Occupational therapist Resume: Free Example (2026)

Start with a clean header that includes your full name, city and state, phone number, and professional email. Include a concise professional title that matches the job listing, for example Occupational Therapist or Occupational Therapist, Pediatric Rehab, to make your resume easier to scan.

Add a link to an updated LinkedIn profile or a professional portfolio if you have patient education materials or relevant presentations. Keep personal details minimal and avoid listing full home address to respect privacy and modern recruiter preferences.

Choose a professional summary if you have two or more years of practice experience, and write a short paragraph that highlights your specialty, measurable achievements, and relevant certifications. For example, include your setting such as outpatient, acute care, or school-based practice, and mention any outcomes you can quantify like improved ADL independence rates.

Use an objective only if you are a recent graduate or changing fields, and keep it employer focused by naming the role and how you will contribute. Keep this section to two to three sentences so hiring managers can quickly see fit.

List roles in reverse chronological order and start each job entry with your job title, employer name, location, and dates. Under each role use 3 to 6 bullets that focus on accomplishments and outcomes rather than general duties.

When writing bullets, lead with a strong action verb and include concrete results when possible, such as reduced patient readmission rates or increased patient independence scores. Tailor at least three bullets per role to keywords from the job posting, such as splinting, ADL training, documentation, or pediatric sensory integration.

List your degree, school, graduation year, and any honors or relevant coursework if you are early career. Prominently display active licenses, state of licensure, and license numbers if required, along with your NBCOT certification status.

Also include continuing education courses, certifications, and relevant trainings such as LSVT, Hand Therapy certificates, or sensory integration workshops. If you have publications or presentations, add a short line so hiring managers can find more evidence of professional growth.

Create a focused skills section that mixes hard clinical skills and relevant soft skills, and place it near the top for quick scanning. Hard skills might include ADL training, splint fabrication, therapeutic modalities, and documentation in the electronic medical record used by the employer.

List soft skills that are meaningful to the role, such as patient education, interdisciplinary communication, time management, and cultural competence. Tailor this list to each job posting, prioritizing keywords used in the listing to pass applicant tracking systems.

Use a clean, readable font at 10 to 12 points and keep margins around 0.5 to 1 inch depending on length. Stick to one or two pages unless you have extensive relevant experience or publications that justify a longer resume.

Use consistent bullet formatting and parallel sentence structure so bullets start with the same verb tense and form. Avoid dense blocks of text by keeping each paragraph to two to three sentences and each job entry to clearly separated bullets.

Save and submit your resume as a PDF unless the job posting requests a Word file, and ensure the PDF is text based so ATS software can read it. Avoid placing important information inside images or headers if the application system extracts plain text from the body of the document.

Use standard headings like Work Experience, Education, and Certifications, and avoid decorative section titles that might confuse parsing algorithms. Keep tables to a minimum and prefer simple lists for dates and positions, since some applicant tracking systems misread complex layouts.

Below are concise sample bullets you can adapt to your own experience, with measurable results when applicable. Use these templates to create your own role-specific bullets that reflect your responsibilities and outcomes.

Sample bullets:

1. Conducted standardized assessments and developed individualized treatment plans that increased ADL independence for X patients per month.
2. Fabricated custom orthoses and splints for hand and upper extremity injuries, reducing recovery time and improving function.
3. Collaborated with interdisciplinary teams to revise discharge plans, shortening average length of stay and improving continuity of care.

If you work in pediatrics, orthopedics, hand therapy, or neurological rehab, highlight the most relevant interventions and outcome measures for that specialty. Include specific assessment tools and certifications such as BOT-2 for pediatrics, DASH scores for hand therapy, or Fugl-Meyer for neurorehab when they match the job description.

When applying to outpatient settings highlight case load management and productivity measures, and when applying to schools emphasize IEP contribution and classroom-based strategies. Always match language in your resume to the language used in the job posting to make relevance clear to both humans and systems.

Author: JobCopy Career Coach, Date Published: 2025-01-01, Date Modified: 2025-01-01. Include these metadata items in the page Article schema when you publish to help search engines and readers verify freshness and authorship.

Next steps: create a tailored cover letter using two to three role-specific achievements from your resume and prepare a short set of talking points for interviews. Use the resume examples in this guide as starting points and personalize them with your measurable outcomes and specific patient populations.