Best Nursing Assistant Resume Examples + Guide & Pro Tips

Nilda Melissa Diaz, CPRW
By Nilda Melissa Diaz, CPRW, Career Advice Expert Last Updated: November 15, 2023
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Nursing assistants help patients with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, and eating. They also take patients’ vital signs, record patient information and help nurses and other medical staff with treatments and tests. 

To succeed as a nursing assistant, you must be resilient, empathic and have excellent interpersonal skills. 

Use our guide and nursing assistant resume example to write an effective nursing assistant resume and get the job you want.

Start by editing this nursing assistant resume example, or explore our library of resume templates to find the best one for you.

Nursing assistant resume sample (text version)

Mila Ortega

Los Angeles, CA 90004

(555) 555-5555

example@example.com

Professional Summary

Dedicated and compassionate certified nursing assistant (CNA) with over 10 years of experience in providing high-quality patient care. Proven track record of assisting health care teams, maintaining a safe and clean environment and ensuring optimal patient comfort. Adept at monitoring vital signs, assisting with daily living activities and fostering positive patient experiences.

Work History

November 2020 – Current

Supplemental Health Care – Los Angeles, CA

Senior Nursing Assistant

  • Lead a team of 10 nursing assistants and implement proactive monitoring systems, resulting in a 15% reduction in patient falls within the first six months.
  • Collaborate with nursing staff to implement improved infection control measures, reducing patient infections by 20%.
  • Manage and document medication administration for an average of 20 patients daily, with a 100% accuracy rate.

September 2015 – October 2020

Blue Flower Care Center – Los Angeles, CA

Certified Nursing Assistant

  • Administered medications as prescribed, adhering to the facility’s protocols and ensuring patient understanding.
  • Regularly monitored and recorded patients’ vital signs, including blood pressure, heart rate and temperature.
  • Implemented a patient engagement program, leading to a 30% increase in resident participation in recreational activities.

June 2012 – August 2015

Associated Health Professionals – Los Angeles, CA

Nursing Assistant

  • Assisted residents with activities of daily living, maintaining a high level of dignity and respect.
  • Acted as a liaison between patients and health care teams, addressing patient concerns and advocating for their needs, resulting in a 25% increase in patient satisfaction scores in the annual survey.
  • Implemented and maintained infection control measures, ensuring a clean and sterile environment.

Skills

  • Patient care
  • Vital signs monitoring
  • Medication administration
  • Infection control
  • Patient advocacy
  • Charting and documentation
  • Team collaboration
  • Compassionate care

Education

Los Angeles Southwest College Los Angeles, CA

Certified Nursing Assistant Program Nursing Assistance

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles

High School Diploma

Certifications

  • Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) – (Updated 2023)
  • Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification – (2020)

5 essentials of a top nursing assistant resume

  1. Contact details

    Add your contact information to the top of your resume; otherwise, hiring managers won’t know how to contact you for an interview. Display your contact information like so: Your full name, then your city, state and ZIP code, followed by your phone number and professional email address. Add your LinkedIn profile and professional website (if you have them) last.

  2. Professional summary

    A resume for a nursing assistant must include a professional summary with appropriate skills and one or two notable accomplishments, and it should touch on how long you’ve been in the industry. If you are just starting your career, use a nursing assistant resume objectiveinstead. 

    Here’s a good sample nursing assistant resume summary: 

    “Dedicated nursing assistant with over five years of experience providing exceptional patient care in long-term care facilities. Highly adept in providing personal care to patients, including helping with activities of daily living, administering medications and monitoring vital signs. Proven ability to build strong relationships with patients, families and colleagues. Committed to providing compassionate care and improving patient outcomes.”

  3. Skills

    You’ve got to let potential employers know what skills you bring to the table. Create a separate section for your job-relevant skills and display them with bullet points to make them easy to read. Provide a mix of technical, hard and soft skills for the best impression.

    Nursing assistant skills for a resume include: assessing symptoms and providing vaccines, compassion and empathy, attention to detail, and effective communication skills.

  4. Work history

    Your nursing assistant resume employment history section should list current and previous employers and provide business names, locations and the dates you worked for each. Include three to five bullet points of measurable achievements for every job you list. 

    Be specific about your achievements and use numbers to show how you made an impact. 

    For example, 

    • Increased patient satisfaction ratings from 65% to 85% over a 3-month period.
    • Successfully completed 15 continuing education courses in the past 12 months.
    • Assisted in the training and onboarding of 10 new nursing assistants in the past six months.

    If you don’t have work experience as a nursing assistant, highlight relevant extracurricular activities, coursework, presentations, clinical and volunteer experience and community service.

  5. Education

    Hiring managers want to see your education credentials, so a resume for a nursing assistant job must include an education section. Add all the educational institutions you’ve attended after high school and display the names of the schools and the years that you graduated in reverse-chronological order using bullet points. If you did not attend college, list your high school information and the classes you’ve taken since graduating. 

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Do’s and don’ts for building a nursing assistant resume

  • Use measurable achievements like “assisted in the delivery of over 750 medications and treatments accurately and on time” to describe your nursing assistant abilities and experience.
  • Use action words such as facilitate, provide and monitor to make an impact on your nursing assistant resume.
  • Tailor your resume to your target nursing assistant job.
  • Use keywords like “wound care,” “immunology,” “catheter insertion” from the job description throughout your nursing assistant resume.
  • Format your nursing assistant resume so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
  • Lie about your nursing assistant experience and skills.
  • Boast about your nursing assistant experience and skills. Instead, highlight work experience like “Supported four nurses on the nightshift.”
  • Include irrelevant personal information such as your ethnicity and age.
  • Add skills and experience that do not pertain to being a nursing assistant. Instead, highlight nursing assistant job-specific skills like “wound dressing and “taking vital signs.”
  • Forget to proofread!

Top 4 tips for acing a nursing assistant interview

  1. Learn about the institution. 

    It’s vital to take the time to learn about the institution’s history, goals, values and people before your nursing assistant job interview. Doing so conveys interest, passion and commitment — traits that can set you above the competition. Plus, a glimpse of the culture early on will help you know what to expect and can boost your confidence. 

    Here are some things to look for: 

    • Is it an accredited hospital or clinic? 
    • Does the institution have a  supportive team of healthcare professionals?
    • Is there an emphasis on patient safety and care?
    • Is there a chance to mentor with a qualified lead nurse?
  2. Practice at home.

    Practice really does make perfect. To practice for your interview, start by reviewing the most common interview questions, such as: 

    And specific questions relating to nursing, like: 

    • What experience do you have working as a nursing assistant?
    • How do you handle stressful or difficult situations while providing patient care?
    • What strategies do you use when dealing with challenging patient behaviors?

    Possible behavioral questions include:

    Write down two or three possible answers as you review potential questions, then review them with a friend or a family member in a mock interview so you can get comfortable with the questions and memorize your answers.

  3. Ask questions.

    You should always have at least three questions ready to ask every nursing assistant job interview you encounter; those who do tend to get hired more often than those who don’t because they show motivation, keen interest and thoughtfulness. 

    Some questions you might ask for a nursing assistant job are: 

    • What is the nurse-to-patient ratio?
    • What type of continuing education is offered for nursing assistants?
    • What type of support is available for nursing assistants?
  4. Gather references.

    You’ll need professional references quickly if the hiring manager offers you the job after the interview. Having them ready will save you stress and time, so prepare a list of two former colleagues and a former manager who are willing to speak to your abilities to perform the job of a nursing assistant and who you know will give you a stellar review.

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