Elevate your sonographer career with our guide to creating an exceptional resume. We’ll share professional advice on showcasing your background and skills, with strategic tips to help land your next job.
Being a sonographer provides an exciting, in-demand career path if you love helping people and working with cutting-edge technology. But, it’s also highly competitive too, so you’ll need to stand out in the candidate pool. In this resume example and writing guide, we’ll show you how to create a top-notch resume that makes the best possible first impression.
This resume guide will cover the following topics:
What should a sonographer resume include
Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education)
Adding relevant key skills to your resume
Choosing the right resume template for a sonographer
Your resume needs to convey your skills, qualifications, and expertise as a sonographer, combined with your strong critical thinking skills and empathetic approach. Hiring managers are often time-pressed, especially in a busy healthcare environment. So, keeping your resume format clear, concise, and informative (much like a scan) is the best way to impress recruiters and ensure you don’t lose their attention.
Your sonographer resume should contain the following elements:
The resume header with your contact information
The resume summary
The employment history section
The resume skills section
The education section
Your first chance to make a great impression is your professional summary. This is your elevator pitch that lays out what you do and how well you do it. One way to make your profile really stand out is by listing this information into short, impactful bullet points.
Stick to four or five key bullet points that outline the scope and scale of your sonography experience, soft skills such as communication, team leadership experience, and successes in process improvement.
See our adaptable sonographer resume summary below.
Diverse experience operating ultrasound equipment, providing technical imaging expertise, and delivering training on equipment operation and job responsibilities. Successful background developing and conducting presentations on sonography technology to numerous physicians’ offices. Demonstrated expertise in overseeing and performing Adult and Stress Echo, Vascular, Abdominal, and TEE in hospital, mobile, outpatient, and primary care environments. History of building rapport and trust to cultivate positive working relationships with physicians and other healthcare providers. Proven track record of increasing productivity and efficiency while providing highly compassionate, safe, and quality patient care.
The work experience section is where you can make your time as a sonographer shine. Here you can provide recruiters with specific information about your overarching responsibilities and showcase your achievements. Using the job description as your guide, use short paragraphs (core responsibilities) and bullet points (accomplishments) to provide a distinction between each section.
While you may be regarded as an outstanding sonographer, it can often be difficult to put your achievements into any quantifiable results. Instead focus on where you have gone above and beyond in your role, with focus on patient care, process efficiency, and quality assurance.
For example:
Commended by physicians for delivering prompt, compassionate patient care while demonstrating tremendous growth and an exceptional work ethic.
Take a look at the adaptable sonographer resume employment history section below.
Cardiac Sonographer at McLaren Hospital, Flint, MI 2018 - Present
Utilize non-invasive cardiovascular technology equipment to support diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart and blood vessel conditions.
Perform Adult Echo, Stress Echo, Dobutamine Stress Echo, and TEE in Emergency Room (ER), Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and Coronary Care Unit (CCU).
Operate Philips, GE, Biosound, and Acuson sonography equipment.
Evaluate various aspects of the heart, including chamber size, valve function, and blood flow.
Recognize and identify abnormalities.
Build rapport and trust with patients while explaining procedures and answering questions.
Train new employees and students on ultrasound equipment and all job responsibilities.
Enhanced productivity and efficiency by effectively managing heavy daily patient volume.
Commended by physician for delivering prompt, compassionate patient care while demonstrating tremendous growth and an exceptional work ethic.
Ultrasound Technologist at Medshare, Southfield, MI 2012 - 2018
Operated sonography equipment to perform and communicate results of diagnostic examinations.
Held responsibility for daily operations of sonography laboratory, patient schedule, equipment maintenance, QA, and equipment failure reporting.
Identified, recorded, and adapted procedures to anatomical, pathological, and diagnostic information and images.
Accurately differentiated between normal and pathologic findings.
Prepared preliminary reports and contacted referring physicians.
Ensured safety, mental and physical comfort, and wellbeing of patients during procedures.
Provided in-service education on sonography equipment and requirements of procedures.
Contributed to Quality Assurance (QA) and led meetings to improve laboratory functions.
Research each healthcare facilities culture and philosophy
Tailoring your resume to your prospective employer is vital. Every hospital or healthcare facility will have their own unique culture and philosophy, so weaving this into your resume and cover letter will help you to be more successful. Patient-centered care, compassion, integrity, teamwork, and excellence are all common values in hospitals. Check the job description and hospital website to find out your prospective employer’s priorities.
Highlighting your degrees, credentials, licenses, and certifications is vital on your sonographer resume, as recruiters want to see that you’re suitably qualified for the job opening. Here’s some key areas to focus on when crafting your education section:
List your education in reverse order with the highest qualification first. If you’re completing any relevant continuing education or certifications, include these as ongoing (or with an estimated completion date) as this helps to build your credibility.
Include professional licenses and certifications as well as highlighting your affiliations with any relevant professional organizations.
Certification in Cardiac Sonography at the Cardiovascular Institute of Michigan, Southfield, MI
Associate Degree in General Studies at Oakland Community College, Waterford, MI
Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer (RDCS)
Registered Vascular Technologist (RVT)
Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (RDMS)
Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification
Tailoring your resume to the job description is the best way to make sure your resume gets read, particularly in terms of the applicant tracking systems (ATS) that many organizations now use. To learn more about the ATS, read our article on Resume ATS optimization.
Review the job description closely and look out for terms that are repeated or emphasized as important skills and experience; these are the keywords you want to add. Sprinkle key skills throughout your resume by demonstrating those skills in action—both in your work history and professional summary. For a sonographer, a few critical skills might include:
Cardiovascular technology
Diagnostic examinations
Patient-centered care
Relationship building
Team training & development
Most hiring managers favor an organized, easy-to-follow resume. When you consider the number of resumes and the amount of time they spend during their initial review (mere seconds), this makes sense. Stick to reverse chronological order, with greater weight on more recent and relevant roles. Ideally, your sonographer resume should be one or two pages in length and with formatting consistent to project your professionalism.
When exploring our many resume templates in our resume builder, start by selecting the resume layout that fits your situation best. Find inspiration with our over 100 available resume examples.
Summary example
Diverse experience operating ultrasound equipment, providing technical imaging expertise, and delivering training on equipment operation and job responsibilities. Successful background developing and conducting presentations on sonography technology to numerous physicians’ offices. Demonstrated expertise in overseeing and performing Adult and Stress Echo, Vascular, Abdominal, and TEE in hospital, mobile, outpatient, and primary care environments. History of building rapport and trust to cultivate positive working relationships with physicians and other healthcare providers. Proven track record of increasing productivity and efficiency while providing highly compassionate, safe, and quality patient care.
Employment history example
Cardiac Sonographer at McLaren Hospital, Flint, MI 2018 - Present
Utilize non-invasive cardiovascular technology equipment to support diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart and blood vessel conditions.
Perform Adult Echo, Stress Echo, Dobutamine Stress Echo, and TEE in Emergency Room (ER), Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and Coronary Care Unit (CCU).
Operate Philips, GE, Biosound, and Acuson sonography equipment.
Evaluate various aspects of the heart, including chamber size, valve function, and blood flow.
Recognize and identify abnormalities.
Build rapport and trust with patients while explaining procedures and answering questions.
Train new employees and students on ultrasound equipment and all job responsibilities.
Enhanced productivity and efficiency by effectively managing heavy daily patient volume.
Commended by physician for delivering prompt, compassionate patient care while demonstrating tremendous growth and an exceptional work ethic.
Ultrasound Technologist at Medshare, Southfield, MI 2012 - 2018
Operated sonography equipment to perform and communicate results of diagnostic examinations.
Held responsibility for daily operations of sonography laboratory, patient schedule, equipment maintenance, QA, and equipment failure reporting.
Identified, recorded, and adapted procedures to anatomical, pathological, and diagnostic information and images.
Accurately differentiated between normal and pathologic findings.
Prepared preliminary reports and contacted referring physicians.
Ensured safety, mental and physical comfort, and wellbeing of patients during procedures.
Provided in-service education on sonography equipment and requirements of procedures.
Contributed to Quality Assurance (QA) and led meetings to improve laboratory functions.
Education example
Certification in Cardiac Sonography at the Cardiovascular Institute of Michigan, Southfield, MI
Associate Degree in General Studies at Oakland Community College, Waterford, MI
Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer (RDCS)
Registered Vascular Technologist (RVT)
Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (RDMS)
Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification
Skills example
Diagnostic Medical Ultrasounds
Proper Medical Etiquette
Knowledge of Ultrasound Equipment
Performing Adult and Stress Echo, Vascular, Abdominal, and TEE in hospital, mobile, outpatient, and primary care environments.
Sonography is rewarding, in-demand, and offers lots of career advancement opportunities, but it’s also competitive so you need a resume that will stand out.
Highlight your specific sonography expertise, detail licensures and certifications, and include any team leadership and training responsibilities as these will be of great interest to recruiters.
Use the job description as your guide and tailor your resume as much as possible to the specific job opening.
Make your life easier by using our online resume builder to create your sonographer resume with adaptable templates and AI-powered content.