Learn about the important requirements, skills, and keywords that should be included in a physician assistant resume.
Working with doctors and helping patients is your life, so you need to learn what to include on a physician assistant resume. That way, you can wow the doctor or other hiring manager reading it and level up your career by landing your dream job.
Don’t feel like writing your resume on your own? That’s okay! We’ve compiled a list of the best resume-writing services to help you. When you’re ready to start looking for physician assistant jobs, we recommend ZipRecruiter.
Physician Assistant Resume Example
Florence Nightingale, PA
Certified Physician Assistant
florence.nightingalepa@google.com
(555) 123-4567
Compassionate physician assistant with five years of experience collaborating with doctors and treating patients in a general practice clinic. Nationally certified and licensed in the state of Florida. Winner of the Preceptor of the Year award in 2020.
Work History
Physician Assistant
AllStar Medical
2018-present
- See and treat an average of 15 patients per day
- Collaborate with 5 practice physicians
- Consistently receive positive reviews from patients
- Received 0 patient complaints in 5 years
Certified Nursing Assistant
All Saints Hospice
2011-2018
- Cared for 12 elderly residents per shift
- Worked on a dementia unit (which required specialized training)
- Received an A+ rating from residents and their families every year
Education
Master of Physician Assistant Studies, 2018
XYZ University
Skills
- Physical exams
- Patient interviews
- Patient care
- Diagnosing illness and injuries
- Ordering diagnostic tests
- Health risk assessment
- Prescribing medication
- Compassion and empathy
- Communication
- Decision-making
License and Certification
Physician Assistant-Certified (PA-C), 2018
Florida Physician Assistant license
Professional Association Membership
American Academy of Physician Assistants
Awards
Join The Break Community
Preceptor of the Year, 2020
What Is Unique About A Physician Assistant Resume?
A physician assistant resume doesn’t differ much from other resumes in terms of structure and type of information featured. However, this resume is crafted specifically to help you advance your medical career.
What Should Be Included On A Physician Assistant Resume?
Your physician assistant resume should include these sections:
Contact Information
It sounds obvious, but you need to provide a way for potential employers to contact you. This section should include your full name, professional email address, phone number, and LinkedIn profile link (if applicable).
Resume Summary or Resume Objective
If you’ve been a physician assistant for years, use this space to write a few short lines summarizing your most impressive professional achievements. However, if you’re trying to obtain your first physician assistant role, write a resume objective statement sharing your most relevant educational credentials and skills.
Work History
Use this section to list your work experience in reverse chronological order. Doing so lets the reader see what you’ve accomplished in your career recently at a glance.
For every role, you should include the following:
- Your title
- The name of the company
- The years you held the position
Under that information, you should write three to five bullet points describing your top contributions. For best results, each bullet point should contain an action word (a skill you demonstrated) and a quantifiable impact (what that skill helped you achieve for the employer).
Pro Tip: If you’re pursuing your initial physician assistant job, don’t forget to include information about your residency in this section.
Education
Your education should also get listed in reverse chronological order. At this stage in your career, there’s no need to include information about your high school. List the degree you earned, the school’s name, and your date of graduation.
Pro Tip: If you graduated recently, it makes sense to include relevant coursework titles, your GPA (if it’s over 3.5), and other related academic information.
Skills
Choose ten of your best skills to list in this section. Ideally, these skills appear written in the position advertisement, too.
Your goal is to align your resume as closely with the job ad as possible. Doing so helps the document get through the applicant tracking system (ATS) filters and persuades the hiring manager to interview you.
Other Sections
You likely have other vital information to share with a prospective employer that doesn’t neatly fit into the sections above. That’s okay. You can create specific areas for those items. Potential areas include, but aren’t limited to:
- Licenses and certifications
- Awards
- Professional memberships
- Speaking and conference appearances
- Languages spoken
Remember: Make sure everything you include on your resume helps support your candidacy for the role.
What Should Be Left Off A Physician Assistant Resume?
You write a winning physician assistant resume to help secure interviews with your ideal employers. If any word or idea on the page doesn’t support that goal, you must leave it off.
Important Job Skills For Physician Assistants
Physician assistants need many skills to have successful careers. Here are some of the most critical competencies you can list on your resume:
Hard Skills
- Patient care
- Health risk assessment
- General practice
- Internal medicine
- Neurosurgery
- Vascular surgery
- Epidemiology
- Oncology
- Pediatrics
- Orthopedic
- Trauma
- Skin rashes and skin cancer
- Patient physical exams
- Patient interviews
- Diagnose and treat chronic and acute illnesses and infections
- Diagnose and treat injuries
- Prescribe medication
- Order diagnostic tests
- Set fractures
- Splint and cast limbs
Soft Skills
- Decision-making
- Troubleshooting
- Time management
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Compassion
- Empathy
- Handles pressure
Related Reading: Learn more about what skills to include on your resume.
The Bottom Line
Writing the perfect physician assistant resume may seem impossible. But if you follow the guidance in this article, you should be able to create an effective document that helps you get noticed by your target employers.
If you need an extra pair of eyes on your work, you can always partner with a resume writing service. Then, visit ZipRecruiter to explore the physician assistant roles available in your area.
