There’s no question that careers in emergency medical services are some of the most rewarding—But EMTs are also among the most stressful occupations, sometimes working under immense pressure while adapting to fast-changing conditions.
Having spent your day saving lives, you shouldn’t now have to divert your effort crafting your perfect resume. Even if you’ve already written one, you still need to update your resume to fit the job description.
That’s where we come in. We’ve studied countless EMT resumes to discover what does (and what does not) get EMT applicants interviews in 2023.
We consolidated this information into five free resume samples and many helpful tips to make sure your resume stands out from the crowd.
Why this resume works
- Anyone can say they “wrote down patient information” on their EMT resume, but it’s more impactful to say, “Retrieved patient data quickly and accurately, reducing the time to physician care by 5 percent.” Metrics efficiently demonstrate your capability in a small amount of space; numbers are the best way to help make sure your resume shows your value quickly.
- We recommend including metrics for as many of your bullet points as possible, or at least 80 percent of them. For example, think about the number of patients you saw per shift, the amount of time saved by avoiding traffic, the amount of time you saved during shifts, your compliance with laws and policies, and areas where you boosted efficiency in co-worker communication, hospital communication, or treatment.
Why this resume works
- One thing you need to include on your emergency medical technician resume is a resume skills section. You must have unique skills that match the job description to demonstrate you have the necessary abilities to preserve the lives of your patients and keep you and your co-workers safe, such as knowledge of first aid and basic life support.
- The resume skills section highlights the hard and soft skills you possess that are especially suited to the job. They make it easier for hiring managers to glean key information quickly.
- The skills section is critical because hiring managers often use resume reading software called ATS to throw out resumes that do not match at least 80 percent of the job skills they’re seeking.
- That means your resume might be thrown out before it even reaches human eyes if you don’t include the right keywords!
- We recommend skills such as mental fortitude, adaptability, basic life support, communication, attention to detail, and situational awareness.
Why this resume works
- Getting into the healthcare sector as an entry-level EMT is tricky. How do you demonstrate the necessary skills when you don’t have relevant job experience? Thankfully, hiring managers understand that not all applicants will have ample expertise and will evaluate job potential instead.
- Even if you list unrelated job experience, you can still highlight relevant skills such as collaboration, time management, organization, communication, and the ability to learn and remember many different things.
- Your entry-level EMT resume can include experience that isn’t part of a job, such as healthcare-related volunteer work or relevant healthcare courses. Don’t forget to add any medical licenses or certifications you have, too!
- You can also add any ambulance ride-alongs you attended during EMT training or any high-pressure/high-stress sports you’ve played.
Why this resume works
- Your first responder resume needs to make a strong case for hiring managers while using a limited number of words.
- You can make your resume more impactful by utilizing action words, present-tense verbs, short sentences, and multiple bullet points per work experience. We’d recommend having 12 bullet points (roughly four for each job) on your resume.
- A few action words that work especially well for EMT resumes are “organized,” “maintained,” “assessed,” “conveyed,” “initiated,” “handled,” and “collaborated.” Avoid starting sentences with words like “helped” or “aided” since they are less specific about your contributions.
- If you’re having trouble with this, don’t worry—writing a succinct, approachable first responder resume free of errors isn’t a walk in the park. That’s why we created our resume checker to help give you actionable feedback to improve.
Why this resume works
- Opting for a resume summary can lay the groundwork for your emergency medical responder resume, but not every resume needs one. We recommend including one if you’re well-seasoned in the field and have some specializations. You can include a resume summary if you’ve been in the industry for 10+ years—just make sure it’s tailored to the specific job you’re seeking.
- Your summary should describe why your previous work experience is relevant for the job you’re applying for, in addition to your desired job title and most relevant skills. Lastly, don’t forget to mention the target business by name!
- Use our EMT resume examples to give you a personalized look at what great resume summaries look like.
