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Home Health Aide resume example

A resume for a Home Health Aide needs to show the work itself: monitor the health status of an individual with disabilities or illness, and address their health-related needs, such as changing bandages, dressing wounds, or administering medication. Day to day that means work like this: maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager; provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

  • Certified Home Health Aide
  • CHHA
  • Certified Nurses Aide
  • CNA
  • Home Care Aide
  • HHA
  • Caregiver
  • Certified Medical Aide
  • CMA
  • Home Attendant
  • Home Health Provider
  • Hospice Aide
  • In Home Caregiver
  • DSP
  • HSS
  • RA
  • Care Worker
  • Companion

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

  • Certified Home Health Aide (CHHA)
  • Certified Medical Aide (CMA)
  • Certified Nurses Aide (CNA)
  • Home Health Aide (HHA)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

  • Maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager.
  • Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming.
  • Bathe patients.
  • Care for patients by changing bed linens, washing and ironing laundry, cleaning, or assisting with their personal care.
  • Entertain, converse with, or read aloud to patients to keep them mentally healthy and alert.
  • Plan, purchase, prepare, or serve meals to patients or other family members, according to prescribed diets.
  • Check patients' pulse, temperature, and respiration.
  • Provide patients and families with emotional support and instruction in areas such as caring for infants, preparing healthy meals, living independently, or adapting to disability or illness.
  • Perform a variety of duties as requested by client, such as obtaining household supplies or running errands.
  • Direct patients in simple prescribed exercises or in the use of braces or artificial limbs.
  • Massage patients or apply preparations or treatments, such as liniment, alcohol rubs, or heat-lamp stimulation.
  • Administer prescribed oral medications, under the written direction of physician or as directed by home care nurse or aide, and ensure patients take their medicine.

15 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

  • Maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Bathe patients, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Care for patients by changing bed linens, washing and ironing laundry, cleaning, or assisting with their personal care, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

  • AIGHD OASIS
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • FaceTime
  • Linux
  • Mi-Co software
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Exchange
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft SharePoint
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word

21 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

  • Abdominal binders
  • Anti-embolism elastic stockings
  • Bathtub seats
  • Bed cradles
  • Canes
  • Crutches
  • Desktop computers
  • Electronic blood pressure cuffs
  • Enema equipment
  • Foot boards
  • Gait belts
  • Glucometers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

  • feed patients
  • AIGHD OASIS
  • FaceTime

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

  1. 01Active Listening
  2. 02Service Orientation
  3. 03Social Perceptiveness
  4. 04Critical Thinking
  5. 05Monitoring
  6. 06Reading Comprehension
  7. 07Instructing
  8. 08Persuasion
  9. 09Speaking
  10. 10Time Management

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • English Language

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

  • 63%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
  • 21%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school
  • 9%Associate's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Home Health Aide do?
Monitor the health status of an individual with disabilities or illness, and address their health-related needs, such as changing bandages, dressing wounds, or administering medication. Day to day that includes work like maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager and Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming.
What skills should a Home Health Aide put on a resume?
O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Critical Thinking, and Monitoring among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Home Health Aide list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes AIGHD OASIS, Enterprise resource planning ERP software, FaceTime, Linux, and Mi-Co software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Home Health Aide work?
O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Certified Home Health Aide, CHHA, Certified Nurses Aide, and CNA. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Home Health Aide need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 63% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Home Health Aide role?
No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

  • No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
  • This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
  • Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.