Vet Tech Resume Sample & Writing Guide

Veterinary technicians work in private clinics, animal hospitals, or research facilities to assist vets (animal doctors) in diagnosing, treating, and taking care of animals.  

It's required for veterinary technicians to attend specific training and obtain a license, as opposed to veterinary assistants who are not able to perform tests or administer medications. 

If you ever dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, don't miss this article to learn how to land your job with a great vet technician resume. 

1. Which type of resume format should you select?

Commonly, you can choose among three types of resume format, which may vary depending on your professional level. 

• Chronological resume format: 
  You need to list your work history in a timely-reversed order. Therefore, a chronological vet tech resume format would be great for professionals who have been in the field for a while. Both recruiters and job seekers prefer this format and find it easy to follow. 
  
• Functional resume format:
  Another name for this format is a skill-based resume, which means your skills are emphasized rather than work experience. It is suitable for those with large job gaps or career changes, and/or fresh graduates working on a vet tech resume with no experience.  
  
• Combinational resume format: 
  Both your skills and work experience are presented in this type of resume format. Hence, if you want to cover a lot of content in your vet technician resume at a senior level, or if your work experience isn’t comprehensive enough to make a chronological format, a combinational resume format is highly recommended. 
  

2. In which format should a vet tech resume be sent?

Many of you may wonder whether to submit your vet tech resume in Word or PDF.

Here's the answer!

If you're required to send a Word doc file, go ahead. If not, go for a vet tech resume in pdf format, for the following reasons:

3. Tips to write a vet tech resume for freshers

• Advice 1:
  Use skill-based (functional) resume format to draw the employer's attention towards your skills instead of work experience. In your vet tech resume with no experience or entry-level vet tech resume, the education section should be placed before work experience with extra details such as academic awards and GPA. 
  
• Advice 2:
  Adopt an impressive objective statement to state your career goals, passion for work, promoting yourself as a potential candidate.
  For example:
  Seeking a veterinary technician position to utilize knowledge in a variety of medical and behavior techniques in animal treatment.
  
• Advice 3:
  Refer to online veterinary technician resume examples to learn about the writing resume guidelines and critical mistakes to avoid.  
  

1. Resume Profile (Personal Information)

Personal information in a veterinary technician resume should provide your full name, email, phone number, and address (home or desired work location).

As the first introduction that you present to the hiring manager, make sure you write it accurately and professionally. 

However, avoid these details that are not helpful and might lead to discrimination. 

2. Resume Headline

A resume headline is one short statement that labels yourself.

A well-phrased vet tech resume headline can demonstrate your expertise and briefly present your key skills, from which the reader can evaluate you at first glance.

3. Resume Summary

A vet technician resume summary is commonly placed at the top of the resume, summarizing your career experience with the most outstanding achievements and key skills needed for the vet tech job.

Don't stuff too much information in this part - keep it within 3-4 sentences.

4. Resume Objective

A vet tech resume objective demonstrates your career goals and the value you want to contribute to the organization.

It is especially suitable for entry-level vet technicians who are looking to land their first job.

5. Skills

Key qualifications seen on most vet tech resume examples should consist of both hard and soft skills.

Hard skills are teachable abilities or techniques that you can learn through training materials or on the job. Soft skills are harder to quantify, relating to how you act and behave at the workplace. 

Example skills to put on a vet tech resume:

6. Work Experience

Now let's move to the most important part of a veterinary tech resume - work experience!

Note the following to write this part professionally:

• Stick to the standard format:
  • Job title
  • Employer name
  • Employment date
  • Job responsibilities and quantifiable achievements
• Utilize bullet points to make it easy-to-read
• Use short statements with action verbs, especially keywords from the job description.

7. Education

To obtain employment as a veterinary technician, you need to complete a two-year Veterinary Medical Association (VMA) accredited program from a community college, college, or university. 

Make sure to list this section in the necessary information to show the employer that you have a relevant educational background: 

• School name
• Type of degree 
• Year of graduation

8. Additional Information 

It would be an extra point if you can showcase additional information in your vet technician resume such as:

• Lab and clinical work with live animals
• Volunteer work at a rescue shelter

Tailor the vet tech resume to the job.

This way you can optimize your vet tech resume for the ATS (Applicant Tracking Software)—la tool used to automatically review and scan application documents before forwarding them to employers.

Also, the recruiters can see whether you pass the job requirements and fit the vacancy.

Quantify your achievements.

When it comes to resumes, numbers can speak louder than text. Hence, try to quantify what you've achieved in the past jobs to make your vet tech resume more compelling and stand out among other applicants.

Show your love for animals.

For the jobs involving animal care, the hiring manager expects to see your love and compassion for animals. Don't hesitate to express that in your vet tech resume.

Proofread your veterinary tech resume. 

Last but not least, spend just a few minutes proofreading your vet tech resume for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and proper word usage. Typos, bad grammar, or even incorrect punctuation can all sink your chance of landing your dream job.

Unless you're working in the creative industries, it's recommended that you use pre-made resume templates to create your own one.

Vet tech resume templates offer you a “no-clutter” approach to resume writing. You don't need to worry about formatting, layout, ATS optimization, etc. 

For both fresh graduates and experienced professionals, you can easily find great vet tech resume samples and templates on Microsoft Word and online resume builders like Cake. These tools are free and user-friendly. All you need to do is select the template you prefer and then simply fill in the text.