How to Write a Care Assistant CV / Health Care Assistant CV
Care Assistants, also known as Health Care Assistants, play a vital role in providing care to patients, as part of a multidisciplinary team. If you need help producing your own CV check out our CV writing service.
When applying for jobs, it's essential that your Care Assistant CV shows not only your career background to date, but the personal characteristics that make you so good at this work.
This is more important in this role than many others in health care, simply because the qualifications needed to enter this area of work do little to differentiate between candidates. This means that on paper, everyone can look pretty much the same. If you want to gain an interview, your personal qualities and strengths are just as important as your previous jobs.
Health Care Assistant CV Profile
Your profile is 2 to 3 sentences in a short paragraph at the top of your professional CV. This is where you sum up your application, with the goal of attracting the employer's attention. You need to think of this as a shop window that will sell you as a future employee - you have to display a lot in a very brief space of time on you Health Care Assistant CV.
You should angle the profile at the vacancy you're applying for, by presenting the most relevant aspects of your experience, knowledge and skills. First of all, state which kind of patients or clients you have worked with. You may have experience of elderly care, long-term illness, disabilities or mental health issues. You can also state whether you have worked in residential homes, hospitals or another community environment.
Your strong character should come across clearly on your Care Assistant CV. What are your strengths, in terms of your professional skills and as a person? Professional strengths you might mention include willingness to take on all aspects of personal health care, supporting elderly patients, being able to take responsibility, being a fast efficient worker, being a supportive team member, calmness under pressure, etc. Select 2 or 3 skills to add to your profile.
Your personal attributes might include sensitivity to patient feelings, having an extrovert personality that cheers up elderly patients, having a genuine liking for helping people, etc. Many of these are what are termed transferable skills, meaning you can use them in any job. Again, choose your strongest characteristics, providing these are relevant to the vacancy.
Achievements for a Care Assistant CV
In your achievements section, you must highlight some areas of your work where you have stood out from the crowd. This means describing some instances where you have really made a difference through your personal contribution.
As a professional CV writing company, we would recommend that you try to include achievements throughout your Health Care Assistant CV, not just in an achievements section.
There may be some instances where you can provide specific evidence, in the form of quantities (e.g. savings of time or money, numbers of patients assisted), but an equally valid achievement is an action or work that you were commended for.
If you have cared for a wide range of patients, you can state that you are experienced in caring for these different groups (list them). Have you worked with patients from difficult backgrounds and been able to do so successfully? You can describe meeting a particular challenge in this respect.
Were you responsible for assessing any patients or clients? Describe the procedures you followed. Did you have to stand in for a more senior member of staff at some point? This can be counted as an accomplishment.
If you were promoted rapidly, or received a special commendation in a staff review, it can also be included in the Achievements section of your Care Assistant CV. If you took charge of any special projects, these can also be counted as achievements.
List up to 5 or 6 achievements, presenting them as sentences with bullet points. If you can give any specific information, it will strengthen the achievement.
Health Care Experience
While writing up your work history, you should continue this strategy of highlighting any point that might make you stand out from other candidates. While many of your duties may be regular or routine, you can still show that you were equally dedicated and motivated in handling them.
You should never just list different tasks or knowledge areas on your Health Care Assistant CV. You should always try to link your skills and strengths to tasks and accomplishments. This means you need to evaluate the way that you work and which aspects of your character are involved at different times with different tasks.
If you are stating that you worked with patients from different backgrounds, you can also state that you used your awareness of equality and diversity issues. Likewise, in communicating sensitively with patients, you always followed confidentiality protocols. If utilising excellent hygiene skills, you were always thorough and paid close attention to detail.
Did you undertake any administrative tasks? If you worked in a Health Care Trust, specify that you followed the intention as well as the letter of policies, guidelines and procedures. This may have meant record-keeping - what did you do?
Teamwork is critical in health care, so always mention this in your Care Assistant CV. Be specific, by mentioning which qualified staff you worked with. Who supervised you?
Your career history should never read like a list of tasks or a job description. When describing, for instance, hygiene tasks or monitoring clinical signs, group them together in threes. This makes them more readable.
The format you use will make this even more readable. For each job, list your job title, the employer's name and the inclusive dates of your employment on one line. Below this, list 5 or 6 work areas, in the way described above. Only list jobs from within the last 10 years.
Other Experience
If you've held other jobs before entering health care - and in this time of economic hardship, many people have - then you can include your other jobs in this section of your Care Assistant CV. Present them as above, but don't go into great detail unless it's highly relevant to the job you're applying for.
This section is also where you can include any relevant voluntary work you have completed before becoming a care assistant. This might be with a charity, or it could be with someone in your own family who you've looked after. This is especially valuable if you are newly out of education or are in the process of changing careers.
Qualifications and Training on a Health Care Assistant CV
If you have completed an NVQ/SVQ Level 2 or 3 in Health, or Health and Social Care, you can list this at the top of this section. Give the qualification, the training organisation you did it with and the year of attainment.
On the next line, you can list the areas you studied, including health and safety, manual handling, hygiene and personal care. Also state where you completed the vocational aspects of the qualification. Note: this isn't necessary if you have a substantial work history.
IT or administration training is also valuable in many roles, so include this too on your Health Care Assistant CV.
If you are working towards a health qualification at the moment, list it and, instead of a date, include the words 'current'.
Next, list any other short courses or training events you've attended since becoming employed as a care assistant. Again, include the organisation you trained with and the date (the year is sufficient).
If you've completed any other qualifications after leaving school, list these next. You may have A-levels or a degree. If you have either, don't list the school you attended, as it won't be necessary.
If you have an NVQ/SVQ qualification but no other training since 16-years, you can list your school, the town and the examinations you took in your final year. Only include those that you passed.
Leave a couple of lines' space, then include any other training that might be relevant - for example, state that you have a driving licence and give the date you gained it.
Other pages that a Health Care Assistant you be interested in:
- Need a great CV? Our Professional CV Writing Service can significantly improve your chances of getting the interviews you deserve.
- CV Examples
- Free CV Review
- Best Job Sites
