Best Nursing Assistant Resume Examples + Guide & Pro Tips
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Nursing assistants help patients with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, and eating. They also take patients’ vital signs, record patient information and help nurses and other medical staff with treatments and tests.
To succeed as a nursing assistant, you must be resilient, empathic and have excellent interpersonal skills.
Use our guide and nursing assistant resume example to write an effective nursing assistant resume and get the job you want.
Start by editing this nursing assistant resume example, or explore our library of resume templates to find the best one for you.
Nursing assistant resume sample (text version)
Mila Ortega
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(555) 555-5555
example@example.com
Professional Summary
Dedicated and compassionate certified nursing assistant (CNA) with over 10 years of experience in providing high-quality patient care. Proven track record of assisting health care teams, maintaining a safe and clean environment and ensuring optimal patient comfort. Adept at monitoring vital signs, assisting with daily living activities and fostering positive patient experiences.
Work History
November 2020 – Current
Supplemental Health Care – Los Angeles, CA
Senior Nursing Assistant
- Lead a team of 10 nursing assistants and implement proactive monitoring systems, resulting in a 15% reduction in patient falls within the first six months.
- Collaborate with nursing staff to implement improved infection control measures, reducing patient infections by 20%.
- Manage and document medication administration for an average of 20 patients daily, with a 100% accuracy rate.
September 2015 – October 2020
Blue Flower Care Center – Los Angeles, CA
Certified Nursing Assistant
- Administered medications as prescribed, adhering to the facility’s protocols and ensuring patient understanding.
- Regularly monitored and recorded patients’ vital signs, including blood pressure, heart rate and temperature.
- Implemented a patient engagement program, leading to a 30% increase in resident participation in recreational activities.
June 2012 – August 2015
Associated Health Professionals – Los Angeles, CA
Nursing Assistant
- Assisted residents with activities of daily living, maintaining a high level of dignity and respect.
- Acted as a liaison between patients and health care teams, addressing patient concerns and advocating for their needs, resulting in a 25% increase in patient satisfaction scores in the annual survey.
- Implemented and maintained infection control measures, ensuring a clean and sterile environment.
Skills
- Patient care
- Vital signs monitoring
- Medication administration
- Infection control
- Patient advocacy
- Charting and documentation
- Team collaboration
- Compassionate care
Education
Los Angeles Southwest College Los Angeles, CA
Certified Nursing Assistant Program Nursing Assistance
Los Angeles High School Los Angeles
High School Diploma
Certifications
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) – (Updated 2023)
- Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification – (2020)
5 essentials of a top nursing assistant resume
Contact details
Add your contact information to the top of your resume; otherwise, hiring managers won’t know how to contact you for an interview. Display your contact information like so: Your full name, then your city, state and ZIP code, followed by your phone number and professional email address. Add your LinkedIn profile and professional website (if you have them) last.
Professional summary
A resume for a nursing assistant must include a professional summary with appropriate skills and one or two notable accomplishments, and it should touch on how long you’ve been in the industry. If you are just starting your career, use a nursing assistant resume objectiveinstead.
Here’s a good sample nursing assistant resume summary:
“Dedicated nursing assistant with over five years of experience providing exceptional patient care in long-term care facilities. Highly adept in providing personal care to patients, including helping with activities of daily living, administering medications and monitoring vital signs. Proven ability to build strong relationships with patients, families and colleagues. Committed to providing compassionate care and improving patient outcomes.”
Skills
You’ve got to let potential employers know what skills you bring to the table. Create a separate section for your job-relevant skills and display them with bullet points to make them easy to read. Provide a mix of technical, hard and soft skills for the best impression.
Nursing assistant skills for a resume include: assessing symptoms and providing vaccines, compassion and empathy, attention to detail, and effective communication skills.
Work history
Your nursing assistant resume employment history section should list current and previous employers and provide business names, locations and the dates you worked for each. Include three to five bullet points of measurable achievements for every job you list.
Be specific about your achievements and use numbers to show how you made an impact.
For example,
- Increased patient satisfaction ratings from 65% to 85% over a 3-month period.
- Successfully completed 15 continuing education courses in the past 12 months.
- Assisted in the training and onboarding of 10 new nursing assistants in the past six months.
If you don’t have work experience as a nursing assistant, highlight relevant extracurricular activities, coursework, presentations, clinical and volunteer experience and community service.
Education
Hiring managers want to see your education credentials, so a resume for a nursing assistant job must include an education section. Add all the educational institutions you’ve attended after high school and display the names of the schools and the years that you graduated in reverse-chronological order using bullet points. If you did not attend college, list your high school information and the classes you’ve taken since graduating.
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Action words for a stand-out nursing assistant resume
Action words strengthen resumes because they tell the hiring manager exactly what you did and convey confidence. Use them with numbers to make a more substantial impact.
Here’s a short list of perfect action words for a nursing assistant resume:
- Assist
- Administer
- Monitor
- Document
- Collaborate
- Coordinate
- Communicate
- Facilitate
- Support
- Perform
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Top nursing assistant resume skills
Review the job description carefully and match the required skills to the skills and traits that fit you.
Your skills might include the following:
- Empathy
- Compassion
- Decision making
- Active listening
- Patience
- Communication
- Perception
- Basic computer skills
- Critical thinking
- Good judgment
Want more inspiration? We have 800+ resume examples to help you create the perfect nursing assistant resume.
Certifications for a nursing assistant resume
In some states, nursing assistants must be certified in order to work in a health care setting. In other states, certification is optional or not required. It is best to check with your state’s Board of Nursing or Department of Health for specific requirements.
Certifications to add to a resume for a nursing assistant job include:
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
- Certified Home Health Aide (CHHA)
- Certified Medication Aide (CMA)
Pair your resume with a matching cover letter
Nursing assistant resume FAQ
What does a nursing assistant resume look like?
There is no standard nursing assistant resume template; you can use any of our resume templates and customize them for the job you want. A good resume for a nursing assistant will look much like the nursing assistant resume sample on this page and will contain the job seeker’s contact information, skills, employment history, education and certifications, if applicable. A nursing assistant resume might also contain sections for awards and honors if the job candidate has them to display.
What to put under skills on a resume for a nursing assistant?
A resume for a nursing assistant should only include skills that 1. Are relevant to the job, and 2. Fit the job applicant’s true skill set. Review nursing assistant resume examples for ideas on how to display your skills on your nursing assistant resume.
What are some tips for creating an excellent resume for a nursing assistant job?
Not all resumes are created equal. Here are our top tips for crafting a perfect nursing assistant resume:
- Choose the best resume formatfor your experience as a nurse.
- Add separate sections for extra training, certifications, licenses and awards.
- Keep your resume short and to the point. If you have less than 10 years of experience, it should be one page long; if you have more than 10 years of experience, then it’s acceptable to have no more than two pages.
- Use keywords from the job description in your nursing assistant resume work experience section to pass ATS screening.
- Ensure your resume is formatted correctly, meaning margins should be one inch on all sides and line space should be single or 1.5 inches.
- Only use appropriate fonts, like Times New Roman, Arial or Helvetica, in 11-12 points on the body and 14-16 points on headers.
- Proofread your resume more than once before sending it to potential employers.
Do’s and don’ts for building a nursing assistant resume
- Use measurable achievements like “assisted in the delivery of over 750 medications and treatments accurately and on time” to describe your nursing assistant abilities and experience.
- Use action words such as facilitate, provide and monitor to make an impact on your nursing assistant resume.
- Tailor your resume to your target nursing assistant job.
- Use keywords like “wound care,” “immunology,” “catheter insertion” from the job description throughout your nursing assistant resume.
- Format your nursing assistant resume so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
- Lie about your nursing assistant experience and skills.
- Boast about your nursing assistant experience and skills. Instead, highlight work experience like “Supported four nurses on the nightshift.”
- Include irrelevant personal information such as your ethnicity and age.
- Add skills and experience that do not pertain to being a nursing assistant. Instead, highlight nursing assistant job-specific skills like “wound dressing and “taking vital signs.”
- Forget to proofread!
Top 4 tips for acing a nursing assistant interview
Learn about the institution.
It’s vital to take the time to learn about the institution’s history, goals, values and people before your nursing assistant job interview. Doing so conveys interest, passion and commitment — traits that can set you above the competition. Plus, a glimpse of the culture early on will help you know what to expect and can boost your confidence.
Here are some things to look for:
- Is it an accredited hospital or clinic?
- Does the institution have a supportive team of healthcare professionals?
- Is there an emphasis on patient safety and care?
- Is there a chance to mentor with a qualified lead nurse?
Practice at home.
Practice really does make perfect. To practice for your interview, start by reviewing the most common interview questions, such as:
- What Do You See Yourself Doing in 10 Years?
- What’s Your Proudest Accomplishment?
- Why Did You Choose This Career?
And specific questions relating to nursing, like:
- What experience do you have working as a nursing assistant?
- How do you handle stressful or difficult situations while providing patient care?
- What strategies do you use when dealing with challenging patient behaviors?
Possible behavioral questions include:
- Why Should We Hire You Over Other Candidates?
- Tell me About a Time When You Were Forced to Think on your Feet
- Tell Me About a Time When You Had To Cope With a Stressful Situation
Write down two or three possible answers as you review potential questions, then review them with a friend or a family member in a mock interview so you can get comfortable with the questions and memorize your answers.
Ask questions.
You should always have at least three questions ready to ask every nursing assistant job interview you encounter; those who do tend to get hired more often than those who don’t because they show motivation, keen interest and thoughtfulness.
Some questions you might ask for a nursing assistant job are:
- What is the nurse-to-patient ratio?
- What type of continuing education is offered for nursing assistants?
- What type of support is available for nursing assistants?
Gather references.
You’ll need professional references quickly if the hiring manager offers you the job after the interview. Having them ready will save you stress and time, so prepare a list of two former colleagues and a former manager who are willing to speak to your abilities to perform the job of a nursing assistant and who you know will give you a stellar review.
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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
- Cambridge College of Healthcare & Technology. Nursing Assistant Career
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Nursing Assistants and Orderlies
- Western Governors University. Article. What is a CNA? Job description and career guide
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Nursing Assistant 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.
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