Occupational therapist resumes demonstrate your ability to help patients regain independence through evidence-based, functional interventions.
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Occupational therapy is persistently confused with physical therapy by people outside the profession, and some of those people screen resumes. It is worth making your distinctive contribution explicit rather than assuming it is understood: functional independence, activities of daily living, cognitive and perceptual rehabilitation, adaptive equipment and environmental modification. Then establish setting, because paediatric, acute, hands and mental health OT differ substantially. Caseload volume and documentation system come next, and both matter operationally. The differentiator most OTs under-use is equipment and modification work — custom splinting, home assessment, assistive technology — because it is concrete, verifiable and often the specific gap a service is hiring to fill. Where you have led a programme or introduced a protocol rather than simply delivering caseload, that belongs high on the page.
Written the way a strong Occupational Therapist resume actually reads. Replace the specifics with your own — the structure and the level of detail are what matter.
Occupational therapist (NBCOT certified) with 7 years in inpatient rehabilitation, carrying a caseload of 10-12 patients daily with stroke, TBI and orthopaedic diagnoses. Built the upper-limb splinting service and cut average length of stay 2.4 days through earlier ADL intervention.
Figures shown are illustrative. Use your own numbers — invented metrics do not survive an interview.
ATS systems scan for specific keyword matches. Include as many of these skills as you genuinely have — the closer you match the job description, the higher your ATS score.
Start every bullet point with a strong action verb. These are the highest-impact verbs for Occupational Therapist resumes — specific, measurable, and ATS-approved.
Follow this structure to ensure recruiters find what they need — and ATS systems score your resume correctly.
Name, phone, professional email, LinkedIn URL, and city/state. In Healthcare, include any professional profile URLs relevant to your specialization.
Two or three sentences in the shape of the example above — years as an Occupational Therapist, your strongest two capabilities (Functional Assessment, ADL Training), and one number that proves them.
3-5 bullets per role, each opening with a verb like "Evaluated" or "Developed" and closing with a measured outcome. The example bullets above show the level of specificity Healthcare reviewers expect.
Your primary ATS filter. Include: Functional Assessment, ADL Training, Adaptive Equipment, Documentation (SOAP), NBCOT Certification, Pediatric/Geriatric Care, Splinting, Home Modification — matching the job description's exact wording, since most platforms score literal strings rather than synonyms.
Degree, institution, year. In Healthcare this is screened before work history, so place it early and include GPA if 3.5+.
Full name, issuing body, year — and renewal date where credentials expire, because Healthcare employers verify them.
These are specific to Occupational Therapist hiring rather than general resume advice — each one is something reviewers in this field notice immediately.
Assuming reviewers understand what OT is. Make the functional independence and ADL focus explicit.
Not stating setting and caseload. Paediatric, acute, hands and mental health OT are meaningfully different.
Under-using equipment and modification work. Splinting, home assessment and assistive tech are concrete differentiators.
NBCOT certification and state license are primary ATS filters. List specialty certifications and patient populations treated. Quantify functional outcome improvements.
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Reviewed and updated August 2026 by the IntelligentCV editorial team. Salary figures are indicative ranges and vary by location, seniority and employer.