What does a Personal Care Aide do?

Provide personalized assistance to individuals with disabilities or illness who require help with personal care and activities of daily living support (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and ambulation). Day to day that includes work like prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor and Administer bedside or personal care, such as ambulation or personal hygiene assistance.

What skills should a Personal Care Aide put on a resume?

O*NET rates Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, 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 Personal Care Aide list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Appletree, August Systems Visit Wizard, Computer reading software, Email software, and FaceTime. 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 Personal Care Aide work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Caregiver, Home Care Aide, Personal Care Attendant, and PCA. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Personal Care Aide need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 48% 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 Personal Care 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.

Personal Care Aide resume example

A resume for a Personal Care Aide needs to show the work itself: provide personalized assistance to individuals with disabilities or illness who require help with personal care and activities of daily living support (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and ambulation). Day to day that means work like this: prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor; administer bedside or personal care, such as ambulation or personal hygiene assistance. 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.

Caregiver
Home Care Aide
Personal Care Attendant
PCA
Care Provider
Direct Care Worker
Medication Aide
Personal Care Assistant
Resident Assistant
Resident Care Assistant
RCA
Aide
Blind Aide
Blind Escort
Care Companion
Caretaker
Companion
Companion Caregiver

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.

Personal Care Aide
Personal Care Assistant (PCA)
Personal Care Attendant (PCA)
Resident Care Assistant (RCA)

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.

Prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor.
Administer bedside or personal care, such as ambulation or personal hygiene assistance.
Perform healthcare-related tasks, such as monitoring vital signs and medication, under the direction of registered nurses or physiotherapists.
Participate in case reviews, consulting with the team caring for the client, to evaluate the client's needs and plan for continuing services.
Instruct or advise clients on issues, such as household cleanliness, utilities, hygiene, nutrition, or infant care.
Care for individuals or families during periods of incapacitation, family disruption, or convalescence, providing companionship, personal care, or help in adjusting to new lifestyles.
Perform housekeeping duties, such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes or dishes, or running errands.
Provide clients with communication assistance, typing their correspondence or obtaining information for them.
Train family members to provide bedside care.
Plan, shop for, or prepare nutritious meals or assist families in planning, shopping for, or preparing nutritious meals.
Transport clients to locations outside the home, such as to physicians' offices or on outings, using a motor vehicle.

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.

Prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Administer bedside or personal care, such as ambulation or personal hygiene assistance, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Perform healthcare-related tasks, such as monitoring vital signs and medication, under the direction of registered nurses or physiotherapists, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Participate in case reviews, consulting with the team caring for the client, to evaluate the client's needs and plan for continuing services, 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.

Appletree
August Systems Visit Wizard
Computer reading software
Email software
FaceTime
MEDITECH software
Mi-Co Mi-Forms
Spreadsheet software
Voltage SecureMail
Word processing software

Tools and equipment

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

Adjustable widemouth pliers
Adjustable wrenches
Alarm systems
Automatic blood pressure machines
Back braces
Bed scales
Bedpans
Blood pressure cuffs
Braille printing software
Canes
Crutches
Digital cameras

What this job rates as most important

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

01Service Orientation
02Social Perceptiveness
03Active Listening
04Critical Thinking
05Monitoring
06Coordination
07Instructing
08Speaking
09Time Management

Knowledge areas

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

English Language
Transportation
Customer and Personal Service
Education and Training
Psychology
Public Safety and Security

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.

48%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
22%Associate's Degree
18%Less than a High School Diploma

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 Personal Care Aide do?: Provide personalized assistance to individuals with disabilities or illness who require help with personal care and activities of daily living support (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and ambulation). Day to day that includes work like prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor and Administer bedside or personal care, such as ambulation or personal hygiene assistance.
What skills should a Personal Care Aide put on a resume?: O*NET rates Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, 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 Personal Care Aide list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Appletree, August Systems Visit Wizard, Computer reading software, Email software, and FaceTime. 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 Personal Care Aide work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Caregiver, Home Care Aide, Personal Care Attendant, and PCA. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Personal Care Aide need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 48% 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 Personal Care 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.