Surgical Tech Resume Example

This comprehensive guide will give you all the tools you need to craft a surgical tech resume that positions you strongly against other candidates. You'll find valuable tips on writing a resume that best showcases your unique skills and achievements. There is also extensive guidance on how to structure your resume to match the job description, and to reflect your experience levels to impress HR specialists and employers. Read on to access expert insights from Jobseeker that will help you create a winning surgical tech resume.

Key sections for a surgical tech resume

It's essential to include a few core sections in your surgical tech resume, while there are also a few optional sections you can make use of to strengthen your application. For junior candidates with little work experience, other sections of the resume take on more prominence and might be placed before the work experience section. These could include education, skills, projects, hobbies and volunteer work.

Your resume layout and structure may differ depending on your experience levels, but make sure your resume includes the following:

Resume Header

Your surgical tech resume header is the place to add your contact details. Start by adding your full name and underneath, include your email address, phone number and location. Adding your LinkedIn profile, if you have one, can help the employer get a better insight into your skills and industry expertise. You don't need to include any additional personal information or a photo. Make your resume header clear, concise and as brief and compact as possible. Consider different layouts that spread the information horizontally across the page rather than using a different line for each piece of information.

Opt for a professional-looking email address based on your name. If your email address could be construed as unprofessional or inappropriate because it contains nicknames or unsuitable language, create a new, more professional email address for your job applications. Always check your contact details to make sure they're up-to-date before you send your resume.

Resume Profile

Following your resume header, write a resume summary to introduce yourself and showcase some of your key skills and achievements. Alternative names for this section are 'resume objective' and 'personal profile'. While a resume summary focuses on your career experience, a resume objective covers your ambitions and career plans. Furthermore, when writing your profile, focus on two or three key skills and achievements that showcase your suitability for surgical technician roles.

Alternatively, you could use this section to reference your objectives and ambitions, and how this role would fit into your career journey.

A good resume summary reflects the job description and highlights some of the key skills required for surgical technician roles, while leaving the reader with an impression of your unique qualities and strengths. The most effective resume summaries also provide evidence to back up the claims made in them. Take a look at some strong examples of how to approach a surgical tech resume summary in the graphic below.

On the other hand, a resume summary can be ineffective if it lacks specific information about how your skills align with the job description, or fails to paint a picture of your unique qualities and talents. The graphic above shows some of the pitfalls to avoid when creating your resume summary.

Skills

Listing your key skills can help to prove your suitability for surgical technician jobs. These could be patient vital monitoring, stress management techniques or various other relevant skills. Again, refer to the surgical technician job description for an indication of the types of skills the employer is looking for, and make sure your skills section reflects these.

Listing hard skills on your surgical tech resume

Under hard skills, add any specialist skills you possess that are specifically required for surgical technician jobs. These tend to be technical skills and industry knowledge essential to the position. Furthermore, your list of hard skills provides a strong indication to the reader of your expertise in surgical technician roles, and how well you'll fit into the position. If possible, add four or five hard skills that reflect the requirements of the job description. These will boost your chances of success in your applications.

You'll make more impact with your resume hard skills list if you focus on technical skills that reflect your unique expertise and specialism, and that match the key requirements in the job description. See the graphic below for some tips on hard skills for a surgical tech resume.

Adding soft skills to your surgical tech resume

Your soft skills are the core qualities and personal characteristics that make you a good employee. They tend to apply to multiple professions and jobs, though the soft skills you'll require may change as you move from junior to senior positions. Indeed, as the nature of work changes, soft skills are growing in importance, so make sure you include them in your resume. In this section, add four of five transferable skills that match the job description.

A good soft skills section would include skills that match the job description, and also reflect your key strengths and qualities. See the graphic below for an indication of what to include in a strong soft skills section for a surgical tech resume.

Educational Achievements

The education section provides space to list your highest and most recent academic achievements that are relevant to working as a surgical technician.

A surgical technician role tends to require candidates to have a university or college degree, so make sure you list yours in your resume. A Bachelor of Science in Surgical Technology degree or similar is the most suitable for this job, but you could also include any other relevant qualifications that show your surgical instrument handling or patient vital monitoring.

For each entry in this section, add the name and level of your qualification, the institution you studied at, its location and your dates of study. Include bullet points to show any specialist modules you studied, awards or exceptional grades and achievements that can set you apart from other candidates. These will all contribute to creating a positive impression on employers.

If you organized or participated in any clubs or societies while at university, or you took part in any voluntary work, you could also mention these here.

Certifications and Training

In your certifications section, list any professional certifications or licenses that are relevant to working as a surgical technician. Add any official certifications or accreditations that increase your level of qualification and suitability for working as a surgical technician. Therefore, make sure you list the dates of your certifications and licenses so employers can see they're up-to-date and valid.

Read on to see some relevant example certifications for a surgical technician resume:

Employment History

In your work experience section, list any previous relevant roles you've worked in, as well as your key achievements as a surgical technician. For each entry, list the job title, the name of the employer, its location and the dates you worked there. Add each job in reverse-chronological order, starting with your current or most recent role.

Also include some bullet points for each job mentioned, showcasing your achievements so the employer can see the impact you made on the company. Pay attention to the job description and make sure each point is relevant to surgical technician roles.

An effective resume work experience section is one that constantly echoes the skills and experience listed in the job description, and shows how you used your skills to positive effect in each job. Each bullet point should be carefully crafted to showcase a particular skill or achievement relevant to surgical technician jobs, with evidence to show the value you added. Review some strong examples of resume work experience sections in the graphic below.

Above, you can see a weaker example of a resume work experience section to best avoid. Less effective resume work experience sections might take a more vague, descriptive approach to previous jobs. They focus on responsibilities and everyday duties rather than referencing career achievements and the value you've added for previous employers.

Optional Sections

As well as the main sections of a surgical technician resume, optional sections can help you prove your credentials to employers. Choose any optional sections that showcase essential or desirable skills or experience for surgical technician jobs.

Personal Hobbies and Interests

Including your hobbies and interests can be a valuable way of showing your key skills and qualities. They also help to show a different side of your personality, and can help your resume create a more memorable impression on hiring managers. If you're short on real world work experience, hobbies and interests can be a useful way of providing more information about your qualities. Don't include hobbies and interests in your resume unless they showcase a specific interest or aspect of your personality. You'll want them to add something to your application that you can't add elsewhere.

Volunteer Work

Listing volunteer work is another useful way to prove your relevant experience for surgical technician roles. List your volunteer job title, the organization you volunteered for, its location and the dates of your involvement, alongside a brief explanation of your responsibilities in the role.

References

Standard surgical technician resumes don't tend to include references, but you might find them requested occasionally. Check the job advert to see if you'll need to add references to your resume. Only include referees that you've had prior approval from, and notify them to expect contact from the employer.

Best action words for your surgical tech resume

Action words can help illustrate to the hiring manager the difference you made in each of your previous jobs. Choose from the list of words below to increase the impact of your work experience section.

For help creating an eye-catching resume design to catch the attention of hiring managers, see Jobseeker's professional resume layouts. You can also use our clear, effective cover letter templates to complete your application.

Sample surgical tech resume

Using each of the sections above, we've created this example surgical tech resume, to help guide you when creating your own:

Making an ATS-friendly resume

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help recruiters and employers to manage their hiring process. They can handle some of the more time-consuming and resource-intensive jobs, such as initial screening of resumes. Employers often receive hundreds of applications per vacancy, and ATS software can quickly and accurately scan and rank resumes based on their likely suitability for any role. When drafting your surgical tech resume, there are a few guidelines to follow to give you the best chance of passing the ATS screening stage and progressing with your application.

Follow these simple rules when writing your resume, to make sure it's ATS compliant:

• Opt for an established, traditional resume format such as a reverse-chronological or functional structure. These will ensure your resume includes all the necessary details ATS systems scan for.
• Use of job description keywords throughout your resume will help it rank higher in the ATS scanning stage, as it will more closely match the requirements laid out in the job description.
• Use clear headings that break your resume up into readable, scannable sections that match the standard content employers expect from a resume.
• Use a resume design that includes clean, professional design elements to give your content space to breathe. This might include clear, readable fonts, subtle color accents and simple design elements.
• Adopt simple, professional language to keep your resume as concise as possible. This tends to make your document more readable, and easier for ATS software to scan.

Key points for your surgical tech resume

The key to a strong resume is to showcase your relevant skills and achievements through your work experience and other activities. Pick a resume format that matches your experience levels, and tailor the content of your resume to reflect the details of the job description.

Use Jobseeker's resume templates, other tools and resources to create an application that impresses employers. Sign up today to access a wealth of valuable resume and cover letter resources. To make the best possible impression with your applications, write a cover letter with the help of Jobseeker. You can also find plenty of expert-designed cover letter examples for inspiration.

Sources:

(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx

(2) Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications, New York State Department of Labor: https://dol.ny.gov/resumes-cover-letters-and-job-applications