Yes! Add Your COVID Assignment to Your Travel Nurse Resume

At some point in the future will your COVID jobs look like a blip on your nursing resume? Learn how to highlight their long-term value.

If you worked a COVID-related assignment in the past 18 months, you know how incredibly challenging it was. Exhausting, draining, sometimes traumatic, sometimes rewarding, sometimes a bittersweet reminder of why you became a nurse.

Should you include your COVID jobs on your nursing resume? Or will it look like a blip that won’t really matter to a hiring manager? The answer is a resounding “Include it!” Not only is your previous experience on a COVID unit advantageous, your work with COVID patients is a testament to your skills and perseverance -- no matter where you are employed.

OK. What’s the Difference Between a Resume and a CV?

A resume is a brief overview of your experience and education. A one-page resume is ideal; two pages are the maximum. A resume will list your education, relevant licensures and certifications, special skills, and clinical experience.

A CV is a more in-depth record of your professional career. There is no recommended “cap” on the length of a CV -- just be reasonable. A CV can include teaching experience, mentoring, mention of involvement in professional organizations outside the place of employment, and other related volunteer activities.

For most nursing positions a resume will suffice; for managerial or academic positions a CV can be helpful.

What COVID Experience Should You Highlight?

Include achievements that speak to the following questions:

Did your assignment on a COVID unit demonstrate that you can learn new treatment protocols and make informed decisions under pressure?
Did you earn new certifications, for example in lungs ventilation? Have you mastered new monitoring equipment on advanced life support machines like ECMO or other technology?
Are you proficient with testing, assessment, decontamination, and preventive procedures for highly contagious diseases?
Have you strengthened your ability to provide emotional support for patients and their families in life and death situations?
Did you receive any awards or informal honors while on your assignment?

It can be helpful to indicate the number of patients you cared for and the scope of your work. This can give a hiring manager an idea of what your workload was like.

So, do hiring managers look at a resume or a CV when screening travelers?

Your first stop on the road to a travel nursing job is usually with a recruiter, who works for a staffing agency. While many agencies do not require a resume or CV, you can still provide one. Your recruiter will review that information as you complete your full profile with the agency. Pertinent details from your resume may be featured when your profile is submitted to the hiring organization. A resume can provide supporting information -- that you may not realize is helpful -- and position you as a more desirable candidate.

That “Oh yeah, I forgot. Is that important?” moment is one of the reasons why an up-to-date resume or CV can be useful. Your recruiter will know what’s important to the hiring facility and can use it to fine-tune your profile.

If you have been traveling for a while, you probably know that many hospitals handle part of the hiring process via standardized digital forms. There are pros and cons to this - your profile can be evaluated quickly, but some of your intangible qualities can fade into the background.

Digital automation can mean that your original resume may not get reviewed at every step of the process. But your recruiter will see it. And they will present relevant information from your resume in a way that shows you in your best light and in a format that is most likely to be seen by a hiring manager.

Is including travel on a resume or CV helpful if you ever go back to a staff position?

Of course! Whether you’re going back to school, taking on a PRN, or seeking a permanent position at a healthcare facility, you’ll need a great resume. Your travel assignments are a definite plus on any nursing resume -- especially those that include work on a COVID unit. You may have to summarize a bit if you’ve worked multiple assignments, but that’s a plus, too.

Side Note: Some staffing agencies (not American Traveler) use an optical scanner, sometimes called a resume parser, to “read” resumes by identifying keywords and phrases and then moving the information into their applicant database.

Accuracy is key. Bots will miss words that are misspelled or that use uncommon terminology.
Fancy fonts don’t do well in a resume parser. Neither do creative layouts such as multi-column formats, or the use of multiple images.
Sometimes it helps to include keywords that the parser might be looking for, but it can be difficult to know for sure what they are.

Last Modified On: Nov 02, 2021

The next stop on your travel journey awaits.

Yes! Add Your COVID Assignment to Your Travel Nurse Resume

OK. What’s the Difference Between a Resume and a CV?

What COVID Experience Should You Highlight?

So, do hiring managers look at a resume or a CV when screening travelers?

Is including travel on a resume or CV helpful if you ever go back to a staff position?

Let American Traveler be your trusted companion on your traveler journey!

For Travelers

Company

Talk to Us