Before you submit your application for a job as a healthcare assistant, you should take some time to create a perfect CV that highlights your skills and experience and tells the employer something about your personality.

Jobs in healthcare can be highly competitive so you have to make sure that your CV stands out and shows the employer why you are the best fit for the opening. If you want to create a perfect CV but you are not sure how to do it, have a read of our guide. Thanks to our help you can be sure that your CV is of high standard.

What does a healthcare assistant do?

Before we discuss how to prepare a CV for the position of a healthcare assistant, let’s have a quick look at what exactly this job means.

Healthcare assistants take care of patients in hospitals, clinics, and residential care facilities. Sometimes they also go to patients’ homes and assist them there. The duties of a healthcare assistant vary depending on the needs of each patient. Nevertheless, some activities that you might have to do if you become a healthcare assistant are:

Assisting patients with daily activities
Checking vital signs of patients
Helping patients to move around
Toileting and showering
Talking to patients and building a bond with them
Serving meals to patients
Taking blood samples.

Being a healthcare assistant can be a very rewarding job because you will have an impact on the wellbeing of patients and you will be able to improve their quality of life. You will also get to know your patients and often form friendships with them, which will make each working day enjoyable and interesting.

Essential Healthcare Assistant CV sections

There are no strict rules regarding the composition of a perfect CV. Sometimes you might add or remove certain sections depending on what information you want to share with your employer. Nevertheless, here we take a look at sections that each CV has to cover.

Personal Profile	This is a short paragraph that you should put at the top of your CV. There you should briefly describe your skills and experience and express your passion for working as a healthcare assistant.
Contact information	Always make sure that your phone number and email address are easily visible on your CV. Otherwise the employer won’t be able to reach you if they are interested in your profile and want to invite you to a job interview.
Work Experience	This section is often considered to be the most important part of a CV. You should list your employment history there starting with the most recent position. If you have a lot of experience, make sure to only add the most relevant positions.
Education	Just like with work experience, start with the most recent degree or course you completed. Make sure to provide details such as the name of the institution and dates of your course.
Training and professional courses	If you completed any professional courses or vocational training, you should mention it on your CV. That shows your employer that you are really passionate about the job and that even in your free time you seek to get more experience.
Skills	It is a good idea to list your main skills such as communication, writing, or research skills on your CV.

In addition to that, you can also talk about your interests, additional experience, or give the names of your referees. Keep in mind, however, that your CV should not be longer than 2 pages so if you have a lot of things to cover in the essential sections, it might be a good idea to leave some extra things out.

Tips to creating a perfect CV

Here we give you some tips that can help you create a perfect CV and successfully apply for a job as a healthcare assistant.

Customise the CV for the role you are applying for

Many people create one CV and send it to tens of job openings. That is not a good idea because then you do not emphasise particular skills and experience that the employer might be looking for. If you customise the CV for the role you are applying for, you will be able to show the employer why you are the right candidate for this particular job.

Keep it short

You should not include too much text on your CV. Instead, make sure you only put the most relevant information there. Employers often receive hundreds of CVs for one opening so they often only have a quick look through them. Your work experience and skills have to be presented in a clear way to immediately catch their eye.

Be relevant

There is no need to list every single course and training you ever completed. Make sure you only include things that are relevant to the job you are applying for. If you add too much information, the employer might overlook things that are actually important.

Make sure your CV reflects your personality

Of course, you cannot include too much text on your CV but your personal profile is where you can showcase your personality and tell your employer something about who you are. Personality is important as employers often want to make sure that the new employee will be a good addition to the team.

Use professional language

Avoid colloquialisms as that might come across as unprofessional. You want to be friendly but you also want to show your prospective employer that you are highly skilled. If you get hired, you might be able to use a more relaxed language but your CV is where you should mainly show your professionalism.

What to include in a personal profile of a healthcare assistant?

Here we have a look at what you should include and what to exclude from your personal profile to make it relevant to the position of a healthcare assistant.

what to include	what to exclude
How many years you have worked in the healthcare sectorWhy you are looking for a job as a healthcare assistantWhat your main skills and achievements relevant to the position of a healthcare assistant are	Work experience not relevant to healthcare, for example, student jobs in retail Generic skills and personality traits that all jobs applicants use, for example, ‘hardworking’, ‘excellent communication skills, ‘ambitious’. Instead of listing those, make sure to mention skills that are useful in healthcare

If you have a certain specialism, for example, diabetic patients, make sure to mention it in your personal profile as well.

What keywords to include on a healthcare assistant CV?

To make your CV stand out and grab the employer’s attention, you should use relevant keywords. You can be creative with keywords you use depending on what your specialty and skills are. Nevertheless, here are the main keywords that you should consider using if you are looking for a job as a healthcare assistant:

Personal hygiene
Hospital setting
Taking blood
Patient comfort
Patient safety
Interpersonal skills
Personal care
Clininc experience
Dressing wounds
Supportive and caring
Monitoring vital patient signs
Positive attitude
Attention to detail
Good stress management.

If you list some of these skills on your CV, you will show your employer that you understand what the job of a healthcare assistant entails and what skills are required to be successful in it.

Need help writing a healthcare assistant CV?

Here at Niccolo we know what sections a perfect CV should have and what information needs to be included in each of them. We are experts when it comes to CV writing and we want to help those passionate about healthcare successfully apply for their dream jobs.

If you need help writing a CV for the position of a healthcare assistant or you have any questions, do not hesitate to get in touch. You can reach us on 0131 610 8868 or info@niccolomarketing.co.uk.