Examples & writing guide
Physiotherapist CV example for 2026
Updated 22 June 2026
A good physiotherapist CV lets the reader follow your clinical thinking: what you assessed, how you planned treatment and what changed for the patient or service. This guide gives you a practical physiotherapist CV example framework, a stronger personal statement and realistic ways to describe clinical results. Treat it as a physiotherapist CV template and replace every illustrative detail with evidence from your own work.
Examples by experience level
Newly qualified physiotherapist
TemplateGrey Frame5 / 5
Why this works
This physiotherapist CV sample uses placements, support work and a first post to show assessment, treatment planning, patient progress and safe multidisciplinary practice.
Continue writing your CVMid-level Physiotherapist
TemplateTeal Signal2 / 5
Why this works
This example combines broad rotational experience with a clear musculoskeletal focus, measured patient outcomes, accurate clinical documentation and practical support for junior colleagues.
Continue writing your CVSenior Physiotherapist
TemplateAshford1 / 5
Why this works
Shows autonomous clinical work, team supervision, risk management and service improvement through clear, defensible outcomes.
Continue writing your CVJunior vs senior: what changes
| Aspect | Junior | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Personal statement | Lead with placement settings, patient groups and clinical skills developed during training. Keep the wording honest about supervised practice. | Lead with clinical scope, leadership responsibilities, service scale and measurable patient or operational results. |
| Experience evidence | Treat clinical placements as professional experience and describe supervised assessment, treatment planning and rehabilitation across the settings you encountered. | Prioritise recent roles and show independent decisions, responsibility for complex caseloads, clinical risk management and service improvement. |
| Patient outcomes | Use defensible placement evidence, such as changes recorded through outcome measures, progress towards mobility goals or a clear contribution to discharge planning. | Show results across a broader caseload or service, while separating your own contribution from the work of the wider team. |
| Range of practice | Name the patient groups and placement areas you genuinely experienced, including any work involving neurological, cardiovascular or respiratory conditions rather than presenting every placement as general rehabilitation. | Define the depth of your specialism while showing how you manage referrals, boundaries of practice and patients with more complex needs. |
| Team contribution | Show communication with patients, carers, supervisors and members of the multidisciplinary team, including how you adapted information to individual needs. | Show coordination across disciplines, reasoned referral decisions and supervision of students, junior physiotherapists or support workers. |
| CV structure | A skills-based CV can suit limited experience if placements, university training and voluntary work remain easy to find and verify. | Use reverse-chronological order so recruiters can see recent clinical roles, progression and increasing responsibility quickly. |
How to write a physiotherapist CV
Choose the right structure
Qualified physiotherapists with clinical experience should usually use a reverse-chronological CV, beginning with their current or latest role. A skills-based structure is an optional alternative for newly qualified physiotherapists, career changers and people returning to practice when placements, university training or transferable experience offer the clearest evidence. Aim for no more than two pages, use a readable 10–12 point font and keep the design plain. Clear headings and short bullets help readers find information quickly; graphics, decorative columns and complex tables can obscure clinical evidence or be read incorrectly by applicant tracking software.
| Section | Keep it focused on |
|---|---|
| Contact details | Name, UK location, mobile, professional email and profile link |
| Personal statement | Experience level, relevant setting, patient groups and strongest evidence |
| Skills | A short selection matched to the advertised post |
| Experience | Recent roles or placements, clinical actions, scope and defensible outcomes |
| Education | Exact awarded qualifications, institution and dates |
| Extras | Relevant training, professional development, volunteering or languages |
Write a brief physiotherapist personal statement that identifies your experience level and strongest relevant evidence. Give most of the remaining space to recent clinical work. Newly qualified applicants can present clinical placements as professional experience, briefly naming the setting, patient groups and skills developed. Keep the skills section selective, then prove those skills in the experience bullets. List education in reverse-chronological order and trim older detail once your employment record carries more weight.
Tailor NHS, private practice, sports or community applications by moving the most relevant settings, patient groups and specialisms nearer the top. Applicants moving from personal training can also use this personal trainer CV example. Remove material that does not help the reader judge your fit for that post.
Personal statement examples
Physiotherapist with six years of experience across inpatient rehabilitation and community services, assessing mobility problems and developing treatment plans for adults with complex needs. Works closely with service users, carers and multidisciplinary colleagues, using outcome measures to review progress and adapt care. Seeking a senior post involving a varied caseload, supervision, accountable clinical decisions and practical service improvement.
Hard-working physiotherapist looking for a new challenge in a good organisation. I have excellent communication and teamwork skills, enjoy helping people and can work independently or as part of a team. I have carried out many physiotherapy duties and always try my best. I would like a job where I can develop my career and use my skills.
Writing your experience
Turn duties into evidence
A convincing bullet tells the reader what you did, the clinical context or scale and what happened next. Start with a direct verb, add the patient group, caseload or treatment scope, then close with a result. Useful evidence may include progress against agreed outcomes, treatment timescales, discharge activity, attendance, appointment capacity, record quality or supervision. Protect confidentiality by combining figures and removing details that could identify an individual patient.
| Duty-led wording | Evidence-led rewrite |
|---|---|
| Responsible for rehabilitation plans | Developed and reviewed rehabilitation plans for a weekly caseload of 24 adults; 19 met their agreed mobility goals within the planned treatment period. |
| Worked with the multidisciplinary team | Coordinated discharge planning with nursing and medical colleagues for 15 inpatients each month, cutting follow-up queries from 12 to 5. |
| Kept patient notes up to date | Audited 80 digital case records and introduced a same-day checklist, raising complete documentation from 86% to 97% over eight weeks. |
These figures are illustrative. Use numbers supported by records, audits, rotas or service reports on your own CV. If you have no reliable outcome figure, give honest scope instead, such as caseload size, clinic frequency, patient group, number of students supported or contribution to a defined project.
Choose verbs that show thought and ownership: assessed, formulated, treated, reviewed, adapted, progressed, educated, referred, coordinated, documented, audited, supervised and implemented. Use "led" only when you directed the work. A newly qualified applicant might describe supervised assessments, treatment planning and progress reviews from placements. An experienced physiotherapist can show independent decisions, appropriate referrals, clinical risk management and collaboration with other healthcare professionals. Senior applicants should include supervision of students, junior physiotherapists or support workers when it formed part of the role.
Keep each bullet to one main outcome. Three or four precise bullets usually read better than a dense list of duties. Reorder them for every application so the most relevant setting, patient group and treatment experience appears first.
Key skills & ATS keywords
Hard skills
Soft skills
ATS keywords
Education & certifications
List education in reverse-chronological order, giving the exact awarded title, institution and completion year. Add the classification when it helps explain your academic record. Recent graduates can mention one or two relevant academic projects, though substantial clinical placements usually sit more naturally under experience. Experienced applicants can shorten older course details and leave more room for recent clinical work.
Qualification routes differ, so describe only the route you completed. Physiotherapy apprentices are required to complete a BSc (Hons) degree in Physiotherapy. Physiotherapy apprentices who already hold a Level 6 degree are conditionally required to complete a Level 7 qualification approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Apprentices without Level 2 English and maths need to achieve that level before completing the end-point assessment. State the exact award and completion date, and label unfinished study accurately.
Some conditions apply to a particular university programme rather than to every physiotherapy course or job. Occupational Health Clearance is required for offerholders enrolling on King's Physiotherapy programmes. Offers and continued enrolment on its Physiotherapy BSc are also subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service check. These are programme-specific conditions, so include a check or clearance on your CV only when the organisation requests it and it applies to you.
Include continuing professional development (CPD), recent courses and training when they support the target post. Give the activity, provider and date, with a short explanation if its relevance is not obvious. A selective list is easier to assess than an unexplained catalogue. Keep evidence of assessment, treatment planning, rehabilitation and patient progress prominent; education and training should support that clinical account rather than replace it.
Common mistakes to avoid
AvoidListing routine duties without showing what changed for patients, such as mobility progress, recovery timescales or movement towards discharge.
InsteadBuild each bullet around your action, the patient group or clinical setting, and a result you can defend. Use only outcomes and figures that you can verify.
AvoidSending an identical CV to NHS, private practice, sports and community vacancies.
InsteadAdjust the patient groups, clinical settings and specialisms you emphasise so the evidence fits the vacancy.
AvoidUsing graphics, decorative tables or a complicated layout that buries clinical evidence.
InsteadUse clear headings, short bullet points and a logical layout that recruiters can scan and applicant tracking systems can read reliably.
AvoidLeaving clinical placements buried under education when applying as a newly qualified physiotherapist.
InsteadPresent placements as professional experience. State the setting, patient groups and skills developed, while making the supervised nature of the work clear.
AvoidAllowing old or unrelated experience to push the CV beyond two pages.
InsteadUsually keep the CV to no more than two pages and give priority to recent clinical experience, qualifications and relevant skills.
AvoidListing training without dates or any connection to clinical work.
InsteadGive recent courses and continuing professional development (CPD) a compact section with the activity title, date and relevance to your practice.
Frequently asked questions
A physiotherapist CV should usually be no more than two pages. Keep recent clinical experience, qualifications and relevant skills prominent, then cut detail that does not support the vacancy.
List clinical placements as professional experience and describe the setting, patient groups and skills developed. A skills-based CV can also suit newly qualified applicants or career changers, provided placements, university training and voluntary experience remain clear and verifiable.
A photo is not required on a UK physiotherapist CV. Use the space for clinical evidence, qualifications and contact details instead.
Tailor the emphasis for NHS, private practice, sports or community work by selecting the patient groups, clinical settings and specialisms most relevant to each vacancy.
A skills-based structure can foreground relevant clinical and transferable skills, university training, placements and voluntary experience. Keep the evidence specific and never imply that unrelated employment was clinical practice.
Use evidence of assessment, treatment planning, rehabilitation and patient progress. Where you can defend the result, mention mobility improvement, recovery timescales, outcome measures or your contribution to discharge planning.
From example to application
Turn this physiotherapist example into a CV that sounds like you.
Keep the structure that works. Tailor the details around your experience, strengths, and the role you want.