How to Write a Resume for the Healthcare Industry (Sample Included)

Break It Down: Healthcare Resume Sections

Healthcare resumes are not radically different from a standard resume. Both types of resumes typically contain the same elements. 

Header: Your Contact Information and More

You should start your healthcare resume with contact info so hiring managers know who you are and how they can contact you to schedule an interview. Be sure to include your first and last name, phone number, email address, city and state, and a link to your LinkedIn profile.

Pro tip: Be sure to use a professional email address from a modern, trusted domain.

Follow your contact information with a resume title. We recommend simply using the title of the position you are applying to. 

So your healthcare resume header should look something like this: 

Summary of Qualifications

Your next section should be your summary of qualifications, which gives hiring managers insight into your qualifications for the job as soon as they look at it. This section is made up of a few sentences or bullet points that outline your most impressive skills, achievements, and credentials, making a great first impression on the reader. 

It’s very important that you directly target this section to the job you’re applying for. If you are staying in healthcare, it’s pretty straightforward. If you are transitioning to another industry, approach this with an emphasis on your expertise, skills, and experience that are relevant to the new job you are applying to. 

To write a winning summary of qualifications, start off with this formula for your first sentence:

Descriptive Word + Job Title + Level of Experience + Key Area of Expertise

Next add one to three more short sentences or two to three bullet points. Follow the same structure but replace the job title with a powerful noun. Elaborate on your key areas of expertise that are most relevant to the qualifications of the job you’re applying to.

For example, your summary section could be formatted like this:

Skills

The skills section, sometimes titled Areas of Expertise, lists hard and soft skills that align with the job you are applying to. Take a close look at specific skills included in the job description, and if they are part of your experience and expertise, list them. Good news: This section doubles as an easy place to weave ATS keywords into your healthcare resume. 

Make sure you keep this section short. Include only the skills that are relevant to each job application. In our example, we include interpersonal and industry skills:

Professional Experience

For most people, your professional experience section will probably be the longest part of your resume. This is where you list your work experience in reverse-chronological order, along with 3-6 bullet points per position. Your most recent positions should have more bullet points than older positions.

Include your job title, the company, and the dates of your employment for each position you list. Next, provide a bulleted list of relevant achievements on the job. We also recommend including a 1-2 line paragraph before the bullets with an overview of any important responsibilities or information about the company that’s not obvious from your job title or company title.

Here’s an example:

Bullet points should lead with an action verb and should always include metrics when possible. This is a place for you to toot your own horn and show hiring managers what you personally brought to the job. For strong, accomplishment-driven bullet points, use our formula:

(1) Active Verb + (2) Contribution and Skills Used + (3) Result

(4) Add Metrics to Contribution and/or Result

Clinical Experiences, Residencies and Fellowships

For many doctors, surgeons, and dentists, especially those without much work experience, it may make sense to emphasize your clinical experience, residencies, and fellowships. 

An effective way to do this is by listing these in their own section on your healthcare resume. Listing these in their own section makes it easy for hiring managers to quickly assess your experiences that bridge your formal education and employment.

Education, Training, Certifications, and Licenses

The education and training section can include diploma and certification programs for aides and assistants as well as graduate degree programs for doctors, nurses, and other advanced healthcare roles. You can make the most of this section by highlighting any accomplishments and credentials you earned while in school.

Here’s an example of an education and certifications section. You can see this job-seeker listed certifications under her degree programs, rather than making an entirely new section:

Depending on your field and individual background, it may make more sense for your healthcare resume to break out special certifications, licenses, and continuing education credits into their own separate section. The best way to make this decision is to get everything down in your document, look at what is emphasized in the job description, and play with different approaches to see which makes your strengths shine brightest.

Final Words of Advice

The most important information should always be at the top of your document. Education, training, certifications and licensing are so important in many positions in this industry. So it may make sense for you to include your education section and your clinical experiences, residencies, and fellowships section higher up in your healthcare resume. Same goes with your certifications and licenses section, if you have one.

Are you a recent graduate or recently wrapped up a fellowship? If you answered yes, then that’s another reason these sections may need to be listed before professional experience on your resume.

Feel free to shuffle your sections around if you think it makes sense to highlight these aspects of your background, especially if those are emphasized and seem like a really important qualification in the job description you are applying to. As with any resume, the most important thing you can do is to align your healthcare resume with every single job description you apply to.

That’s all you need to know to be able to craft an attention-getting healthcare resume! Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need help with your resume. And don’t forget to check out the other articles on our blog for more helpful resume tips.