Last updated: July 17, 2026 · By QuickResumeAI Editorial Team
CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) Resume: Examples, Skills, and a Free ATS Check
A CNA resume fits on one page and leads with your state CNA certification, BLS/CPR, and clinical hours, followed by quantified patient-care bullets covering ADLs, vital signs, and EHR charting. Complete nursing assistant resume examples, a skills list, and a free ATS check are below.
Upload your resume, paste the job posting, and get a free ATS match score in 30 seconds. Works for hospital, long-term care, and home health roles. No signup needed to start.
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Sample Resume for a Nursing Assistant / CNA (Copy and Adapt)
Here is a finished certified nursing assistant resume you can copy and swap your own numbers into. Lead with a 2-line summary, then certifications, then quantified experience bullets.
Summary: Certified Nursing Assistant, state-licensed, BLS/CPR. 3 years in a 40-bed long-term care unit supporting 12 to 16 residents per shift with ADLs, vitals, and PointClickCare charting.
Certifications: State CNA license, BLS (Basic Life Support), CPR, First Aid, Alzheimer's and Dementia Care.
Experience:
- Supported 12 to 16 patients per shift with ADLs (bathing, dressing, toileting, ambulation) on a 40-bed long-term care unit, charting in PointClickCare.
- Recorded vital signs (BP, HR, RR, temp, SpO2) every 4 hours for up to 18 patients, escalating 6 abnormal readings per week to the charge RN.
- Performed 8 to 10 Hoyer lift and gait belt transfers per shift with zero patient or staff injuries over an 18-month period on a memory care unit.
Skills: ADL support, vital signs, Hoyer lift and gait belt, PointClickCare, HIPAA, infection control, fall prevention.
Education: State-approved CNA training program, 120 clinical hours, Riverview Skilled Nursing Facility.
Why Your CNA Resume Has to Be ATS-Ready
Most hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to filter resumes before a human ever sees them. If your CNA resume is missing keywords like "certified nursing assistant," "patient care," "ADL," "vital signs," or "HIPAA," the system can score it too low to forward, regardless of your actual skill.
The fix is keyword placement and clean formatting. ATS-safe tip: use a single-column layout, standard section headers (Summary, Certifications, Experience, Skills, Education), and save as a .pdf with selectable text. Avoid tables, columns, text boxes, and image-based section headers. Those break parsing on Workday, Taleo, iCIMS, and the long-term care ATS platforms used by Genesis, Encompass Health, and Brookdale.
Nursing assistant demand stays strong (per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), so a clean, keyword-loaded certified nursing assistant resume is what gets you past the filter for the better-paying hospital and rehab roles. See the QuickResumeAI homepage for the full builder.
What to Include on a CNA Resume
A complete certified nursing assistant resume covers the credentials and clinical detail recruiters scan for in the first 8 seconds. Include each of these:
- Active CNA license with state and license number
- Certifications: BLS, CPR, First Aid, and any specialty add-ons (Alzheimer's care, Hospice Aide, PCT, Phlebotomy)
- Clinical experience with facility type (acute care, skilled nursing, long-term care, home health), patient population, and patient count per shift
- ADL support: bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding, ambulation, transfers
- Vital signs monitoring: blood pressure, pulse, respiration, temperature, pulse ox
- EHR and charting: Epic, Cerner, PointClickCare, MatrixCare, paper charting
- Patient safety: fall prevention, infection control, HIPAA-compliant documentation
- Equipment use: Hoyer lift, sit-to-stand lift, gait belt, wheelchair, bedpan
- Training program: CNA program name, hours completed, clinical placement
QuickResumeAI prompts you for every section in plain English and converts your answers into ATS-safe formatting. Start your CNA resume on QuickResumeAI.
CNA Resume Examples (Before and After)
Recruiters at hospitals and long-term care facilities skim resumes for specifics. "Took care of patients" tells them nothing. Compare these weak lines to the rewritten versions QuickResumeAI produces for certified nursing assistants:
| Weak line (gets filtered) | Strong CNA bullet (what recruiters want) |
|---|---|
| Helped patients with daily tasks. | Supported 12 to 16 patients per shift with ADLs (bathing, dressing, toileting, ambulation) on a 40-bed LTC unit, charting in PointClickCare. |
| Took vitals and reported to the nurse. | Recorded vital signs (BP, HR, RR, temp, SpO2) every 4 hours for up to 18 patients, escalating 6 abnormal readings per week to the charge RN. |
| Used a lift to move patients. | Performed 8 to 10 Hoyer lift and gait belt transfers per shift with zero patient or staff injuries over 18 months on a memory care unit. |
QuickResumeAI rewrites your plain descriptions into specific, quantified bullets like these. It handles entry-level CNAs, experienced certified nursing assistants, long-term care, and home health roles. Working toward your RN? See the resume for nurses guide for the next step up.
CNA / Nursing Assistant Resume With No Experience
A CNA resume with no paid experience can still land interviews. Hiring managers at nursing homes and home health agencies hire new CNAs constantly, and they know your training program is your experience. Lead with your CNA certification and the state that issued it, then treat your clinical hours like a job.
List the facility where you did your clinicals, the patient population (geriatric, post-surgical, memory care), and the specific skills you practiced (vitals, bathing, transfers, charting, feeding assistance). Add transferable experience from caregiving, food service, childcare, or any role that involved customer-facing work and following protocols. A line like "Completed 75 clinical hours in a 60-bed skilled nursing facility, assisting RNs with ADLs, vitals, and EHR documentation for 8 to 10 residents per shift" reads stronger than any duty paragraph. QuickResumeAI builds this no-experience CNA resume in minutes. If you want broader guidance, see how to write a CNA resume with no experience using transferable-skill framing across industries.
No-experience CNA resume summary (copy this):
Certified Nursing Assistant (state-licensed, BLS/CPR) with 120 clinical hours in a 60-bed skilled nursing facility. Trained in ADL support, vital signs, transfers, and EHR charting. Two years of customer-facing work with a record of reliability and clear communication.
CNA Resume by Experience Level
Where you lead your resume depends on how much bedside experience you have. Keep it to one page, even with 10 years. Use this to decide what goes first:
| Your situation | Lead your resume with | Key move |
|---|---|---|
| No experience (new grad) | CNA certification + clinical hours | List 75+ clinical hours as a job: facility, patient population, tasks. |
| 1 to 3 years | Current CNA role + patient counts | Quantify shifts: patients/shift, EHR used, fall/injury record. |
| 5+ years / specialty | Specialty (memory care, hospice, telemetry) | Still one page. Lead with outcomes, add BLS + specialty certs. |
Skills for a CNA / Nursing Assistant Resume
A strong skills section helps your CNA resume match the keywords ATS systems are scanning for. Pull from this list based on your actual experience:
- Activities of daily living (ADL) support
- Vital signs monitoring (BP, HR, RR, temp, SpO2)
- Patient bathing, dressing, and toileting
- Ambulation, transfers, and range-of-motion exercises
- Hoyer lift, sit-to-stand lift, gait belt use
- EHR charting (Epic, Cerner, PointClickCare, MatrixCare)
- HIPAA-compliant documentation
- Infection control and PPE protocols
- Fall prevention and patient safety
- Wound observation and skin integrity checks
- Catheter care and ostomy support
- Feeding assistance and dietary monitoring
- Dementia and Alzheimer's care
- End-of-life and hospice support
- Care plan execution and care team communication
- Telemetry monitoring and bedside patient care
- BLS and CPR certified
QuickResumeAI suggests the right CNA skills for your target role and formats them in an ATS-safe block. For broader skill ideas, see the resume skills section guide.
How QuickResumeAI Builds a Certified Nursing Assistant Resume
Under 5 minutes: enter your CNA license, certifications, and clinical or work experience, paste the job posting, and the AI tailors your keywords to that role (a float-pool listing scores differently than a hospice one). Edit anything, then download a clean, ATS-safe PDF.
Check Your CNA Resume Score Now, Free
Free ATS match score in 30 seconds. See the BLS, ADL, vital signs, EHR, HIPAA, and dementia care keywords your resume is missing.