Do you want to apply for a Clinical Nurse Specialist position to help you get closer to your career goals? Applying for jobs on Seek, LinkedIn, and other job boards can be a time-consuming process, however, to streamline the process, you can ensure your resume writing helps you to stand out from the crowd, and your online profile helps you to get an interview!

If a recruiter or hiring manager are looking for a Clinical Nurse Specialist, they are searching for specific transferable skills. With less than ten people being interviewed for the job and hundreds of people, just like you, applying, The Perfect Resume team have created Resume Writing Tips to help you stand out from the others.

What do recruiters look for in a Clinical Nurse Specialist resume or an online profile?

Tailoring your resume to a Clinical Nurse Specialist position is mandatory today to ensure that your application will pass Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). In doing so, your resume will be read by the prospective employer. Then, fingers crossed, you will be shortlisted as a potential candidate and be called for not one, but multiple job interviews!

Firstly, before you apply to be a Clinical Nurse Specialist, you need to be acquainted with what a Clinical Nurse Specialist does!

Clinical Nurse Specialists handle the advanced patient care and consultation services. Their duties include clinical practice, research, and managing and training staff. They work at hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities, and they may be involved in administration.

Hiring Managers are looking for a dedicated and experienced Clinical Nurse Specialist to assist in treating patients and consulting with patients and their families. You are also required to supervise and train the nursing staff and assist with the daily administration of the facility.

To be successful as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, you should have knowledge of necessary healthcare and medical procedures, be open to learning, and have strong communication skills. Ultimately, a high performing Clinical Nurse Specialist should be able to achieve optimized patient care at the facility and cost-effective patient care by expertly coordinating available resources.

Knowing this, your resume and online profile should include the hard and soft skills that the recruiter or hiring manager is looking for in a candidate.

The Clinical Nurse Specialist position description template will also contain pivotal information about what the candidate will need to do daily. Such as:

• Optimizing patient care by supervising nursing staff.
• Performing health assessments and developing specialized treatment plans.
• Developing nursing practices, policies, and procedures.
• Considering differential diagnoses and making clinical recommendations.
• Administring medication and treatment in consultations with patient care managers.
• Identifying training needs and facilitating training for nursing students and staff.
• Allocating staff and resources to where they are needed.
• Consulting with patients and their families on how to best manage their conditions.
• Staying up to date with the latest developments in nursing practice and contributing to medical research.


You will also have some requirements and personal attributes that you will need to demonstrate in your resume to ensure your potential employer will take your application seriously, such as:

• Master of Science in Nursing Degree (MSN), or a related doctorate degree.
• Obtained a pass-score in the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN).
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)-certified CNS, toward training nursing staff.
• State-approved licensing to practice as a licensed and registered nurse.
• Extensive experience as a Clinical Nurse Specialist.
• Demonstrable experience in supervising staff, administration, and managing resources.
• Ability to identify and facilitate educational programs or in-service training sessions.
• Extensive knowledge of best nursing practices and standards.
• In-depth knowledge of medical research and advancements in the field of nursing.


You may also want to do some industry research to find out what other companies want in their Clinical Nurse Specialists.