What Should I Include on a Home Health Aide Resume?

Like any resume, a home health aide resume should include information about all your work and volunteer experience as well as educational qualifications. Depending on where you are in your career, less relevant information can be left out if the resume is particularly full. In particular, a home health aide resume should highlight where your experience in this field originates, be it from volunteering in hospitals or prior work as a health aide. It is important to remember that this job requires close interaction with another person, so demonstrating your personality through your resume is usually a good idea.

The first thing to consider when composing your home health aide resume is for whom you are applying to work. If you are applying to an agency, for example, you might look at what the agency states in its advertisements about its aides. When applying directly to a family or individual, you may only have the job advertisement to give you clues about what these people are looking for. Knowing what your potential employers want will help you highlight your qualities that best match their expectations.

While it is not usually considered necessary for a home health aide to have a high school diploma or college degree, being educated is appealing to many employers. This is particularly true when your degree relates directly to the position for which you are applying. Whether to include your educational background is at your discretion and depends on the job in question.

In areas where this position requires special training, including information about the dates and providers of your training on your home health aide resume is essential. Some of these types of training are state-specific, so it is important to identify whether you are legally ready to work in an area. Any voluntary training relating to health or home care should also be listed on a home health aide resume, even if that training does not result in any particular certification.

One of the most important things to include on your home health aide resume is a detailed list of your work experience. This should include at the very minimum your job title and the exact dates you were employed. If you have no work history, it is appropriate to include volunteer experience.

While some people do not like to include references directly on resumes, this is a very important part of a home health aide's credibility. As aides work in people's homes, it is essential to establish that they are trustworthy, personable, and reliable people. Good references can be the difference between being hired and being looked over, so it is usually wise to include this information on the resume itself.