Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Psychiatric nurse practitioners are highly skilled nurses who are also highly trained mental health professionals. They’re experts in diagnosing mental health conditions and providing effective treatment plans that help patients feel better.
Because psychiatric nurse practitioners work with patients suffering from a wide range of mental health issues, they need to be flexible and adaptable. They must also be compassionate and empathetic when working with patients who may be struggling with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, or other mental health issues.
If you’re looking for a new role as a psychiatric nurse practitioner or are interested in making a switch from another field into mental health care, here are some tips for writing a psychiatric nurse practitioner resume that hiring managers will love.
How to Write a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Resume
Here’s how to write a psychiatric nurse practitioner resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Rather than simply listing your responsibilities, you can use the bullet points to provide more detail about your work. For example, rather than saying you “provided patient care,” you could say you “provided patient care in a psychiatric setting, including crisis intervention and medication management, for patients with severe mental illness.”
This level of detail will help hiring managers understand not only what you did but also how well you did it. And that can make all the difference when it comes time for them to decide who to interview.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a psychiatric nurse practitioner (PNP) role, your resume goes through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This program will scan your resume for certain keywords related to the job. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, your application might not make it past the initial screening phase.
The best way to identify the right keywords for your psychiatric nurse practitioner resume is to read through a few job postings and take note of the terms that keep popping up. You can also use this list as a starting point:
- Mental Health
- Psychiatry
- Psychotherapy
- Nursing
- Healthcare
- Mental Health Nursing
- Clinical Research
- Mental Health Counseling
- Behavioral Health
- Psychopharmacology
- Psychiatric Nursing
- Primary Care
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Hospitals
- Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
- Nursing Education
- Patient Safety
- Public Health
- Interventions
- Crisis Intervention
- Community Outreach
- Working with Adolescents
- Pediatric Nursing
- Mental Health Services
- Inpatient Care
- Clinical Practice
- Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
- Critical Care Nursing
- Medication Management
- Acute Care
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners use a variety of technology in their work, including patient monitoring systems, electronic health records systems, and psychiatric assessment tools. They also need to be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office Suite, as they often need to create reports and patient charts.
So if you have experience with any of these programs or tools, be sure to list them on your resume. This will show that you are familiar with the technology that is used in the psychiatric nurse practitioner field, and that you are capable of using it effectively in your work.