Physical Therapy Aide Resume

Physical therapy aides typically work under the supervision of a physical therapist, so employers look for job candidates who work well with others and are passionate about injury prevention and patient education.

We teach you how to write an effective resume using these three tips and show how you’ll be a great addition to your target employer’s healthcare team:

1. Introduce yourself with a descriptive resume objective

A resume objective is a short but powerful 2–4 sentence statement that goes at the top of your physical therapy aide resume. Writing a resume objective:

• mentions your years of experience (if applicable)
• highlights your most relevant experience and skills
• provides details about your previous education and certifications
• outlines your career goals

For example, if you have experience working with elderly patients, you might want to highlight your compassionate nature and ability to provide individualized care. Or if you have experience with rehabilitation following an injury, you might want to focus on how you’ve assisted patients with their recovery.

And if you do a good job of writing your resume objective to reflect your unique qualifications, employers are more likely to notice your resume and continue reading the rest of your application.

Below is an example of a well-written resume objective for a physical therapy aide:

Physical Therapy Aide with 2 years of experience. Skilled in providing support to physical therapists and helping patients with exercises. Committed to following instructions and contributing to a positive patient experience. Seeking a position as a physical therapy aide where I can utilize my customer service skills and knowledge of medical terminology to provide excellent patient care at Supreme Rehabilitation Clinic.

2. Mention your physical therapy aide–related hard and soft skills

When writing a resume for a physical therapy aide position, providing a list of your hard and soft skills tells employers you’re a versatile applicant who can take on several types of tasks.

Physical therapy aides work with patients to help them recover from injuries, so some technical experience or education in the field is essential. Physical therapy aides typically have at least a high school diploma, although some positions may require additional training.

Your hard skills are any technical abilities learned from schooling, training, or on-the-job experience). For instance, you might also need to provide support during therapy sessions, and assist patients with exercises or prepare them for treatments.

Physical therapy aides need to move patients from their bed to a wheelchair or transfer them from one exercise station to another in a safe manner, so list manual dexterity in the skills section of your resume.

Physical therapists also complete administrative tasks like scheduling appointments and maintaining records, so don’t forget to mention your administrative skills.

These are other hard skills for your physical therapist aide resume:

Next, include your soft skills (abilities showing how you relate to colleagues and patients in a workplace environment).

One important soft skill hiring managers seek in physical therapy aide applicants is communicating effectively with patients.

Good communication skills help you explain instructions in a way patients can understand and give clear updates on patients’ progress.

Additionally, you should be able to provide encouragement and support to patients as they work toward their rehabilitation goals, so mention your interpersonal skills.

Here are the top soft skills for your resume as a physical therapist aide:

• Ability to follow instructions
• Attention to detail
• Customer service skills
• People skills
• Teamwork skills

3. Use real physical therapy aide resume job descriptions to write your work experience sections

Your physical therapy aide resume should highlight your previous experience working with patients and completing administrative tasks.

And because each facility’s needs are different, optimize your resume for every job you apply to by reading different job descriptions and targeting specific information from them so you can better understand what employers seek in an ideal applicant.

Additionally, use keywords directly from your target company’s job posting when writing your physical therapy aide resume.

Writing an ATS-friendly resume that targets specific resume keywords from the job description can increase the chances of your application successfully passing through a company’s company’s applicant tracking software (ATS) — and reaching a hiring manager’s inbox.

These are some examples of job descriptions you might see from a website like Indeed or Monster:

• Completes clerical tasks to include ordering supplies, answering the phone, completing insurance forms and any other related activities
• Abides by COVID-19 sanitary standards by maintaining the organization and sanitation of physical space, equipment, and supplies, including set-up and clean-up, safety checks, as well as departmental infection control

Here are our physical therapy aide applicant’s detailed resume bullet points in response to the above job criteria: