A winning healthcare resumé is the first necessary step in scheduling a job interview.
Even before you meet with your interviewer, it’s your resumé details that often give employers their very first impression of you.
A well-crafted healthcare resumé will include important details, such as a professional summary, relevant work experience in healthcare, college degrees and certifications, and other relevant information that will make you stand out among other candidates.
Because healthcare jobs require additional education and certifications beyond what traditional jobs ask for, it’s important to add the must-have details to your resumé to even be considered for a job interview.
Your resumé is the primary tool for informing employers of your qualifications.
If you’re looking to start a career in senior living, then add these six must-have details to create a winning resumé. Plus, get additional tips on how to ace your next healthcare interview.
6 essential resumé details for landing a career in senior living
Be sure to include these six essential resumé details to properly reflect your skills, qualifications, and experience to stand out among the stiff competition in the healthcare field.
1. Professional summary
Your resumé should include a short statement at the top, called a professional summary, that gives a brief overview of your skills, experience, and qualifications for the desired role. Usually, it’s about 2-3 sentences long.
For example, “experienced nurses aide with three years in senior living care. Skilled in patient care, medication management, and patient monitoring. Dedicated to providing compassionate and loving care to residents and their families.”
2. Relevant work experience
If possible, create a personalized resumé for the company that reflects how your previous work experience aligns with the new role’s responsibilities.
Look at the job’s posting online and provide specific examples of how you demonstrated the required skills in your previous jobs.
For example, include something like, “managed patient care for 10 individuals in a senior living home, including diabetes management, wound care, and patient well-being.”
3. Educational, certifications, and qualifications
List all of your relevant degrees and diplomas and the name of the institution that issued your qualifications.
For example, common healthcare certifications in the senior living healthcare field include:
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
- Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)
- Registered Nurse (RN)
Beyond nursing jobs, senior living is always looking for lead chefs, drivers, concierges, marketers, and more.
Highlight certain qualifications that are relevant to the position.
For example, if you have experience working with residents who have Alzheimer’s or dementia, make sure to include this in your qualifications section, as it’s a huge plus for employers looking to hire people with experience caring for memory loss residents.
4. Technical skills
It’s important to highlight your specific technical skills to increase your odds of getting hired in senior living healthcare.
Include any relevant technical skills related to healthcare that will demonstrate your ability to perform well in a senior living healthcare role, such as:
- Electronic health records (EHR) management
- Medication administration
- Memory care
- Physical rehabilitation
- Healthcare marketing
- Activities coordinator
- Diabetes management
- Vital signs monitoring
- Wound care
- Nutrition and specialty diets
- Patient safety and well-being
- Electronic lift systems
- Defibrillators
- Respirators
5. Achievements and accomplishments
In your accomplishments section, highlight your skills and positive outcomes you’ve achieved that enhance your professionalism and competence in your role.
For example, include these types of achievements:
- Improvements in patient outcomes, such as increased recovery rates, or reduced readmission rates.
- Met quarterly sales and marketing goals
- Discuss how you were able to quickly implement and adapt to new patient protocols.
- Include awards and recognition that you’ve won at previous employers, such as “Nurse of the Year Award” or “Administrator of the Year”
- Leadership roles, such as head nurse, unit manager, director, supervisor, manager
6. Soft skills, including communication, teamwork, and emotional intelligence
Jobs in healthcare require strong “soft skills,” which are personality traits that enable you to work effectively and positively with other people.
Because the healthcare profession can be challenging and requires dealing with patients’ families, the soft skills section can communicate your emotional intelligence and competence.
For example, focus on keywords described in the job description to give specific examples of times when you worked with a team, used empathy, or used problem-solving skills
Use action words such as “communicated”, “adapted,” or “collaborated” to show you’re a team player because working in healthcare involves dealing with many people.
If there was a specific time you went above and beyond for a resident or employer, include that in your resumé and be sure to discuss it during your interview to win over your interviewers.
Interview tips for landing a senior living healthcare job
If you follow our essential resumé detail tips, you’ll definitely increase your odds of scheduling your initial interview.
Tips to ace your next healthcare job interview:
- Show up 10 minutes early — otherwise, you might be considered “late”
- Dress professionally, in at least business casual attire for nursing jobs or business professional attire for administrative roles
- Print extra copies of your resumé to distribute to the interviewers
- Smile and maintain eye contact to show your interest and attention
- Bring a list of questions to ask the interview to help you learn more about the company’s culture and job expectations
- Follow up with a thank you note or card
Follow up with a hand-written “thank you” message after your interview — it goes a long way
If you truly want to impress your job interviewers, mail them a physical, hand-written card or letter after your interview.
Instead of sending an email, you can forge a more personal connection that will last with your job interviewers and make them consider you for the role over other candidates.
Just make sure to write and mail your letter within a day after your interview so it will arrive while you’re still top-of-mind for the job position.
Some tips for crafting the perfect hand-written thank you card:
- Thank the interviewer for their time and the opportunity to interview for the position
- Restate your interest in taking on the role and mention specific points you discussed during the interview
- Re-highlight the qualifications that make you the best candidate for the role
- Close the message professionally and include a note that they can reach you for additional questions to help make their decision.
Remember to proofread your message before mailing it, especially if you’re applying for an administrative role that requires written communication.
Try to keep the message around one or two short paragraphs. It doesn’t need to be long, just thoughtful and professional.
Join Kensington Place Redwood City’s team
Are you a healthcare worker or administrative professional looking to join a compassionate and loving team in senior living?
At Kensington Redwood City, our team is a family with a love for seniors and a passion to care for others as we would our own family members—it’s our Kensington Promise.
Our memory care community is located in Redwood City, California, and specializes in caring for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Join Kensington Senior Living’s family today by applying for the open positions on our careers page.
Have any questions for us? Contact us to learn more about our community and employee benefits.