An active CNA card and current BLS are what get nursing assistant resumes past the credentialing screen at most facilities; patient load and acuity numbers are what make them readable enough for a unit manager to call.
You finished your state-approved CNA program in the last year or two and are working your first long-term care or hospital shifts. The entry-level resume needs to prove an active CNA card, clinical hours logged, and the patient loads you handled during clinicals.
You have three or more years on the floor, often across long-term care, med-surg, or hospice. The experienced resume needs to prove higher acuity, charge-CNA or preceptor work, and steady EHR charting on platforms like Epic or PointClickCare.
Marisol Tavares
Providence, RI | (401) 555-0142 | [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/marisoltavares
Bilingual CNA with 7 years of bedside experience across med-surg, rehab, long-term care, and home health. Trusted by RNs to manage high-acuity assignments, mentor new CNAs, and translate during care plan conversations. BLS-certified with active CNA licensure in Rhode Island.
Senior Certified Nursing Assistant
Brightwater Rehabilitation Center | Providence, RI | 2021-Present
Certified Nursing Assistant, Memory Care
Cedar Hollow Skilled Nursing | Warwick, RI | 2019-2021
Home Health Aide / CNA
Northeast Home Health Partners | Pawtucket, RI | 2018-2019
CNA, Med-Surg Float Pool
Bayside Regional Hospital | East Providence, RI | 2017-2018
Lead your summary with patient load per shift, the care setting, and your credential status. A unit manager reads that first line to gauge whether you can handle the floor.
Write something like: CNA with three years in a 42-bed skilled nursing unit, handling 12 to 15 residents per shift on day and evening rotations. Name the acuity (post-acute rehab, memory care, hospice), the EHR you chart in, and your active CNA and BLS status. Skip generic openers about being compassionate; the credential line and the patient load tell that story faster.
Most strong CNA bullets carry a number. Recruiters scan for patient load, vitals frequency, transfer counts, and call-light response times before they read the verbs around them.
Name two or three concrete metrics: residents per shift, ADL rounds completed, weight and intake-output logs charted, or Hoyer transfers performed safely. Bullets without a number tend to read as a duty list, not a track record. If exact figures escape you, give a range (8 to 12 residents) or a scope (entire south wing, 28 beds) so the unit manager can size the work.
Sort your bullets into clusters a nurse manager already thinks in. Four categories cover most CNA roles cleanly.
Direct patient care: ADLs, bathing, feeding, ambulation, repositioning per the two-hour schedule. Vitals and monitoring: blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation, blood glucose checks, intake and output. Mobility and safety: gait belts, Hoyer and sit-to-stand lifts, fall-risk rounding.
Charting and communication: EHR documentation in PointClickCare or Epic, SBAR handoffs to the RN. Grouping bullets this way lets a charge nurse skim the resume and place you on the schedule.
Nurse managers verify your CNA registry status before reading bullets, so credentials belong in a block right under your summary. List your state and CNA status (in good standing), BLS provider through the AHA, and any add-ons like CPR for healthcare providers, dementia care training, or phlebotomy.
Do not list your actual CNA registry number or BLS card number on the resume; provide those on the application. Add an EHR line for PointClickCare, Epic, MatrixCare, or Cerner so the screener can match your charting experience to the floor you would work.
End with your state-approved CNA program, completion date, and clinical hours logged. For entry-level resumes, this section carries more weight than work history, so name the facility where you completed your clinical rotation.
Add continuing education that maps to the unit you want: Alzheimer’s and dementia care, restorative nursing, wound care basics, or hospice and palliative training. List your high school diploma or GED only if you have no postsecondary coursework, and keep this whole section to four or five lines.
Pulled from the resumes our users built in 2026, the lists below show what nursing assistant postings actually screen for. Five years ago, a CNA resume read like a generic duty list of bathing, feeding, and vitals. The mix has shifted toward EHR charting tools, acuity-specific patient loads, and named training like dementia care.
Nurse managers weigh hard skills first because they map to credential checks and floor coverage. Soft skills carry weight, but only when a bullet shows the behavior. Match the items below against the job posting line by line, and use soft skills as the framing around evidence in your bullets.
| Soft Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Compassion | 74% |
| Communication | 56% |
| Attention to detail | 49% |
| Patience | 40% |
| Teamwork | 25% |
And here are the top hard skills showing up most often.
| Hard Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Vital signs monitoring | 66% |
| Activities of daily living care | 54% |
| Infection control | 50% |
| Patient mobility and transfers | 37% |
| Electronic medical records charting | 28% |
Based on data from thousands of nursing assistants’ resumes built on ResumeTemplates.com, May 2026.
The items below are what separates a nursing assistant resume that advances from one that gets put back in the pile.
State boards set CE clock-hour requirements for CNA renewal, and most fall in the 12 to 24 hour range per renewal cycle. Use CE strategically to signal the units you want next, not just to clear the renewal bar.
List CE on the resume only when it maps to the role you’re targeting. A wound care basics course belongs on a skilled nursing application; a pediatric vitals course belongs on a children’s hospital application.
Format each CE line with the course title, the provider, the contact hours, and the completion date. Skip generic in-service hours unless the topic is specific (fall prevention, infection control updates, dementia behavioral interventions).
Nurse managers match your charting experience to the system on their floor, so naming the EHR is one of the highest-leverage keywords on a CNA resume. List the platforms you’ve used and the setting where you used each one.
Every CNA handles protected health information, so HIPAA fluency is assumed. The risk is on the resume itself: a bullet that names a patient, room number, or identifiable detail crosses the line.
Write bullets in aggregate terms. Say 12 to 15 residents per shift, not Mrs. Johnson in 204B.
Say 28-bed memory care unit, not the facility’s full census or any identifying mix.
List HIPAA training as a one-line item under credentials or CE with the year completed. Most employers require annual refresher training, so a recent date carries weight.
Beyond your state CNA registration and BLS, the certifications below tell a nurse manager which units you can cover and how prepared you are for higher-acuity work. List the certifying body and current expiration month and year for each, and keep the actual card numbers off the resume.
Allied health add-ons widen the floors and shifts a unit manager can schedule you for. Pick credentials that match the setting you want, and list each with the certifying body and current expiration month and year.
For nursing assistants, the 10th-percentile floor reflects entry-tier long-term care work in lower-cost markets, while the top-decile ceiling clusters in hospital systems, government facilities, and high-acuity specialty units. That spread tells you setting and acuity move a candidate from floor to ceiling more than tenure does. Geographic concentration matters too: states with strong union density and metro hospital networks sit well above the national mean.
Lead your resume with the care setting, the acuity, and the certifications that map to where you want to land.
| # | State | Avg. Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon | $48,390 |
| 2 | Washington | $48,260 |
| 3 | New York | $47,390 |
| 4 | District of Columbia | $46,860 |
| 5 | California | $46,420 |
| 6 | New Hampshire | $46,050 |
| 7 | Alaska | $45,840 |
| 8 | Maine | $45,640 |
| 9 | Minnesota | $45,580 |
| 10 | Massachusetts | $45,410 |
| # | State | Workers | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 102,380 | $46,420 |
| 2 | Florida | 91,280 | $36,850 |
| 3 | Texas | 87,050 | $36,390 |
| 4 | New York | 85,310 | $47,390 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 65,410 | $41,110 |
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Put it in a credentials block right under your summary, not at the bottom. Write the credential, the state, the status, and the expiration month and year.
Format it like this: Certified Nursing Assistant, Ohio (Active, exp. 09/2027). Do not print your CNA registry number on the resume; provide it on the application when the employer asks.
Lead with your clinical rotation. Name the facility, the unit, the hours logged, and the patient load you handled under your instructor.
Add volunteer hours, caregiver work for a family member, or home health aide shifts if you have them. Keep unrelated retail or food service jobs short, but list them to show work history.
Pull out the transferable patterns: handling people under stress, working a shift schedule, documenting carefully, and staying on your feet.
A retail bullet about de-escalating an upset customer maps to family communication on the unit. A warehouse bullet about lifting and safety maps to transfers and body mechanics. Keep these to two or three lines per job.
List the state where you hold the active license, and add a line noting reciprocity or pending transfer in the target state.
Write it like: CNA, Texas (Active, exp. 04/2027); Florida reciprocity application submitted 02/2026. This tells the nurse manager you have already started the paperwork, which most state registries process in two to six weeks.
For a nursing assistant, an ATS-friendly template is the safest pick, because it puts your certifications and experience where a hiring manager scans first. A basic template is a solid alternative. Whichever you choose, keep the formatting clean and easy to parse: clear section headings, a standard font, and no graphics a parser can choke on.
Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
Andrew Stoner is an executive career coach and resume writer with 17 years of experience as a hiring manager and operations leader at two Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, and as the career services director at two major university business schools.
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