Certified occupational therapy assistant resume examples from 2025
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How to write a certified occupational therapy assistant resume
Craft a resume summary statement
Put a resume summary on the top of your resume to highlight your accomplishments. A resume summary sums up your experience and skills, making it easy for hiring managers to understand your qualifications at a glance. Here are some tips to write a strong, impressive resume summary:
Step 1: Start with your current job title, or the one you aspire to. Are you a passionate manager? A skilled analyst? It's a good starting point.
Step 2: Next put your years of experience in certified occupational therapy assistant-related roles.
Step 3: Now is the time to put your biggest accomplishment or something you are professionally proud of.
Step 4: Read over what you have written. It should be 2-4 sentences. Your goal is to summarize your experience, not recite your resume.
Hiring managers spend under a minute reviewing resumes on average. This means your summary needs to demonstrate your value quickly and show why you are the perfect fit for the certified occupational therapy assistant position.Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.
List the right project manager skills
Your Skills section is an easy way to let recruiters know you have the skills to do the job. Just as importantly, it can help your resume not get filtered out by hiring software. Here is how to make the most of your skills section and make sure you have the right keywords:
- Look at the job listing and skills listed. You need to include the exact keywords from the job description to get your resume in front of an actual human. Do you have those skills? Fantastic! Be sure to list them.
- Include as many relevant hard or technical certified occupational therapy assistant skills as possible for each job you apply to.
- Be specific with the skills you have and be sure you are using the most up to date and accurate terms.
Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on a certified occupational therapy assistant resume:
- Patients
- Rehabilitation
- Home Health
- Patient Care
- Occupational Therapy
- Occupational Therapy Treatments
- SNF
- Adaptive
- Acute Care
- Compassion
- Treatment Programs
- Physical Therapy
- Family Education
- Adaptive Equipment
- Healthcare Professionals
- Senior Care
- Excellent Organizational
- Discharge Planning
- Patient Safety
- Autism
- Care Conferences
- Excellent Interpersonal
- OTR/L
- Functional Mobility
- Patient Education
- Splints
- ADL
- Iadl
- Home Management
- Therapeutic Exercises
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How to structure your work experience
A work experience section is a vital part of your resume because it shows you have the experience to succeed in your next job.
- Put your most recent experience first. Prospective employers care about your most recent accomplishments the most.
- Put the job title, company name, city, and state on the left. Align dates in month and year format on the right-hand side.
- Include only recent, relevant jobs. This means if you're a fairly experienced worker, you might need to leave off that first internship or other positions in favor of highlighting more pertinent positions.
How to write certified occupational therapy assistant experience bullet points
Remember, your resume is not a list of responsibilities or a job description. This is your chance to show why you're good at your job and what you accomplished.
Use the XYZ formula for your work experience bullet points. Here's how it works:
- Use strong action verbs like Led, Built, or Optimized.
- Follow up with numbers when possible to support your results. How much did performance improve? How much revenue did you drive?
- Wrap it up by explaining the actions you took to achieve the result and how you made an impact.
This creates bullet points that read Achieved X, measured by Y, by doing Z.
Here are examples from great certified occupational therapy assistant resumes:
Work history example #1
Swimming Instructor/Life-Guarding (Part-Time)
Hampshire Hills
- Provided lifeguard coverage and student progress record keeping.
- Responded to high-stress accidents in a professional manner, performing CPR, AED and First Aid as necessary.
- Documented incidents accurately, managed and trained over 10 lifeguards, gave report to manager
- Developed ability to react quickly and calmly in case of emergencies Achieved certification in CPR and First Aid ACTIVITIES:
- Certified in CPR and First aid, my first responsibility was the safety of everyone in the pool limits.
Work history example #2
Occupational Therapy Assistant
Fraser
- Assisted Recreational Coordinator in leading group socialization activities for clients who have dementia
- Developed and implemented treatment tracking system to ensure patients stayed within frequencies and the facility was operating within appropriate financial brackets
- Completed discharge planning for each patient and sat in on meetings with other healthcare professionals to discuss the progress of patients.
- Assisted patients with physician ordered therapy sessions Responsible for locker room safety and maintenance Trained in CPR AND First Aid
- Proceeded monthly HAPS for Section 8 portfolio through TRACS meeting HUD required deadlines.
Work history example #3
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant
St. David's Center
- Reported to supervising OTR, resident's health improvement and problems.
- Administered electrical stimulation and Diathermy to patient.
- Planned and provided Occupational Therapy for adults and children in a sub acute out patient brain rehabilitation facility.
- Provided comprehensive training to newly hired therapists and associates from the inpatient rehab department.
- Documented resident care in accordance with RehabCare, regulatory, licensing, and accrediting requirements.
Work history example #4
Restorative Aide
Colorado Springs Bus System
- Used as CNA if needed.
- Assisted kindergarten teacher with daily student curriculum.
- Recieved an promotion of Restorative Aide and started working with the therapy department.
- Worked directly with kindergarten students in classroom activities.
- Practiced compassion for elderly and dementia patients and their families.
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Add an education section to your resume
- The highest degree you have achieved.
- TWhere you attended school, and the dates (Although if you graduated some time ago, leave the date off to avoid ageism)
- TField of study
- TAny honors, relevant coursework, achievements, or pertinent activities
Here are some examples of good education entries for resumes:
Master's Degree in occupational therapy
Keiser University, Fort Lauderdale, FL
2017 - 2018
Master's Degree in occupational therapy
Keiser University, Fort Lauderdale, FL
2015 - 2016
Highlight your certified occupational therapy assistant certifications on your resume
Certifications are a great way to showcase special expertise or niche skills. Some jobs even require certifications to be hired.
To list, use the full name of the certification and the organization that issued it, along with the date of achievement.
If you have any of these certifications, be sure to include them on your certified occupational therapy assistant resume:
- Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA)
- Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA)
- Massage Therapy Certification (MT)
- Medical Assistant
- Occupational Therapist Registered (OTR)