Personal Support Worker Resume Examples & Templates
- 30% higher chance of getting a job‡
- 42% higher response rate from recruiters‡
Our customers have been hired at:*Foot Note
A personal support worker is a health care professional who assists and supports individuals who require help with their daily living activities. They work in various settings, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, group homes and private residences.
You’ll need a compelling personal support worker resume to land your dream job. Learn how to write a resume that wins interviews with our expert tips and personal support worker resume sample.
Start by editing this personal support worker sample resume, or explore our library of customizable resume templates to find one that matches your style.
Personal support worker resume example (text version)
Jane Smith
Los Angeles, CA 90022
(555) 555-5555
example@example.com
Professional Summary
Empathetic personal support worker with a sensitive and compassionate approach to cultivating a trusting, stimulating and varied lifestyle for residents. Offers enhanced care with a flexible learning approach for patients. Experience in hospital and in-home settings providing guidance and encouragement to patients through physical and emotional support.
Skills
- Long-term care
- Resident advocacy
- File management
- Palliative care
- Care plan development
- Resident assessment
- Problem-solving
- Communication
Work History
November 2020 – Current
Independent Life Skills, LLC – Los Angeles, CA
Personal Support Worker
- Assist up to 60 residents per month to complete activities of daily living, including hygiene, feeding and toileting, and help them clean and maintain eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids.
- Perform preventive care, routine wound management, medication administration and specimen collection.
- Provide safe mobility support to help patients move around personal and public spaces.
September 2017 – October 2020
Maxim Healthcare – Los Angeles, CA
Healthcare Support Worker
- Monitored client vital signs, administered medications and tracked behaviors to keep the healthcare supervisor well-informed.
- Kept 100 accurate records for client files and handled related paperwork.
- Prepared meals for patients so they can keep a healthy, balanced diet, improving their health by 55%.
June 2014 – August 2017
Senior Helpers – Anaheim, CA
Personal Care Aide
- Assisted an average of 20 clients per week with daily living needs to maintain self-esteem and general wellness.
- Cleaned house, ran errands, managed laundry and completed weekly grocery shopping.
- Scheduled and accompanied clients to up to six medical appointments per month.
Education
- June 2021
Glendale Community College Glendale, CA
Associate of Science Healthcare Administration - June 2014
Los Angeles Trade Technical College Los Angeles, CA
Certificate Personal Care Aide
Certifications
- CPR / First Aid Certification – American Red Cross – (Updated 2022)
- Personal Support Worker (PSW) Certification – (2016)
Important resume sections
Contact details
Add your contact information to the top of your resume so hiring managers can contact you. As our personal support worker resume example shows, your contact information must include your full name, city, state and ZIP code, phone number and professional email address. If you have a LinkedIn profile and professional website, add them last.
Professional summary
A professional summary is a concise, three-to-five-sentence statement that tells the hiring manager who you are and what you offer. Your summary must include job-relevant skills and one or two professional accomplishments that are relevant to the role you are applying for.
Here’s a good example of a professional summary for a personal support worker resume:
“Dedicated and experienced personal support worker with over five years of experience providing quality care to clients in a variety of settings. Skilled in managing a variety of tasks associated with providing personalized support and care, including helping with activities of daily living, providing companionship and helping with mobility. Proven ability to build relationships with clients and their families while demonstrating respect, dignity and compassion.”
If you are applying for your first job or changing careers, use a resume objective instead. Personal support worker resume objectives should focus on transferable skills such as communication, problem-solving and critical thinking.
Skills
Create a skills section on your resume so hiring managers can see if your qualifications match their needs. Add your job-relevant personal support worker resume skills to a bulleted list.
Personal support workers need soft skills such as problem-solving, communication and interpersonal skills, as well as patience, empathy and compassion. You will be required to assess and evaluate care needs, develop care plans and provide support and guidance to those in need.
In addition, include hard skills like the ability to use medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, oxygen tanks or other assistive devices.
Work history
Whether this is your first job or you are a seasoned professional, your resume must include a work history section detailing your past roles.
In reverse-chronological order, list your current and previous employers and provide company names, locations and the dates you worked for them.
Include three bullet points of measurable achievements for every job you list, for example:
- Provided personalized care and assistance to over 30 patients in a facility setting, resulting in a 95% satisfaction rate.
- Developed and implemented individualized care plans for each patient, resulting in a 20% decrease in hospitalizations.
- Assisted in the improvement of health outcomes amongst a diverse range of patients with chronic illnesses, resulting in a 70% decrease in symptoms.
Education
Your personal support worker resume must include an education section, whether or not you have a degree. See how to list education on a resume for expert tips and examples.
In reverse-chronological order, use bullet points to display the schools’ names and the years you graduated. If you did not attend college, list your high school information and the classes you’ve taken since graduating.
The educational requirements for personal support workers can vary depending on the region and employer. In some cases, a high school diploma or equivalent is the minimum educational requirement, while others may require completion of a PSW certificate program or equivalent.
Continuing education and professional development are also important for personal support workers. Many employers offer ongoing training and development opportunities to help support workers stay up to date with the latest techniques and best practices in the field.
See why MyPerfectResume is a 5-star resume builder
Action words for your resume
Use action words and numbers to add impact to your resume.
Here’s a short list of perfect action words for a personal support worker resume:
- Assist
- Provide
- Perform
- Prepare
- Maintain
- Organize
- Clean
- Observe
- Report
- Assess
- Document
- Engage
- Plan
Check out our collection of 800+ resume examples to help you craft the perfect resume for a personal support worker job. You’ll find personal support worker resume samples in different formats and designs.
Best skills for your resume
Review the job description closely and match the required skills to the ones that fit you.
Some personal support worker resume skills might include the following:
- Administration
- Management
- Leadership
- Organization
- Verbal communication
- Written communication
- Active listening
- Microsoft Office
- Attention to detail
- Interpersonal
- Advocacy
- File management
- Palliative care
- Planning
- Assessing
- Problem-solving
- Critical thinking
- Persuasion
- Empathy
- Relationship building
Need a professional personal support worker resume now? Our Resume Builder has all the tools you need to create a professional resume in minutes! Just fill in one of our templates, and you can make edits as you go, download your finished resume and save it in any file format you want. It is that easy!
Certifications for your resume
Personal support workers may also need to take an exam or obtain a license in order to practice. In some provinces, personal support workers may also need to complete additional courses or obtain certification in order to work in certain settings.
The following certifications can boost your resume:
- Personal Support Worker (PSW) Certificate
- CPR and First Aid Certification
- Medication Administration Certification
- Safe Food Handling Certification
- Certified Patient Care Technician
- Vulnerable Sector Screening
Overall, highlighting any certifications or qualifications that you have earned can help to demonstrate your qualifications and suitability for a personal support worker position.
Pair your resume with a matching cover letter
FAQ
How do you include keywords in a personal support worker resume?
It is vital that you include the right keywords to get your personal support worker resume noticed. Employers use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to scan resumes based on keywords.
Browse through the job requirements and find words that spell out the job’s significant requirements. Keywords for a personal support worker job might include:
- Home Care
- Patient Care
- Elder Care
- Residential Care
- Rehabilitation
- Assistive Devices
- Case Management
- CPR/First Aid
- Dietary Planning
- Bathing/Grooming
- Mobility Assistance
We also recommend using our ATS resume checker to scan your resume for common errors and to receive instant optimization suggestions to improve your resume score. See what makes an ATS-friendly resume for additional guidance.
What does a personal support worker resume look like?
There is no standard personal support worker resume template; you can use any of our templates and customize them for your desired job.
Your resume should include contact information, hard and soft skills, employment history, education and certifications.
To make your personal support worker resume stand out, incorporate the following skills if they apply to you:
- Ability to provide emotional and physical support in a professional manner.
- Knowledge of various techniques to assist individuals with physical disabilities.
- Experience in creating and implementing individualized care plans.
- Proficient in using adaptive equipment to assist individuals with mobility.
- Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with clients and their families.
See what a resume looks like for additional formatting tips and examples.
What is the correct format for a personal support worker resume?
The resume format you use depends on your experience and goals. If you have a few years of experience, choose the combination resume format, which highlights your remarkable work history and skills.
If you’re a fresh college graduate or are just beginning your career, go with the functional resume format, which focuses on your job-related skills and training.
If you have more than five years of experience, go with a chronological resume format, which leans heavily on your work achievements. Refer to resume examples for personal support workers to find the best format for you.
How do you summarize your experience as a personal support worker?
When summarizing your experience as a personal support worker, it is important to focus on your key responsibilities, achievements and the impact you had on the clients you supported. Here are a few examples:
- Assist with personal care tasks such as bathing and grooming
- Monitor and administer medications
- Assist with meal preparation and feeding
- Provide companionship and emotional support
- Assist with transportation to appointments and activities
Focus on the most relevant and impactful aspects of your work as a personal support worker. This will help to demonstrate your abilities and suitability for the position you are applying for.
How do I put caregiver experience on my resume?
When adding caregiver experience to your resume, it is important to highlight your key responsibilities, accomplishments and the skills you developed during your time as a caregiver.
List your key responsibilities and duties under each caregiver position. Be specific and use action verbs to describe your accomplishments and contributions.
For example, “Assisted with activities of daily living, including bathing, dressing, and grooming” or “Provided emotional support and companionship to clients.”
If you have any notable achievements or accomplishments as a caregiver, such as receiving an award or improving a client’s quality of life, be sure to include them on your resume.
What is a good objective for a personal support worker resume?
A good objective for a personal support worker resume should be concise, specific and tailored to the job you are applying for. It should highlight your relevant skills, experience, and qualifications and demonstrate your passion for helping others.
Here is an example of a strong personal support worker resume objective:
“Compassionate and dedicated personal support worker with experience providing exceptional care to seniors in long-term care facilities. Skilled in personal care tasks, medication administration and emotional support. Seeking a challenging personal support worker position in a reputable facility to provide high-quality care to clients.”
When crafting your personal support worker resume objective, it is important to tailor it to the specific job you are applying for and to highlight your unique skills and qualifications that make you the best candidate for the position.
Best practices
- Use measurable achievements to describe your personal support worker abilities and experience. For example, “Provided emotional support to 7+ clients in times of need.”
- Use action words such as “assist,” “counsel” and “advocate” to make an impact on your personal support worker resume.
- Tailor your resume to your target personal support worker job.
- Use keywords from the job description, such as “home care” and “health education,” throughout your personal support worker resume.
- Format your personal support worker resume so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
- Lie about your personal support worker experience and skills. Instead, highlight your top job-relevant skills such as patience, empathy and ability to lift and transfer clients upfront.
- Boast that you’re the “best personal support worker ever.” Instead, emphasize your past job achievements, like “Organized and facilitated recreational activities for over five clients.”
- Include irrelevant personal information such as your ethnicity and age.
- Add skills and experience not about being a personal support worker.
- Forget to proofread. A personal support worker resume with errors is unprofessional.
Interview tips
Research.
Before your job interview, it’s vital to learn about the company’s history, goals, values and people. Doing so conveys interest, passion and commitment—traits that can set you apart from the competition.
Some things to look for include:
- The facility’s safety policies and procedures.
- The availability of other health care specialists.
- The quality of patient care provided at the facility.
Explore our job interview guide for additional advice from career experts.
Practice.
Practice does make perfect. To prepare for your interview, start by reviewing the most common interview questions, such as:
- How would your coworkers describe you?
- What attracted you to this company?
- Give me an example of how you juggle multiple deadlines.
Then focus on personal health care worker job-specific questions, such as:
- What experience do you have as a personal support worker?
- How do you handle difficult situations when caring for a patient?
- What strategies do you use when communicating with patients and their families?
Write down two or three possible answers for each question, then practice answering them with a friend.
Ask questions.
Always have at least three questions for each person you speak with during the interview process. Doing so shows that you’re interested and that you’ve been paying close attention.
Some questions you might ask for a personal support worker job are:
- What types of care services are provided at the facility?
- Are there recreational activities available for residents?
- What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
Prepare references.
Have professional references ready before you enter your interview — you never know if the hiring manager might want to contact them immediately. Ask a former manager and two former colleagues who can speak about your performance and who you know will give you an excellent review.
Cover letter examples for the next step in your healthcare support career
- Caregivers Companions Cover Letter
- Home Health Aide Cover Letter
- Homemaker Cover Letter
- Medical Biller Cover Letter
- Medical Receptionist Cover Letter
- Occupational Therapist Cover Letter
- PCA Cover Letter
- Patient Care Tech Cover Letter
- Patient Service Representative Cover Letter
- Personal Care Aide Cover Letter
- Personal Care Assistant Cover Letter
- Personal Support Worker Cover Letter
- Phlebotomist Cover Letter
CV examples for the next step in your healthcare support career
How we reviewed this article
Since 2013, we have helped more than 15 million job seekers. We want to make your career journey accessible and manageable through our services and Career Center’s how-to guides and tips. In our commitment to bring you a transparent process, we present our Editorial Process.
Sources
- Alongside. Personal Support Worker Job Description
- Caring Support. Personal Care Worker Skills
- National Healthcare Association
Rate this article
Personal Support Worker Resume Example
Nilda Melissa is a Certified Professional Resume Writer who has written for The Washington Post and Latina Style Magazine. She has a master's in Journalism from Columbia University and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
More Articles by Nilda Melissa Diaz, CPRW