Occupational Therapy Resume Sample
Write a resume that expresses the care and compassion you have for your patients.
Your job as an occupational therapist is one of the most hands-on healthcare jobs. When it’s time to look for a new job, your occupational therapy resume needs to reflect that personal touch you give to each patient.
So, how do you convey your experience and compassion in your occupational therapy resume? Start with a well-written occupational therapy resume objective or professional summary. In your professional summary, explain the benefits of hiring you, including your work history, your personal qualities, and your skills. Be sure to note how you engage with and provide care for patients.
Throughout this summary and the rest of your occupational therapy resume, include the attributes mentioned in the job posting you’re responding to. Using the exact words that appear in the posting—what we call “keywords”—can help your resume make the hiring manager’s first cut. For example, if the posting mentions the ability to “juggle multiple projects,” use that phrase rather than saying you are “good at multitasking.”
Want to see how it's done? Take a look at the provided occupational therapy resume template—free for you to adapt and use for your job applications.
Occupational Therapy Resume
ISABEL LAWRENCE, OTD, OTR/L
Florence, South Carolina 00000 | (555) 555-5555 | isabel@email.com | linkedin.com/isabel.lawrence
Occupational Therapist
Proactive and Quality-Driven Occupational Therapist and Team Leader with experience supervising OT staff and managing a fast-paced caseload in long-term and acute/critical care settings. Possesses a history of improving processes and documentation tools to raise multidisciplinary team efficiency and patient outcomes. Mentors and trains students and new staff to ensure quality care.
Compassionate Communicator who adapts language, tone, and the environment to optimize patient learning and build trust. Fosters a collaborative work environment through professional interactions and in-depth knowledge of healthcare team roles in providing care and managing cases from admission to discharge. Integrates innovative and evidence-based techniques to drive patient engagement.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Patient Assessment | Differential Diagnosis | Medical History Review | Functional Outcome Measures | Lab/Imaging Interpretation
Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Programs | Patient/Caregiver Education | Interdisciplinary Care Planning | Critical & Long-Term Care
Discharge Planning | Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) | Reporting & Documentation | Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
(State) Licensed Occupational Therapist • Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
SENIOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST • SKILLED NURSING FACILITY (SNF), SUB-ACUTE REHABILITATION
Facility One | Florence, South Carolina | XX/20XX – XX/20XX
Supervise a team of five OTs and Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTAs) in an SNF providing care to post-surgical patients and individuals with neurological, orthopedic, cognitive, and chronic conditions. Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to meet Medicare requirements and provide quality-driven care.
- Promote positive outcomes and progress toward long-term goals for 50+ residents by prioritizing consistency when assigning staff caseloads, facilitating weekly collaborative meetings with multiple disciplines, and initiating appropriate referrals/consults.
- Optimized multidisciplinary team planning by developing a streamlined template for tracking Timed Up and Go (TUG)/Modified Barthel ADL Index outcome measures, discharge planning, and Medicare documentation such as Minimum Data Set (MDS).
- Deliver skilled evaluation and treatment to 10+ daily residents with varying diagnoses and complexity, including coordinating care with other disciplines/nursing, organizing co-treatments to ensure safety, and producing ethical billing/documentation.
- Advance residents’ independence and promote team efficiency by organizing OT staff schedules for morning ADL rounds program, enabling residents increased control/active participation in feeding, grooming, and dressing routines.
- Enhance continuity of care by establishing a process to acquire comprehensive reporting from transferring facility, organizing staff care teams for resident populations, and empowering staff with training for exceptional documentation practices.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST • ACUTE CARE, CRITICAL CARE
Facility Two | Sumter, South Carolina | XX/20XX – XX/20XX
Worked collaboratively to plan and deliver quality care to complex and often medically unstable patients in a 600+ bed hospital and trauma center within a major regional healthcare system serving a diverse patient population.
- Leveraged evidence-based research to integrate an early mobility program for patients in medical/surgical, cardiac, and neurological intensive care units, contributing to decreased effects of immobility and improved short-term goal attainment.
- Adapted to patients’ medical status/endurance, pain management schedule, and nursing care needs when managing a caseload of six to 10 daily patients by planning multiple, short treatment sessions and coordinating with multiple disciplines.
- Fostered optimal team communication by conducting thorough systems assessments while maintaining post-surgical, polytrauma, and acute/chronic illness precautions and promptly completing required documentation in the Epic EMR.
EDUCATION
Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) | University One
Research Thesis: Shoulder Pathologies in the Wheelchair Marathon Athlete Population
Master of Science in Occupational Therapy | University Two
Looking for an occupational therapist resume PDF? You can download this occupational therapy resume template in Word and save it as a PDF.
It’s a good time to get a job in OT. Due to workers retiring and those who are leaving occupational therapy for other fields, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting employment of OTs to grow by 17% this decade. That’s much faster than the 8% projected growth for all occupations. Even in the healthcare industry, occupational therapist jobs will outpace diagnosing or treating practitioners by 5%.
According to Monster research, the median salary for an occupational therapist is $39.28 per hour. The highest-demand locations for occupational therapists are:
Before you apply, you should have a good idea of what an occupational therapist gets paid in your location. Use Monster’s Salary Tool to look up the pay range for an OT in your city.
You can also take a look at all occupational therapy jobs on Monster to see what’s available across the U.S.
Get Hands-On Help With Your Occupational Therapy Resume
Just as you help your patients with critical life skills, Monster can assist you in creating an effective occupational therapy resume that will help you progress to the next stage of your career. Just contact Monster Resume Services for help. We’ll assign you a certified resume writer who’s familiar with the occupational therapy field to write an engaging and well-worded resume that presents your skills, experience, and personal qualities in the best light.