Massage Therapist Resume Examples & Writing Guide

This resume is for an experienced LMT who has worked in a franchise studio, a chiropractic clinic and a day spa. The name and businesses are made up. The license sits right under the header, every job states sessions per week and rebooking or retention numbers, and the modalities are the ones spas and clinics actually search for.

Spas, clinics and franchise studios are usually short of therapists, so the reader has one practical question: can this person start on the schedule next week without a compliance problem or a run of bad reviews? Four things answer it.

• License status. An active license in the job's state, with the board name and renewal date. Most states license massage therapists; a few do not, and some cities require a separate permit. If you are moving states, say when you expect your new license.
• Modalities that match the menu. A day spa needs Swedish, deep tissue, prenatal and hot stone. A chiropractic or physical therapy clinic needs trigger point, myofascial release and SOAP notes. A sports club wants sports massage and stretching. Put the matching ones first.
• Volume, rebooking and reviews. Sessions per week tell them you can handle the load without injury; rebooking rate and review scores tell them clients come back. These are the three numbers that matter in this field.
• Availability. Spas are busiest Friday to Sunday and evenings. A therapist who states "available Thursday through Sunday including evenings" gets called before one who leaves the reader to guess.

“I check the license and the modalities against my menu, then I look for a rebooking number. Anyone can do a decent Swedish. A 65% rebook rate tells me clients ask for you again, and that is what fills my book.”

Give your license its own line at the top of a "License and Certifications" section. Include the credential name as your state writes it, the licensing board, status and renewal date. The license number is optional; employers verify it on the board's website.

• Required in most states: a state massage license or registration, which normally means a program of 500 to 1,000 hours and passing the MBLEx (Massage and Bodywork Licensing Examination) from the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards. Hours and exam rules differ by state; check your board.
• Voluntary but respected: Board Certification (BCTMB) from the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, which requires 750 education hours, 250 hands-on hours and a background check.
• Expected almost everywhere: CPR/AED and first aid, and professional liability insurance (usually through AMTA or ABMP membership).
• Continuing education worth listing: prenatal, oncology massage, sports massage, lymphatic drainage, cupping, hot stone, Thai massage, myofascial release, orthopedic massage. Give the course hours and year; most states require CE hours for renewal anyway.
• Do not write "certified" for a modality you learned in school or from a weekend video. Write "trained in" unless a course issued a certificate with hours.

Use a summary once you have a year of paid practice. Use an objective as a new graduate or when you change settings (spa to clinical, franchise to private practice). Line one always carries the license, the years or hours, and the modalities.

Every massage therapist resume says "performed therapeutic massage" and "maintained a clean environment". Those are the job description. Add the setting, the volume, the modality and a client or business result.

List 10 to 14 skills, modalities first. Match the order to the employer's service menu, and separate what you were trained in from what you hold a certificate for.

• Modalities (spa): Swedish, deep tissue, hot stone, aromatherapy, prenatal, couples, chair massage, scalp and foot treatments, body scrubs and wraps if the spa offers them.
• Modalities (clinical and sports): trigger point therapy, myofascial release, neuromuscular therapy, sports and pre/post-event massage, PNF and assisted stretching, manual lymphatic drainage, cupping, instrument-assisted techniques where your state allows them, oncology massage with training.
• Clinical skills: intake and health history, contraindication screening, range-of-motion assessment, SOAP notes, treatment plans with referring providers, CPT codes 97124 and 97140 for billed care.
• Business skills: rebooking, retail and enhancement recommendations, membership conversion, client communication, booking software (Mindbody, Zenoti, Vagaro, Booker, ChiroTouch, WebPT).
• Safety and longevity: draping, sanitation and linen handling, body mechanics, table and hydraulic lift setup, working 5 to 6 sessions a day without strain.
• Working skills employers screen for: weekend and evening availability, punctual turnover between sessions, a calm manner with anxious or first-time clients, and a second language where your clientele needs it.

Leave out "healing hands" and "passionate about wellness". The rebooking rate says it with proof.

A new graduate has more experience than "no experience" suggests: 500 to 1,000 program hours, a student clinic with real clients, and often related jobs such as CNA, fitness, esthetics or front desk. Spas and franchise studios hire new graduates constantly. Your resume just has to put the hours on the page.

1. 1Header with your credential as soon as the license is issued (Aisha Thompson, LMT). Before that, use your name only and put the license status in the first line below.
2. 2License line: state, status, exam date or issue date. Add CPR/AED and liability insurance; both are cheap and both are asked about at interview.
3. 3Education next: school, program hours, graduation month, the modalities covered, and your student clinic hours with the number of clients seen. Lead with the clinic because it is your hands-on record.
4. 4Experience: any client-facing or clinical work with numbers (patients per shift, members served, appointments booked). Then any volunteer massage at events, sports teams or hospice programs.
5. 5Availability line in the objective. One page. No photo.

• One page. Even therapists with 15 years fit on one page: three or four settings, four bullets each, license and CE lines.
• Order: header with credential, license and certifications, summary or objective, experience, skills (modalities first), education. Some therapists put modalities directly under the summary; that works when the menu match is your strongest point.
• Plain format, no photo (standard in the US). Large spa groups, hotel spas and franchise studios use Workday, Paycom, ADP or iCIMS to screen; tables and two columns lose the modality list.
• Keywords to mirror from the posting: the modalities exactly as written ("deep tissue", "prenatal", "hot stone", "sports massage", "myofascial release"), "licensed massage therapist" or your state's title, "rebooking", "retail", "SOAP notes", "intake", the booking software they name, and the shifts.
• Job title: use the posting's title in your headline (Massage Therapist, LMT, Licensed Massage Practitioner) and keep other versions in the summary. In the UK and Australia the same document is a CV and the title is often "remedial" or "sports massage therapist"; the modality and volume advice is the same.
• Save as PDF: Aisha-Thompson-LMT-Resume.pdf. Bring your license, insurance certificate and CPR card to the practical interview; most employers will ask for a hands-on demonstration.

Run the file through the cvplex ATS checker with the posting pasted in. It flags modalities in the posting that are missing from your resume and a license line the parser could not read.