Healthcare
The right skills on your resume can mean the difference between landing an interview and getting filtered out. Here are the exact skills certified nursing assistant employers are looking for in 2026.
These technical skills are the foundation of any strong certified nursing assistant resume. Employers and ATS systems specifically scan for these:
In-demand Personal care (ADLs) skills are essential for personal care (adls) workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Vital signs skills are essential for vital signs workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Mobility assistance skills are essential for mobility assistance workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Feeding assistance skills are essential for feeding assistance workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Infection control skills are essential for infection control workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Safety protocols skills are essential for safety protocols workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Communication with nursing team skills are essential for communication with nursing team workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Documentation skills are essential for documentation workflows and employer expectations.
Don't just list these — demonstrate them through your experience bullets with concrete examples:
Empathy
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Patience
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Reliability
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Communication
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Physical stamina
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Create a dedicated Skills section
Place a "Skills" or "Core Competencies" section near the top of your resume — after your summary but before your experience.
Use columns for visual efficiency
List skills in 2–3 columns to save space and make them easy to scan. Bullet points or pipe (|) separators work well.
Match the job description exactly
Copy exact skill names from the job posting. If they say "REST APIs" and you wrote "RESTful services", you might miss ATS matches.
Separate hard from soft skills
Keep technical/hard skills in your Skills section. Demonstrate soft skills through your experience bullets and summary instead.
Most certified nursing assistant job applications are screened by ATS before a human ever reads them. Use these keywords naturally throughout your resume:
These three skills are associated with the highest-paying certified nursing assistant roles:
Upload your resume and paste a job description to instantly see your keyword match score.
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