Nursing Assistant (CNA) Resume Examples & Writing Guide
A nursing assistant resume gets you the interview when the nurse manager can see your active CNA certification and state in the first two lines, current BLS/CPR, the setting you have worked in (long-term care, hospital unit, home health), how many residents or patients you covered per shift, and proof you show up: attendance, no-fault falls record, a stable work history. One page.
Nursing assistant resume example (CNA, 4 years, long-term care and hospital)
A one-page resume for a certified nursing assistant moving from a skilled nursing facility to a hospital unit. The name and employers are invented. The numbers are the ones every CNA can find: residents per shift, vitals per shift, falls, call-light response, attendance.
Tasha Bell, CNA
Certified Nursing Assistant / Patient Care Technician
Memphis, TN · (901) 555-0173 · tasha.bell.cna@email.com · Tennessee Nurse Aide Registry: active, in good standing
Summary
Certified nursing assistant with 4 years of hands-on care in a 120-bed skilled nursing facility and a 32-bed hospital orthopedic unit. Covers 10 to 14 residents or 6 to 8 acute patients per 12-hour shift: vitals, ADLs, safe transfers with gait belt and Hoyer lift, intake and output, and charting in PointClickCare and Epic. Zero resident falls on assigned rooms in the last 18 months, BLS certified, and a 98% attendance record over 4 years. Comfortable with dementia care, hospice support and post-surgical mobility.
Experience
Patient Care Technician (CNA) · Mid-South Regional Hospital, 32-bed orthopedic and surgical unit, Memphis, TN
Mar 2024–Present
- Care for 6 to 8 post-surgical patients per 12-hour night shift (hip and knee replacements, spinal fusions): vitals every 4 hours, blood glucose checks, intake and output, and first ambulation with physical therapy on post-op day 1.
- Record about 60 sets of vital signs a shift in Epic and flag abnormal readings to the RN within 5 minutes; caught 3 early cases of post-op low blood pressure that were treated before the patient stood.
- Turn and reposition immobile patients every 2 hours and complete skin checks each shift; unit maintained zero hospital-acquired pressure injuries on my assignments for 14 straight months.
- Answer call lights with an average response under 3 minutes on a unit tracked by the nurse manager; unit patient-experience score for responsiveness rose from the 52nd to the 71st percentile in 2025.
- Perform 12-lead EKGs, phlebotomy for morning labs (about 10 draws a shift) and urinary catheter care after completing the hospital's PCT skills training.
Certified Nursing Assistant · Wolf River Health and Rehabilitation, 120-bed skilled nursing facility, Germantown, TN
May 2022–Feb 2024
- Provided full ADL care (bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding, oral care) for 10 to 14 residents per day shift on a long-term care hall, including 6 residents with moderate to advanced dementia.
- Transferred residents safely using gait belts, sit-to-stand and Hoyer lifts; zero resident falls and zero staff injuries on assigned rooms over 21 months.
- Charted ADLs, meal intake percentages and bowel and bladder records in PointClickCare on time every shift; the hall passed 2 state surveys with no documentation citations.
- Fed and hydrated 4 to 5 residents with swallowing precautions each meal and reported intake below 50% to the charge nurse the same shift.
- Trained 5 new CNAs during their first two weeks on the floor as a peer mentor; 4 of the 5 stayed past 6 months in a facility with about 40% annual CNA turnover.
Education
Nurse Aide Training Program (state-approved, 75 hours plus clinicals) and competency exam
Shelby County Career and Technical Institute, Memphis, TN, 2022
High School Diploma
Whitehaven Central High School, Memphis, TN, 2021
Certifications
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Tennessee Nurse Aide Registry, active since 2022, renewed 2024
- Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers, American Heart Association, current through 2027
- Hospital PCT skills training: phlebotomy and EKG, Mid-South Regional Hospital, 2024
- Dementia care training (10 hours), 2023
Skills
What nurse managers and DONs check first on a CNA resume
Nursing assistant postings often draw dozens of applications for one shift opening, and the director of nursing or unit manager reads fast. Four things get you into the "call" pile.
- Active certification in the hiring state. "CNA, Texas Nurse Aide Registry, active" answers it. If you are moving states, say "reciprocity application submitted" and the date.
- Current BLS or CPR from the American Heart Association or American Red Cross with the expiry date. Hospitals usually require AHA BLS specifically; check the posting.
- Setting and load. Long-term care (10 to 15 residents), hospital unit (6 to 10 patients), home health (one client), memory care, rehab, hospice. Managers hire for the setting they run and want to see you have handled that ratio.
- Reliability. CNA turnover is high, and call-offs leave a hall short. Attendance percentage, length of stay at each job, weekend and night availability, and a mentoring or charge-aide role all say "this person shows up".
“Certification and BLS get checked before anything else, then how long the person stayed at their last two jobs. After that the resumes that stand out are the ones with real care numbers: how many residents, how many falls, whether they ever trained a new aide. Most just list duties from the job description.”
Nursing assistant resume skills (hard skills, charting, soft skills)
"Nursing assistant resume skills" is one of the most-searched phrases for this job, and the answer is concrete. List the tasks you are trained and signed off to do, the systems you chart in, and two or three soft skills shown as behaviors. Ten to fourteen items is enough.
Vital signs (BP, pulse, respirations, temperature, SpO2) · Blood glucose monitoring · Intake and output · Height and weight · Bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding · Oral and denture care · Peri-care and incontinence care · Repositioning every 2 hours and skin checks · Gait belt, Hoyer and sit-to-stand transfers · Range-of-motion exercises · Catheter care · Specimen collection · Isolation precautions and PPE
Dementia and memory care · Hospice and comfort care · Post-surgical mobility (ortho) · Restorative care · Feeding with aspiration precautions · 12-lead EKG · Phlebotomy · Bladder scanner · Restraint-free care · Bariatric care
PointClickCare · MatrixCare · Epic · Cerner · MEDITECH · Accurate ADL and intake charting · SBAR handoff to RN · Shift report · Family communication · Reporting changes in condition promptly
Patience with confused or agitated residents (redirected rather than restrained) · Reliability (98% attendance over 4 years) · Teamwork (covers the hall for meal breaks, mentors new aides) · Stamina for 12-hour shifts and lifting within safe limits
Nursing assistant job description for a resume: duties turned into bullets
The job description lists duties. Your resume should show how well you did them. Add the ratio, the frequency, the system and, where you can, a result (falls, skin, surveys, satisfaction, attendance).
| Duty (copied from the posting) | Bullet (your load and result) |
|---|---|
| Assisted residents with activities of daily living. | Provided full ADL care for 12 to 14 long-term care residents per day shift, including 6 with advanced dementia, on a hall that passed 2 state surveys with no care citations. |
| Took and recorded vital signs. | Recorded about 60 sets of vitals a shift in Epic and reported abnormal readings to the RN within 5 minutes; flagged 3 early post-op hypotension cases before the patient got up. |
| Transferred and repositioned patients. | Transferred residents with gait belt, Hoyer and sit-to-stand lifts, and repositioned immobile residents every 2 hours; zero falls and zero pressure injuries on assigned rooms for 18 months. |
| Answered call lights. | Kept call-light response under 3 minutes on a 32-bed unit; the unit's responsiveness score rose from the 52nd to the 71st percentile in a year. |
| Documented care in the electronic record. | Charted ADLs, meal intake percentages and bowel and bladder records in PointClickCare before the end of every shift; no late or missing documentation flagged in 21 months. |
| Assisted with feeding. | Fed and hydrated 4 to 5 residents with swallowing precautions each meal, following speech therapy diet orders, and reported intake below 50% the same shift. |
| Maintained a clean and safe environment. | Followed isolation precautions during a 3-week flu outbreak on the hall; no cross-infection among the 14 residents in my assignment. |
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Nursing assistant resume summary and objective examples
A summary is for CNAs with experience: years, setting, load, certification and one result. An objective is for new graduates of a nurse aide program with only clinical hours: what position you want, your certification status, your clinical setting, and your availability. Both are three sentences at most.
Certified nursing assistant with 4 years in a 120-bed skilled nursing facility, caring for 12 to 14 residents per shift including memory care. Tennessee registry active, AHA BLS current. Zero falls on assigned rooms in 18 months and a peer mentor for 5 new aides.
CNA and patient care technician with 3 years on a 32-bed orthopedic unit, 6 to 8 post-surgical patients per night shift. Trained in EKG, phlebotomy and catheter care; Epic charting. Unit call-light response under 3 minutes and zero hospital-acquired pressure injuries on assignments for 14 months.
CNA with 5 years of one-to-one home health care for elderly clients with stroke, Parkinson's and dementia, including bathing, transfers, meal preparation and medication reminders. Georgia registry active, BLS current, reliable transportation. Seeking a day-shift position in a skilled nursing facility.
Objective: a full-time CNA position on the evening shift at a skilled nursing facility. Newly certified nursing assistant (Ohio registry, June 2026) with 40 clinical hours in a 90-bed long-term care facility, AHA BLS certified, and 2 years of retail work with a perfect attendance record.
Objective: a CNA position on a hospital medical-surgical unit while completing an LPN program (expected 2027). Former restaurant server with 6 years of customer-facing work, certified nursing assistant since March 2026 with clinicals in a hospital rehab unit, comfortable with 12-hour shifts and weekends.
How to list your CNA certification, BLS and training
Every state keeps its own nurse aide registry, and the credential name varies a little: CNA in most states, STNA in Ohio, LNA in New Hampshire, Nurse Aide I in North Carolina, GNA for geriatric nursing assistants in Maryland. Use the name your state uses and give the registry status.
- Certification line: "Certified Nursing Assistant, [State] Nurse Aide Registry, active, certified 2022, renewed 2024". Certificate numbers can go on the application, not the resume.
- BLS/CPR: issuing body (American Heart Association or American Red Cross) and expiry date. Hospitals often require AHA BLS for Healthcare Providers; long-term care usually accepts either.
- Training: your state-approved nurse aide training program, hours and year. The federal minimum is 75 hours including at least 16 clinical hours; many states require more, so state the total you completed.
- Add-on credentials if you hold them: Certified Medication Aide (CMA or MA-C in the states that offer it), Home Health Aide (HHA), hospital PCT skills (EKG, phlebotomy), dementia care or restorative aide training, CPI or other de-escalation training.
- Moving states: list your current state's certification and write "reciprocity (endorsement) application filed with [State], [month year]". Some states process this in days, others in weeks; check your target state's registry.
- Do not write "CNA" if your certification has lapsed. Write "completed nurse aide training, 2021; recertification exam scheduled [date]" so nobody feels misled at the registry check.
Nursing assistant resume with no experience (new CNA after clinicals)
Most CNAs get their first job with nothing but the training program and its clinical hours. Facilities expect that; they hire for certification, reliability and attitude. Your resume has more on it than you think.
- Certification first, right under your name: state registry status and date, then BLS.
- Write your clinical rotation as experience: "Clinical Student Nurse Aide, Cedar Grove Nursing Center (90 beds), 40 hours, May 2026: ADL care for 6 to 8 residents per shift under RN supervision, vitals, transfers with gait belt, charting on paper and PointClickCare."
- Pull reliability out of any job: attendance, years stayed, shifts covered, cash handled, customers served. A retail or food-service record of showing up is what a DON is buying.
- Caregiving for a family member counts if you describe the tasks (transfers, bathing, medication reminders, feeding) and the duration; label it clearly as family caregiving.
- Volunteer work in a hospital, hospice or nursing home, even a few hours a week, goes in its own section with dates.
- Use an objective (see above) that names the shift and setting you want and your availability. Facilities hiring for nights and weekends will call you first if you say you can work them.
- One page, no photo, no references on the page. Bring two references (an instructor, a supervisor) to the interview.
Format, length and keywords for a nursing assistant resume
- One page. A CNA with 15 years fits on one page by shortening early jobs to a line each.
- Order: header with certification status, summary or objective, certifications, experience, skills, education. Put certifications above experience; that is what gets checked first.
- Single column, standard headings, no photo, no date of birth. Save as PDF unless the facility's application form asks for Word.
- Big health systems use Workday or similar and search by keyword. Mirror the posting once each where true: "CNA", "certified nursing assistant", "patient care technician", "ADLs", "vital signs", "long-term care", "skilled nursing", "BLS", "PointClickCare" or "Epic", "12-hour shifts".
- Say your availability: "open to nights, weekends and 12-hour shifts" in the header or summary. It is often the deciding line.
- In the UK the equivalent role is healthcare assistant (HCA) and the document is a CV; the content advice here applies, but UK HCAs list the Care Certificate rather than a state registry.
Check the finished resume against the posting with the cvplex ATS checker. It shows which care terms and systems from the posting are missing and confirms your certification lines read as text.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write a resume for a nursing assistant job?
Put your CNA certification state and status and your BLS in the header or right under the summary. Write two or three sentences on years, setting and load. Turn each job into bullets with residents or patients per shift, systems you chart in, and results such as falls, skin integrity, survey outcomes and attendance. Add a skills list of tasks you are checked off on. Keep it to one page.
What skills should I put on a nursing assistant resume?
Vital signs, blood glucose checks, intake and output, ADL care (bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding), safe transfers with gait belt and lifts, repositioning and skin checks, infection control, dementia and hospice care, and the charting system you use (PointClickCare, Epic). Add hospital skills like EKG and phlebotomy only if you have been trained. Show soft skills as evidence, such as a 98% attendance record.
How do I write a nursing assistant resume with no experience?
Lead with your new certification and BLS, then write your clinical hours as experience with the facility size, hours, residents cared for and tasks performed. Add any job that proves reliability, family caregiving described by task, and volunteer work. Open with an objective that names the shift and setting you want. One page.
What is a good objective for a nursing assistant resume?
One that names the position and shift, states your certification and BLS, and gives one fact that shows reliability or relevant exposure. For example: "Objective: full-time evening-shift CNA position in long-term care. Newly certified (Ohio STNA, June 2026), AHA BLS, 40 clinical hours in a 90-bed facility, 2 years of retail work with perfect attendance."
What should a nursing assistant resume summary include?
Years as a CNA, the setting and your typical load (for example 12 to 14 residents per shift in skilled nursing), your certification state and BLS, and one measurable result such as zero falls on your assignments, a survey passed, or a mentoring role. Three sentences at most.
How long should a nursing assistant resume be?
One page. Nurse managers scan for certification, setting and dates and rarely read a second page. If you have a long history, keep full bullets for the last two jobs and one line each for older ones.
How do I list my CNA certification on a resume?
Use your state's exact credential name and registry: "Certified Nursing Assistant, Texas Nurse Aide Registry, active, certified 2023". Add BLS with the issuing body and expiry. If you are moving states, note that your reciprocity application has been filed. Never write CNA if the certification has lapsed.
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How this page was made: a first draft was written with AI assistance from cvplex's example library, then edited and fact-checked by the cvplex Careers Team. Examples are fictional composites; numbers are illustrative. Report an error via the editorial policy page.