Physical Therapist / Occupational Therapist
Sample Resume & ATS Keywords
Therapist hiring filters hard on licensure, setting, and specialization together — a typical rehab-recruiter search combines (DPT OR "physical therapist") with a setting term ("outpatient ortho" OR "home health") and often a board specialization like OCS. Caseload volume and functional-outcome measures are what separate an interview-worthy PT resume from a generic one.
All sample resume content on this page is original and illustrative — fictional candidates, realistic numbers. Use it as a pattern, not a template to copy verbatim.
Sample Physical Therapist / Occupational Therapist resume summary
What a parseable, keyword-complete professional summary looks like for this role:
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT, OCS) with 6 years in outpatient orthopedic practice across two multi-site clinics. Holds an active state PT license and Board-Certified Orthopedic Specialist credential. Manages a caseload of 45-55 patient visits weekly, specializing in post-surgical rehab, manual therapy, and return-to-work programs, with outcomes tracked through standardized functional measures.
Sample achievement bullets that pass ATS screening
Each bullet follows the pattern recruiters and parsers reward: exact keywords, a specific action, and a quantified outcome.
- Manages a caseload of 45-55 outpatient orthopedic visits weekly, specializing in post-surgical knee, shoulder, and spine rehabilitation.
- Achieved a 91% functional-outcome-measure improvement rate (FOTO) against a clinic benchmark of 78%, tracked across 200+ discharged patients annually.
- Holds Board-Certified Orthopedic Specialist (OCS) credential and applies advanced manual therapy techniques to reduce average episode-of-care length by 2 visits.
- Built and ran a return-to-work program for a regional employer partnership, returning 85% of participants to full duty within the projected timeline.
- Reduced patient no-show rate from 14% to 6% by redesigning the clinic's scheduling and reminder workflow.
- Precepted 5 DPT students through full-time clinical affiliations, with all 5 receiving "exceeds expectations" on final CPI evaluations.
- Led a vestibular rehabilitation program launch, growing referrals from 2 to 15 per month within the first year.
- Documents all visits in a therapy-specific EMR with 100% same-day note completion, supporting clean insurance authorization turnaround.
ATS keyword bank for Physical Therapist / Occupational Therapist resumes
From our 2026 research into recruiter sourcing behavior for this role. Recruiter and ATS searches match exact strings — carry the terms your real experience supports, in the wording the posting uses.
| Keyword group | Terms recruiters search |
|---|---|
| Titles & variants | Physical Therapist · PT · Doctor of Physical Therapy · Occupational Therapist · OT |
| Licensure & credentials | DPT · State physical therapy license · OCS (Board-Certified Orthopedic Specialist) · NCS · OTR/L |
| Setting vocabulary | Outpatient orthopedics · Acute care · Inpatient rehab · Home health · Pediatrics · Hand therapy |
| Caseload & outcomes | Patients per day · Functional outcome measures · Discharge outcomes · Plan of care compliance |
| Techniques & programs | Manual therapy · Vestibular rehab · Return-to-work programs · ADL training · Therapeutic exercise |
Physical Therapist / Occupational Therapist resume formatting: do this, not that
Do
- State licensure and specialization credentials exactly: "DPT", state PT license, "OCS" or "NCS" board specialization.
- Match setting vocabulary to the posting: outpatient ortho, acute care, inpatient rehab, home health, pediatrics, hand therapy.
- Quantify caseload and outcomes: visits per week, functional outcome measure improvement, discharge outcomes.
- Name techniques and programs recruiters search: manual therapy, vestibular rehab, return-to-work programs, ADL training.
- Include OT-specific credentials (OTR/L) instead of PT credentials if positioning as an occupational therapist — don't mix the two.
Don't
- Don't write "treated patients" — state the setting, diagnosis population, and caseload volume instead.
- Don't omit your functional outcome measure system (FOTO, NOMS) if you track one; it's a credibility signal recruiters recognize.
- Don't leave board specialization off the resume if you hold one — OCS/NCS materially changes which searches surface you.
- Don't combine per-visit productivity numbers with per-week numbers inconsistently; keep units clear and comparable.
- Don't use a template with heavy graphics or icons for clinic-based hiring — rehab recruiters and parsers both prefer clean text.
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