Professional Profile: Highlight your role as a healthcare hero!
In the healthcare sector, nurses can be likened to superheroes: You don't wear capes, but you do help to save lives! As a nurse, your unwavering dedication lies in the compassionate care and support you provide to patients, helping them regain their health and well-being. At CVapp.ie, we salute you! While we know that you’re exceptional, it’s important that your CV is optimised to showcase your skills and professional strengths to employers, too. The professional profile is one of the best ways to show potential employers that you’re the best candidate for the role.
In this section, you can provide a concise overview of your professional background, emphasising your most significant and relevant achievements and skills. We recommend crafting 3-5 sentences that give employers a clear understanding of your capabilities and potential value to their institution.
Here’s an excellent example below!
Attentive and empathetic nurse with over five years experience in the healthcare sector. Committed to the highest levels of patient care and serving the community with compassion and kindness. Proficient in a range of technical and soft skills, including patient advocacy, emergency medical care, patient testing and communication skills. Motivated by a deep desire to make the world a better and healthier place.
Employment History: Your professional journey
Whether it's through previous nursing positions or diverse life and job experiences, each nurse brings a unique set of skills and knowledge to the table. By highlighting the positions you have held and the accomplishments you have achieved, you provide employers with a clear picture of your professional growth and the direction you are headed. This section not only showcases your past achievements but also gives employers an idea of what you can bring to their organisation based on your previous accomplishments. It helps employers gauge your expertise, assess your suitability for the role, and determine how your experiences align with their goals. In this section, you’ll want to include details about your previous professional experiences, and include any details relevant to the job. Be sure to include details about the type of facility or hospital unit you have experience in, if relevant, and outline any key achievements and responsibilities you had in each role.
Each past job role should include the name of the organisation or institution you worked at and the corresponding city, the duration of time spent in that position and the roles and responsibilities you had in each role. Need some help? Check out our example below for some inspiration.
Nurse at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda
- Administered tests and examinations to patients, including blood tests, CT scans, diabetes screenings and vital sign tests to assess patient health.
- Monitored patients and attended to their needs, ensuring patients were informed, comfortable and content.
- Provided patients and families with necessary information on patient status, progress and treatment plans, including information on prescribed medication and associated risks.
- Collaborated with doctors and other healthcare professionals to better understand and treat patients.
- Issued patients and families with support resources, including counselling information or referrals to specialists such as oncologists and neurologists
Nurse at Louth County Hospital, Dundalk
- Assisted with patient examinations and testing, administering diagnostic tests to gather important patient medical information.
- Administered medication to patients, ensuring patients received the correct medication dosage.
- Collaborated with other healthcare professionals, including doctors, administrative staff and medical specialists.
- Supported patients and families and provided resources for emotional support for medical distress, trauma and bereavement
Education: Share your smarts
Employers are looking for candidates that have the right qualifications, so including relevant professional certifications is as essential as it is impressive! All nurses in Ireland need to complete a nursing degree program that has been approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI). In addition to this, you'll need to be registered with the NMBI and be able to prove your fluency in English if you are a non-native English speaker. Including details of these qualifications in your education section is important to gaining the attention of employers. If you’ve only recently graduated and don’t have much work experience, it’s a good idea to prioritise your education section over your employment history section.
It’s not just formal education and certifications that you can include in this section: you can also include relevant licenses, awards and honours.
We’ve got a great education section example below to help you out!
Bachelor of Science, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk
Graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Skills Section: Put your best foot forward
Employers value a wide range of skills when it comes to nursing, including both hard skills such as clinical expertise and medical knowledge, as well as soft skills like communication and problem-solving. In this section, it's important to highlight the specific skills you bring to the specific job role you're applying for. We recommend reading over the job description to gain a good understanding of the skills employers are looking for, and matching any mentioned skills to skills you already possess. While hard skills focus on more technical skills, such as wound care and patient monitoring, soft skills emphasise more people-focused, interpersonal talents, including communication skills and empathy. Be sure to include both hard and soft skills in this section to show that you’re a well-rounded candidate, as well as any specialised skills you may have acquired during training.
We know this section isn’t always easy – so we’ve provided you with a great skills section below. Check it out now!
- Knowledgable in Medical Terminology and Procedures
- Trauma and ER Experience
- Excellent Work Ethic
- Patient Advocacy
- Detail Oriented
- Diagnostic Skills
- First Aid Skills
