobs.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your resume here.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

6. Add Extras to Your Travel Nurse Resume

Who are you as a person? The charge nurse wants to know. Have you got tons of energy and are you great to work with? You can answer “yes” by adding a few bonus sections to your resume for travel nurse jobs.

Here’s how:

• Add volunteer work. Not sure how to put volunteer work on a resume? If it’s healthcare-related, you can list it like a job, after your work experience.
• List your ANA membership and any additional nursing certifications. A certification in a resume can make you stand out from other nurses.
• Struggling to fill the space? Add interests and physical activities. Those can show self-care, stress management, or collaboration skills.
• Include languages you speak—especially if the patients speak them too. Wondering how to write language skills in a resume? Add them to your skills list.

Read more: What Are the Key Sections in a Resume?

7. Write a Cover Letter for Your Traveling Nurse Resume

Should you write a cover letter for travel nurse resumes? Every time. Without a resume cover page, the charge nurse might think you’re applying to 100 RN jobs a day. With a cover letter, he can see you care about this job.

But—

The structure of a cover letter matters.

• The format of a cover letter is 3–5 paragraphs and a single page.
• Your first paragraph should be a cover letter introduction. Directly mention the job you want and use an icebreaker that gets them interested in you.
• In the middle paragraphs, mention your finest travel nurse achievements.
• How to sign off a cover letter for travel nurse jobs: Mention a couple more of your skills, then ask for a phone or Zoom meeting. 
• How to send a follow up email: Make it short (1–2 sentences) and attach your cover letter and resume.

Read more: Nursing Cover Letter Example

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

That’s it!

That’s everything you need to write a healthy traveling nurse resume!

Thanks for reading! Still have doubts about how to write a Harvard-Health-level travel nursing resume? Give us a shout in the comments section!