The nurses who work in labor and delivery are among the most dedicated and compassionate healers within the nursing profession. Typically, L&D nurses are drawn to the specialty by a deep passion for helping parents bring new life into the world and caring for them during delivery and recovery.

But when it comes to standing out in a competitive job market and finding your dream labor and delivery nursing position, you’ll need more than unbridled dedication to the practice—you’ll also need to implement some written wow-factor. In other words, a resume. 

A well-crafted and professional resume can quickly transport you from the initial interview to the delivery room where you can put your skills to work. In this guide, we’ll run through six tips to push your resume to the top of the pile. 

1. Provide Introductory Information

It may be obvious, but the most important information to include on your labor and delivery RN resume is your personal information. However, this doesn’t mean you’ll be devoting several paragraphs to detailing your personal journey and commitment to nursing—that sort of information is best saved for your cover letter and your interview.

Instead, the real estate at the top of your resume should let employers know three things:

  • Who you are – All that’s needed here is your full name and your professional title, located at the very top of your resume. 
  • Where you are – It’s useful for hiring managers to know where prospective candidates are located as this can impact scheduling interviews and start dates, among other factors. Be sure to include your physical address, even if you’re willing to relocate for the job.
  • How to contact you – Finally, your contact information is a crucial component of your resume. To make yourself available to busy recruiters, be sure to include multiple forms of contact, like your phone number and your email address. 

2. Include a Professional Summary             

In a way, your resume is your chance to make the all-important first impression that can either propel you to professional success or land you in the discard pile. 

But convincing employers that your resume was written and submitted by a real person, rather than materializing out of the cyber ether, can be tricky in an age when internet application procedures and online employment portals have depersonalized the hiring process. 

But fear not: Including a professional summary provides you with an opportunity to personalize your resume. This gives employers a sense of who you are behind your job history, education, and credentials. Again, you don’t need to tell your entire life story when applying for a nursing job. Instead, devote two to three sentences to discussing:

  • Your background and work experience – Don’t go into too much detail right away—that’ll come later. For now, simply provide basic information about your relevant work experience. For example, you can mention how many total years of nursing experience you have or general information about the work you’ve done.
  • Your special skills and capabilities – Again, you’ll have the chance later on to list all of your most laudable skills. Here, it’s a good idea to mention two or three of the skills that best match the nursing job you’re applying for. You may even include specific examples of how you’ve used those skills on the job in the past. Researching labor and delivery nurse job interview questions beforehand can also help you prepare your resume in anticipation of what talent acquisition and hiring teams may be looking for in candidates.
  • Your long-term career goals – For employers, hiring is an expensive and time-consuming process. Whether you’re looking for a position with long-term potential or are looking for a short stay as a travel nurse, it’s worth mentioning your career goals and aspirations. This is also a chance to briefly discuss your passion for labor and delivery nursing.  

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3. Detail Your Work History

Although you’ll briefly touch on your professional background in your summary, the work history section of your labor and delivery resume is where you’ll want to discuss your work history in greater detail. You should use this section to sell yourself as a candidate by highlighting your experience and qualifications. 

When it comes to listing your work history, you don’t have to include every job you’ve had since high school. Ideally, you should include only your most recent work history or positions that are most relevant to labor and delivery. 

When detailing your previous experience, be sure to: 

  • Add your most relevant work history to the top of the list
  • List two to three previous positions, including your current position, if applicable
  • Discuss the specific responsibilities and duties associated with each position

What If You’ve Worked As a Travel Nurse?

If your work history includes travel nursing jobs, be sure to include that on your resume. Even if you haven’t spent years working with patients in a single location, the range of experiences and exposures to nursing styles can be desirable information for future employers. 

That said, your labor and delivery resume should clearly distinguish between your permanent position and your travel history. Don’t worry, this doesn’t require radical reorganization of your resume. Feel free to list your travel positions along with your regular work history and detail the nature of each position.

On the other hand, if your most recent work history includes mostly short-term travel positions, it may be worth leaving out your more dated, permanent positions altogether. This can help keep your resume concise and uncluttered, resulting in a more professional, polished resume. 

4. Specify Your Skills

Essentially, a resume is a form of advertising. Its purpose is to connect individuals (employers) with a commodity (employees) that they can’t do without. That means you need to use your labor and delivery travel nurse resume to let employers know why you’re the best pick on the market.

Like your work history, you’ll touch on some of your nursing skills in your professional summary. But now you have the opportunity to really stand out by being more specific about those nursing skills and how you’ve used them to provide first-rate patient care.

The most important labor and delivery nurse responsibilities for resume are directly related to childbirth, such as:

  • Labor and delivery
  • Cesarean section delivery 
  • Epidurals
  • Administering analgesics 
  • Newborn care
  • Postpartum care1

While most of these responsibilities are centered around the birthing process, postpartum care extends beyond, providing crucial support to mothers and newborns after delivery. This is where highlighting your skills or aspirations to become a postpartum travel nurse can set you apart. It shows your dedication to comprehensive care that goes beyond the delivery room, emphasizing your commitment to the well-being of mothers and newborns during the critical postpartum period.

That said, a range of standard skills common to most nursing fields are also important to include, like:

  • Placing IVs
  • Administering medications
  • Monitoring and understanding vital signs
  • Wound care

The most important thing is to lean into your personal skill set—if you don’t have extensive experience working in labor and delivery but have skills that match the job requirements, make sure to emphasize relevant skill sets within the work history section of your LD nurse resume. 

5. Describe Your Educational Background

Across specialties, most nurses have at least an Associate Degree in Nursing or ADN. However, most hospitals and delivery centers require that a labor delivery nurse have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).

That being said, you should list your education level on your resume. This lets employers know that you have the proper educational background and framework for a career in labor and delivery nursing. 

When it comes to listing your educational history, be sure to include:

  • The school or schools where you studied
  • Your enrollment dates, including your graduation year
  • The specific degree or degrees you earned

6. Note Your Specialty Certifications and Licenses 

As a registered nurse, there’s a good chance that you’ve earned many licenses and certifications beyond your educational achievements. If so, you should most definitely include them on your resume. 

In some cases, certain certifications and licenses are required to work as a labor and delivery nurse, like your RN license.

And in many hospitals, labor and delivery nurses must obtain an Inpatient Obstetric Nursing Core Certification issued by the National Certification Corporation (NCC).2 However, some hospitals allow new hires a period of time, usually up to two years, to obtain this certification. 

To obtain the certification, the aspiring LD nurse must pass an exam. Eligibility for the exam includes:

  • An active RN license
  • 2,000 clinical hours in labor and delivery 
  • Labor and delivery work history within the past two years

Find the Perfect Position with Host Healthcare

Once you’ve crafted and perfected your labor and delivery nursing resume, it’s time to start applying to relevant positions. As a nurse, your skills are in high demand across the country, which provides you with numerous opportunities to advance your career. 

Looking to progress your career trajectory and travel across the country to provide the best healthcare possible? Now that you have learned and mastered how to become a labor and delivery nurse, it’s time to hit the road as a travel nurse with Host Healthcare.

When you partner with our team, you’ll experience diverse nursing environments to find the positions that match your skill sets best. Ultimately, we’re simplifying the way travel nursing works by taking care of the details to set travel nurses on the track to fulfilling careers. 

But we’re far more than just an online job board. When you apply to work with Host Healthcare, you get access to our network of tens of thousands of positions, a dedicated support team that’s always available via phone, text, live chat, and social media, and premium benefits that keep you covered even between assignments. 

Ready to roam? Get started today. 

 

Reviewed by:

Natalie Red Eagle, MSN, RN

Nursing Specialty: Labor & Delivery, Postpartum

I started as a new graduate nurse in San Diego, CA on a medical/surgical/oncology unit. After finishing the 40 week new graduate program, I transitioned onto a cardiac step down unit. Here I cared for patients before and after cardiac surgery and patients recovering from cerebral vascular accidents. While I loved this specialty, my passion has always been women’s health. My next move was to the Maternal Child Health program where I have been for almost 5 years as a labor and delivery and postpartum nurse. I have the privledge of assisting families during some of the most memorable times of their lives.

 

Sources: 

  1. Zip Job. Labor and Delivery Nurse Resume Example & Guide for 2021. https://www.zipjob.com/blog/labor-and-delivery-nurse-resume/ 
  2. All Nursing Schools. Labor and Delivery Nurse Training and Career Guide. https://www.allnursingschools.com/specialties/ld-nurse/