When considering a nursing career internationally, a thorough resume or CV is your strongest tool.  Due to the variance of nursing practice from country to country, a detailed and informative CV will shed a clearer understanding of your experience to prospective employers. 

Whether creating your first CV or refreshing a current one, here are a few Do’s and Don’ts to keep in mind: 

Your Personal Details:  

• Do provide your full name in the following format: first name and then your surname or family name in this order 
• Don’t forget to write how you would like to be called in parenthesis: Teresa Santa Cruz, RN  “Teresa” 
• Do include your current address (if currently working abroad on contract)
• Don’t forget to note your original or permanent address
• Do include the country code, city code and number when listing your telephone number
• Don’t forget to include your email address

Under your Work History or experience:  (this section should give a clear picture of your nursing background and must be thorough) 

• Don’t include any non-nursing related jobs
• Do make sure there are no chronological gaps in your CV.  (If there are gaps, provide an explanation i.e. pregnancy, maternity leave, taking care of family, etc.)
• Do include a brief description of the hospital: number of beds, private or public, teaching hospital, trauma center, etc.
• Do describe unit/ward:  number of beds, types of patients cards, nurse/patient ratio
• Don’t forget to include your position
• For OR nurses, Do include number of rooms or theatres in your OR, how many cases are typically seen every day or every month, and include whether you scrub, circulate or both
• Do include any volunteer nursing positions 

References: 

• Don’t list references of doctors or personal references who are not nurses  
• Do list the names, job titles, email addresses or fax numbers, and hospital, along with hospital addresses, of senior nurses (not doctors)  
• Don’t forget, these references must be nurses who you have worked under, such as a head nurse

By Jenny Sol Cruz, NurseTogether