Director of Nursing CV Example

Director of Nursing Overview

Director of nursing is a high-level management position that typically requires several years of both nursing and health care management experience. As a director, you will be managing a nursing department, usually within a hospital or a care facility. The director of nursing bears the responsibility for the quality of health care provided by the nurses under his or her supervision. This means knowing the ins and outs of standards for care. You will need to develop a comprehensive plan for staff training and continued education. You will also be managing the nursing staff, including providing feedback, structuring incentives and taking disciplinary action when warranted. In addition to health care knowledge, this position demands strong leadership qualities. You will need to consistently provide motivation and guidance for your staff, work with physicians and other providers to coordinate care, and interact with patients and their families. The director also manages administrative tasks such as patient records, department budgeting and staff records. As seen in our director of nursing CV example, many employers prefer an advanced degree in nursing administration in addition to a regular nursing degree.

Skills and Knowledge to Include in Your Director of Nursing CV

To effectively perform the many types of tasks that are required in this position, a director of nursing must possess a variety of skills. First and foremost, you should emphasize your knowledge and practical experience in the field of health care. It will be difficult for you to get your nurses to do a good job if you are not aware of standards and best practices yourself. Non-nursing technical skills are also important. Let employers know about your skills in areas such as administration, personnel management, strategic planning, finance and budgeting, and operational optimization. You should also follow the lead of our director of nursing CV example and remember to include “soft” skills such as negotiation, conflict resolution and communication. In the health care profession, speaking with patients and families can be fraught with emotion. Employers want to see that you can handle even extremely difficult discussions with tact, courtesy and professionalism.

Tips for Writing an Excellent CV

Reviewing our director of nursing CV example is a great start to creating an outstanding CV. Put the finishing touches on your CV by implementing the following general writing tips:

• Professionalism is key for any CV, but especially one for a management or leadership position, and it should permeate all aspects of your resume. Get rid of quirky fonts and colloquial expressions. Make sure to present your information in an organized and visually clear way. Remember to include your contact information. Listen to your voice-mail message on the phone number you provide to ensure that it projects a professional image. If your e-mail address is something other than a neutral combination of your name or initials, it is a good idea to make a new one for job search purposes.
• Place prior work experiences in reverse chronological order. This ensures that employers see your most recent (and presumably highest) position first. This way, they get a better idea of your current qualifications.
• Leave out older or irrelevant work experience. A good general rule is to omit experience that dates more than a decade ago. Even if you have been working for less than a decade, you should still leave out temp positions or high school jobs.
• Get another person to give your CV a final check for mistakes. It can be hard to notice minor errors when you have spent a lot of time working on a document. Your computer’s spellcheck function will frequently miss certain kinds of mistakes.