Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Resume Sample

The following resume writing tips will land you more interviews as a Licensed Practical Nurse. If you’re hoping to boost your skills, deepen your education, and increase your salary, we highly recommend this article on how to become a registered nurse.

In the meantime, you need a job as an LPN. Here’s how to write a great resume:

Begin with a Career Objective

We recommend that you use a Career Objective to start off your resume. It’s a simple way to:

1. Briefly introduce yourself and hook the hiring manager
2. Let the hiring manager know why you’re a great choice
3. Make your resume look more attractive

You can read our complete guide on how to write a resume objective here, along with several examples. But we’ll give a brief overview of why this LPN’s Career Objective is effective. Here’s the breakdown – the bolded text indicates the strong points.

Sentence 1: Licensed Practical Nurse with 4+ years of experience seeking to leverage proven skills into a position at your medical center.

You can immediately hook the hiring manager by telling him or her how many years of experience you have, and how you want to use your skills to help the hospital or care center how you can help them achieve their goals.

Sentence 2: Has diverse expertise in caring for the ill, injured, and disabled.

Here you can further describe your skills, and sell yourself to the hiring manager as a person he or she can rely on.

Sentence 3: Possess an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (GPA 3.6) and licensed to practice in Arizona.

It’s critical to tell the hiring manager what degree you have, and where you are licensed to practice in your Career Objective. Don’t make him or her search for that information.

What to Include in your Professional Experience

There are three main rules you should follow when writing your professional experience, and the LPN example on this page follows them perfectly.

1. Begin your bullet points with action verbs

Action verbs make your resume sound vigorous and strong. Just look at the difference between these two:

Wrong: Patients with illnesses and injuries were observed, charted, and reported on by me in a 130+ bed hospital

Right: Observe, chart, and report developments in patient health conditions in a 130+ bed hospital

Notice how the red sentence sounds weak and deflated — make sure to use action verbs at the beginning of your bullet points to avoid this.

2. Quantify your bullet points (add numbers)

Adding numbers to your bullet points makes them more descriptive, making it easier for the hiring manager to grasp how skilled you are. There are a number of ways you can quantify a resume — here are some examples from the LPN resume above that you can imitate:

# of beds in the hospital: Observe, chart, and report developments in patient health conditions in a 130+ bed hospital

# of patients handled daily: Measure 20+ patient vital signs daily, including height weight, blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and respiration

# of employees trained or managed: Supervise 4 certified nursing assistants during routine patient care and equipment assembly activities, including catheters, tracheotomy tubes, and oxygen suppliers

3. Don’t just explain your duties — sell your achievements

This final rule is the most important. If you simply tell the hiring manager the daily duties you attend to — that’s going to be a boring. Instead, include bullet points that show:

• How technically skilled you are
• How much relevant knowledge you possess
• How much money you’ve helped save
• How many patients you handle daily
• How many people you’ve trained or managed

However, it can be hard to create a completely achievement-oriented resume. We simply suggest that you try your best to include one or two major achievements from each work experience.

And that’s how to write the most effective LPN resume possible. Remember — you’re also going to need a well-written cover letter to seal the deal.

Check out our intuitive resume builder for more help writing an effective resume that hiring managers will love.

We wish you luck on your job search.