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Whatever medical field you’re in, from critical care to internal medicine, here’s how you can write a medical doctor resume that demonstrates top-notch medical skills and work experience.
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This medical resume sample along with the other examples and tips on this page have been expertly prepared to provide you everything you need to know to create a strong doctor resume.
Follow these four keys to write a highly professional doctor resume:
Every doctor job posting will provide you with a different job description, different job requirements and different job qualifications. If you believe that you’re a good fit for the specific job title, be sure to match up your qualifications in your doctor resume. To do so, simply tailor your resume to reflect each job requirement in the job description through keywords that the hiring manager used to describe the required skills and responsibilities. If a requirement is “treating wounds, bone breaks and sprains” then you should use similar verbiage in your doctor resume. Every keyword you include in your resume increases your chances of making it past applicant tracking systems (ATS) and landing a job interview.
When it comes to highlighting your medical experience, focus more on accomplishments and less on routine daily tasks that a doctor repeatedly performs. Mention your impressive accomplishments as a doctor, whether it’s the number of medical staff members you manage during your shifts, recognitions and publications, or accomplishments that prove you provide the best treatment possible to every patient. If applicable, attach quantifiable numbers to your achievements to make it clear to hiring managers how you’d be a great fit for their hospital or medical practice.
It goes without saying that a medical doctor requires many important hard skills for medical diagnoses, treating, surgery or prescribing medications, but soft skills are just as crucial to being a compassionate medical professional who can communicate well. Soft skills are unique personality traits such as being an effective problem solver and critical thinker who demonstrates excellent attention to detail. Show prospective employers you have the ideal mix of hard and soft skills that indicate you can provide top-notch medical services with positive outcomes to patients, and work well with medical staff members.
Your medical certifications are important when writing professional doctor resumes but it’s also important to highlight recognitions, credentials and medical specializations. This could include specializations like pediatrics, oncology, family medicine, orthopedics, surgical, dermatology, internal medicine, emergency medicine and cardiology. Medical awards (i.e., “Mineola Hospital Doctor of the Year, 2024”) or other awards will help get your resume noticed and your name remembered. The goal of your resume is to quickly convince the hiring manager why you’re the best candidate for the job, so don’t be shy about listing special recognitions you’ve received. Mention medical certifications such as “Board Certified, State Medical Board of New York, 2024” along with any professional memberships.
Action words transform a plain resume into an energized resume in which your experience, proven track record of accomplishments and skills are energized. Action words add spice to your doctor resume summary and resume work experience sections. For example: “Managed a team of 15 doctors and nurses during a 72-hour shift” or “Assessed, diagnosed and treated an average of thirty patients within a 12-hour shift.” Here are some doctor-appropriate resume action verbs to consider including on your own resume:
There are three different resume formats you can select from to set up your doctor resume:
Chronological format: Emphasizes work history.
Functional (hybrid) format: Emphasizes skills with less focus on work history.
Combination format: Emphasizes both skills and work experience.
Choosing the correct resume format based on your level of medical experience helps you showcase your best qualifications.
Experienced medical doctors: Use a reverse-chronological resume format to point out your recent medical experience in chronological order and list your most impressive skills.
Recent medical school graduates or less experienced doctors: Use the functional resume format so you can play up your best skills, education history, certifications and awards so it downplays your lack of experience.
Experienced medical doctors with gaps in employment history: Use the combination resume format to give equal emphasis on skills and work experience to subtlety hide the fact that your experience is not continuous or chronological.
Medical doctors require many technical skills to diagnose and treat patients in a variety of settings. Each hospital administration or medical group will consider doctor job candidates who can perform specific hard skills (technical skills) while demonstrating soft skills (personality traits) in a workplace setting. Example of doctor hard skills include performing surgical procedures or medical exams, or treating wounds. A doctor’s soft skills could include critical thinking, problem solving, compassion and communication skills.
Your doctor resume should include these sections:
The resume header, which contains your contact information, is the first section on any resume. It includes your full name, phone number, professional email address and any job networking profile links such as LinkedIn. This is where the hiring manager will look at your resume to find your information to invite you for a job interview.
The resume summary is for more experienced candidates as it gives a brief overview of your specific skills and medical career history. A resume objective is for candidates with less professional experience as it communicates career goals, skills and experiences that fit the job requirements. The summary or objective should be 2-3 sentences. One good rule of thumb is to write your resume summary or objective after you’ve written the rest of your resume, so you can easily select your most important achievements and skills to mention in this section.
Resume summary example:
Highly skilled and dedicated doctor with five years of experience at Edward General Hospital providing exceptional medical care and proficiency in clinical diagnosis, medical procedures and patient care. Extensive experience in emergency/trauma medicine, treating approximately 25 patients in one 12-hour emergency room shift. Proficient in treating minor injuries such as lacerations, fractures and sprains. Committed to delivering compassionate and effective health care services. Board Certified, State Medical Board of Florida, 2019.
Resume objective example:
Recent medical school graduate with Master of Science in Medicine from University of California, Los Angeles offers strong professional background in patient care, medical diagnosis and prescription management. Skilled in collaborating with health care professionals and maintaining accurate medical records. Proficient in basic medical procedures and inventory management. Dedicated to providing patient education and support. Board Certified, Medical Board of California, 2024.
Doctors need a wealth of both hard skills and soft skills. Review the job posting to determine the skills you should add as bullet points to your resume skills section to show you are highly qualified for the position. Here are a few examples of skills you may add to your doctor resumes:
This resume section should include all relevant work experience, internship experience, volunteer experience and any other experience during medical school. Remember to list your experience in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent positions listed first, using the action words mentioned earlier.
Example:
Doctor, 6/2019 to 12/2023
St. Mary’s Hospital – Norfolk, VA
This section will include your specific medical training and medical degrees. Most doctors have a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), but they may also have a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. Additionally, there are numerous specializations and certifications that you might hold including medical board certifications. Listing all of your academic accomplishments will help convince potential employers that you are qualified for the job.
Education example:
Master of Medicine: Internal Medicine, Jun 2022
University of Medical Sciences – Orlando, Florida
Bachelor of Medicine: General Medicine, May 2016
Medical College – Tampa, Florida
Board Certified, Medical Board of California, 2022
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Your doctor resume needs to look professional and be easy to read, but its overall structure will depend on the resume format that you choose. Most often, a doctor will use the chronological resume format, which emphasizes multiple years of work history. A less experienced doctor may choose the functional resume format which emphasizes skills or the combination format which emphasizes both work history and relevant skills. Regardless of the resume format you select, you will want to include a header with your most up-to-date contact information, a resume summary or resume objective, skills section, work experience section and education section. To make the best-looking doctor resume, use one of our convenient resume templates as a base to give you to the perfectly designed professional resume.
A professional summary for a doctor resume will include a job candidate’s years of experience plus a quick glimpse into the most impressive accomplishments and skills to convince the hiring manager that a job interview is deserved by this candidate.
For example, a doctor’s professional summary could read like this: “Compassionate internal medicine physician with six years of experience, proficient in diagnosing, treating diseases, monitoring a patient’s progress and patient referrals. Recognized by the Florida Medical Counsel for consistent interpretation of laboratory tests with 98% accurate results.”
While a CV and a resume are both job application documents, there are some differences.
The purpose of a resume (which is usually one to two pages long) is to highlight relevant job strengths and specific job skills to help a hiring manager decide which candidate is the most qualified to land a new job.
The purpose of a CV, or the Latin word curriculum vitae (meaning “course of life”), is to provide a comprehensive overview of the candidate’s academic and employment history to give hiring managers the whole picture rather than just job-related information. The two-page CV format typically includes personal details like a photo, hobbies, interests, languages or even sports.
ResumeHelp can help you write a doctor CV—we’ve got lots of writing tips and CV examples to follow for inspiration. However, unless a CV is formally requested by the prospective employer, use a doctor resume to focus on the qualifications required for a specific doctor position or medical establishment.
According to our ResumeHelp Certified Professional Resume Writer, it’s always a good idea to include a cover letter with your doctor application and a doctor’s resume. A cover letter helps you stand out from the other job seekers and gives you an opportunity to give more details about your background and how you can fit in with the organization you’re applying to. Use the Cover Letter Builder at ResumeHelp to create the perfect cover letter.
To become a doctor, you need years of experience, a medical degree and medical training. If you’re just starting out in the medical job market and applying for an entry-level job, it’s important that you list the experience you do have, including internships that have played a part in your career growth. You can use doctor resume examples from this page to get a quick start on creating an impressive doctor resume.
You’ll want to tailor your resume and keywords to each specific job. Resume keywords are unique for every job listing, and hiring managers often use them to set up applicant tracking systems (ATS), which scan every resume and cover letter coming in and ensure they’re qualified before passing them on to the manager. Your best option is to read the job description carefully and note keywords (phrases related to important skills and job requirements), then match and add those keywords with your own abilities, and feature them in the resume and cover letter you submit. Look at any doctor resume sample on this page for industry-specific wording for your own resume.
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