Registered Nurse Resume Examples & ATS Keywords
What ATS software and recruiters look for on a registered nurse resume: the exact keywords to include, the mistakes that get resumes rejected, and a real bullet-point rewrite.
Keywords ATS software scans for
Include the ones that genuinely match your background, don't keyword-stuff.
Common Registered Nurse resume mistakes
Listing "provided patient care" without the unit type or specialty (ICU, ER, Med-Surg) that hiring managers filter on first.
Omitting certifications and their currency (BLS, ACLS, PALS), a common hard filter in nursing ATS screens; an unclear expiration date also reads as a red flag.
No mention of patient load or nurse-to-patient ratio. This is the scale signal recruiters use to judge unit acuity and experience level.
Describing tasks without safety or quality outcomes (falls prevented, infection rates, patient satisfaction scores). Task-only bullets read as junior regardless of years on the job.
Weak vs. strong bullet example
Weak
Provided patient care and administered medications on a medical-surgical unit.
Strong
Delivered direct care to 5-6 patients per shift on a 32-bed medical-surgical unit, reducing catheter-associated UTI rate from 3.1 to 0.8 per 1,000 catheter days through consistent bundle protocol adherence.
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