The Perfect Surgical Assistant Resume Writing Tips

Do you want to apply for a Surgical Assistant position to help you get closer to your career goals? Applying for jobs on Seek, LinkedIn, and other job boards can be a time-consuming process, however, to streamline the process, you can ensure your resume writing helps you to stand out from the crowd, and your online profile helps you to get an interview!

If a recruiter or hiring manager are looking for a Surgical Assistant, they are searching for specific transferable skills. With less than ten people being interviewed for the job and hundreds of people, just like you, applying, The Perfect Resume team have created Resume Writing Tips to help you stand out from the others.

What do recruiters look for in a Surgical Assistant resume or an online profile?

Tailoring your resume to a Surgical Assistant position is mandatory today to ensure that your application will pass Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). In doing so, your resume will be read by the prospective employer. Then, fingers crossed, you will be shortlisted as a potential candidate and be called for not one, but multiple job interviews!

Firstly, before you apply to be a Surgical Assistant, you need to be acquainted with what a Surgical Assistant does!

Surgical Assistants handle the assistance to surgeons during operations and surgical procedures. The surgical assistant will provide pre and post-operative patient care, perform a variety of crucial tasks during operations, and may perform some clerical work.

Hiring Managers are looking for a dedicated  Surgical Assistant to assist in applying dressings, sterilizing the operation site, inserting tubes and intravenous lines, providing pre and post-operative care to patients, and completing some clerical work such as record keeping and handling the phones.

To be successful as a Surgical Assistant, you should have knowledge of necessary Healthcare and Medical procedures, be open to learning, and have strong communication skills. Ultimately, a high performing Surgical Assistant should be able to achieve strong technical skills and working knowledge of surgical tools and equipment.

Knowing this, your resume and online profile should include the hard and soft skills that the recruiter or hiring manager is looking for in a candidate.

The Surgical Assistant position description template will also contain pivotal information about what the candidate will need to do daily. Such as:

• Assisting with patient resuscitation during cardiac arrests or other life-threatening events.
• Covering patients with surgical drapes to ensure and maintain a sterile operating field, removing patients' body hair, and disinfecting the incision site.
• Determining the availability and inspecting sterile and non-sterile surgical equipment, tools, and supplies.
• Adjusting and maintaining the operating room temperature, humidity, and lighting according to the Surgeon's specifications.
• Applying sutures, staples, clips, and drainage systems and clamping, or cauterizing blood vessels to control bleeding.
• Assisting with the positioning of patients' bodies to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment and assessing the patients' body conditions after surgery.
• Maintaining an unobstructed operating field with surgical retractors, sponges, and suctioning and irrigating equipment.
• Monitoring patients' positions, vital signs, and volume and color of blood during operations.
• Assisting the surgical team with gowning or gloving and passing instruments or supplies to the Surgeon.
• Assisting with the application of dressings, casts, splints, braces, and other devices.

You will also have some requirements and personal attributes that you will need to demonstrate in your resume to ensure your potential employer will take your application seriously, such as:

• A graduate's degree in surgical assistance with the successful completion of clinical training.
• A license to work as a surgical assistant.
• Good manual dexterity and working knowledge of surgical procedures and tasks.
• The ability to work in a stressful environment.
• Physical stamina to work long shifts and move or lift patients and heavy equipment.
• Excellent team working and communication skills.
• The ability to remain calm and focused in the operating room.




You may also want to do some industry research to find out what other companies want in their Surgical Assistants.