CV keywords for nurses and pharmacists in South Africa
What hospital groups, clinics and pharmacies search for in nursing and pharmacy CVs: SANC and SAPC categories, specialities and current certifications.
Healthcare recruiters screen for three things in order: current registration in the right category, the speciality, and certifications that are in date. Your CV needs all three in the first few lines.
Registration and category
For nurses, the SANC category: Professional Nurse, Midwife, Staff Nurse, Auxiliary Nurse, or Nurse or Midwife Specialist. For pharmacists, SAPC registration, and whether you have held the Responsible Pharmacist role. Guides: SANC registration and 2026 fees, SAPC intern to pharmacist.
Speciality is a separate search
"Professional Nurse" and "ICU-trained Professional Nurse" are different searches with very different numbers of candidates. Put the speciality and any post-basic qualification next to your category: ICU, theatre, emergency, neonatal, primary health care, midwifery, oncology.
Certifications with dates
BLS, ACLS and PALS are filter words, and hospitals check expiry. Write the year each one expires.
Standards and legislation
Numbers
For unit managers: beds and staff. For retail pharmacists: script volumes or turnover. For clinic nurses: patients per day and the programmes you ran (HIV, TB, immunisation).
Role-by-role keyword lists
Related reading
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