Physical therapist resume tips
A physical therapist resume needs a license, a setting, and the kind of caseload. Outpatient orthopedics, inpatient rehab, home health, and pediatrics are different practices. Reviewers are not looking for a motivational paragraph.
Cover letter for a physical therapist
What to put first
Put the license and the state near your name. Then the setting. Describe the conditions you treat in professional language, not as stories about named people. If you are a new graduate, label clinical affiliations as affiliations.
The caseload
Name the population and the common problems you treated. Do not claim a specialty certification you do not hold. If a senior therapist supervised part of the care, say so when that was the arrangement.
What you did in the session
Evaluation, a plan of care, and progression are the work. Mention equipment or approaches you actually use. A list of every method you once observed is not a caseload.
The setting's paperwork
Documentation and authorization work are part of some jobs more than others. If you write daily notes under a payer's rules, that is worth one line because it is part of the day.
An example line
Adapt this only where it is true for you. It is a shape for a bullet, not a claim that a particular person did this work.
Outpatient orthopedic therapist: evaluated adults with post-operative knee and shoulder referrals, wrote the plan of care, and progressed treatment across return visits.
What to leave off
Leave off patient names and unique stories, outcome percentages you cannot source, and settings you only toured. Leave off a license that is pending written as if it were active.
Questions
- How should clinical rotations appear?
- As training, with the setting and the population, not as employment. A hiring manager distinguishes them quickly.
- Should I list continuing education?
- List courses that changed what you do in the clinic. A long dump of one-hour webinars does not help as much as the caseload.