Nursing resume keywords

We counted the skills in 227 open nursing job postings from 10 employers, including Lyra Health, Talkiatry and SonderMind. The ones employers ask for most are nurse practitioner (96% of postings), billing (93%) and behavioral health (78%). 72% of the postings mention AI, though often in the company's description rather than as a skill the job needs.

#	Keyword	Share of postings
1	nurse practitioner	96%
2	billing	93%
3	behavioral health	78%
4	patient care	51%
5	process improvement	33%
6	EMR	26%
7	onboarding	23%
8	telehealth	23%
9	RN	6%
10	HIPAA	3%
11	case management	3%
12	care coordination	2%

Soft skills employers mention

coaching · 49%communication · 26%decision making · 23%leadership · 20%empathy · 3%documentation · 2%

Show these through results in your bullets (“led a team of six”) rather than listing them as adjectives.

Languages

Spanish · 3%

How to use these keywords on your nursing resume

Start with the posting, not this list. These are averages across 227 jobs; the one you're applying for has its own priorities. Use this page to spot common gaps, then match the specific posting.
Name skills the way employers do. If you use “nurse practitioner”, “billing” and “behavioral health”, write those exact words. Applicant tracking systems and recruiters search for them, and a close synonym can be missed.
Put each skill in a bullet that shows a result. Naming patient care inside a bullet about what you achieved with it, with a number where you can, is stronger than listing it alone in a skills section.
Add only what's true. If you've worked with “patient care”, “process improvement” and “EMR” but your resume doesn't say so, add it. If you haven't, leave it out: interviews expose padded resumes quickly.

More about nursing jobs

Resume keywords for other jobs

How these numbers are calculated

Every figure comes from open nursing job postings on MANY Hired, imported from employers' own career pages. For each posting we pick out the skills, tools, certifications and qualifications its description names, then count how many postings ask for each one. A job counts as nursing by its title. Updated October 28, 2026.