Medical Assistant Skills

Use a simple, clean format that highlights your skills and experiences. Focus on readability by using bullet points and short phrases to present your skills. Properly organize your resume into education, experience, and skills sections.

“Adding a skills section to your resume is a great way to draw the recruiter’s attention to your most relevant strengths and competencies.”

– Ashley Watkins, NCRW, NCOPE, Job Search Coach

For example, a medical assistant’s bullet points might look like this:

• Patient care: vital signs, exam preparation, procedure assistance.
• Medical terminology: anatomy, physiology, effective communication.
• Electronic health records: EHR maintenance, privacy and security compliance.

Hitting all the top job requirements with your skills list will help you rank highly for a keyword search within an applicant tracking system. But don’t stop there. Add context for every skill elsewhere in your work experience.

If a recruiter is excited by your EHR skills, for example, the first thing they’ll do is skim your work experience to figure out when, how, and how much you used that skill.

As you list your responsibilities, it’s also important to highlight your major accomplishments wherever you can.

“For soft skills, it’s often more effective to demonstrate them in the context of your past work experience. Instead of merely stating “excellent team player”, you are better off saying “collaborated with a cross-functional team of 6 on a new product launch that boosted sales by 30% in one year”. Examples of specific accomplishments or business outcomes speak louder than buzzwords.”

– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor

For example, if you received high marks on patient care surveys, be sure to mention this accomplishment.

Instead of saying,

“Provided excellent patient care.”

You could say,

“Provided excellent patient care by maintaining a 98% satisfaction rate, as measured by patient feedback surveys.”

This demonstrates your level of expertise with the skills you listed. It gives the recruiter more reason to be interested in you as a result.

If you’re applying for a role requiring a broad skillset, categorize your skills.

“If you opt to include a designated skills section on your resume, include up to 10 of your core competencies. Excessive skills lists are overwhelming and sometimes confusing to the reader.”

– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter

For example, someone applying for a role as a medical assistant might benefit from segmenting their skill lists as follows:

Clinical Skills:

• Vital signs measurement and recording.
• Medical histories and physical exam preparation.
• Medical procedure assistance and support.

Administrative Skills:

• Electronic health record management.
• Appointment scheduling and confirmation.
• Insurance verification and billing.

Use numbers to quantify your achievements wherever possible. This helps potential employers understand your abilities and the impact you can have on their organization.

“Recruiters and hiring managers are looking for relevancy of how and when you applied those skills, so provide examples of this in your experience section. Bonus tip: Don’t just insert the skill like a task–include results.”

– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter

Instead of saying,

“Measured and recorded vital signs.”

You could say,

“Measured and recorded vital signs for an average of 50 patients per day, maintaining 100% accuracy.”

By using numbers, you give hiring managers a better sense of your value.

Read the description carefully and emphasize the relevant skills and experiences. Highlight the skills that the employer seeks and provide examples of how you’ve used those skills in your previous roles. Doing so can demonstrate that you’re a strong fit for the position and increase your chances of being invited to an interview.

“The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach doesn’t work when it comes to your resume. For every job application, tailor your skill set to match the job description. Most companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that filter candidates based on keywords and skills listed in the job description. So, research the role you’re applying for and distill the skills required.”

– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor

In order to do this, “you must first understand what skills are most important for the target role,” says Ashley Watkins.

Here’s an example of how to tailor a medical assistant’s resume to a job description:

Job Title: Medical Assistant

Requirements:

• Knowledge of anatomy and physiology.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to perform clinical procedures such as taking vital signs and collecting laboratory specimens.

Tailored Resume Description:

• Conducted patient assessments and accurately documented medical history and symptoms using knowledge of anatomy and physiology.
• Communicated effectively with patients, physicians, and other healthcare professionals to ensure optimal patient care.
• Proficient in taking vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature, and collecting laboratory specimens.

“Focus on the sought-after and in demand skills. A great way to figure out what is currently in demand is by researching current job openings from your preferred companies and reading through the posting. Pay close attention to the preferred requirements section and build your skills section based on this list.”

– Chelsea Jay, Career & Leadership Development Coach – Seasoned and Growing

Start each bullet point with an action verb. An action verb expresses an action, such as “create,” “build,” “manage,” “lead,” or “implement.”

Action verbs grab the reader’s attention and paint a vivid picture of what you accomplished at work.

Action verbs make your resume more interesting to read. They also show the kind of can-do attitude that employers are looking for.