Healthcare
The right skills on your resume can mean the difference between landing an interview and getting filtered out. Here are the exact skills occupational therapist employers are looking for in 2026.
These technical skills are the foundation of any strong occupational therapist resume. Employers and ATS systems specifically scan for these:
In-demand Functional assessment skills are essential for functional assessment workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand ADL training skills are essential for adl training workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Adaptive equipment skills are essential for adaptive equipment workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Cognitive rehabilitation skills are essential for cognitive rehabilitation workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Sensory integration skills are essential for sensory integration workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Home modification skills are essential for home modification workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Documentation skills are essential for documentation workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Patient education skills are essential for patient education 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.
Problem-solving
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Communication
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Creativity
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Patience
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 occupational therapist 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 occupational therapist roles:
Upload your resume and paste a job description to instantly see your keyword match score.
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