Physician Assistant Resume: Examples, Templates & Essential Sections

A physician assistant (PA), also known as a physician associate, is a type of mid-level health care provider. They work with patients of all ages in virtually all specialties and primary care areas under the direction and supervision of a licensed physician.

The day-to-day roles and responsibilities of a PA include: 

• Making rounds and performing patient exams
• Diagnosing illnesses
• Ordering and interpreting laboratory tests and X-rays
• Prescribing medications
• Developing and managing treatment plans
  

Due to the mandated reductions in resident training hours and a widening shortage of primary care clinicians, new opportunities are arising for PAs in both primary and urgent care.

With that being said, a strong physician assistant resume which clearly demonstrates your educational background, certifications, and clinical experience is required to get you the interview.

Let us show you how to make that with comprehensive guidelines, useful tips, and a physician assistant resume sample.

🔍 Which type of resume format should you select?

The selection of resume format type determines how the content will be presented in your PA resume. Thus, it’s important to understand the four common format types.

🔍 In which format should a physician assistant resume be sent?

Does it matter whether to submit the PA resume in Word or PDF?
The answer is yes! 

Microsoft Word may be one of the best tools for word processing and document creation. However, there are many issues when opening a Doc. file on different devices, such as formatting and file corruption errors. 

A physician assistant resume pdf, meanwhile, remains the content and layout no matter which operating system or device it is viewed on. Also, PDFs have been becoming widely used either with Microsoft Word or online resume builders. 

🔍 How to write an entry-level physician assistant resume?

• Advice 1: Adopt the functional resume format to draw the hiring manager’s attention towards your skills and qualifications instead of the lack of work experience. The education section also plays a critical part where you can highlight relevant coursework, academic awards, and a high GPA if you have one. 

• Advice 2: Draft a strong and concise objective statement which describes your passion and the value you can bring to the organization.

• Advice 3: Get inspired by PA resume examples on the Internet to learn about writing guidelines and critical mistakes to avoid.

1. Resume Profile (Personal Information)

In the first section, you need to provide the following information accurately and professionally: 

• Full name
• Email
• Phone number
• Address (optional) 

2. Resume Headline

A resume headline is a brief statement summarizing your entire PA resume or simply labels yourself as a candidate for the position. Here, bring up the most valued skills or outstanding achievements to strike an impression on the hiring manager. 

3. Resume Summary

As the name suggests, a resume summary is a succinct overview of your skills and work experience. Make it an “elevator pitch” to stand out and win the competition. 

The key point is modeling your pitch on what the hiring manager is seeking, which can be found in the PA job description.

4. Resume Objective

Earlier, we have mentioned the role of an objective statement for a new graduate physician assistant resume.

5. Work Experience

Here comes the most important part of your PA resume where you can prove your competence to hiring managers through what you’ve done and achieved in previous jobs. Thus, it’s important to list both job tasks and accomplishments. 

6. Skills

The skills section can go by various names, such as “qualifications”, “highlights”, or “core competencies”. 

A physician assistant skills resume should provide a list of the assets that can help you complete the tasks efficiently and fit into the new work environment. It’s crucial to list out both technical/hard skills and soft skills in your PA resume so that the employer can consider whether or not you’re the right for the vacancy. 

Below are essential skills for a physician assistant resume:

7. Education

Listing relevant qualifications of educational background is a must, especially for a PA resume with no experience.

8. Additional Information

Any additional information related to the job field should be listed as well, such as:

• Certifications: CAQs (Certificates of Added Qualifications), PA-C (Physician Assistant-Certified), etc.
• Licenses: Physician Assistant (PA) License, ARC-PA (Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant), etc.
• Volunteer work

💡 Tip 1: Tailor the PA resume to the job description.

Even though the job titles might be identical, each job has its own set of responsibilities and requirements. Hence, keep in mind to adjust your physician assistant resume to increase the level of relevancy of your application document. 

💡 Tip 2: Quantify your achievements.

Numbers are the cornerstones of any job-winning resume. Recruiters are impressed by quantifiable examples of your achievements, or job performance. 

You should also take reference of network administrator resume samples for section structure or resume format, especially when you are a career-changer or have little to no experience. For experienced job-hunters, resume samples help you avoid sameness and therefore enable you to produce a unique resume that markets your strength and sells your ability.

💡 Tip 3: Keep the formatting consistent.

The content of your PA resume isn’t the only thing that you need to pay attention to. 

In order to stay on top of the competition, you will need to keep resume formatting consistent with a clean and well-organized layout that catches the employer’s eyes, prompting them to select it from the stack.

💡 Tip 4: Adopt PA-related action verbs.

Within the field of healthcare, there are many terms and action verbs you can adopt throughout your PA resume, for example: diagnose, perform, care, treat, interpret, collaborate, record, provide, etc. Those words show your confidence and can better describe your responsibilities.

💡 Tip 5: Proofread your physician assistant resume. 

Finally yet importantly, spend extra minutes doing a final check on your physician assistant resume regarding grammar, spelling, punctuation, and proper word usage. Don't let these errors be a game-breaker and sink your chance of landing the dream job!

Since you're not working in the creative industries, simple PA resume templates are highly recommended. 

With great physician assistant resume samples and templates on Microsoft Word or any online resume builder like CakeResume, you no longer have to worry about formatting, layout, ATS optimization, etc. All you need to do is select the PA resume template you prefer, drop the text, and finally, save it as a PDF file.