Therapist Resume Example

After reading this article, you'll feel confident creating a therapist resume that effectively showcases your relevant skills and experience. The guide will show you practical examples of how to structure your resume to show off your best and most relevant skills and career achievements. It will also show you how to tailor your resume according to the job description and your unique skill set. Read on to learn how to write a perfect therapist resume, from the advice of careers experts at Jobseeker.

Key sections for a therapist resume

Although the content of a therapist resume may differ according to your experience and seniority, the main sections will remain the same. If you're lacking relevant work experience, you might choose to add sections that showcase your skill set earlier than in a traditional resume layout. These sections might include projects, education, hobbies and interests, skills and other optional sections.

While the content and format of your resume may vary depending on your experience levels, it's important to always include the following sections:

Resume Header with Contact Details

Your therapist resume header should contain your name and contact details. These include your email address and phone number. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can also add that, to give employers the chance to learn more about your skills and experience. It's not necessary to include a photo or any other personal information. Create a clear, well-structured header that acts as the headline of your resume. Use color accents and blocks to help this section stand out and catch the eye of the reader.

Make sure the email address you list in your header is professional-looking and doesn't contain any inappropriate content such as nicknames or unsuitable language. Opt for an email address based on your name or profession, or a combination of both. Finally, check your contact details before sending your resume, to ensure everything's up-to-date.

Resume Profile

In your resume summary, write a short paragraph that highlights two or three of your key achievements and skills for therapist roles. You could also call this section 'resume objective' or 'personal profile'. A resume summary covers your career experience to date, while a resume objective focuses more on your ambitions for the future. Additionally, make sure your resume summary reflects the job description and focuses on qualities that are relevant to working as a therapist.

Alternatively, use this summary to introduce your personal career ambitions and explain why therapist roles are a good fit for you at this stage of your career.

A great resume summary should highlight why you're an ideal candidate for therapist roles by showing key skills and qualities that reflect the job description and provide evidence to support them. It should also introduce your personality and unique qualities to the reader, to help them start to form an opinion about you as a candidate. See below for some great examples of how to approach your therapist resume.

Alternatively, a poor resume summary would include bland, generic information that does little to prove your suitability for the role, while failing to provide any useful insights on you as a person or as a candidate. See above for some examples of things to avoid when writing your therapist resume summary.

Skills

Adding a list of your key skills provides a quick reference for the reader of what you can bring to a therapist role. Skills such as cognitive behavioral therapy or active listening skills are particularly useful for therapist jobs. Additionally, read the job description to make sure your skills match those required for therapist positions. You could also include some unique skills that help you stand out as a candidate.

How to include hard skills on your therapist resume

For your hard skills list, include any technical abilities or specific industry knowledge that's essential to working as a therapist. These could be skills gained through work experience or qualifications. Furthermore, your hard skills list helps to show employers how competent and experienced you are at key therapist duties and responsibilities. Include around four or five key hard skills that are listed in the job description. These skills will help to convince the hiring manager that you're a good fit for the position.

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 therapist resume.

Showcasing your best soft skills

In your soft skills list, include any personal characteristics that make you a good fit for a therapist job. Soft skills tend to be more universal than hard skills, but they're no less important. Indeed, without soft skills, you may struggle to adapt to therapist roles or meet the standards expected of you. So make sure you include several key soft skills on your resume. In this section, add four of five transferable skills that match the job description.

The strongest resume soft skills sections include a mix of skills that match your best personal strengths, and that reflect the skills listed in the job description. See below for some examples of effective soft skills for a therapist resume.

Education

Under education, add details of any degrees or professional qualifications relevant to therapist roles.

Opportunities as a therapist and similar roles in the sector usually require a specialist degree. If you have a Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree, be sure to mention this in your resume. You might also want to list any qualifications that highlight your motivational interviewing or cognitive behavioral therapy.

Enter the name and level of the qualification, the institution you studied at, its location and your dates of study or graduation. You could also add one or two bullet points to draw attention to your grades if they were particularly good, as well as any specialist subjects you studied. This will help the hiring manager understand your knowledge and special skills better.

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

Under this section, list any relevant certifications or licenses that are relevant to therapist jobs. You could list accreditations for certain professional roles or licenses for certain activities that help to make you a strong candidate. Therefore, make sure you list the dates of your certifications and licenses so employers can see they're up-to-date and valid.

See below for some suggestions of relevant certifications for a therapist resume:

Work Experience

Under your work experience section, add any jobs you've had in the past that are relevant to the position of a therapist. Mention only the most appropriate and relevant jobs you've had in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent and working backwards. Add your job title, the name of the employer, the location of the role and your dates of employment.

For each job listed in this section, add some bullet points so the employer can understand the skills you developed, and your achievements. Focus on showcasing the impact you made on the organization, and show evidence of how you made a difference.

A good resume work experience section includes your most relevant previous jobs and highlights your key achievements in each role. To make the best possible impression on hiring managers, make sure each entry in your work experience section references skills and experience listed in the job description, and shows how you added value to each role with quantifiable evidence and outcomes. Review some strong examples of resume work experience sections in the graphic below.

The example above can give you some idea of what not to include in your resume work experience section. Ineffective work experience sections tend to focus too much on everyday responsibilities over skills and achievements. If you use vague descriptions of activities and fail to back up your achievements with evidence, you're likely to fail to make an impact on the reader.

Optional Resume Sections

If you need to provide further evidence of your suitability for the job, optional sections can be useful for a therapist resume. Add any of the sections below that help you showcase your key skills and experience.

Hobbies and Interests

Add any hobbies and interests that reinforce your credentials for the position. Your hobbies and interests are useful for a therapist resume if you want to show a different side to your personality, or to stand out among other candidates. They can also be valuable if you're a junior candidate without much relevant work experience. Just make sure any hobbies and interests you include in your resume add genuine insight into your personality, in ways other sections of the resume can't.

Volunteering

This section can be valuable for a therapist resume, if you've done any voluntary work that showcases your relevant skills. Add any voluntary roles, including your position, the name of the organization, the dates of your voluntary work and a brief explanation of your responsibilities and achievements.

References

References aren't a standard therapist resume section, but employers do sometimes ask for them. Check the job advert and only include them if requested. Be sure to prepare your referees in advance, so they've agreed to provide a reference and are ready to be contacted.

Best words to use in a therapist resume

Start each bullet point in your work experience section with a strong verb to show actions you took. Add strong verbs from the list below to create a greater impact with your work experience section.

If you need help creating a resume that impresses HR managers, take a look at Jobseeker's professional resume templates. You can also access beautiful cover letter templates that help your application stand out.

Example of a therapist resume

The therapist resume example below includes all the sections above, so you can see how a completed resume looks:

Guide to making your resume ATS-friendly

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are increasingly taking responsibility for the management and processing of job applications, helping hiring practices to become more efficient. This can include screening resumes by scanning and ranking each application according to how closely it matches the job description. When drafting your therapist 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.

Here are a few quick tips for creating an ATS-friendly resume:

• Adopt a traditional structure for your resume, such as a reverse-chronological format or a functional format. These are likely to be the easiest layouts for ATS software to scan.
• Add keywords that match the job description throughout your resume, as ATS applications scan for these and well-placed, considered use can help your resume rank more highly.
• Using clear, simple headings makes it easier for an ATS application to scan your resume, as it can easily identify what's in each section of your document.
• 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.
• Use concise language to keep the length of your resume to between one and two pages. This will make it easier to scan for ATS applications.

Key points for your therapist resume

The best resumes focus on your skills and the value you've added to previous roles, rather than focusing on your duties and responsibilities. Use a suitable resume format and tailor your resume for every application you submit.

HR-approved resume templates and other tools by Jobseeker are the easiest way to create a winning job application. Sign up and follow the simple instructions to complete a resume that stands out from the crowd. Jobseeker's expert-designed cover letter generator can help your applications make a strong first impression on hiring managers. Find detailed cover letter examples to complement your resume and get your application noticed.

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