Your medical assistant resume is the first thing that a potential employer will look at closely. It needs to be well-written, precise and include all the relevant information about you that an employer needs to know. It is very important that you make a good first impression with your medical assistant resume, otherwise it might end up in the wastebasket.

Take a bit of time to write, format and print your resume using the following tips. This will ensure that you can promote yourself properly and increase your chances of landing a job interview.

Medical Assistant Resume Structure

Personal Details – of course, the first thing on your medical assistant resume should be your full name, address, contact numbers and email.

Skills – this section is will contain a list of your administrative and clinical skills. This is the most important part of your resume which is why it goes next after your personal details. There are several different styles of writing this part of your medical assistant resume and it may be called profile, summary of qualifications, highlights of qualifications or it can simply be titled “Certified Medical Assistant,” “Certified Podiatric Medical Assistant,” “Certified Ophthalmic Medical Assistant” etc.

The most effective way to write this section of your medical assistant resume is to create a two or three sentence paragraph that sums up your qualifications and then list all of your relevant skills that you want to highlight in bullet form. Here is an example:

Certified Medical Assistant

Experienced CMA proficient in medical office management and with a strong clinical background in pediatric healthcare. Fluent in verbal and written Spanish. Skills include:

* Medical Office Management
* Patient Records Management
* Medical Billing
* Bookkeeping
* Taking Vitals
* Drawing Blood
* Giving Injections
* Preparing Patients for Examination
* Certified in CPR

Education – keep this part of your medical assistant resume simple. You should include your medical assisting certifications in it as well as any medical assisting training you have had. For certifications, list the certificate name followed by the date and for educational history, the name of the institution followed by the dates.

Work History – for most people, except for new graduates, this is the part that employers will ask questions about the most. Work history should be listed in reverse chronological order. That is, the most recent experience is listed first. Detail your achievements and responsibilities for each position in bullet form. Put more information on the most recent work experience in your medical assistant resume.

Chronological vs Functional Medical Assistant Resume

Most employers still prefer the traditional chronological resume. Ideally, this should be the type of medical assistant resume you create. The only exception is if you have had a lot of unrelated work experience. In that case, a functional medical assistant resume that lists relevant experience in skills clusters may be more appropriate.

Nonetheless, keep in mind that recruiters and HR personnel may be either unfamiliar with or even irritated by functional medical assistant resumes. The medical assistant resume format described in the writing tips above is a combination resume that lists skills first and then work experience.

Medical Assistant Resume Tips

* Print your resume using black ink and plain white paper.
* Don’t get fancy with borders or graphics.
* A medical assistant cover letter should accompany your resume.
* Save your medical assistant resume in .doc file type if you are attaching it to an email.
* Your resume should be three pages at most.
* Check carefully for any grammatical errors.
* Ask another person to look over your resume for you, preferably someone in healthcare or recruitment, and ask for any advice they may have.

Your medical assistant resume is a marketing tool and employers will use it to decide if they want to interview you for the job. In other words, the objective of your resume is to get an interview. So instead of writing just one resume, it is better to tailor each one for a specific medical assistant job. How do you do that? For example, if the job requires a lot of administrative responsibilities, highlight your administrative skills and experience more than your clinical skills. That’s the most important medical assistant resume writing tip of all.

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