How To Write And Optimize A Healthcare Resume

An excellent healthcare resume is essential for those who need to land high-paying, senior healthcare roles.

A healthcare resume should showcase not only technical skills, but also demonstrates your commitment to patient care and the value you can bring to a healthcare facility.

We’re going to explore what exactly makes a good resume and how you should format your medical resume to maximize impact.

May 22, 2024 by Mollie

Tips For Healthcare Resume Formatting

First, let’s look at formatting and understand how structure can impact your chances of landing an interview.

ATS-Friendly Formatting

Many large healthcare organizations use an ATS (applicant tracking systems) to simplify the hiring process. With hiring teams often receiving hundreds of applications for each role, these systems scan resumes to pick out the best ones for further inspection. 

This means that the format you use (and the keywords you include) are both incredibly important, and using the wrong format could mean that your impressive resume isn’t even properly read by the hiring manager.

Try to send your resume in a .pdf or .docx format for the best compatibility with these systems.

Use Bullet Points

When crafting a healthcare resume, it’s crucial that every part of your resume is clear and easy to read. This is where bullet points can be particularly effective.

Bullet points help to present your experiences and qualifications succinctly and clearly. Using them correctly can emphasize your contributions and achievements and increase the likelihood of you getting an interview.

• Action Words: For maximum impact, each point should start with an action verb that highlights your role, duties and accomplishments. Words like “Administered”, “Coordinated”, or “Led” are excellent ways to include vital softer skills in your resume whilst keeping points succinct.
• Quantifiable Results: Wherever possible, try to include specific numbers to show the impact of your work, like “Led a team of 10 healthcare professionals” or “Decreased patient wait times by 10%”.
• Personalization: Everything in your resume should be completely relevant and, ideally, tailored for the role and hiring organization. This ensures that your experiences and skills properly match up to those requested in the job listing. 

Before you begin to write your resume, you should always research the hiring company. This helps you to understand their ethos and what traits they’re likely to be looking for in new hires. 

The job description itself is also a great place to look. Try to mirror the language used back to the hiring business to emphasize compatibility.

Evidence Successes With Quantitative Examples

You should try to use quantitative examples wherever possible when writing a healthcare resume. These help to further emphasize the impact you’ve had in past roles and help to illustrate to hiring companies how you can help them in the future.

How To Highlight Achievements and Experiences On A Healthcare Resume

There is a simple formula that you should try to use when writing bullet points to emphasize experiences on your resume and effectively highlight impact.

The Formula – Achievement/Highlight + Metric + How It Was Achieved 

(Tip: Begin each point with a power verb to illustrate your role)

Example: Improved patient satisfaction scores by 25% by implementing a new patient feedback system and conducting regular staff training sessions on patient communication.

What Is A Good Summary For A Medical Resume?

Not every resume requires a summary, but these sections can be extremely useful for showing some personal achievements or highlighting professional interests or specialities. 

A good summary for a medical resume should be succinct and impactful. It should be limited to a few lines at most and can include bullet points to ensure that every word is impactful and to the point.

Be sure to tailor this section, as you would with other sections, for the specific role you’re applying for.

@ultmeche #greenscreen 10/10 resume for those of you in nursing or healthcare #nursing #healthcare #resume #nurse #registerednurse ♬ original sound – Engineering Career Coach

How To Write A Healthcare Resume

Now, let’s look at which sections you should include and what you need to focus on in each of them. 

Step 1: Contact Details

Your contact details are a crucial part of your resume and should always appear at the top, regardless of the industry.

This section should occupy a small area at the very top of your resume and include the following:

• Your full legal name
• Your phone number
• A professional email address
• An optional LinkedIn profile, provided it is professional and up-to-date

Step 2: Work Experience & Responsibilities

Hiring managers often pay the most attention to the experience section of your resume, making it a critical area to highlight your skills and accomplishments effectively.

Here’s how to structure this section:

• Employer: Provide the name and location of your employer.
• Job Title: Clearly state your job title.
• Dates of Employment: Indicate the start and end dates (month and year).
• Responsibilities and Achievements: Use bullet points to describe your responsibilities and notable achievements, emphasizing those most relevant to the healthcare position you’re seeking.

Step 3: Education

Your educational background should be listed in reverse chronological order, starting with your most advanced qualifications.

• Institution: The name and location of the institution where you earned your degree.
• Degree: The title of the degree you obtained.
• Dates: The date you graduated or your expected graduation date.

Step 4: Certifications & Licenses

Finally, you want to be sure to include any necessary licenses and qualifications.

• Certification/License Name: Clearly state the certification or license.
• Issuing Organization: Name the organization that issued the certification or license.
• Date of Issuance and Expiry: Include the date you obtained it or the expiration date, whichever is most relevant.

Crafting A Healthcare Resume To Land An Interview

With all of this information in mind, it’s time to rewrite your healthcare resume.

You could try using an expertly crafted template or even get a professional to review and rewrite your resume to maximize your chances of landing your dream role.

Here’s the template to help you get started.

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About the author

Mollie Buttery
Writer | SEO | Articles & Blog Posts | Social Media

Mollie supports ULTMECHE through website growth, social media, SEO, and also other digital marketing tricks. Mollie has 10+ years experience of in house and freelance marketing experience in industries such as Finance, Law, SAAS, Automotive, Building Services, Commerce, and more. Some of her favorite writing topics consist of sports and finance. Mollie has been key to the growth of ULTMECHE’s SEO and digital marketing efforts.

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