Care assistant CV example
A care assistant CV must show your qualification, the settings you've worked, residents or patients per shift, and how you work with families.
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- Sector
- Healthcare and care
- Template used
- Sevilla
- ATS level
- ATS verified
- ATS keywords
- 5
Document preview
How the CV looks once laid out
The same example content, laid out in the recommended template: single column, selectable text and no tables or graphics that break automated parsing.
Sample document. Open it in the editor to change template, language and sections without losing the content.
Lucy Roberts
Care assistant with 6 years in elderly and ward care
lucy.roberts@mail.com · 07700 900123 · London · linkedin.com/in/lucy
Professional summary
Care assistant with six years across a residential home and hospital wards. I support 22 residents per shift with full observation and care records, and keep families involved day to day. Current training in moving and handling and pressure-ulcer prevention.
Experience
Care assistant
Employer name · City · 2019 – Present
- Supported 22 residents per shift with complete observation and care records
- Cut pressure ulcers by 30% by delivering scheduled repositioning
- Worked with 40 families on care plans through weekly reviews
Education
Qualification or certificate for the role
Training centre · Year
Skills
Personal care and mobility | Observations | Pressure ulcer prevention | Assisted feeding | Care record keeping | Family liaison
Languages
- EnglishNative
- SpanishC1
- FrenchB1
01
Professional headline
This is the line that decides whether they keep reading: a specific role and years of experience, never an adjective.
Care assistant with 6 years in elderly and ward care
02
Example professional summary
Three or four sentences with your specialism, one figure and your goal. It sits right under the headline.
Care assistant with six years across a residential home and hospital wards. I support 22 residents per shift with full observation and care records, and keep families involved day to day. Current training in moving and handling and pressure-ulcer prevention.
03
Achievements that work in this role
Past-tense verb, what you did, measurable result. Three to five per role, strongest first.
- 01Supported 22 residents per shift with complete observation and care records
- 02Cut pressure ulcers by 30% by delivering scheduled repositioning
- 03Worked with 40 families on care plans through weekly reviews
04
Skills to include
Written as plain text: rating bars are invisible to automated filters.
- Personal care and mobility
- Observations
- Pressure ulcer prevention
- Assisted feeding
- Care record keeping
- Family liaison
05
ATS keywords
The terms filters search for in this role. Place them inside your experience, not in a list at the end.
- care certificate
- elderly care
- moving and handling
- observations
- personal care
Work them naturally into your experience — these are the terms screening software scans for.
06
Tips for this CV
What separates a CV for this trade from a generic one.
- 01
Put your qualification (Care Certificate, NVQ level) and year in the first line.
- 02
Say what kind of setting it was and how many residents or patients per shift.
- 03
Add training in moving and handling, dementia or palliative care with hours.
07
What a care assistant CV is
Short definition, ready to quote.
A care assistant CV is the one or two page document used to apply for a care assistant role in healthcare and care: it brings together the professional headline, the profile summary, experience with measurable results and the competencies the trade expects you to evidence, such as Personal care and mobility and Observations. Unlike a generic CV, it is ordered around what the applicant tracking system and the hiring manager look for in a care assistant: the words used in the advert and the numbers of the actual job.
08
Keywords and where to place them
Each term works best in a specific place in the document. Repeating them all at the end scores nothing.
| Keyword | Where to place it |
|---|---|
| care certificate | In the professional headline |
| elderly care | In the profile summary |
| moving and handling | Inside an achievement with a figure |
| observations | In the skills list |
| personal care | In training or certifications |
09
How this care assistant CV gets through the filters
What the example above does right, point by point.
- The headline reads «Care assistant with 6 years in elderly and ward care»: the job title (care assistant) appears literally in the first line, not as a creative synonym.
- The trade's keywords —care certificate, elderly care, moving and handling— sit inside the experience and summary, where the filter reads them in context.
- Every achievement carries its figure. «Supported 22 residents per shift with complete observation and care records» is the pattern to copy: volume, timeframe and result.
- Skills such as Personal care and mobility, Observations, Pressure ulcer prevention are written as plain text, never as rating bars or stars, which no parser can read.
- The Sevilla template is single-column and rated ATS verified, so the sections come out in order.
10
What hiring managers look for in a care assistant
The three points that separate two candidates in this trade.
Who you supported and their needs
A nursing home with high dependency, a hospital ward and domiciliary care are different jobs. Give the number of residents or patients per shift and their needs, because that is the real measure of the workload.
Personal care skills, named
Write them properly: personal care and bed baths, moving and handling with hoists, repositioning to prevent pressure ulcers, observations, assisted feeding and care-plan recording.
Care Certificate and mandatory training
The Care Certificate, safeguarding, moving and handling, infection control and first aid, each with the year. Add your DBS status: it is a condition of employment, not a detail.
11
Common mistakes on a care assistant CV
The ones that repeat in this role, each with its fix.
- 01
Writing “helping patients” as the whole job
It hides exactly what is being hired: technique, pace and record keeping. Replace it with numbers: people supported per shift, hoist transfers a day, and your part in the care plan.
- 02
Leaving out the Care Certificate and DBS
Providers cannot roster you without mandatory training and a current DBS. If either is in progress, say so with the date rather than omitting it.
- 03
Skipping moving and handling training
Back injuries are the main risk in the role and providers know it. Naming your training shows you can work without injuring yourself or the resident.
- 04
Not mentioning families
A large part of the job is informing and reassuring relatives. It is a paid-for skill that almost no care CV writes down — give one concrete example of supporting a family or resolving a concern.
12
What a care assistant earns
So you can tell whether an advert is at market rate before applying.
- Usual range
- Typically £11.44-£13.00 an hour, higher for nights and for complex-needs settings
- What moves the figure
- NHS healthcare assistant posts sit at Band 2-3 with unsocial hours enhancements; private care pays hourly with sleep-in rates quoted separately.
- Where the figure comes from
- Ranges observed in UK care assistant adverts through 2026, benchmarked against the National Living Wage.
Frequently asked
Questions about a care assistant CV
- What qualifications do I need as a care assistant?
- No degree is required, but providers expect the Care Certificate plus mandatory training and a current enhanced DBS. A Level 2 or 3 Diploma in Adult Care lifts both the rate and the shortlist.
- Does caring for a relative count as experience?
- Yes, as informal care, and it should be written honestly: years, tasks and the needs involved, without dressing it up as employment. It proves real competence but does not replace the Care Certificate.
- Does the CV change between hospital and care home?
- Yes. Hospital rewards clinical tasks and working to a nursing team's shift; care homes reward continuity, family relationships and person-centred care plans. Reorder the summary and achievements accordingly.
- Should I add a photo?
- No, not in the UK. Use that space for your DBS status and mandatory training instead, which is what a provider needs before putting you on a rota.
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