Surgical Technologist resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 17 skills, tools and credentials that come up in surgical technologist job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 15
- Sterile technique (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Aseptic technique (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Surgical counts (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Back table setup (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Preference cards (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Instrumentation (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Robotic-assisted surgery (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Laparoscopic surgery (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Orthopedic surgery (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- General surgery (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Specimen handling (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Room turnover (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Sterile processing (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Time-out (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- Patient safety (used in Tasha's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 2
- CST (NBSTSA) (used in Tasha's sample resume)
- BLS (used in Tasha's sample resume)
17 of 17 appear in Tasha's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Robotic-assisted surgery
Weak: Skills: Robotic-assisted surgery
Strong: Scrub 4–6 cases a day in general, orthopedic, gynecologic and robotic-assisted surgery, including total joints and laparoscopic procedures
Preference cards
Weak: Skills: Preference cards
Strong: Set up the back table and Mayo stand from surgeon preference cards, and perform sponge, sharps and instrument counts with the circulating nurse
Sterile technique
Weak: Skills: Sterile technique
Strong: Take call for trauma and emergency cases, and pass instruments, handle specimens and maintain sterile technique through each case
General surgery
Weak: Skills: General surgery
Strong: Scrubbed 6–8 outpatient cases a day in orthopedics, ENT and general surgery
Strong bullets come from Tasha's sample resume and our surgical technologist bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If a surgical technologist post asks for Sterile technique and you've used it, say Sterile technique, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a surgical technologist post says "Aseptic technique", write "Aseptic technique", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on Sterile technique — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Robotic-assisted surgery. A bullet like the one under Surgical Technologist in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
Which of these does your resume say?
Free ATS score and missing keywords in about 10 seconds.
Applying to one post? Scan its keywords against your resume.
Keep going
/ Questions
Surgical Technologist keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a surgical technologist resume have?
There's no magic number. Tasha's sample resume uses all 17 terms on this page, because each one fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If a surgical technologist post says "Sterile technique", write "Sterile technique" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Tasha's sample, Robotic-assisted surgery shows up in a bullet under Surgical Technologist. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
How should I list CST (NBSTSA) and BLS on my resume?
Spell them the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
All 88 rolesSee which of these your resume already says.
Free ATS check — no sign-up, about 10 seconds.