How to write a Care Assistant CV
Being a care assistant requires a wide range of skills. At least as important as those skills is how caring, empathic, patient, and creative you are. These traits are what make you so good at your job. Unfortunately, they don’t show up on paper. So how do you get them across in your care assistant CV?
Short answer: indirectly. What would you call someone who has organised over 20 summer outings for people with dementia? ‘Patient’ comes to mind. What about someone who’s got a proven track record of getting children with autism to eat a balanced diet in respite? ‘Creative’, for sure (and a great cook).
Read on for some solid advice as well as plenty of care assistant CV templates and examples. You’ll be clicking ‘save’ on a healthcare assistant CV that lets your best qualities shine through sooner than you think.
The LiveCareer online CV maker lets you build a professional CV fast and download it as a PDF or DOC.
Care assistant CV example
Yasmin Osborne
T: 070 1960 6753
E: y.osborne@lcmail.co.uk
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yasminbosborne
Personal Statement
Committed and compassionate care assistant with over 3.5 years of experience working with disabled children and adults as well as the elderly. Recently encouraged clients to participate in social and recreational activities by supporting them in setting small, daily goals, resulting in the average client spending 5–37% more time either outdoors or with acquaintances. Looking for an opportunity to apply empathic approach and accumulated know-how in supporting the Old Monastery Hospital in its mission of improving the quality of life of its residents.
Work Experience
Care Assistant
Careway House, Manchester
April 2019—present
- Paid over £15,000 in bills on behalf of clients, often in cash, with never a single discrepancy.
- Began grocery shopping online with a number of clients, giving them a chance to browse and try new things and saving them £10–15 per fortnight.
- Performed light housekeeping tasks: dusted and vacuumed 130+ rooms, changed bed linens 90+ times, did 50+ loads of laundry.
- Found practical, creative ways to involve willing family members, meaning that 2 in 5 clients continued to spend more regular quality time with family members long term.
- Prepared around 900 meals taking into account different allergies, intolerances, dietary requirements, and preferences.
Health Care Assistant
Phelps & Martens Support Services, Leeds
January 2017—March 2019
- Administered or prompted 87% of medication doses on schedule with no critical oversights.
- Observed, monitored and recorded clients' physical and emotional well-being, promptly reporting any changes to senior staff and averting seven likely-fatal episodes.
- Fostered independence when supporting a series of disabled clients, resulting in them requiring 2–6 hours a week less domiciliary care.
- Helped 11 clients access the community by supporting them in the acquisition of basic internet skills (using tablets rather than computers).
Education
NVQ 2 in Health and Social Care, 2017
Edith Rey College, Leeds
A-levels: Citizenship Studies, Food Studies, English, 2012 – 2014
Oakendoor High School, Leeds
8 GCSEs (including Mathematics and English), 2010 – 2012
Oakendoor High School, Leeds
Skills
- Conscientiousness: provided input into clients’ care and support plans by regularly feeding back to the Field Care Supervisor.
- Organisation skills: planned and organised 13 group outings for clients with various levels of disability and dementia.
- Understanding and following policies and procedures: adhered to the principles of health care and hygiene as well as policies regarding working with vulnerable people.
- Patience: frequently encountered aggression and outbursts from both children and adults.
- Creativity: helped clients work around issues such as limited food preferences (e.g. autistic clients) or social isolation (e.g. immobile clients).
- Written and spoken communication: able to understand and be understood by people with even quite profound disabilities and also able to handle government forms, etc. on behalf of clients.
Certifications
- St John Ambulance CPR Certificate of Competence
Languages
- English – Native
- Hindi – Native
- Punjabi – Advanced
Hobbies
- Cooking
- Pilates
- Bonsai
Now here’s how to write a CV for care assistants:
1. Write a personal statement and put it at the top of your care assistant CV
Writing a CV personal statement (also called a CV profile) can be a daunting task, but it wouldn’t be the first time you pushed through and made it to the end. Your personal statement has to introduce you to the recruiter, give them an idea of what you can bring to the company, and let them see how your goals line up with theirs.
You can achieve the above by answering the following questions one after another:
- What kind of care assistant are you? How long have you been working? In what fields?
- What’s an achievement that you’re particularly proud of?
- What do you hope to achieve in this new job? Think about the benefits to your employer.
Address each bullet point above in 1–2 sentences, keeping to 3–4 sentences and between 50 and 150 words in total. Be sure to mention the job title as it appears in the advert and the name of the company. Yes, you’ll have to rewrite at least the last sentence every time you apply for a different job.
Your care assistant CV might be processed by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). An ATS will be scanning for keywords, so always include the job title and employer name. Try also to use other keywords from the advert, but don’t overdo it.
The personal statement goes first in your CV, but it’s best to write it last (that's why it's also called a CV summary). Come back to this part once you’ve got your work experience and skills sections written. The practice in writing accomplishment statements will come in handy here, too.
Care assistant CV personal statement example
Committed and compassionate care assistant with over 3.5 years of experience working with disabled children and adults as well as the elderly. Recently encouraged clients to participate in social and recreational activities by supporting them in setting small, daily goals, resulting in the average client spending 5–37% more time either outdoors or with acquaintances. Looking for an opportunity to apply empathic approach and accumulated know-how in supporting the Old Monastery Hospital in its mission of improving the quality of life of its residents.
A strong CV summary will convince the recruiter you’re the perfect candidate. Save time and choose a ready-made personal statement written by career experts and adjust it to your needs in the LiveCareer CV builder.
2. Include a winning care assistant CV job description
Use a chronological CV format when listing your previous work experience. This means starting with your most recent job description and working your way back from there. This is what care assistant employers are used to seeing. It’s also easier for an ATS to scan through a chronologically ordered CV.
This is where you can really let your potential new employer get a glimpse of the kind of care assistant you are, or can be (if you’re writing a CV for a care assistant with no experience). The trick is to focus on your achievements rather than your duties. You’ll need to put numbers and statistics to each and every achievement.
Use accomplishment statements to structure your bullet points and start each point with an appropriate action word. Aim for up to six points for each job description. Use the following template to create a heading for each position:
[Job Title]
[Company Name, Location]
[Dates of Employment]
Be as specific as possible in describing and quantifying your accomplishments. Don’t repeat yourself across job descriptions if you have similar achievements under different positions. If two job descriptions share a bullet point that’s basically the same, then the newer position wins out.
Writing a CV with no experience? Many of the skills required in hospitality, retail, and customer service roles are transferable to care work. You might also have relevant experience from work placements, your personal life, volunteer work or from a traineeship or apprenticeship.
If you have very little or no relevant work experience of any kind, then put this section after your education section or drop it from your CV entirely. A student CV might be a better option for you if you’re a student, recent school-leaver or graduate.
Care assistant job description for a CV
Care Assistant
Careway House, Manchester
April 2019—present
- Paid over £15,000 in bills on behalf of clients, often in cash, with never a single discrepancy.
- Began grocery shopping online with a number of clients, giving them a chance to browse and try new things and saving them £10–15 per fortnight.
- Performed light housekeeping tasks: dusted and vacuumed 130+ rooms, changed bed linens 90+ times, did 50+ loads of laundry.
- Found practical, creative ways to involve willing family members, meaning that 2 in 5 clients continued to spend more regular quality time with family members long term.
- Prepared around 900 meals taking into account different allergies, intolerances, dietary requirements, and preferences.
Health Care Assistant
Phelps & Martens Support Services, Leeds
January 2017—March 2019
- Administered or prompted 87% of medication doses on schedule with no critical oversights.
- Observed, monitored and recorded clients' physical and emotional well-being, promptly reporting any changes to senior staff and averting seven likely-fatal episodes.
- Fostered independence when supporting a series of disabled clients, resulting in them requiring 2–6 hours a week less domiciliary care.
- Helped 11 clients access the community by supporting them in the acquisition of basic internet skills (using tablets rather than computers).
3. Add an education section to your care assistant CV
Order this section chronologically from most to least recent, just like your work experience section. If you have a university degree and some work experience under your belt, then you can safely leave your high school education off your care assistant CV.
When including university degrees, list the name of your degree, the years you attended (with an expected graduation date if you’re still studying), and the name of the institution and its location. Use the following pattern:
[Degree Class] [Degree Type] [Degree Name], [Year Graduated]
[University Name], [Location]
The same pattern holds for diplomas and NVQ levels. You won’t have a degree class to add, but everything else will fit. For example:
NVQ 2 in Health and Social Care, 2017
Edith Rey College, Leeds
When describing your high school education, list all of your A-levels by subject name, the years during which you studied them, the name of the school and its location. For GCSEs state how many you completed, the years over which you completed them, the name of the school and its location.
It’s a good idea to mention Mathematics and English when mentioning how many GCSEs you’ve completed. Employers might need to see that you have passes in Maths and English. Having good communication skills and being good with numbers are both important to care work.
If you’ve just finished school or graduated from university and don’t have much experience yet, bump this section up past your work experience section. If you have only a little work experience, you may want to add bullet points here to highlight your achievements or areas of excellence while studying.
Care assistant CV education section example
NVQ 2 in Health and Social Care, 2017
Edith Rey College, Leeds
A-levels: Citizenship Studies, Food Studies, English, 2012 – 2014
Oakendoor High School, Leeds
8 GCSEs (including Mathematics and English), 2010 – 2012
Oakendoor High School, Leeds
4. Showcase your care assistant skills
To be a good care worker you need a wide range of skills but you also need to have a particular set of qualities. Attributes like empathy, patience, and good humour aren’t skills exactly, but they’re absolutely critical to making a good care assistant. So mix these character traits in with your skills.
You’re aiming for a list of 5–10 skills and attributes which can come in three flavours:
- Soft, like teamwork or communication skills
- Hard, like first aid or CPR skills
- Technical, like operating moving and handling equipment or medical equipment.
You should aim for a mix of personal qualities, soft, hard, and technical skills in your care assistant CV. Demonstrate that you actually have these things by adding a sentence to each point that gives concrete examples of the given skill or quality in action. Make sure you at least cover each of the skills and qualities mentioned in the job ad (don’t overdo it, though).
Organise and keep all your brainstorming and rough notes to make a master list of all your care assistant skills and attributes, whether relevant to this particular position or not. You’ll be rewriting this section for other adverts and having a master list like this will make doing that a piece of cake.
Care assistant CV skills
- Conscientiousness: provided input into clients’ care and support plans by regularly feeding back to the Field Care Supervisor.
- Organisation skills: planned and organised 13 group outings for clients with various levels of disability and dementia.
- Understanding and following policies and procedures: adhered to the principles of health care and hygiene as well as policies regarding working with vulnerable people.
- Patience: frequently encountered aggression and outbursts from both children and adults.
- Creativity: helped clients work around issues such as limited food preferences (e.g. autistic clients) or social isolation (e.g. immobile clients).
- Written and spoken communication: able to understand and be understood by people with even quite profound disabilities and also able to handle government forms, etc. on behalf of clients.
5. Include additional sections in your care assistant CV
Your CV is there to paint a portrait of you as a care worker. Your work history, job skills, and education can only go so far in doing this, though. Fill in the picture by adding extra sections to your CV.
You could add sections with additional qualifications or certifications, awards, hobbies or anything else that shows who you are as a support worker. Do you speak any languages other than English? Having language skills is connected to empathy, so being bi- or multi-lingual can be doubly beneficial.
Don't list references on your CV, though. It's better to save space for more relevant things.
Care assistant CV sample additional sections
Certifications
- St John Ambulance CPR Certificate of Competence
Languages
- English – Native
- Hindi – Native
- Punjabi – Advanced
Hobbies
- Cooking
- Pilates
- Bonsai
6. Write a care assistant cover letter to go with your CV
Not every job advert will mention it, but it’s generally expected that you include a cover letter with your application. In fact, unless you’re asked not to include one, you should always write a cover letter to go with your CV. It’s true that it won’t always get read, but it can make all the difference if it is.
A good, well laid-out cover letter will use a standard British business letter format and contain the following elements:
- Header
- Salutation
- Cover letter opening (60–80 words)
- Main paragraph(s) (120–200 words)
- Cover letter closing and call to action (40–60 words)
- Sign off
How long can a cover letter be? It should end up being between half and a full A4 page, about 200–350 words in total. The work you put into the skills and work experience sections of your CV now will mean that you’re easily halfway there to having your care assistant cover letter done.
7. What else to remember about when writing a care assistant CV?
Presentation is important, so keep in mind the following basic CV layout rules:
- Leave your contact details near the top of your CV where they’ll be easy to find.
- Use subheadings and the power of white space to clearly break your CV structure down into sections.
- Choose an appropriate CV font like Arial, Noto, Liberation or Calibri—anything that looks professional and doesn’t draw attention to itself.
- How long should a CV be? If you have 10 years or less of experience, then your CV should be no longer than a single page. If you have more experience, then keep to a maximum of one page per decade of experience. The fewer the better, though.
- Best CV templates are those without any fancy infographics. If you're using an MS Word CV template, save or export your CV as a PDF file unless explicitly asked for something else. Even then, consider including a PDF version as well, as a backup.
Proofread and spellcheck your care assistant CV and cover letter. Ask someone to help you check both documents. Use any of the apps, web apps, or programmes out there that can help you with spelling and grammar. It’s vital that you have everything right, mistakes stand out like sore thumbs.
One last CV tip: follow up if you haven’t heard back after a week. A quick phone call or email is all it takes and it could make a huge difference.
You don’t have to be a CV writing expert. In the LiveCareer CV builder you’ll find ready-made content for every industry and position, which you can then add with a single click.
CR :: https://www.livecareer.co.uk/cv-examples/care-assistant-cv
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