Physical Therapist resume example
A resume for a Physical Therapist needs to show the work itself: assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and improve or correct disabling conditions resulting from disease or injury. Day to day that means work like this: plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients; perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention. 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.
- Doctor of Physical Therapy
- DPT
- Home Care Physical Therapist
- Home Care PT
- Inpatient Physical Therapist
- Inpatient PT
- Pediatric Physical Therapist
- Pediatric PT
- Acute Care PT
- Acute Care Physical Therapist
- Outpatient Physical Therapist
- Outpatient PT
- Registered Physical Therapist
- RPT
- Therapist
- Acute PT
- Cardiopulmonary PT
- Geriatric PT
O*NET records 36 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.
- Acute Care PT (Acute Care Physical Therapist)
- Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)
- Home Care Physical Therapist (Home Care PT)
- Inpatient Physical Therapist (Inpatient PT)
- Outpatient Physical Therapist (Outpatient PT)
- Pediatric Physical Therapist (Pediatric PT)
- Registered Physical Therapist (RPT)
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.
- Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
- Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
- Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.
- Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
- Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
- Confer with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.
- Administer manual exercises, massage, or traction to help relieve pain, increase patient strength, or decrease or prevent deformity or crippling.
- Obtain patients' informed consent to proposed interventions.
- Test and measure patient's strength, motor development and function, sensory perception, functional capacity, or respiratory or circulatory efficiency and record data.
- Direct, supervise, assess, and communicate with supportive personnel.
- Review physician's referral and patient's medical records to help determine diagnosis and physical therapy treatment required.
- Identify and document goals, anticipated progress, and plans for reevaluation.
24 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.
- Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
- Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home, 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.
- Advantage Software Physical Therapy Advantage
- Biometrics video game software
- Cedaron Dexter Evaluation & Impairment Rating
- Clinicient Insight
- eClinicalWorks EHR software
- Exercise routine creation software
- Hands On Technology TheraWriter.PT
- Medical condition coding software
- Medical procedure coding software
- MediGraph
- MEDITECH software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
20 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.
- Above-the-knee prosthetics
- Adjusting tables
- Aquacisers
- Arm prosthetics
- Axial-resistance shoulder wheels
- Babinski hammers
- Balance beams
- Balance boards
- Below-the-knee prosthetics
- Biofeedback units
- Biomechanical ankle platform system BAPS systems
- Blood pressure cuffs
What this job rates as most important
O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.
- 01Active Listening
- 02Critical Thinking
- 03Reading Comprehension
- 04Service Orientation
- 05Social Perceptiveness
- 06Speaking
- 07Monitoring
- 08Writing
- 09Judgment and Decision Making
- 10Time Management
Knowledge areas
The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.
- Customer and Personal Service
- Therapy and Counseling
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Psychology
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Biology
- Administration and Management
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.
- 47%Doctoral Degree
- 38%Master's Degree
- 8%Bachelor's Degree
What level this role is pitched at
O*NET places this occupation in “Extensive Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Common questions
- What does a Physical Therapist do?
- Assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and improve or correct disabling conditions resulting from disease or injury. Day to day that includes work like plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients and Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
- What skills should a Physical Therapist put on a resume?
- O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Service Orientation, and Social Perceptiveness 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 Physical Therapist list?
- Software recorded for this occupation includes Advantage Software Physical Therapy Advantage, Biometrics video game software, Cedaron Dexter Evaluation & Impairment Rating, Clinicient Insight, and eClinicalWorks EHR 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 Physical Therapist work?
- O*NET records 36 titles for this occupation, including Doctor of Physical Therapy, DPT, Home Care Physical Therapist, and Home Care PT. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
- What qualifications does a Physical Therapist need?
- In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 47% reported their level of education as "Doctoral Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
- Will this resume pass an ATS for a Physical Therapist 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.