Occupational therapy assistant resume examples for 2025
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How to write an 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 professional title, or the one you aspire to.
Step 2: Detail your years of experience in occupational therapy assistant-related roles and your industry experience.
Step 3: What are your biggest professional wins? Here is your opportunity to highlight your strongest accomplishments by placing them at the start of your resume.
Step 4: Don't forget, your goal is to summarize your experience. Keep it short and sweet, so it's easy for recruiters to quickly understand why you're a great hire.
These four steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some occupational therapy assistant interviews.Hi, I'm Zippi, your job search robot. Let me write a first draft of your summary statement.
List the right project manager skills
Your Skills section is a place to list all relevant skills and abilities. 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 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 an occupational therapy assistant resume:
- Patients
- Rehabilitation
- Home Health
- Patient Care
- Therapy Programs
- Acute Care
- Occupational Therapy Treatments
- Adaptive
- Quality Care
- Self Care
- SNF
- Occupational Therapy
- Patient Treatment
- Treatment Interventions
- Compassion
- Physical Therapy
- Treatment Programs
- ADL
- Social Work
- Healthcare Professionals
- Discharge Planning
- Functional Mobility
- Medicare
- Fieldwork
- Direct Supervision
- Therapeutic Interventions
- Physical Disabilities
- Senior Care
- OTR/L
- Simplification
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How to structure your work experience
Your work experience should be structured:
- With your most recent roles first, followed by earlier roles in reverse chronological order.
- Job title, along with company name and location on the left.
- Put the corresponding dates of employment on the left side.
- Keep only relevant jobs on your work experience.
How to write 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 effective examples from occupational therapy assistant resumes:
Work history example #1
Occupational Therapy Assistant
Baptist Hospital
- Worked as part of an interdisciplinary team to establish rehabilitation plans.
- Acquired and implemented and collaborated knowledge of MDS with MDS coordinator.
- Provided occupational therapy and physical rehabilitation to geriatric group Conducted education and counseling for families and caregivers of patients with neurological diagnosis
- Planned and provided Occupational Therapy for adults and children in a sub acute out patient brain rehabilitation facility.
- Managed a high-volume caseload as well as provide supervision to COTA/L's.
Work history example #2
Occupational Therapy Assistant
Centra
- Supervised COTA; instructed in Medicare documentation.
- Communicated and collaborated with other healthcare professionals involved with patient care.
- Served as a preceptor of a Level I COTA student and a designated CI for any upcoming Level II OT student.
- Used Therapeutic Use of Self in the rehabilitation of patients.
- Provided therapy as directed by evaluating therapist and progression with Care team in facility.
Work history example #3
Occupational Therapy Assistant
Amedisys
- Provided occupational therapy at an in-patient facility by assessing patients' rehabilitation needs and plans of care.
- Managed rehabilitation therapy team which consisted of Physical therapist/assistant, Speech therapist and COTA.
- Worked together with the OTR to complete established goals, such as ADL's, ROM, strengthening etc.
- Provided occupational therapy and physical rehabilitation to geriatric group Conducted education and counseling for families and caregivers of patients with neurological diagnosis
- Worked as part of an interdisciplinary team to establish rehabilitation plans.
Work history example #4
Student Assistant Technician
Jiffy Lube
- Carried out electrical and engine diagnosis for strategic repair plan implementation.
- Educated and assisted CNA's on duty with transfers using assistive devices using mechanical lifts.
- Assisted professors with defective equipment in high pressured environments.
- observed and worked with CVA patients, orhtho, general weakness, pneumonia.
- Executed group treatments involving medication management, cooking, energy conservation/work simplification, and Wii therapeutic activities.
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Add an education section to your resume
The education section should display your highest degree first.
Place your education section appropriately on your resume. If you graduated over 5 years ago, this section should be at the bottom of your resume. If you just graduated and lack relevant work experience, the education section should go to the top.
If you have a bachelor's or master's degree, do not list your high school education. If your graduation year is more than 15-20 years ago, it's better not to include dates in this section.
Here are some examples of good education entries for resumes:
Master's Degree in occupational therapy
University of California - Davis, Davis, CA
2011 - 2012
Highlight your occupational therapy assistant certifications on your resume
Certifications can be a crucial part of your resume. Many jobs have required certifications.
Start simple. Include the full name of the certification. It's also good to mention the organization that issued the certification. Next, specify when you obtained the certification.
If you have any of these certifications, be sure to include them on your occupational therapy assistant resume:
- Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA)
- Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA)
- Medical Assistant
- Occupational Therapist Registered (OTR)
- Massage Therapy Certification (MT)
- IV Therapy (IVC)