2025 New Nurse Toolkit

As you start on this next stage of your career in healthcare, we want you to know you’re not alone. Explore this handy guidebook to the nuts and bolts of kicking off your nursing career.

Access your guide now:

Unlimited CE Membership for Healthcare Professionals

Flexible Learning Designed to Fit Your Life

Learn More

Unlock unlimited access to hundreds of on-demand video and text courses, with new courses added regularly.

Instantly generate certificates and manage transcripts for seamless record-keeping and auditing.

Stay updated on the latest advancements and evidence-based techniques in rehabilitative therapy.

Explore hundreds of live interactive webinars featuring industry-leading experts.

Fulfill licensure renewal requirements with a comprehensive selection of mandatory courses.

What’s inside the New Nurse Toolkit?

Designed for new nurse graduates, the Toolkit contains eight helpful touchstones to guide graduates as they embark on their nursing career. It covers everything from nursing resume advice to how to prepare for an interview and managing nursing stress in the workplace.

Inside the guide, you’ll find:

Tips for applying for a nursing job

Downloadable sample resume template

Critical communication skills in the workplace

How to Write
Your Nursing Resume

Before you start, consider how to format your resume. Make sure you include enough information about yourself while keeping it succinct and clutter-free. In addition, choose a professional font and ensure that your name and contact information are easy to find.

Setting Up Your Professional LinkedIn Page

According to Harvard Business Review, up to 70% of recruiters look at a candidate’s social media pages before an interview. Creating a professional nursing LinkedIn page and keeping it up to date may increase your chances of finding good opportunities and landing your dream job.

How to Apply
for a Nursing Job

Applying for nursing jobs requires a unique approach and a few specific strategies. Consider what type of nursing job you would like to have before you start filling out applications and applying for jobs.

When you fill out your application, it will probably feel redundant and repetitive. While it seems like extra work, do not skip over any sections of your job application just because they are already part of your attached resume or cover letter.

Tips to Prepare for
a Nursing Interview

Flight nurses, also called aircraft, helicopter, or transport nurses, are RNs trained to provide medical care as they transport patients in either helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft. Flight nurses have many of the same responsibilities as registered nurses. With additional training, they also have the option of pursuing a military or civilian career.

Choosing a Nursing Specialty

One of the best things about the nursing profession is the ability to choose from such a wide variety of different specialties. Nurses can work in many different environments, from working at home to working on a medical helicopter, and everything in between.

Nursing specialties to consider include:

Behavioral and mental health
Clinic
Dialysis
ECMO specialist
Education
Emergency services
End-of-life care
Flight nursing
Forensic nursing
Home health
Infectious disease
Informatics

Infusion
Intensive care
Long-term care
Neonatology
Operating room
Orthopedics
Pediatrics Research
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner
Women’s health
Wound care

Build Confidence and Manage Nursing Stress

While rewarding, working in healthcare can also be stressful. Mistakes can have life-changing and even life-ending effects. Building and maintaining confidence while managing nursing stress levels is key to enjoying a long, healthy career without becoming burned out.

Critical Communication Skills in Healthcare

Healthcare providers must have excellent communication skills with other providers as well as patients. Nurses, for example, will spend their days relaying information to physicians, following provider orders, coordinating with specialists, scheduling tests, and helping patients and their families understand what is going on. Poor communication skills in healthcare can cause confusion, frustration, and in some cases, even patient injury or death.

How to Deal with Difficult Coworkers

While most people in the workplace do get along, it is impossible to have a team that gets along perfectly all of the time. Whether it is because of constant complaining, personality conflict, or workplace competition, it is essential to learn to deal with difficult coworkers in healthcare.