The occupational therapy job market is pretty competitive. The BLS projects 14% employment growth for OTs from 2024 to 2034, with roughly 10,200 openings per year! That growth brings opportunity, but it also means more candidates are competing for the same positions. Since your resume is the first thing a hiring manager sees, it needs to list more than your schooling and fieldwork to stand out amongst the crowd.
So how do you build an OT resume that actually gets you interviews?
Always keep your resume to one or two pages. If you're a new grad or are early in your OT career, keep it to one page. If you have 10+ years of experience across different settings, two pages is fine. Anything longer than that should be a curriculum vitae (don't worry, we'll get to that).
You will want to stick with a reverse-chronological format. It's the layout hiring managers expect, and makes it easier for them to scan quickly. So start with your most recent experience, and work backward.
Use one font throughout. Arial, Calibri, Garamond, Cambria, or Helvetica all work. You can use bold or italic for emphasis, but don't switch fonts.
Use the present tense for your current role (e.g., "Manage a caseload of 25 patients") and use the past tense for previous positions (e.g., "Managed a caseload of 30 patients")
Skip the photo. Many applicant tracking systems can't process images, and photos can introduce unconscious bias into the screening process.
Leave margins at 1 inch and the body font size between 10 and 12 points.
Make it easy to read and professional. Put your full name and credentials in a large, bold font at the top. For example: Luna Lovegood, OTD, OTR/L. Below that, include:
Forget the outdated "Objectives" section. Think of this as a two-to-three sentence pitch that highlights your experience level, primary practice settings, and what you bring to the table for this role. Make sure you tailor this to each job you apply for.
This is the heart of your resume. For each position, list your job title, employer name, location, and dates of employment. Then add 3-5 bullet points per role that focus on achievements and responsibilities. This is where you really sell yourself, so make sure the bullet points are clear and strong! We'll go over these more in the Accomplishments section below.
Include your degree, the school you attended, and your graduation date. OTs need at least a master's degree from an ACOTE-accredited program to take the NBCOT exam, so don't forget to mention that, and if you hold a clinical doctorate (OTD), list that too. If you're a new grad, you should place this section near the top of the resume right after the professional summary, so employers see it right away.
Include all of your professional credentials in this section. Your state OT license, NBCOT certification (OTR or COTA), and any specialty certifications such as sensory integration, hand therapy (CHT), lymphedema (CLT), or assistive technology. List the certifying organization and expiration dates so hiring managers can easily verify your credentials.
This section shows that you are actively growing as a clinician. Include relevant courses, workshops, or training programs, along with the providers and dates completed.
Optional, but definitely valuable if the experience is relevant. Volunteering at somewhere like a pediatric clinic or an adaptive sports program shows your dedication to the profession and gives employers a better sense of your commitment beyond paid work.
Reverse-chronological is the safest and most standard choice. It clearly shows your career progression and is easy for hiring managers and ATS systems to read.
Functional (skills-based) resumes organize content by skill category rather than timeline. In the OT world, this format is often seen as a red flag because it can make it look like you're trying to hide gaps in your employment history.
Hybrid resumes combine the chronological structure with a "Core Competencies" section near the top. This is the best option if you are changing careers and want to highlight your transferable skills like patient education, care coordination, or team leadership before getting into work history.
Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a separate document used primarily for academics, research, or teaching positions. A CV won't have page limits and can include publications, presentations, research, and awards. For clinical OT jobs, use a resume, not a CV.
If you're a new grad, your resume is going to look different from someone with a decade of clinical experience, and that's perfectly fine.
If you are a career changer coming into OT from another field, the hybrid format is your friend. Add the "Core Competencies" section between your summary and work experience. Skills such as project management, client communication, data analysis, or team training will transfer well to OT roles. Frame them in clinical language whenever possible.
This is the biggest glow-up that most OT resumes will need. Listing your day-to-day responsibilities tells a hiring manager what the job was, but listing your accomplishments shows the impact you actually made and why they should want you on their team.
Check out the difference:
| Ordinary (Responsibilities) | Extraordinary (Accomplishments) |
|---|---|
| Managed a caseload of 25 patients | Supervised and educated Level I & II OT students while managing a full caseload |
| Performed daily ADL assessments | Implemented a team-wide checklist system that standardized OT documentation for long-term monitoring |
| Provided equipment evaluations | Prepared detailed justification reports to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers resulting in a high approval rate for client equipment |
| Participated in department meetings | Initiated research, design, and setup of the facility's first sensory gym, and completed one week ahead of schedule. |
Notice the pattern. Strong accomplishments highlight leadership, initiative, clinical problem-solving, and meaningful outcomes. Start each bullet point with an action verb like Initiated, Facilitated, Collaborated, Implemented, Developed, Supervised, or Designed to show how you took an active role in your work.
Include measurable results whenever possible. Saying you "contributed to a 22% reduction in medication administration errors" lands harder than "helped improve patient safety." Throwing in numbers will give hiring managers something concrete to remember.
Most mid-to-large employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to organize incoming resumes. You've probably heard the statistic that 75% of resumes get automatically rejected by these systems, but that is mostly a myth. A 2025 survey found that 92% of recruiters said their ATS doesn't automatically reject resumes based on content or formatting. What actually happens is that a human recruiter hunts for keywords in the ATS to filter for candidates who match the role.
So why do keywords matter? Not because a robot will throw your resume in the trash, but because a human being is searching for them. Here is how to make keywords work for you:
Strong keywords need to be specific, like "pediatric feeding therapy," "hand rehabilitation," "Epic documentation system," "assistive technology," or "IEP development." Vague terms like "therapy plan," "dysfunction," or "impairment" will fall through the cracks.
Customize your resume for each application. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to do this, and it makes a huge difference in showing that you're the right fit.
AI tools like ChatGPT can speed up the resume-writing process, but they're not a replacement for your own voice or experience.
AI is mainly useful for pulling keywords from a job description, roughing out a summary section, or providing a starting structure for your bullet points. Where it falls short is accuracy and authenticity. It doesn't know what you actually did, and it tends to produce generic language that doesn't sound like a real person wrote it. Some employers even run applications through AI detection tools now.
The best approach is to paste a job description into ChatGPT and ask it to "write resume achievements using these job description metrics." Then rewrite every single line so it reflects what you actually did. Use AI for structure and ideas, but not for your final product. Your resume should sound like you, not like a chatbot.
| Do | Do Not |
|---|---|
| Keep it to 1-2 pages | Write a novel |
| Use a reverse-chronological format | Use a functional format unless you have a strong reason |
| Start bullets with action verbs (e.g. Initiated, Facilitated, Designed) | Start bullets with "Responsible for..." or generic phrases |
| Quantify accomplishments whenever possible | List only duties and responsibilities |
| Tailor your resume to each job posting | Send the same generic resume everywhere |
| Include credentials after your name (OTR/L, COTA) | Include a headshot or personal photo |
| Use a clean, single-font layout with consistent formatting | Use fancy graphics, multiple fonts, or styles |
| Proofread everything twice | Rely on AI-generated text without editing |
| Highlight impact and meaningful outcomes | Use vague or generic terms (e.g. "therapy plan," "dysfunction") |