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Create a Compelling CV

Crafting an outstanding CV is essential for standing out in today’s competitive job market. Below, we outline key elements to consider when updating your CV, along with helpful resources to assist in the process

What Hiring Managers Want to See
  1. Clear and Concise Professional Summary:
    • What They Want: A brief overview at the top of your CV summarizing who you are as a provider noting your relevant key strengths, qualifications, clinical expertise, and career goals. Keep this to 4-5 sentences. 
    • Why: This helps hiring managers quickly understand your background to help assess if you’re a fit for the role.
  2. Month/Year Format on Work History:
    • What They Want: Accurate and current Month/Year start and end dates.
    • Why: To easily identify any gaps in employment or education.
  3. Relevant Clinical Experience:
    • What They Want: Comprehensive descriptions of your clinical roles, including the practice setting, specialty or area of focus, and patient populations served. Key responsibilities and quantifiable achievements highlighted, such as improved patient satisfaction scores, enhanced care outcomes, or streamlining workflow efficiency. Soft skills included as well like teamwork, patient communication, and mentoring staff.
    • Why: Quick assessment of hands-on experience, and the ability to thrive and deliver high-quality care healthcare environments. 
  4. Certifications and Licenses:
    • What They Want: Up-to-date certifications (e.g., ACLS, BLS, PALS) and licensure details (e.g., state NP/PA license, DEA registration). Clearly list certifications by national boards (AANP, NCCPA, NBCRNA) with expiration dates. 
    • Why: Validates your eligibility and current standing to practice medicine, and highlights your qualifications.
  5. Specialty-Specific Skills:
    • What They Want: Skills tailored to the specialty (e.g., suturing for emergency medicine, chronic disease management for primary care). Include preventative care, collaboration, and notable procedures performed. 
    • Why: Shows your expertise in the specific field you’re applying for, crucial for specialized positions.
  6. Professional Development:
    • What They Want: List CME course, advanced training, and workshops that enhance your skill in a relevant specialty or practice area. Include professional organization memberships (e.g., AAPA, AANP, AANA).
    • Why: Ability to see that you are current with medical advancements and participating in continuing professional growth.
  7. Leadership and Collaboration:
    • What They Want: Examples of leadership roles or opportunities (e.g., team lead, preceptor) and collaboration in multidisciplinary teams. Include any relevant volunteer experiences. 
    • Why: Reflects your ability to lead and work effectively within a healthcare team.
What Hiring Managers Do Not Want to See
  1. Generic or Overly Long CV:
    • What They Don’t Want: A lengthy CV filled with generic buzzwords, or irrelevant information that doesn’t apply to the job.
    • Why: Hiring managers have limited time and prefer concise CVs that are clearly illustrate that the candidate is a match.
  2. Gaps in Employment Without Explanation:
    • What They Don’t Want: Unexplained gaps in your employment history.
    • Why: Raises questions about your work history and reliability. If there are gaps of 6 months or longer, a brief explanation is helpful to avoiding the wrong conclusions.
  3. Vague Descriptions of Experience:
    • What They Don’t Want: General or vague descriptions of past roles missing details they would need to know to qualify the candidate for the job.
    • Why: Hiring managers want clear insight into your experience with specific examples that demonstrate your impact and contributions.
  4. Outdated Information:
    • What They Don’t Want: Information that is no longer relevant, such as outdated certifications or old job experiences that do not add value to the current role.
    • Why: They just want to see relevant information and want to know what your current situation is. 
  5. Overly Technical Jargon:
    • What They Don’t Want: Excessive use of technical jargon that might not be understood by all members of the hiring team, and at worst, give the wrong impression.
    • Why: Overly technical language can make your CV difficult to read.
  6. Inaccurate or Exaggerated Information:
    • What They Don’t Want: Any embellishments or inaccuracies in your CV.
    • Why: Integrity is crucial in healthcare, and any form of dishonesty can lead to an immediate “No”.
Optimizing Your CV for AI

AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS) are increasingly
common in the healthcare industry. To ensure your CV is effectively scanned, scored and
considered, it’s essential to optimize it for AI:

  1. Keyword Optimization:
    • Identify relevant keywords: Analyze the job description and extract important matching keywords related to the role, such as specific skills, certifications, and experience.
    • Incorporate keywords naturally: Integrate these keywords throughout your CV, including the summary, skills section, and clinical work experience. Avoid irrelevant or overt keyword stuffing.
  2. Clear and Concise Formatting:
    • Use a simple, readable font: Professional fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman are recommended.
    • Headers: Ensure sections like Education, Experience, Licenses/Certifications, Skills, and Professional Development are clearly labeled.
    • Maintain consistent formatting: Use consistent fonts, headings, bullet points, margins, date formats, and spacing to improve readability.
    • Avoid excessive formatting: Stick to a clean and uncluttered layout. Adequate white space on a plain looking CV is visually more appealing that many creative colors and designs. 
  3. Consider ATS-Friendly Formats:
    • PDF or Word: PDF is most common, secure, and maintains formatting consistency. However, Word documents can be read easier with some ATS systems. If you use Word, make sure the document is protected from any edits being made. 
Professional Organization Resources
  1. American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP):
  2. American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA):
Online CV Builders
  1. Resume Genius:
  2. Enhancv:
  3. Resume Worded:
    • Resources Offered: Provides in-depth analysis of your resume, LinkedIn profile, and adapts resumes to specific job openings.
    • Cost: Free plan, $49 monthly pro plan.
    • URL: https://resumeworded.com/
Specialized CV Writing Services
  1. Health eCareers:
    • Resources Offered: Professional CV and resume writing services for healthcare providers.
    • Cost: Professional CV: $219. Other plans: $149 and $349.
    • URL: https://www.healthecareers.com/resumes
  2. PA Life:
Additional CV Tips
  • Use Action Verbs: Start bullet points with strong action verbs (e.g., “Led,” “Developed,” “Administered”, “Managed”, “Implemented”, “Assessed”, “Diagnosed”, “Performed” ).
  • Format: Maintain a clean, professional format with consistent font and spacing. Headshots are generally not wanted. Photocopies of resumes are unprofessional. 
  • Brevity: Use the most concise terms possible. Remove filler words that don’t add value. Keep the resume as short as possible without cutting out key information. One page is ideal, two pages should be the max for most people. 
  • Match with LinkedIn: All information should be consistent with your LinkedIn profile.
  • Use PDF files: This is the preferred format. If you decide to save it as a Word document, be sure to add password protection.
  • Want more CV writing information? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Nursing Resumes in 2024 https://nurse.org/resources/nursing-resume/

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