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Medical Doctor Resume Examples & Tips (+ MD CV Template)

Create Your Resume Now

Our customers have been hired by:

If you want that dream physician job, you need the best doctor resume on the charts—but you probably knew that already.

What does it take to make it happen? Well, firstly, your skills and experience must fit the job like a heart transplant. Your qualifications should stand out, too. In short, your doctor’s resume has to wow them like Patch Adams. 

And we know exactly how to achieve that.

You’re about to see a professional doctor resume example you can tweak to fit any M.D. job. You’ll also get easy steps to write a resume for physician jobs that’ll garner 10x more healthcare interviews than any other.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.

Sample Doctor Resume Template

Lisa King, M.D.

714-330-6341

lisazking@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/lisazking

twitter.com/lisazking

Summary

Responsible physician with 9 years of experience maximizing patient wellness and facility profitability. Seeking to deliver healthcare excellence at Mercy Hospital. At CRMC, maintained 5-star healthgrades score for 112 reviews and 85% patient success.

License

2019 — Board certified, Medical Board of California

Experience

Physician, Internal Medicine

Concord Regional Medical Center, Concord, CA

October 2015–January 2020

  • Medical doctor in respected regional medical hospital. Provided personalized service to maximize patient outcomes and satisfaction.
  • Contributed to 20% boost in HCAHPS scores through effective communication with nursing and administrative staff.
  • Facilitated 15% reduction in costs for supplies and staffing thanks to application of lean medical principles.
  • Maintained 85% success rate for patient goal attainment as measured by annual follow-up calls and surveys.
  • Collaborated with administrative staff and nurses to reduce hours spent on paperwork by 5 hours per week.

Key Achievement:

  • Maintained 5-star score on healthgrades.com with 112 reviews. 

Physician, Internal Medicine

San Jose Hospital, CA

May 2011–September 2015

  • Achieved 22% reduction in surgeries by working with patients, admin, and nurse practitioners to suggest alternative treatments.
  • Increased referrals by 17% through networking with other physicians and medical staff in the area.
  • Helped raise reimbursements by $550,000 per year by collaborating with billing staff and insurance companies to explain treatments.

Education 

Doctor of Medicine

Loma Linda University, CA

2011–2015

  • Internal Medicine Residency, San Jose Hospital
  • Vice President, Student National Medical Association chapter

BS in Biology

University of California-Davis

2007–2011

Conferences

  • Northwest Diabetes Conference 2019, spoke on IF panel
  • California Heart Disease Conference 2018

Now let’s get you on your feet. Here’s how to write a job-winning doctor resume:

1. Structure Your Doctor Resume Template

Does layout matter in doctor resumes? It’s critical. They don’t want to hire Zoidberg.

So prove to them you know all the ins and outs of resume anatomy and design your resume the right way.

Here’s how to format a doctor resume template:

Here are the parts of a resume you should include:

  • Header: add the right contact information.
  • Summary: a short rundown of the medical successes that make you a great fit.
  • Experience: your past jobs, with descriptions and key achievements.
  • Education: short picture of your schooling, with accomplishments.
  • Skills: brief list of your skills that best fit this job.
  • Additional sections: your license, volunteering, awards, etc.

Considering an alternate M.D. resume format? See our guide: How to Pick the Perfect Resume Format

Psst—don’t start your resume at the top.

Do the easy parts, like your work history and education. Then back up and fill in. It’s so much easier that way.

2. Start With a Doctor Work Experience Section

Success!

They want to hire you. Congrats!

How did you do it?

By showing you’ve already done the physician job they’re hiring for. That comes down to how you list work history on a doctors resume. You’ve got to bone-screw yourself to the job to stand out.

Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Start with your most recent role.
  2. Add your job titles, the facility name and location, and your working dates.
  3. Write 3–6 bullet points to describe your physician job duties and responsibilities.
  4. Tailor your resume so it fits this M.D. role.
  5. Spotlight your best medical accomplishments with numbers to show size.
  6. Use the PAR (Problem-Action-Result) formula to give your resume more power.
  7. Begin your sentences with action words to get attention.
  8. Lather, rinse, repeat.

See these medical doctor resume examples:

Doctor Resume Job Description

Right

Work Experience

Physician, Internal Medicine

Concord Regional Medical Center, Concord, CA

Oct 2015 - Jan 2020

  • Medical doctor in respected regional medical hospital. Provided personalized service to maximize patient outcomes and satisfaction.
  • Contributed to 20% boost in HCAHPS scores through effective communication with nursing and administrative staff.
  • Facilitated 15% reduction in costs for supplies and staffing thanks to application of lean medical principles.
  • Maintained 85% success rate for patient goal attainment as measured by annual follow-up calls and surveys.
  • Collaborated with administrative staff and nurses to reduce hours spent on paperwork by 5 hours per week.

Key Achievement:

  • Maintained 5-star score on healthgrades.com with 112 reviews.
Wrong

Work Experience

Physician, Concord Regional Medical Center, Concord, CA

Oct 2015 - Jan 2020

  • Discussed options for treatment with patients and their families.
  • Worked tirelessly to enhance and update performance.
  • Researched patient medical history, physical condition, test results, and medication allergies to provide high-level care.
  • Educated patients about their conditions and options for treatment.
  • Created detailed and accurate documentation and medical records.

First-rate.

The first of those doctor resume examples has the right prescription for the job.

But the second only says, “I was a doctor.”

Next—what about an entry-level doctors resume? How can you put shadowing a doctor on a resume?

These examples cover that:

Entry-Level Doctor Resume Examples [Experience]

Right

Work Experience

Intern, St. Egregious Medical Center, Pismo, CA

Jan 2019 - Jan 2020

  • Shadowed attending physicians during 30+ initial patient visits daily.
  • Provided 20+ opinions daily, where 20% of them influenced the treatment plan.
  • Performed 100% accurate documentation of visits for physicians.
  • Assisted with communication and creation of plan-of-care with teams of 15+ nurses and other hospital staff.
Wrong

Work Experience

Intern, St. Egregious Medical Center, Pismo, CA

Jan 2019 - Jan 2020

  • Shadowed attending physicians.
  • Provided medical opinions and assisted with diagnosis.
  • Performed documentation of patient interactions.
  • Assisted with creation of plan-of-care.

See that?

You don’t need a ton of medical experience to prove your skills.

Just list the best bits from your internship or schooling.

Pro Tip: Struggling to find physician jobs? Go to conferences and join a pro association like the AMA. Networking matters, especially in the medical field.

Creating a resume with our builder is incredibly simple. Follow our step-by-step guide and use content from Certified Professional Resume Writers to have a resume ready in minutes.

When you’re done, our online resume builder will score your resume and our resume checker will tell you exactly how to make it better.

How many jobs should you include in your resume? See: How Far Back Should a Resume Go?

3. List Your Education (It’s Harder than it Sounds)

You worked your tail off for that medical degree.

Don’t waste it.

Doctor resumes can’t just say you graduated. That’s like having a Medtronic Bennett ventilator and using it to fill balloons. To get noticed, list your degree and school name. But—

Add one or two academic accomplishments. The next of our medical doctor resume examples shows how:

Doctor Resume Example [Education]

Right

Education

Doctor of Medicine

Loma Linda University, CA

2007–2011

Internal Medicine Residency, San Jose Hospital

  • Vice President, Student National Medical Association chapter.

BS in Biology

University of California-Davis

2003–2007

Impressive.

That could be a young Christiaan Barnard.

If you’re writing an entry-level resume, think of adding extras such as a GPA or Dean's List.

Pro Tip: Don’t have any big medical school accomplishments? That’s fine. Use the extra space to add more physician accomplishments from past roles.

Want more tips to write a great doctors resume education section? See our guide: How to Put Your Education on a Resume [Tips & Examples]

4. Add Doctor Skills that Matter to the Role

Your doctor resume needs the right skills. Which soft skills or hard skills do hospital administrators and recruiters like?

See this list of skills for doctors resumes:

Doctor Resume Skills

But—

You’ve got to pick the right skills, then prove you have them.

That happens in the bullet points:

  1. Make a list of skills and resume keywords this clinic wants (they’re in the job ad).
  2. List your skills. Look at your experience and education for clues.
  3. Find matches between the two skills lists.
  4. In your medical skills resume section, list 5–10 of the best-matching skills.
  5. Include both hard skills and soft skills in your resume for doctors.

The next medical doctor resume example shows how.

Say the job posting asks for communication, networking, and collaboration.

Doctor Resume Examples [Skills]

Right
  • Achieved 22% reduction in surgeries by communicating with patients, admin, and nurse practitioners to suggest alternative treatments.
  • Increased referrals by 17% through networking with other physicians and medical staff in the area.
  • Helped raise reimbursements by $550,000 per year by collaborating with billing staff and insurance companies to explain treatments.

Expert.

The metrics make it sing.

Need more info about the doctor job to customize your resume skills? Do some informational interviews to learn what the facility needs most.

By reviewing 11 million resumes made in our builder, we discovered that:

  • Medical doctors typically include an average of 16 skills on their resumes.
  • Among the top skills frequently listed by medical doctors are health assessments, patient diagnosis, treatment plan development, clinical reasoning, and preventive care.
  • Medical doctors tend to create resumes spanning about 2.5 pages in length.

5. Add Additional Activities to Your Doctor Resume

They won’t hire you.

That is, not unless they know you’re great to work with.

How can your doctors resume show that?

With Cleveland-Clinic-style additional sections.

You can include:

  1. Resume Licenses & Certifications
    Your M.D. license should be high and visible on your resume—just under your summary. But if you’ve got other certifications, show them in a special section. Here are a few:
  1. Resume Volunteer Work
    Have you done pro bono medical work? That’s a great way to show you know a canule from a cantaloupe, especially if you’ve got little on-the-job experience.
  1. Second Languages on a Resume
    Do you speak French? Spanish? A second language on a doctor resume can make a good impression. That goes double if the hospital’s patients speak that language too.
  1. Conferences or Publications on a Resume
    Have you attended medical conferences? Given talks on heart disease? Written research papers or articles? Those things can give you another chance to show your Christian-Barnaard-level skills.
  1. Memberships in Professional Organizations
    Listing your association in a doctor resume shows the clinic owner you’re a top choice. See these examples:

The sample doctor resume sections below give the plan of care.

Doctor Resume Examples [Other Sections]

Right

License

  • Board certified, Medical Board of California

Member, AMA

Conferences 

  • Northwest Diabetes Conference 2019, spoke on IF panel
  • Alzheimer’s Symposium 2018

Publications

  • “Can Intermittent Fasting Reverse Diabetes?” Published in WebMD July 2019
  • “Increasing HCACPS Scores Comes Down to Communication” Published in Medical News Today January 2018
Wrong
  • Avid golfer
  • Family man

Hmm.

The first of those medical doctor resume examples is a lifesaver.

It shows you care about healthcare like Jonas Salk.

Pro Tip: Should you make a longer resume for physician jobs? If you want to fit more non-work accomplishments, a doctor’s resume can be 2 pages, 3, or 5.

What kinds of interests work in an M.D. resume? See our guide: List of Hobbies & Interests for a Resume or CV

6. Write a Doctor Resume Summary or Resume Objective

The bad news:

If you think doctors are busy—

Just look at a hospital administrator.

They don’t have time to read your doctors resume.

What they do instead is skim.

It’s up to you to grab them like a signed limb.

Do that with a resume summary or resume objective..

The conventional wisdom says if you're an entry-level doc, write a resume objective, but if you're experienced, write a summary. 

But— 

They should both actually be the same thing—a summary of your experience, skills, and a key achievement or two that fits the job. But in a resume objective, you'll need to take your achievements from school or internships.

The trick with either? Show your best stuff in brief.

These two medical doctor resume examples point the way:

Doctor Resume Summary

Right

Responsible physician with 9 years of experience maximizing patient wellness and facility profitability. Seeking to deliver healthcare excellence at Mercy Hospital. At CRMC, maintained 5-star healthgrades score for 112 reviews and 85% patient success.

Wrong

Hard-working doctor who is highly skilled in patient assessment, differential diagnosis, pharmaceutical knowledge, and prescribing treatment. Excellent bedside manner and flawless interpersonal skills. Works exceptionally well with nurses and other staff.

Diagnosis?

The first of those doctor resume examples nails it. It mentions the facility, then gives a quick rundown of your shining moments.

But—

What if you’re writing an entry-level M.D. resume?

See these entry-level doctor resume examples:

Entry-Level Doctor Resume Objective

right

Dedicated physician with proven skills in patient education and preventive care. Seeking to enrich healthcare excellence at CRMC. As intern at SJH, was commended 6x by attending physician for efficiency and diagnosis skills.

Wrong

Applicant for residency position, skilled in family practice, HIPAA compliance, and documentation. Seeking good position with respected hospital. High-level differential diagnosis skills and expert time management and efficiency.

The second of those doctors resume examples is CTD. See how it fails to differentiate you from the crowd?

Pro Tip: Struggling with what to say in your doctor resume objective or resume summary? Leave a gap, then come back and write it later.

If you want your resume objective or resume summary for doctors to shine, see our guides: +20 Resume Objective Examples and Professional Resume Summary Examples

7. Write a Doctor Cover Letter

Do doctor resumes need cover letters?

Every time.

It’s true that some recruiters don’t read cover letters.

But almost half depend on them.

Show:

  1. Deep knowledge of this physician job
  2. A couple facts that prove you’re the best doc for the role

Follow the 3-paragraph cover letter plan.

That works like this:

Pro Tip: A cover letter for doctor jobs should show your passion and medical competence. Make it short, but add Mayo-Clinic-style details to make it memorable.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Last, here’s a guide to write the best doctor cover letter on the ward: Physician Cover Letter Guide

Key Takeaway

Here’s what to remember:

  • Format your doctor resume template with the right margins, line-spacing, professional resume fonts, and enough white space for easy reading.
  • Write your doctor resume objective or summary last.
  • Show your previous experience in a tailored approach, with 3–6 bullet points per job and action verbs.
  • Choose the right medical skills by looking at the hospital or clinic’s list of job duties and responsibilities.
  • Pay attention to how you list your education section and what key skills it proves.
  • Get your resume noticed with additional sections that show you go beyond the call of duty.
  • Write a doctor cover letter to maximize your chance to get the interview!

That’s it! Now, we’d love to hear from you: 

  • What are your biggest frustrations with writing a good doctor resume? 
  • Are you struggling to find customized medical skills or achievements?
  • Do you need help with writing a resume summary that gets noticed?

Let’s chat below in the comments, and thanks for reading!

About Zety’s Editorial Process

This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

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Maciej Tomaszewicz, CPRW
Maciej is a Certified Professional Résumé Writer and career expert and with a versatile professional background, creating tools for job seekers in various industries. His creative writing background and HR-related experience allow him to create highly readable articles clarifying even the most complicated professional development aspects. Since 2022, he has authored guides on professional resumes and cover letters, written articles on work-related scenarios, and developed research-based career advice.
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