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Physical Therapist Assistant resume example

A resume for a Physical Therapist Assistant needs to show the work itself: assist physical therapists in providing physical therapy treatments and procedures. Day to day that means work like this: instruct, motivate, safeguard, and assist patients as they practice exercises or functional activities; document patient information, such as notes on their progress. 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 Physical Therapist Assistant
  • CPTA
  • Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant
  • LPTA
  • PTA
  • Physical Therapy Assistant
  • Home Care Physical Therapy Assistant
  • Home Health Physical Therapist Assistant
  • Licensed Physical Therapy Assistant
  • Outpatient Physical Therapist Assistant
  • Per Diem Physical Therapist Assistant
  • Per Diem PTA
  • Home Health PTA
  • Rehab Assistant
  • Home Health Physical Therapy Assistant
  • Physiotherapy Assistant
  • Rehabilitation Assistant

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 Physical Therapist Assistant (CPTA)
  • Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant (LPTA)
  • Per Diem Physical Therapist Assistant (Per Diem PTA)
  • Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA)
  • Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA)

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.

  • Instruct, motivate, safeguard, and assist patients as they practice exercises or functional activities.
  • Document patient information, such as notes on their progress.
  • Observe patients during treatments to compile and evaluate data on their responses and progress and provide results to physical therapist in person or through progress notes.
  • Instruct patients in proper body mechanics and in ways to improve functional mobility, such as aquatic exercise.
  • Secure patients into or onto therapy equipment.
  • Confer with physical therapy staff or others to discuss and evaluate patient information for planning, modifying, or coordinating treatment.
  • Administer active or passive manual therapeutic exercises, therapeutic massage, aquatic physical therapy, or heat, light, sound, or electrical modality treatments, such as ultrasound.
  • Transport patients to and from treatment areas, lifting and transferring them according to positioning requirements.
  • Clean work area and check and store equipment after treatment.
  • Communicate with or instruct caregivers or family members on patient therapeutic activities or treatment plans.
  • Measure patients' range-of-joint motion, body parts, or vital signs to determine effects of treatments or for patient evaluations.
  • Train patients in the use of orthopedic braces, prostheses, or supportive devices.

21 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.

  • Instruct, motivate, safeguard, and assist patients as they practice exercises or functional activities, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Document patient information, such as notes on their progress, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Observe patients during treatments to compile and evaluate data on their responses and progress and provide results to physical therapist in person or through progress notes, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Instruct patients in proper body mechanics and in ways to improve functional mobility, such as aquatic exercise, 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.

  • Accounting software
  • Arena Health Systems Phys-X
  • Beaver Creek Software The THERAPIST
  • Billing software
  • BioEx Systems Exercise Pro
  • Bookkeeping software
  • Client caseload management software
  • dBASE
  • Eazy Application Systems QuickEMR
  • eClinicalWorks EHR software
  • Email software
  • FileMaker Pro
  • Knees Software PT DocTools
  • Laboratory information system LIS

33 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
  • Ankle-foot orthotics
  • Arm prosthetics
  • Automated external defibrillators AED
  • Back braces
  • Balance beams
  • Balance boards
  • Below-the-knee prosthetics
  • Blood pressure cuffs
  • Body-fat calipers
  • Cardiac monitors
  • Cervical traction equipment

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.

  • Accounting
  • Arena Health Systems Phys-X

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. 02Monitoring
  3. 03Social Perceptiveness
  4. 04Speaking
  5. 05Active Learning
  6. 06Critical Thinking
  7. 07Reading Comprehension
  8. 08Service Orientation
  9. 09Writing
  10. 10Complex Problem Solving

Knowledge areas

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

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Therapy and Counseling
  • English Language
  • Education and Training
  • Psychology
  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Biology

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.

  • 84%Associate's Degree
  • 15%Bachelor's Degree
  • 1%First Professional Degree, awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Physical Therapist Assistant do?
Assist physical therapists in providing physical therapy treatments and procedures. Day to day that includes work like instruct, motivate, safeguard, and assist patients as they practice exercises or functional activities and Document patient information, such as notes on their progress.
What skills should a Physical Therapist Assistant put on a resume?
O*NET rates Active Listening, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, and Active Learning 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 Assistant list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes Accounting software, Arena Health Systems Phys-X, Beaver Creek Software The THERAPIST, Billing software, and BioEx Systems Exercise Pro. 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 Assistant work?
O*NET records 17 titles for this occupation, including Certified Physical Therapist Assistant, CPTA, Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant, and LPTA. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Physical Therapist Assistant need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 84% reported their level of education as "Associate's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Physical Therapist Assistant 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.