Home Health Nurse Resume Example

The aim of this article is to equip you with all the knowledge required to create a resume that positions you to succeed in your home health nurse applications. You'll find valuable tips on writing a resume that best showcases your unique skills and achievements. There is also extensive guidance on how to structure your resume to match the job description, and to reflect your experience levels to impress HR specialists and employers. Read on to access expert insights from Jobseeker that will help you create a winning home health nurse resume.

Main sections of a home health nursing resume

It's essential to include a few core sections in your home health nurse resume, while there are also a few optional sections you can make use of to strengthen your application.

While the content and format of your resume may vary depending on your experience levels, it's important to always include the following sections:

Header and Personal Information

A home health nurse resume header contains your name and contact information. Add your first and last name, your phone number and your email address. Include your address or location, but avoid adding any other personal information. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can add the URL to your header so the hiring manager can get a better understanding of your work history and experience. Make your resume header clear, concise and as brief and compact as possible. Consider different layouts that spread the information horizontally across the page rather than using a different line for each piece of information.

Only include professional, name-based email addresses in your resume header. If you have an old email address that uses nicknames, puns, references to your personal interests or anything else that could appear unprofessional, set up a new email just for your job applications. Finally, always double-check your contact details are correct and up-to-date before sending your resume.

Resume Objective

In your resume summary, write a short paragraph that highlights two or three of your key achievements and skills for home health nurse roles. You could also call this section 'resume objective' or 'personal profile'. A resume summary covers your career experience to date, while a resume objective focuses more on your ambitions for the future. Additionally, make sure your resume summary reflects the job description and focuses on qualities that are relevant to working as a home health nurse.

Alternatively, write a paragraph that concentrates on your career objectives and how this role fits with your wider ambitions and progression.

The best resume summaries reflect the job description and focus on qualities that are relevant to working as a home health nurse, while highlighting elements of your personality that make you an ideal candidate. They also quantify the information provided with evidence. Take a look at some strong examples of how to approach a home health nurse resume summary in the graphic below.

Alternatively, a poor resume summary would include bland, generic information that does little to prove your suitability for the role, while failing to provide any useful insights on you as a person or as a candidate. In the graphic above you can find some negative examples of how to write a resume summary.

Work Experience

Your resume work experience section is the chance to show your relevant previous jobs and career achievements as a home health nurse. For each entry, list the job title, the name of the employer, its location and the dates you worked there. Add each job in reverse-chronological order, starting with your current or most recent role.

In addition, include a few bullet points under each job, highlighting your key achievements so the hiring manager can see how they led to successful outcomes. Back up each point with evidence to show how you meet the job description.

The best resume work experience sections focus only on the most relevant previous jobs, and link each bullet point back to a skill or experience listed in the job description. It's also critical to provide evidence that shows the value you added to each role in a quantifiable way, such as project outcomes, key performance indicators or feedback from customers, colleagues or managers. See the examples below for some ideas of what a great resume work experience looks like.

See above for some of the pitfalls to avoid with your resume work experience section. A poor resume work experience section would typically use vague descriptions of activities in previous jobs, while focusing too much on responsibilities rather than achievements. Failing to focus on the skills and experience that match the job description is likely to harm your chances of success.

Education

The education section provides space to list your highest and most recent academic achievements that are relevant to working as a home health nurse.

To work as a home health nurse, employers tend to require candidates to have a specialist degree, such as a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). If you have this degree, focus on it in your education section, while also mentioning any educational achievements that show your IV therapy skills or EMR documentation proficiency.

Include any qualifications relevant to the role. For each, add the name and level of the award, the institution name, its location and your dates of study. You can enhance this section by adding bullet points that show any outstanding grades, awards or achievements and any specialist subjects you studied. These details can make you stand out from other candidates.

If you were a member of any clubs or societies, or volunteered for any causes while studying, you could also mention these in your education section.

Skills

The skills section is one of the main ways to show employers you've got the skills required for home health nurse roles. Whether your skills include medication administration, time management skills or any other useful skills for the role, you'll want to list them here. Once more, review the job description and pick out any key home health nurse skills listed that match yours. Focus on these skills and any other key transferable skills that make you a strong candidate for the job.

Listing hard skills on your home health nurse resume

For your hard skills list, include any technical abilities or specific industry knowledge that's essential to working as a home health nurse. These could be skills gained through work experience or qualifications. Furthermore, an extensive list of hard skills helps to make a compelling case for your home health nurse job applications, as they show employers your understanding of the home health nurse role. Include around four or five key hard skills that are listed in the job description. These skills will help to convince the hiring manager that you're a good fit for the position.

You'll make more impact with your resume hard skills list if you focus on technical skills that reflect your unique expertise and specialism, and that match the key requirements in the job description. See the graphic below for some tips on hard skills for a home health nurse resume.

How to list soft skills on your home health nurse resume

In your list of soft skills, add any personal strengths, qualities or transferable skills that make you a good fit for the job. Soft skills are often less specific to different industries, but that doesn't make them any less important. Indeed, as the nature of work changes, soft skills are growing in importance, so make sure you include them in your resume. Aim to include approximately five soft skills that reflect the skills listed in the job description.

The strongest resume soft skills sections include a mix of skills that match your best personal strengths, and that reflect the skills listed in the job description. See below for some examples of effective soft skills for a home health nursing resume.

Certifications

In this section, include any home health nurse certifications, training or licenses you hold that are relevant to the job. These might be licenses that show you're qualified to operate certain equipment, or certifications that give you the edge over candidates with otherwise similar career history. Therefore, make sure you list the dates of your certifications and licenses so employers can see they're up-to-date and valid.

Review the list below for some suitable certifications for a home health nurse resume:

Optional Sections

As well as the main sections of a home health nursing resume, optional sections can help you prove your credentials to employers. Add any of the sections below that help you showcase your key skills and experience.

Personal Hobbies and Interests

Adding your hobbies and interests is a legitimate way of showing off your skills and personal qualities. They also help to show a different side of your personality, and can help your resume create a more memorable impression on hiring managers. If you're short on real world work experience, hobbies and interests can be a useful way of providing more information about your qualities. Think about adding hobbies and interests to your resume if they add some insight into your personality that you can't express elsewhere in your application.

Voluntary Work

If you're lacking relevant home health nurse work experience, volunteer work can help to show you still have the relevant skills. Write your volunteer section in a similar format to your work experience, including your role, the organization name, relevant dates and the details of your contribution.

References

It's relatively unusual to include references in a standard home health nurse resume, but they are required occasionally. Check the job advert to see if you'll need to add references to your resume. Include a maximum of three professional references, being sure to check with your referees before including them in your resume.

Best words to use in a home health nurse resume

Using strong action words to make your resume resonate with the employer. Choose from the list of words below to increase the impact of your work experience section.

If you need help creating a resume that impresses HR managers, take a look at Jobseeker's professional resume templates. You can also access beautiful cover letter templates that help your application stand out.

Example of a home health nurse resume

Now that you know everything that needs to go into your home health nurse resume, let's review an example resume that you can use as a guide when creating your own:

How to make your resume ATS compliant

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are increasingly taking responsibility for the management and processing of job applications, helping hiring practices to become more efficient. This can include screening resumes by scanning and ranking each application according to how closely it matches the job description. When you're writing your home health nurse resume, there are several things you can do to make sure your resume stands the best chance of passing the ATS stage.

Follow these simple rules when writing your resume, to make sure it's ATS compliant:

• Opt for an established, traditional resume format such as a reverse-chronological or functional structure. These will ensure your resume includes all the necessary details ATS systems scan for.
• Use of job description keywords throughout your resume will help it rank higher in the ATS scanning stage, as it will more closely match the requirements laid out in the job description.
• Include clear headings that make it easy to identify each section of your resume. This will help any ATS software navigate your resume during the scanning process.
• Utilize a clean, clear resume design that helps make your content more readable. Use simple fonts and subtle color accents and design elements that don't detract from the written content.
• Make sure your resume is as concise as possible, so ATS applications can easily scan and identify the required details.

Takeaways for a winning home health nurse resume

The key to a strong resume is to showcase your relevant skills and achievements through your work experience and other activities. Use a suitable resume format and tailor your resume for every application you submit.

HR-approved resume templates and other tools by Jobseeker are the easiest way to create a winning job application. Sign up and follow the simple instructions to complete a resume that stands out from the crowd. A stylish, professional cover letter can make all the difference to your job prospects. See Jobseeker's cover letter examples, written by careers experts, to help you craft an eye-catching application.

Sources:

(1) Tips for Writing a Federal Resume, U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.dol.gov/general/jobs/tips-for-writing-a-federal-resume

(2) Resume Tips, Duke University: https://careerhub.students.duke.edu/resources/resume-tips/