Top 12 Veterinary Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume
In the competitive field of veterinary assistance, showcasing a well-rounded set of skills on your resume is crucial to standing out to potential employers. This article highlights the top 12 skills that can make you a more attractive candidate, demonstrating your ability to thrive in fast-paced, animal care environments.
Veterinary Assistant Skills
- Animal Handling
- Veterinary Software (e.g., AVImark)
- Phlebotomy
- Radiography
- Surgical Assistance
- Laboratory Testing
- Medication Administration
- Customer Service
- Inventory Management
- Animal CPR
- Dental Care
- Record Keeping
1. Animal Handling
Animal handling covers the calm, safe restraint and movement of animals so exams, treatments, and daily care can happen with minimal stress and minimal risk to anyone involved.
Why It's Important
Good handling keeps animals and staff safe, helps veterinarians work efficiently, and reduces fear and stress that can worsen outcomes or slow recovery.
How to Improve Animal Handling Skills
Build confidence through repetition and observation. Learn species- and breed-specific body language. Practice low-stress restraint, use the least force that still keeps everyone safe, and employ tools like towels, muzzles, Elizabethan collars, cat bags, and slip leads correctly. Watch seasoned technicians, ask for feedback, and rehearse positioning for common procedures (jugular draws, radiographs, nail trims). Slow down your movements, mind your voice, and always set up the space before you approach the patient. Prioritize safety—yours, the team’s, and the animal’s—every single time.
How to Display Animal Handling Skills on Your Resume
2. Veterinary Software (e.g., AVImark)
Veterinary software helps run the practice: appointments, medical records, billing, estimates, inventory, reminders, and client communication all live in one system, so the day flows instead of stalls.
Why It's Important
Mastery speeds up check-ins, keeps records clean, reduces billing errors, and ensures reminders and follow-ups actually happen—better care with fewer headaches.
How to Improve Veterinary Software (e.g., AVImark) Skills
Focus on the parts you touch every hour. Learn hotkeys, templates, quick texts, and code groups to cut clicks. Build accurate estimates and convert them to invoices without rework. Tie inventory items to services so usage deducts automatically. Set up recall and reminder rules that match your doctors’ protocols. Run core reports (A/R, compliance, inventory turns) and read what they’re telling you. Get comfortable with lab integrations, payment terminals, and digital imaging links. Use mobile or web portals for curbside or room-side entries when possible. Respect permissions, audit trails, and backups—data integrity is part of patient safety.
How to Display Veterinary Software (e.g., AVImark) Skills on Your Resume
3. Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy is drawing blood from animals for diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment decisions—clean sticks, quality samples, and calm patients.
Why It's Important
Accurate lab results begin with good samples. Skilled blood collection limits stress, reduces redraws, and speeds diagnosis.
How to Improve Phlebotomy Skills
Know the anatomy—cephalic, jugular, lateral saphenous in dogs; cephalic, medial saphenous, jugular in cats; species variations matter. Prep your station, label tubes before you begin, and choose the right needle and tube for the patient and test. Use steady, minimal restraint and coordinate with your handler. Avoid hemolysis: gentle aspiration, proper angle, quick transfer to tubes, correct mixing. Practice on models before moving to patients, and debrief with technicians about vein choice, site rotation, and complication prevention. Track your success rate so you can see improvement.
How to Display Phlebotomy Skills on Your Resume
4. Radiography
Radiography uses X-rays to visualize internal structures—bones, lungs, abdomen—without surgery, guiding diagnosis and treatment plans.
Why It's Important
Great images save time and reduce costs. They also keep patients safer by limiting repeats and minimizing exposure.
How to Improve Radiography Skills
Position like it matters because it does. Use sandbags, troughs, foam wedges, and tape for symmetry and stability. Collimate tightly to the area of interest and follow exposure charts; adjust based on patient size and tissue density. Embrace radiation safety: ALARA, lead PPE, dosimetry badges, distance, and shielding. Keep a log of views, settings, and notes—learn from each case. Communicate with the veterinarian about sedation needs and ensure monitoring if sedation is used. Clean plates, check calibration, and review images critically for motion, rotation, and cutoff before releasing the patient.
How to Display Radiography Skills on Your Resume
5. Surgical Assistance
Surgical assistance means preparing the suite, maintaining sterility, anticipating the surgeon’s needs, monitoring the patient, and supporting recovery. Many small details, one smooth operation.
Why It's Important
Efficiency and sterility drive outcomes. The right hands in the right place keep anesthesia time down and complication rates low.
How to Improve Surgical Assistance Skills
Drill sterile technique until it’s automatic: proper hand scrub, gowning, gloving, and field maintenance. Learn instrument names, functions, and passing etiquette; organize packs consistently and verify counts before and after. Build and use checklists for patient ID, consent, site prep, and equipment readiness. Understand anesthesia monitoring basics (heart rate, respiration, temperature, pulse oximetry, capnography if available) and document at set intervals. Prep recovery spaces, manage warming, and track pain scores with timely medication administration. Afterward, clean, wrap, sterilize, and document cycle logs without shortcuts.
How to Display Surgical Assistance Skills on Your Resume
6. Laboratory Testing
Laboratory testing spans sample collection, processing, and analysis support—blood, urine, feces, cytology, and more—so clinicians get reliable data.
Why It's Important
Trustworthy results guide treatment. Clean technique and solid workflow prevent errors that can mislead diagnosis.
How to Improve Laboratory Testing Skills
Label before you draw—patient, date, time, collector, and test. Follow SOPs for anticoagulants, smear prep, centrifugation, and storage temperatures. Run controls as scheduled and log them; investigate outliers instead of ignoring them. Match tubes and volumes to the tests ordered, and respect hold times. For send-outs, package with correct media, complete requisitions fully, and track chain of custody. Maintain equipment daily: calibrations, maintenance logs, lot numbers, and expiration checks. Compare results to reference intervals in context with clinical signs.
How to Display Laboratory Testing Skills on Your Resume
7. Medication Administration
Medication administration covers preparing, verifying, and giving prescribed drugs by the correct route and timing—then documenting precisely and monitoring for reactions.
Why It's Important
The right drug, dose, route, and time can be the difference between relief and risk. Accuracy protects patients and the practice.
How to Improve Medication Administration Skills
Live by the “five rights” and read the label every time. Double-check calculations and conversions; use a second person for high-risk meds. Know common routes (PO, SQ, IM, IV, topical, otic, ophthalmic) and when each is appropriate. Store medications properly—refrigeration logs, light protection, beyond-use dating, and segregation of controlled substances with accurate counts. Educate clients clearly for at-home dosing and demonstrate techniques when needed. Watch for adverse effects and report quickly. Chart immediately—no relying on memory later.
How to Display Medication Administration Skills on Your Resume
8. Customer Service
Customer service in a clinic means guiding worried people through tough moments with clarity, empathy, and follow-through—so pets get what they need and owners stay informed.
Why It's Important
Trust is the foundation. Clear expectations, timely updates, and kind communication keep care plans on track and clients returning.
How to Improve Customer Service Skills
Listen first; people tell you what matters if you give them room. Explain with plain language, confirm understanding, and avoid jargon. Set expectations for costs, timelines, and next steps—estimates, consents, follow-ups. Use consistent reminder and callback systems so no patient slips through the cracks. Learn basic de-escalation and keep your tone steady under pressure. Personalize touches—names remembered, preferences noted—small things that feel big. After visits, send concise summaries so clients leave with confidence.
How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume
9. Inventory Management
Inventory management is tracking supplies, drugs, and equipment so the right items are on hand, within date, and accounted for without tying up cash in dusty shelves.
Why It's Important
Stockouts delay care. Overstock wastes money. Smart control keeps patient care smooth and costs sane.
How to Improve Inventory Management Skills
Set par levels and reorder points based on usage, not guesswork. Rotate stock using FEFO (first expiring, first out) and check dates routinely. Standardize item names and units in your software, link items to services, and enable automatic deductions. Schedule regular cycle counts and reconcile controlled substances exactly. Consolidate vendors where it makes sense, track backorders proactively, and document substitutions. Review monthly reports for turns, shrink, and dead stock—and adjust pars seasonally.
How to Display Inventory Management Skills on Your Resume
10. Animal CPR
Animal CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is the coordinated response to cardiac or respiratory arrest—compressions, airway, breathing, and organized teamwork guided by established veterinary protocols.
Why It's Important
Seconds matter. Prepared teams and practiced hands can be the difference between loss and recovery.
How to Improve Animal CPR Skills
Pursue formal CPR training aligned with current veterinary guidelines and refresh it regularly. Run mock codes to practice roles, timing, and communication. Keep a crash cart that’s standardized, sealed, and checked on schedule; know every drawer blindfolded. Focus on high-quality compressions, effective ventilation, rapid rhythm assessment, and accurate documentation. After real events, debrief honestly and update checklists based on what you learn.
How to Display Animal CPR Skills on Your Resume
11. Dental Care
Dental care in veterinary practice includes prevention, assessment, and treatment of oral disease—cleanings, charting, radiographs, and assisting with extractions under a veterinarian’s direction.
Why It's Important
Healthy mouths mean healthier pets. Dental disease affects comfort, eating, and systemic health.
How to Improve Dental Care Skills
Learn proper scaling and polishing technique under supervision, and document dental charts thoroughly—missing teeth, fractures, gingival indices, mobility. Position patients safely for dental radiographs and check images for common errors before moving on. Monitor anesthesia diligently during dental procedures, maintaining temperature and hydration. Create clear, simple home-care plans for clients—brushing demos, VOHC-approved products, and recheck schedules. Track dental compliance to nudge earlier intervention next time.
How to Display Dental Care Skills on Your Resume
12. Record Keeping
Record keeping means creating clear, complete, timely medical records—history, exam findings, diagnostics, treatments, and client communications—in a way that supports care, billing, and legal standards.
Why It's Important
If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. Good records protect patients, providers, and the practice.
How to Improve Record Keeping Skills
Use structured notes (SOAP or similar) and standard templates to improve consistency. Enter information in real time and avoid copy-paste clutter. Capture consent forms, estimates, and declined services. Keep problem lists current and update medication histories at every visit. Apply appropriate privacy controls, user permissions, and audit trails. Back up data on schedule and verify restores. Periodically audit charts for completeness and accuracy, then fix the gaps you find.
How to Display Record Keeping Skills on Your Resume
