Massage Therapist Resume Example and Tips

What can feel better than a pair of skilled hands, relieving pain and tension? Massage therapists help their clients feel more comfortable in their bodies by applying different restorative and corrective techniques. It’s a great and rewarding profession, which also pays well. Especially, if you work with several salons and manage a couple of private clients. 

But to secure the best-paid positions, you’ll need a standout resume. This post guides you through writing by providing a sample massage therapist resume, followed by extra tips for customization. 

Massage Therapist Resume Example (Word)

Download example (.docx)

Resume for Massage Therapist (plain text)

How to Write a Massage Therapist Resume

A resume is your “calling card”. It should quickly explain three things: Your specialization, availability, and educational background. Ideally, you should highlight all of these in a short resume summary in the header area, then elaborate further in the work experience and education sections. 

Apply the tips below to craft an attention-grabbing resume for massage therapist positions. 

Organize Your Work History 

Massage therapists often balance several full-time and freelance gigs at a time. So putting together a coherent Work Experience section may be challenging at first try. 

Soundly, you have several ways to list freelance work on a resume:

• By client. If you’re working at several salons at a time, list each entry in reverse chronological order. In each case, add “present” as your employment date. Then specify the number of hours per week/day you’re working for each employer to provide an adequate picture of your availability. 

• Under an umbrella “self-employment” entry. Alternatively, you can create one consolidated entry, where you mention the different salons and types of clients you’re servicing. Don’t forget to specify which types of massage you’re providing. 

You can combine the two formats if you’re working part-time in a salon (or several!), plus handle a roster of clients independently. 

Showcase Your Specialization 

Massage therapy is a wide field with loads of exciting niches for specialization — from aromatherapy to Zero Balancing. Of course, most therapists are experienced in different techniques. Specify which one’s immediately in your resume summary. 

Doing so immediately conveys what type of expertise you possess and helps the employer faster assess whether you’re a fit for their establishment. After all, if they’re absolutely looking for someone with Swedish massage expertise and this isn’t you’re jam, the two of you waste time and energy on a futile interview. 

Highlight Your Competitive Edge 

Massage therapy is a competitive field, so you’d be likely against other well-qualified candidates. Therefore, your resume should quickly convey your unfair advantage over others. 

This could be factors like your certifications and professional training programs completed; average customer rating or return rates; knowledge of business software and salon management best practices; heck even a big following on social media! 

Don’t be afraid to use every tool in your professional arsenal to persuade the reader that you’re the best candidate they can ever get for this position. 

Final Tip: Customize Faster with a Template  

The job market is a bit tough right now, so you may need to apply to quite a few job ads before you score the coveted new gig. And this means you’ll have to customize your resume a number of times (as we all know that generic resumes never get the job done).

To save yourself time and energy, grab a free resume template to use as your “master document”. Pre-fill it with a resume outline and a sample list of skills that you possess. Then easily customize the template to each job position by picking out the right competencies and tweaking the language to better suit the advertised position.