• Fails to convey your specialty area
• Doesn’t capture measurable impact
• Often filtered out by ATS keywords

• Replace the objective with a 2‑sentence professional summary
• Highlight your clinical focus, years of experience, and key outcomes
• Insert relevant keywords such as CBT, DSM‑5, and case management

Objective: Seeking a position where I can use my skills.

Professional Summary: Licensed Clinical Psychologist with 7 years of experience delivering evidence‑based CBT to adult patients, achieving a 30 % reduction in depressive symptoms across a caseload of 120+ clients.

• Provides no proof of effectiveness
• Makes resume look like a job description
• Reduces impact for hiring managers

• Start each bullet with an action verb
• Quantify results (e.g., % improvement, number of patients)
• Showcase therapeutic techniques used

- Conducted therapy sessions for patients. - Completed case notes daily.

- Delivered CBT to 25+ adult patients weekly, resulting in a 28 % average reduction in PHQ‑9 scores. - Streamlined documentation workflow, cutting case‑note completion time by 35 %.

• Hiring managers may question eligibility
• ATS often scans for required licenses
• Missed opportunity to differentiate you

• Create a dedicated "Licensure & Certifications" section near the top
• List state license, license number, and expiration date
• Add certifications such as CPR, EMDR, or Neurofeedback

Education: M.A. Clinical Psychology, XYZ University, 2016

Licensure & Certifications: - Licensed Clinical Psychologist, State of California (License #123456, Expires 06/2027) - Certified EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA (2020) - CPR Certified, American Heart Association (2022)

• Academic achievements get lost on clinical hiring managers
• ATS may not map research terms to clinical keywords

• Translate research duties into clinical relevance
• Highlight publications, presentations, and grant funding
• Use lay‑friendly language when appropriate

- Performed statistical analysis on neuroimaging data. - Authored manuscript on brain connectivity.

- Conducted statistical analyses of neuroimaging data to inform evidence‑based treatment protocols, contributing to a peer‑reviewed publication on brain connectivity in anxiety disorders. - Presented findings at the American Psychological Association 2023 Annual Meeting, influencing clinical practice guidelines.

• Reduces readability for recruiters
• ATS may misinterpret unstructured text
• Key information can be missed

• Use bullet points, not paragraphs, for experience sections
• Keep margins at 0.5–1 inch and use a clean sans‑serif font
• Limit resume to 1–2 pages

Professional Experience: I worked at ABC Clinic where I provided therapy to patients. I also collaborated with psychiatrists and wrote reports.

Professional Experience: ABC Clinic – Clinical Psychologist (06/2019 – Present) - Provided individual CBT to 30+ adult patients weekly, achieving a 25 % reduction in depressive symptoms. - Collaborated with psychiatrists to develop integrated treatment plans, reducing medication adjustments by 15 %. - Authored comprehensive progress notes and discharge summaries in compliance with HIPAA standards.