Certified Nursing Assistant Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Certified Nursing Assistant resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Certified nursing assistants are an integral part of every hospital and nursing home. They provide direct care to patients, helping them with basic needs like bathing and feeding, as well as more complex tasks like dressing wounds or assisting with physical therapy exercises.
CNA jobs often have high turnover rates because there are so many opportunities for growth within the field—especially for those who are looking to work in a hospital setting. CNAs are often promoted into positions as nurses’ assistants or patient care technicians, and some even move into management roles.
If you’re interested in pursuing a new role as a certified nursing assistant or want to update your resume to reflect your experience in this field, here are some tips and an example to help you write a compelling CNA resume that hiring managers will love.
How to Write a Certified Nursing Assistant Resume
Here’s how to write a certified nursing assistant resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
When you’re writing bullet points, it can be tempting to simply list your responsibilities. But that’s not enough to make a strong impression. Instead, you should use your bullet points to demonstrate your value by using specific examples and numbers.
For example, rather than saying you “provided patient care,” you could say you “provided daily care for 15 patients in long-term care facility, ensuring all needs were met and all patients received five-star quality care.”
The second bullet point paints a much clearer picture of what exactly you did and the results of your work. And that’s what hiring managers want to see—so make sure to include that kind of detail in your bullet points!
Related: What Is a Certified Nursing Assistant? How to Become One
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
Most CNA resumes are scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. These programs look for terms like “patient care” and “crisis management” in order to determine whether your skills are a match for the job you’ve applied to. If you don’t have enough relevant keywords on your resume, the ATS might discard your application.
To make sure this doesn’t happen, use this list of common CNA keywords to help you identify the right terms to include on your resume:
- Nursing
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
- Basic Life Support (BLS)
- Medication Administration
- Patient Safety
- Patient Care
- Hospitals
- Personal Care
- Inpatient Care
- Healthcare
- Healthcare Management
- Healthcare
- Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
- U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Phlebotomy
- Vital Signs
- Physical Therapy
- Nursing Assisting
- Elder Care
- Personal Service
- CNA
- CNC
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Time Management
- Critical Thinking
- Teaching
- Microsoft Access
- Leadership
- Social Media
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) play a critical role in the healthcare system, and as such, they are expected to be proficient in the use of technology. CNAs use technology to communicate with doctors, nurses, and other members of the healthcare team, as well as to monitor patients’ health and vital signs. They also use technology to document patients’ care and treatment.
So it’s important for CNAs to list their technical skills prominently on their resumes. Some of the most commonly used programs and systems include: electronic health records (EHR) software, patient monitoring systems, and medical devices.
Related: How Much Does a Certified Nursing Assistant Make?
Remember The Basics
As you draft your resume, you’ll want to keep a few basic guidelines in mind.
Create Scannable Sections
There are a few things you can do to make your resume easier to read and understand quickly. Aligning everything to the left, using a standard font type and size, and keeping bullets under 2 lines will help make your resume more skimmable. You should also try to leave some white space on the page to help the recruiter easily scan through your information.
Be Concise
Ideally, a resume should only be one page long. However, if you have a lot of experience to include, you can make a two-page resume. If a resume is too long, remove irrelevant information or trim it down to make it more concise.
Check Your Work
Proofreading your resume is important to ensuring that it looks its best. There are several things to watch for when proofreading, including spelling mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and grammatical mistakes. It is also important to be aware of commonly confused words, so that you do not accidentally use the wrong one. Having friends or family members proofread your resume for you can be helpful, as they may catch mistakes that you missed.
Consider a Summary
A resume summary statement is an excellent way to introduce yourself to potential employers and highlight the skills and experiences that make you the perfect candidate for the job. By summarizing your skills, experience, and goals succinctly, you can show the hiring manager that you have the qualifications they are looking for and make it easy for them to see why you would be a valuable addition to their team.
Related Resume Examples
