Physiotherapists are tasked with helping patients through exercise and movement, as well as providing expert advice. Understandably, this calls upon specialist knowledge of the human body, the various conditions that can affect it, and the best course of action to overcome or mitigate those conditions – not to mention the interpersonal skills to work directly with patients.

Packing all of this into a CV might seem like an impossible task, but it’s easier than you think. Our physiotherapist CV examples show you how it’s done.

We’ve also rounded up some of our best CV writing advice in the following sections, covering everything from personal statements to work experience. After absorbing the information and exercising your brain, you’ll feel much more confident about creating an eye-catching application.

Ready to land your dream career? Keep reading as we run through:

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    Sample physiotherapist CV

    Physiotherapist CV example Sample

    Owen Glen

    35 Clipton Close
    Birmingham B2 9TG
    987654321
    owen.glen@example-example.co.uk

    Professional summary

    Dedicated and skilled Physiotherapist with 6 years of experience in providing comprehensive patient care. Expertise in assessing and treating a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions. Strong communication and interpersonal skills to build rapport with patients and collaborate with healthcare professionals. Committed to delivering high-quality care and improving patients’ quality of life.

    Work history

    March 2023 – Current
    Queen’s Mary Hospital – Birmingham
    Physiotherapist

    • Assessed patients’ physical condition and conducted thorough evaluations to develop personalised treatment plans.
    • Implemented various therapeutic techniques, including manual therapy, exercise prescription, and electrotherapy, to improve patients’ mobility and reduce pain.
    • Educated patients on self-management techniques and home exercises to promote independence and long-term recovery.
    • Collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to coordinate patient care and ensure optimal outcomes.

    January 2019 – February 2023
    Sport Physiotherapy Centre – Birmingham
    Assistant physiotherapist

    • Instructed patients regarding physiotherapy interventions to alleviate pain.
    • Helped physiotherapists develop treatment goals and objectives.
    • Performed aquatic physiotherapy to restore muscle function.
    • Assessed patient condition to monitor history and symptoms for improved patient outcomes.

    Skills

    • Musculoskeletal Assessment
    • Manual Therapy
    • Exercise Prescription
    • Electrotherapy
    • Injury Rehabilitation
    • Sports Performance Enhancement
    • Patient Education
    • Residential rehabilitation
    • Clinical data analysis

    Education

    2014 – 2016
    University of Manchester
    Bachelor of Science in Sports Science Sports Science

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    Physiotherapist CV template

    While many physiological problems can be invisible, your CV certainly isn’t. Our professional CV templates provide the right format for physiotherapist roles, ensuring all your skills, experience, and specialisms are well presented to recruiters. The human body might be complicated, but CV writing doesn’t have to be!

    Choosing the right format for your physiotherapist CV

    Before fleshing out each CV section, you must focus on nailing your presentation. After all, first impressions matter – employers won’t fast-track candidates who haven’t adopted professional CV formats. These tried-and-tested layouts organise information so it’s easy to read for humans and applicant tracking system (ATS) software.

    Although there are plenty of styles to choose from, two stand out as recruiter favourites – the reverse-chronological CV and the skills-based CV. The former outlines your work experience, starting from your current or most recent role. The latter highlights relevant transferable skills, such as “communication” and “problem-solving,” to plug gaps in your employment history.

    So, which is best for a physiotherapist? Without a doubt, the reverse-chronological CV comes out on top, because you can’t become a physiotherapist without some practical experience. Remember that apprenticeships and internships count, and can be discussed in this format. Skills-based CVs are only suitable for positions that require fewer specialist skills.

    What else do you need to know about CV writing? Here are a few general guidelines to keep you on the right track:

    • Your CV should only be one to two pages long maximum
    • Keep things neat with professional fonts, like Times New Roman and Calibri, headings, sections, and bullet point lists
    • The overall tone should be formal, friendly, and polite
    • Tailor your CV to the job you’re applying for – meaning you should edit your content to reflect each organisation’s unique requirements
    • Send your CV as a Word or PDF file unless asked otherwise

    Choose your format now

    How to write a CV for a physiotherapist

    Now you’ve got the bones of your CV, it’s time to tackle the details. The following sections explain how to write a CV for a physiotherapist from start to finish in easy-to-understand language. Towards the end, we’ll also answer some of your most common CV writing questions.

    Here’s what’s coming up:

    How to add contact details to your physiotherapist CV

    If you haven’t received a response from your job search yet, you might have forgotten to add your most up-to-date contact details at the top of the page. Busy hiring managers don’t have the time to scout you out online, so you must make their lives as easy as possible. Highlight your information in a slightly larger or bolder font for maximum readability.
    Remember to include:

    • Full name – first name and surname
    • Location – mention if you’re willing to relocate
    • Phone number – the best one to reach you on
    • Email address – keep it work appropriate

    Example of contact section for a physiotherapist CV

    Dom Webster,
    46 Roman Road,
    Leeds, LS2 3ZR,
    07912345678,
    dom.webster@example-example.co.uk

    How to write a personal statement for your physiotherapist CV

    Want to stand out from the crowd? You need an eye-catching personal statement summarising your top experience, achievements, and skills. The ultimate goal is to spark the employer’s interest – all the information you include must make them want to read more.

    The catch? You only have three to four sentences to get your main points across, so every word counts. We recommend using the handy formula below to help get you started.

    Sentence one introduces who you are, including your years of experience, career focus, and place of work, e.g. “physiotherapist with two years of experience treating ankle injuries in NHS hospitals”. Sentence two explains what you can achieve, backed up by facts and figures. For instance, you might have “successfully treated over 1,000 athletes”. Finally, sentences three and four underline your specialisms, such as “postpartum care” or “cancer patients”.

    Here are a few other pointers for a powerful personal statement:

    • Write in the third person to sound more professional
    • Don’t exceed the sentence limit – this is a summary, not an essay
    • Use statistics – the more specific you can be, the better
    • Be unique – avoid jargon and clichés
    • Talk about what you can bring to the table – save career ambitions for the cover letter and interview

    Example of personal statement for a physiotherapist CV

    Dedicated physiotherapist with ten years of experience developing and delivering results-driven training plans. Was the lead physiotherapist for three premium league football clubs, treating everything from shoulder dislocations to acromioclavicular sprains. Strengths include working compassionately with clients, assessing needs, and providing accurate diagnoses and bespoke holistic programmes for optimum physical well-being.

    OR

    Skilled physiotherapist with five years of experience in postpartum care. Treated over 500 women with amazing results, reducing pain by 78% on average. Specialties include pelvic girdle pain, recovering from tears, and prolapse. Confident working with women from all backgrounds, delivering compassion and trauma-informed care.

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    How to present your work history on a physiotherapist CV

    The most important part of any CV is usually the work experience section – here, employers assess your strengths, weaknesses (via the information you leave out), and achievements. Start from your current or most recent role and note three to six responsibilities for each, keeping the overall tone upbeat and results driven.

    In addition, you should stick to information that’s relevant and recent. There’s no point discussing a physiotherapist role from two decades ago if you haven’t kept up to date with best practices. Similarly, you probably can’t draw many useful parallels between last year’s bartending job and the one you’re applying for now.

    As for formatting, run through:

    • Job title
    • Company name
    • Company location
    • Employment start and end dates
    • List of responsibilities
    • Achievements, awards, and promotions

    Like the personal statement, cement your credentials with plenty of showstopping statistics. Let’s say you “developed and delivered individualised treatment programmes” – can you expand on this? You might have “developed and delivered 50 individualised treatment programmes”. Or, you could talk about the results, e.g. “with a 67% success rate”. Facts and figures are tangible and more persuasive than generalisations.

    Next, elevate the tone with positive adjectives and action verbs. The former showcase your personality – think “compassionate”, “motivated”, and “trustworthy”. Action verbs are powerful sentence openers and more convincing than “responsible for”. Some of our favourites for physiotherapists include “delivered”, “consulted”, and “investigated”.

    Example of work experience for a physiotherapist CV

    Physiotherapist | Leeds Clinical Services | 21/04/2022 – present

    • Providing thorough and responsible patient care in line with recognised clinical standards for continued safe practice.
    • Improving overall client lifestyle and wellbeing through appropriate person-centred treatment programmes.
    • Ensuring client rights, dignity, and confidentiality were maintained at all times for continued medical compliance.
    • Carrying out thorough physical therapeutic assessments, closely evaluating symptoms and providing provisional diagnoses.
    • Applying a holistic approach to treatment plans, providing the best possible patient-centred care.

    Junior physiotherapist | Leeds Clinical Services | 10/10/2018 – 01/04/2022

    • Built exceptional levels of client trust and loyalty through compassionate communication and results-achieving care packages.
    • Developed and delivered individualised treatment programmes, setting attainable goals for optimum physical progress.
    • Maintained consistently excellent levels of patient care, upholding first-class medical professional practice standards.
    • Worked closely with a senior physiotherapist to maintain optimum levels of communication for the effective and efficient completion of treatment plans.
    • Researched and updated all required materials for the firm and partners.

    Trainee physiotherapist | Royal Hospital Recovery Specialists, Leeds | 20/09/2017 – 10/10/2018

    • Carried out client data protection to ensure compliance with relevant GDPR regulations.
    • Developed a new process for client evaluation, which resulted in marked performance improvements.
    • Monitored multiple databases to keep track of all company inventory and client details.
    • Generated £5,000 in annual savings by implementing a new paperless process and reducing wasted resources.
    • Adeptly handled an average of seven inbound calls per day, generating £35,000 in company revenue annually.

    Top skills for your physiotherapist CV

    Managing multiple patients’ physical health is no mean feat, requiring physiotherapists to have several CV skills and qualities. It’s a good idea to present these technical and transferable talents in one place, so recruiters and ATS software can quickly determine your suitability for the role. What skills should you include on your physiotherapist CV? We suggest including around 12 in total, split equally between hard skills and soft skills.

    So, what’s the difference? Hard skills are practical and learnt on the job or through education, such as “record-keeping”, “delivering treatment plans”, and “administering physical adjustments”. Soft skills are personality-based and much harder to learn – you usually have a natural tendency towards them. Examples include “creative”, “enthusiastic”, and “organised”.

    Our best advice? Don’t focus on one without the other. All the practical skills in the world mean nothing without a proactive, compassionate attitude. Likewise, kindness doesn’t compensate for a lack of experience. Stuck for ideas? Check out the following lists for some inspiration:

    Essential skills for a physiotherapist

    • Knowledge of motor skills, muscles, and movement
    • Strong communication skills (both written and verbal)
    • Observational skills
    • Ability to interpret medical information
    • Ability to tailor treatment plans

    Desirable aptitudes to set you apart

    • Time management
    • Problem-solving
    • Attention to detail
    • Pain alleviation
    • Patience

    How to add education to your physiotherapist CV

    Physiotherapists require a lot of training to qualify in the profession. No matter what stage of your career you’re at, please include your relevant education on your CV. If you’re a recent graduate, this could mean listing your university modules, projects, or impressive scores. If you’re already practising, you might also have relevant training courses or additional qualifications that could help your application stand out from the crowd.

    There are a few tips for completing this section. Like work experience, only include recent and relevant credentials. For instance, you don’t need to individually list GCSEs if you’ve completed an undergraduate degree (which you would’ve done as an aspiring physiotherapist). On top of this, you’re not obligated to disclose grades unless specifically asked – we advise omitting poor results or incomplete courses.

    What does it take to become a physiotherapist? Physiotherapists need to be highly qualified to practise. In the UK, all physiotherapists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). You can either enrol for a full-time undergraduate course or take a part-time apprenticeship degree.

    This section should look something like this:

    • Name of school, college, university, or other awarding body
    • Study start and end dates
    • Subject title
    • Qualification level – e.g. A level or undergraduate degree
    • Qualification result – not essential but desirable

    Example of education for a physiotherapist CV

    University of Leeds | September 2019 – June 2022
    BSc Physiotherapy: First-class honours

    Elland College | September 2017 – June 2019
    3 A levels: Biology (A), PE (B), and Maths (B)

    Top dos and don’ts for physiotherapist CV writing

    Do

    • DO show off your specialist training

      From spinal injuries to brain damage, young children to adults, no two physiotherapy cases are the same. When writing your physiotherapist CV, always include specific examples that will highlight your specialist training. Whether it’s a particular type of recovery or a specific patient demographic, this specialism will show recruiters where your expertise lies.

    • DO use physiotherapy keywords

      When recruiters use ATS software, even the most impressive physiotherapist CVs can slip through the gaps. To give your application the best chance of success, always include keywords from the job description. Not only will this help you tailor your CV to each physiotherapist role, but it will also ensure that it’s more likely to end up in the hands of an actual recruiter.

    Don't

    • DON'T forget to mention patient or healthcare metrics

      Help your recruiter quantify your success by mentioning key metrics on your CV. Whether you helped a record number of patients in your last role, slashed your average successful treatment time from 12 weeks to 9, or got your practice waiting list down to an all-time low, these impressive achievements are great ways to make your CV stand out.

    • DON'T be afraid to showcase patient care

      Physiotherapists don’t just need a solid knowledge of science. They often have to deal with patients in sensitive or delicate situations, so healthy people skills are necessary. In your personal summary, use positive words to describe your work ethic, such as “motivational”, “caring”, and “responsive”.

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    Your physiotherapist CV questions answered

    What are the responsibilities of a physiotherapist?

    Physiotherapists devise treatment plans for people with mobility limitations caused by illness or injury. Alongside taking patients through various exercises, they also provide adjustments and alternative therapies, such as acupuncture and massage. Some of the key responsibilities include:

    • Assessing patients with complex needs and creating treatment plans
    • Keeping up to date with best practices
    • Investing in professional development.
    • Maintaining accurate and GDPR-compliant records
    • Collaborating with other healthcare providers

    How much does a physiotherapist earn?

    The average UK salary for a physiotherapist is £38,266. The exact amount will depend on various factors, from your experience level to whether you practise in an NHS hospital or private clinic. (Private senior physiotherapists could expect to earn between £60,000 and £80,000). The average starting salary is usually between £28,000 and £30,000.

    Is it hard to get a job in physiotherapy?

    There is always a demand for physiotherapists, and because you need to be highly qualified to practise, your skills are well-respected. Many physiotherapists currently have long waiting lists as the number of people who successfully survive previously life-threatening injuries and illnesses is increasing. This means the demand for physiotherapy may even be going up, potentially making it easier to find a role.

    What are the best universities for physiotherapy?

    According to a study by The Telegraph, some of the best UK universities for physiotherapy include the University of Southampton, University of Nottingham, Cardiff University, and Robert Gordon University. Most courses require ABB-AAA grades in relevant scientific A levels to be accepted into the university.

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