Psychiatric Nurse Resume Writing Tips and Sample
The demand for mental health professionals has been increasing, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that there’s steady growth in opportunities for psychiatric nurses.
Despite the need for your services, you must still compete with other applicants for a position with your prospective employer. Your psychiatric nurse resume and cover letter are your tickets to the next step in your career, so make every word count. In this article, we share useful advice on strengthening your resume, and a sample to show you our tips in action.
Highlight Soft Skills in Your Resume Summary
Soft skills are important for all nursing specialties, but especially mental health. Although you may have to address preexisting physical ailments, your primary focus is on patients’ emotional state and the factors driving them. In this setting, the way you speak and interact with your patients is of the utmost importance.
Your cover letter is where you’ll expand upon your soft skills, but you can give the reader an idea of how you’ll treat your patients in your resume summary. Here are some examples of soft skills to mention:
- Compassion
- Clear communication
- Adaptability
- Emotional intelligence
- Empathy
- Active listening
- Patience
Quantify When You Can
Including numerical data can give the reader a clearer idea of what you can handle. Plus, numbers may stick out in the sea of words they’ll be sifting through. Below are some aspects of your job you can quantify in your psych nurse resume:
- Personal patient load per shift
- Daily facility patient load
- Amount of times you’ve completed relevant procedures
- Number of times you’ve won nursing awards
- Years of experience
Prioritize Relevant Information
Have you worked in other specialties? Great! That experience may be useful to you, but during the application process, your employer is primarily concerned with what’s relevant to them while reading your psychiatric nurse resume. Skills and experience unique to this specialty take priority over all others. Here are some ways to emphasize what’s important:
- List past mental health experience at the top of your resume.
- Describe any psych-related duties first when listing non-psych experience.
- Include mental health certifications before any other specialty certifications.
Psychiatric Nurse Resume Sample
Reading sample resumes is a helpful way to understand what your employer will expect. Take a look at our example below, and if you need more, we’ve got plenty of nurse resume samples to inspire you.
Maria Mar, RN, PMH-BC
Caribbean, CA | firstlast@email.com | 777-777-7777
Empathetic nurse with over five years of experience and a passion for mental health and patient advocacy. Assertively communicates patient needs while supporting the rest of the healthcare team.
Key Qualifications
- Psychiatric mental health nursing certification (PMH-BC)
- In-depth understanding of various forms of mental illness and their treatments
- Comfortable with EHR systems
- Won Daisy Award seven times
Education
Atlantic University, Anaheim, CA, 20XX
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Professional Experience
Baltic Hospital, Psychiatric Charge Nurse, 20XX–present
- Responsible for 5 patients and 6 nurses on a 40-bed adult general psych unit.
- Organize and support nursing staff by delegating tasks and advocating for staff members to nursing management.
- Create assignment schedules and make adjustments when employees call out.
- Assist staff nurses with medication administration and other nursing duties upon request or on days with short staffing.
Mediterranean Hospital, Pediatric Psychiatric Nurse, 20XX–20XX
- Responsible for 10 patients on a 20-bed pediatric general psych unit.
- Administered medications and monitored for adverse effects.
- Provided emotional support to patients.
- Obtained medication consent from parents.
- Informed parents of patients’ well-being upon parent request or after an incident.
Skills
- Conflict resolution and stress management skills
- Spanish fluency
- PowerChart, Epic, Cerner
Certifications and Licenses
- Psychiatric mental health nurse certification (PMH-BC)
- Personality disorders certification (C-PD)
- Basic life support (BLS)
- Registered nurse (RN)
Psychiatric Nurse Salary
The salary for psychiatric nurses is typically between $76,300 to $94,200 per year. The average salary is $83,500. Your wages may vary based upon your location, years of experience, and the facility in which you work. The RNs in the states listed below are paid the highest nursing salaries in the country:
Your Psychiatric Nurse Resume Is Your Ticket to Your Next Opportunity
Use our advice to help make your resume the best it can be. Need help putting it to use? Search for the latest psych nurse jobs on IntelyCare today.