- What should your caregiver resume include?
- How can you create a professional summary?
- How should you describe your work experience as a caregiver?
- What can you do without any relevant caregiver experience?
- Include a fitting caregiver resume education and certifications section
- Which key skills are relevant for a caregiver resume?
- How to select the most impactful caregiver resume template
- Copyable caregiver resume example
- Key takeaways for writing a caregiver resume
Caregivers are essential to those who require additional resources and support due to medical issues. That support could involve taking care of housework, being an advocate for their needs, or providing assessments. If you want to enter this field, you’ll need a strong resume so you can stand out.
Our writing guide and attached resume can help with that. Here’s what we will cover in this guide:
What should a caregiver resume include
Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history)
Adding relevant key skills to your resume
Choosing the right resume template for a caregiver
What should your caregiver resume include?
As a caregiver, you’ll need to have skills related to caring for your patients and advocating for their needs. Having a background in client assessment and resource coordination can make you an ideal candidate for open roles. Along with including these elements on your resume, you must show you know how to manage crises, keep detailed records, and follow relevant laws. Designing your resume around these important skills is the first step in landing a job as a caregiver.
Your caregiver resume should contain the following elements:
The resume header with your contact information
The resume summary
The employment history section
The resume skills section
How can you create a professional summary?
When writing your professional summary, highlight specific skills that make you a good candidate for a caregiver role. Give an overview of the type of work you’ve done in the past and your experience supporting patients.
This is the section where you should mention your top skills, such as an ability to develop service plans and coordinate resources. Focus on skills that show up in the job listing for the position you are applying for. These are key, so a hiring manager will be paying closer attention to resumes with those specific skills.
See our adaptable caregiver resume summary below.
Experienced, compassionate and client-focused caregiver dedicated to assisting seniors and people with disabilities to live full, independent, safe, and dignified lives. Exceptional listening and conversation skills to promote active communication with clients of diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, personalities, and capabilities. Continually ensure compliance to policies, procedures, and standards.
How should you describe your work experience as a caregiver?
When writing your work experience section, you need to effectively communicate your responsibilities in each role, the impact of your work, and each role’s accomplishments. As often as you can, use action verbs. Some of the top ones beneficial to you as a caregiver are assessed, advocated, and evaluated.
The introductory paragraph for each role should include a highlight of your responsibilities. You can then add your key achievements in the bullet sections. It’s wise to quantify your achievements. However, this can be difficult for this type of role. Instead, you should focus on your special abilities and outcomes rather than your quantifiable results.
For example:
Collaborated with hospice team to promote peaceful environment for terminally ill clients.
Take a look at the adaptable caregiver resume employment history section below.
Non-medical Caregiver at Home Senior Care, Hillsboro Oregon 2018-Present
Enhance seniors’ quality of life and assist with independent living by providing personal care and emotional support to clients of non-medical care organization.
Provide companionship and conversation and assist seniors with stabilized and safe walking.
Remind clients to take medication and of healthcare provider appointments; accompany clients to appointments.
Perform light housekeeping tasks and run errands such as grocery shopping and refilling prescriptions.
Plan and prepare nutritious meals, accounting for specialized diets. Coordinate and implement mind-stimulating activities and provide social stimulation.
Document information regarding daily activities, report changes to family members and healthcare providers.
Operate hospital beds, oxygen machines, CPAP / LPAP machines, electric wheelchairs and Hoyer lift. Provide critical information to 9-1-1 staff and EMTs.
Collaborated with hospice team to promote peaceful environment and manage changing behaviors of terminally ill clients.
Teamed with assisted living facility staff to restore simple pleasures of life and ensure safety for clients with dementia and Alzheimer's.
Defused potentially volatile situations with physically aggressive Alzheimer's clients by diverting their attention from source of frustration to positive and calming activities.
Recommended caregiver meetings to discuss most appropriate and effective care plans for each client.
Established and maintained trust of challenging clients, resulting in higher retention and satisfaction rates.
Fostered productive and positive relationships with clients’ extended family members.
Non-medical Caregiver at Visiting Angels, Newberg Oregon. 2012-2018
Promoted independent living for seniors.
Established trust, developed productive working relationships with clients, family members and coworkers and effectively interfaced with medical providers.
Communicated with family members and company regarding clients’ physical, emotional and mental health, and provided notification of behavioral changes.
Engaged clients in conversation and redirected Alzheimer's patients’ source of frustration.
Cooked meals and provided light housekeeping. Documented activities, medications and appointments in daily journals.
Complied with all company policies and procedures and industry standards.
Played significant role in wellbeing of underweight client by encouraging her in healthy eating habits and diet.
Domestic Employee at ABC Resources Inc. Portland, Oregon.
Deliver non-medical care to client living with paralysis and multiple sclerosis, as well as provide respite for primary caregiver.
Prepare nutritious liquid meals, feed client using straw and ensure comfortable body positioning.
Operate Hoyer lift and wheelchairs.
Read aloud for clients’ enjoyment in clear and easy-to-understand diction.
Provide positive and stimulating conversation and companionship to client with severe disability.
Consistently follow detailed and specific verbal instructions ensure to client's environment complies with his preference.
Trained therapy pets to calmly sit with clients to provide comfort.
What can you do without any relevant caregiver experience?
If you have limited experience as a caregiver, that doesn’t automatically eliminate you from the industry. There are several strategies you can apply to your resume to show you are an ideal candidate. For example, ensure the skills you include on your resume are transferable to the role. Focus on your skills of empathy, organization, and communication. If you have any relevant coursework or training, add that as well.
Include a fitting caregiver resume education and certifications section
The education required for a caregiver will depend on the specific role, but you want to show all the relevant training and education you hold. When crafting your education section consider this:
List your education in reverse order with the highest degree first. Even if you’ve completed an associate or bachelor degree in an unrelated discipline, you still want to include it.
List any certifications you’ve completed or are working towards, as well as any training or online courses. For these, no need to include any training or certifications that aren’t relevant to the caregiver role.
Which key skills are relevant for a caregiver resume?
Certain skills are vital for a caregiver, and it’s important you show a hiring manager you have what it takes to be an effective employee. So, your resume will need several technical, interpersonal, and organizational abilities listed throughout.
The best way to choose the necessary skills for your resume is to read through the job description. It will contain information you can use to make your resume rank for ATS and appeal to a hiring manager. Many companies who hire care workers will run your resume through an ATS so it can search for the skills the company believes to be the most important. (Check out our article Resume ATS optimization for more information on how ATS works.)
In the attached resume template, you’ll find several caregiver competencies and skills relevant to a caregiver’s resume. However, here are a few specifically you may want to consider:
Personal care assistance
Medication management
Hospice and dementia Care
Mobility assistance
Documentation and reporting
Safety and emergency preparedness
Dementia Care
Oxygen Machine Operation
Documentation
ASL
Mind-stimulating Activities
Hospice/Terminal Illness Care
How to select the most impactful caregiver resume template
The most effective choice for a caregiver’s resume is a simple and clean design. You want to present the information in a way that allows a hiring manager to quickly read through your resume and pick out your most important skills and attributes.
If possible, keep your resume to just one page. However, if you have extensive experience in this industry, two pages are also acceptable. To improve readability, format your resume with some white space. This is a better option than squeezing all information together onto one page.
The template we’ve chosen works well for someone who is designing a caregiver resume, but we have many to choose from in our resume builder. You can get inspiration from the over 100 resume examples we have available there.
Copyable caregiver resume example
Summary example
Experienced, compassionate and client-focused caregiver dedicated to assisting seniors and people with disabilities to live full, independent, safe, and dignified lives. Exceptional listening and conversation skills to promote active communication with clients of diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, personalities, and capabilities. Continually ensure compliance to policies, procedures, and standards.
Employment history example
Non-medical Caregiver at Home Senior Care, Hillsboro Oregon 2018-Present
Enhance seniors’ quality of life and assist with independent living by providing personal care and emotional support to clients of non-medical care organization.
Provide companionship and conversation and assist seniors with stabilized and safe walking.
Remind clients to take medication and of healthcare provider appointments; accompany clients to appointments.
Perform light housekeeping tasks and run errands such as grocery shopping and refilling prescriptions.
Plan and prepare nutritious meals, accounting for specialized diets. Coordinate and implement mind-stimulating activities and provide social stimulation.
Document information regarding daily activities, report changes to family members and healthcare providers.
Operate hospital beds, oxygen machines, CPAP / LPAP machines, electric wheelchairs and Hoyer lift. Provide critical information to 9-1-1 staff and EMTs.
Collaborated with hospice team to promote peaceful environment and manage changing behaviors of terminally ill clients.
Teamed with assisted living facility staff to restore simple pleasures of life and ensure safety for clients with dementia and Alzheimer's.
Defused potentially volatile situations with physically aggressive Alzheimer's clients by diverting their attention from source of frustration to positive and calming activities.
Recommended caregiver meetings to discuss most appropriate and effective care plans for each client.
Established and maintained trust of challenging clients, resulting in higher retention and satisfaction rates.
Fostered productive and positive relationships with clients’ extended family members.
Non-medical Caregiver at Visiting Angels, Newberg Oregon. 2012-2018
Promoted independent living for seniors.
Established trust, developed productive working relationships with clients, family members and coworkers and effectively interfaced with medical providers.
Communicated with family members and company regarding clients’ physical, emotional and mental health, and provided notification of behavioral changes.
Engaged clients in conversation and redirected Alzheimer's patients’ source of frustration.
Cooked meals and provided light housekeeping. Documented activities, medications and appointments in daily journals.
Complied with all company policies and procedures and industry standards.
Played significant role in wellbeing of underweight client by encouraging her in healthy eating habits and diet.
Domestic Employee at ABC Resources Inc. Portland, Oregon.
Deliver non-medical care to client living with paralysis and multiple sclerosis, as well as provide respite for primary caregiver.
Prepare nutritious liquid meals, feed client using straw and ensure comfortable body positioning.
Operate Hoyer lift and wheelchairs.
Read aloud for clients’ enjoyment in clear and easy-to-understand diction.
Provide positive and stimulating conversation and companionship to client with severe disability.
Consistently follow detailed and specific verbal instructions ensure to client's environment complies with his preference.
Trained therapy pets to calmly sit with clients to provide comfort.
Skills example
Dementia Care
Oxygen Machine Operation
Documentation
ASL
Mind-stimulating Activities
Hospice/Terminal Illness Care
Key takeaways for writing a caregiver resume
When writing your caregiver resume, highlight relevant skills, such as personal care assistance and documentation.
In your work experience section, give a good overview of the type of work you did in past caregiver roles and add any achievements you’ve had.
Use the job description as your guide when deciding which skills to include because a hiring manager will be looking for a resume with skills that tie back to their opening.
We can help make writing a resume easy with our online resume builder where you can pair AI-powered content and an adaptable template to create an ideal caregiver resume. We want to make applying for jobs easier!
