Nurse CV example (2026)

Writing the CV for the nurse role

Start your CV with your level, your BIG registration (the Dutch register for healthcare professionals) and the patient group you worked with, such as somatic care, elderly care or psychogeriatric care. These details say the most about your professional expertise. Put them directly under your name; your work experience follows, with the size of the ward included.

This role is about running a round independently, handing over well and working together in a team. Experience with a specific patient group and with the electronic client record can be named concretely. Put those two points in your profile text.

What you do in this role

A nurse does a round past the residents or patients: giving medication as prescribed, measuring vital signs, dressing wounds and reporting signs to the doctor. Then comes the handover to the next shift, recorded in the file. If you name those tasks on your CV, you show that you know them.

Keep the CV to one or two pages.

How your CV matches the advert

Read the job advert before you adapt your CV. Look at the ward, the patient group and the requirements the care organisation mentions, such as a level or a registration. Those words should come back in your profile text and in the bullets of your most recent job, as long as they match what you actually did. That way you put the advert and your CV side by side and see which points you already cover and which you still need to back up.

A nurse’s role is about responsibility on a shift: who takes the round, who does the handover and who speaks to the doctor about a care need. Say in your CV which of those tasks you took on. A sentence such as “I was responsible for the evening round on a ward with twenty residents” shows that you worked independently.

Finally, check that your CV answers the advert in the first two lines of your profile text. Then read the whole text aloud. If there is a sentence you could not explain in an interview, cut it. A shorter text with concrete tasks is stronger than a long text with general words.

If you work with a digital client record, say so explicitly. It is part of the daily routine on a ward, and the reader then sees which system you know. Describe in one sentence how you recorded and handed over information, for example through a fixed handover list. That sentence shows you know the system, without needing to give figures.

Supporting new colleagues shows that you can pass on knowledge. Describe how you inducted them: which programme you used, which tasks you showed first and how you discussed progress. That gives the reader more to go on than the word “collegial”, and it fits the teamwork on a ward.

A profile text and a CV should be about the same responsibility. If your profile text says you run a round independently, your work experience should show where that comes back: the round, the handover and the contact with the doctor. Then the story in the first lines matches the rest of the CV, and that makes it convincing in an interview.

Which layout suits the nurse CV

Choose one column, clear headings and a standard font. Tables and text boxes can cause errors when software reads a CV.

A single column with clear headings works best for a nursing CV. Put your BIG registration and your level in the block at the top. Use the same order for each job: job title, care organisation, place and period, so the reader finds the details in the same place.

Save your CV as a PDF with a recognisable file name, such as firstname-surname-cv.pdf.

What to put on the nurse CV

Every CV contains at least your contact details, your work experience with dates, your education and certificates, and your skills and languages.

Name your BIG registration, your level and the patient group with the kind of care you provided. List the care systems you know, such as a client record or a medication safety system. Add your training, such as a course in wound care, medication safety or dementia care. Also mention your teamwork, such as coordinating a shift or inducting colleagues.

Put your name at the top, with your town, email address and phone number. Your citizen service number (BSN), date of birth or marital status do not need to be on your CV.

Profile text: example (good and weak)

Below are two profile texts for the nurse, both written for a fictional person. You can copy the structure.

Dedicated nurse with six years of experience in elderly care, the last three as team coordinator on a dementia ward. I provide a safe, calm environment and keep families well informed. I work accurately with care records and contribute to personalised care plans. Looking for a role in which I can further develop my knowledge of dementia care.

Nurse on a dementia ward, with eight years of experience in elderly care. I work with a fixed care plan for each resident and check the medication at every round. I inform families of every change in care needs. I am looking for a role in which I can further improve the quality of my care and put my knowledge of dementia to use.

The first example names the ward, the role and the responsibility. The second names the years, the tasks and what the candidate is looking for. The weak version says the person is motivated, but not with what. Concrete details, such as the number of residents or the ward, make a profile text clearer than adjectives.

Weak version: “I am a motivated nurse who enjoys working with people and is always ready for the residents.”

A profile text is short: four or five sentences. Write in the first person and say what you do, what you are good at and what you are looking for.

Making your work experience stand out

The example bullet points below belong to a fictional example CV. The figures are illustrative: use only your own figures, and only if they are accurate.

Start each bullet with an action word and state the result, not only the task.

• Daily round on a ward with 24 residents: medication, vital signs and wound care according to the care plan.
• Handover to the next shift after every round, recorded in the client file, so the evening shift misses no information.
• Induction programme set up for new colleagues; three new staff members deployed independently on the ward within a year.
• Fall prevention: monthly risk assessment per resident, with noticeably fewer falls in the first year.
• Family conversations held when care needs changed, together with the care team and the doctor.
• Medication safety: errors in recording medication reduced through a fixed check during the round.

For each job, give the job title, employer, place and period, and put your current job at the top.

No work experience?

Have little clinical experience? Your placement, a part-time job in home care or volunteering in a care home can also go on your CV. Name the ward, the patient group and the tasks you did independently, such as washing, dressing or keeping the file up to date. Your placement supervisor’s assessment can serve as evidence.

Action words for your CV

Action words make your work concrete. A few that work well on a CV:

• Organised
• Supervised
• Improved
• Monitored
• Planned
• Recorded
• Consulted
• Delivered
• Coordinated
• Ensured

Use each word only once per job, and only if it matches your work.

Education on your CV

Put your nursing training at the top, with the level and the school, for example a mbo (senior secondary vocational education) nursing course at level 4 or an hbo (higher professional education) nursing degree. Give the year of your diploma and the placements that suit the patient group. A post-hbo course or further training, such as wound care, goes in the same section.

List older education more briefly, so that recent work gets more space.

Skills on the nurse CV

Hard skills

• Record keeping in Zorgdossier
• Medication monitoring
• Dementia care
• Wound care
• Handover and reporting

Soft skills

• Staying calm when tension or aggression arises
• Reporting carefully in the file
• Working together with the team and the doctor
• Respecting residents’ privacy
• Flexible across early, late and night shifts

Show these qualities in a concrete situation. The sentence “I stayed calm when a resident became aggressive and then consulted the doctor” shows more than the word calm. Choose two or three situations and develop them in your work experience.

Choose five to eight hard skills that you currently use.

Give an example from your work for Record keeping in Zorgdossier, Medication monitoring, Dementia care, Wound care and Handover and reporting.

Certificates, languages and hobbies

The BIG registration is the most important certificate for a nurse. State the year you obtained it and whether you keep the registration active. In addition, the resuscitation course (BLS), a medication safety course and training in wound care or dementia are relevant. Put a course from the last two years at the top, because it is the most current.

Put a certificate on your CV if it fits the role.

• BIG registration (BIG register, 2019)

Languages in this example: Dutch (moedertaal), English (goed).

Example nurse CV

This is how the example looks in a real template. It is a starting point: take over the structure, not the text.

The fictional candidate is called Lotte Bakker and lives in Amersfoort. The example carries the headline: Nurse, level 5 · elderly care.

Common mistakes on the nurse CV

• Not mentioning your BIG registration, or not saying whether you keep it active.
• Listing tasks only, such as “washing and dressing”. Without the number of residents or the care you gave independently, the scope of your work stays unclear.
• Not naming your patient group. Dementia, somatic care and psychiatry require different knowledge, so the reader must see which you have.
• Using medical abbreviations that only colleagues understand. Write “wound care” in full.
• Leaving out your availability for shifts, evenings and weekends. Add it so no question is left open.

Read your CV aloud and check the names of the care organisations and the wards. A wrong name is an error the reader spots at once.

Key points

• State the number of residents or patients per shift and the level of care, so the scale of your work is visible.
• Note your BIG registration with the year, so the registration can be checked at a glance.
• Show how you handed over: which information you passed on and through which system.
• Add an improvement you led, such as an induction programme or a working group, with what you achieved.

Read your CV aloud before you send it.