Top 12 Support Worker Skills to Put on Your Resume

Crafting a compelling resume as a support worker means showing a sharp mix of empathy, practical know‑how, and composed problem‑solving. Spotlight skills that prove you can deliver safe, person‑centered, reliable care. Use the sections below to sharpen each capability, and present yourself as a grounded, ready-to-go candidate in a crowded field.

Support Worker Skills

1. CPR Certified
2. First Aid
3. Microsoft Office
4. Salesforce
5. Behavioral Management
6. Crisis Intervention
7. Medication Administration
8. ASL Proficiency
9. SMART Goals
10. Nonviolent Communication
11. Therapeutic Rapport
12. HIPAA Compliance

1. CPR Certified

CPR certification confirms you’ve completed training and passed assessment in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. You’re prepared to respond when breathing or heartbeat stops, fast and correctly.

Why It's Important

When seconds matter, you’re the bridge between crisis and survival. CPR skills protect the people in your care and reduce risk during emergencies.

How to Improve CPR Certified Skills

Keep your CPR sharp and current, not dusty on a card:

1. Refresh routinely: Revisit course materials and updates; most certifications renew every two years—don’t wait until month 23.
2. Practice hands-on: Use a manikin to drill compressions, ventilation timing, and AED use until it’s muscle memory.
3. Track updates: Guidelines evolve. Note changes to compression depth, rate, and sequence as recommendations shift.
4. Simulate real scenarios: Practice in noisy rooms, cramped spaces, and team drills so you’re steady under pressure.
5. Ask for feedback: Instructors and peers can spot technique gaps you miss.

Confidence in CPR isn’t bravado. It’s repetition done right.

How to Display CPR Certified Skills on Your Resume

2. First Aid

First Aid is immediate care for illness or injury—aimed at preserving life, preventing worsening, and promoting recovery—delivered safely and calmly until additional help arrives.

Why It's Important

Quick, correct action can stop small problems from spiraling. You reduce harm, comfort the person, and buy time.

How to Improve First Aid Skills

1. Renew certification: Keep it active and up to standard; protocols change, sometimes quietly.
2. Drill core skills: Bleeding control, wound care, choking response, recovery position, shock management—practice until it’s smooth.
3. Stay current: Watch for updates on topics like opioid overdose response and anaphylaxis management.
4. Use simulation: Scenario-based practice builds judgment under stress.
5. Reflect after incidents: Debrief, note what worked, tighten what didn’t.
6. Add Mental Health First Aid: Crises aren’t only physical; expand your toolkit.

How to Display First Aid Skills on Your Resume

3. Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office (now Microsoft 365 for many organizations) includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more—tools for documentation, scheduling, reporting, and clear communication.

Why It's Important

Clean records, tidy data, timely messages. Your day hums when your files and calendars do, too.

How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills

1. Learn shortcuts: Cut time with keystrokes for formatting, navigation, and editing.
2. Use templates: Standardize care notes, incident reports, and shift handovers for speed and consistency.
3. Co-author in real time: Work simultaneously in shared files to reduce version chaos.
4. Organize with OneNote: Centralize care plans, meeting minutes, and task lists—tag, search, and share.
5. Automate the repetitive: Power Automate can route approvals, send reminders, and move files without you babysitting them.
6. Keep it updated: New features roll in; security patches matter.

How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume

4. Salesforce

Salesforce is a cloud CRM used to track cases, communications, tasks, and outcomes—handy when support work intersects with service delivery, referrals, or multi-team coordination.

Why It's Important

One source of truth. Faster case routing. Clear visibility on what’s next and what’s overdue.

How to Improve Salesforce Skills

1. Tailor the workspace: Customize page layouts, list views, and fields to match your workflow so you click less and see more.
2. Automate with Flow: Replace manual follow-ups and assignment decisions with declarative automations; retire old Process Builder rules where possible.
3. Centralize info: Log all interactions and attachments so histories are complete and handoffs are painless.
4. Use Knowledge: Build and maintain articles for frequent issues to speed consistent answers.
5. Skill up: Explore modules and sandboxes; practice safely before changing live records. Don’t forget MFA and permission hygiene.

How to Display Salesforce Skills on Your Resume

5. Behavioral Management

Behavioral management means shaping positive behaviors and safely responding to challenging ones so daily life gets smoother, safer, and more independent for the person you support.

Why It's Important

It protects dignity, reduces risk, and builds skills. Everyone breathes easier—clients, families, teams.

How to Improve Behavioral Management Skills

1. Know the person: Triggers, strengths, preferences, sensory needs—collect them, respect them.
2. Use ABCs: Track Antecedent–Behavior–Consequence to spot patterns and design better responses.
3. Reinforce the good: Catch desired behaviors quickly and reward them specifically.
4. De-escalate early: Calm voice, nonthreatening posture, space, and choices—not ultimatums.
5. Set clear expectations: Simple rules, consistent follow-through, predictable routines.
6. Collaborate: Align with families, clinicians, and educators; shared plans reduce mixed signals.
7. Reflect and adjust: Review data, tweak strategies, and document what works.
8. Stay trauma-informed: Behavior is communication; safety and trust come first.

How to Display Behavioral Management Skills on Your Resume

6. Crisis Intervention

Short, focused support that stabilizes acute distress, prioritizes safety, and links the person to ongoing help. Clear head, steady hands.

Why It's Important

In a crunch, you lower the temperature, reduce harm, and chart the next safe step. That can change everything.

How to Improve Crisis Intervention Skills

1. Train and retrain: Ground yourself in crisis models, risk assessment, and safety planning—refresh often.
2. Communicate with care: Listen to understand. Validate feelings. Ask short, concrete questions. Avoid jargon.
3. Prioritize safety: Scan the environment, set boundaries, and know exit routes and escalation protocols.
4. Work as a team: Share observations, document clearly, and coordinate roles before a crisis sparks.
5. Care for yourself: Debrief, rest, and use supervision. Burnout blunts judgment.
6. Know local resources: Warm lines, crisis teams, shelters, and clinical supports—keep a quick-reference list.

How to Display Crisis Intervention Skills on Your Resume

7. Medication Administration

Safe, accurate delivery of prescribed medications—documented, timed, and monitored—according to clinical instructions and organizational policy.

Why It's Important

Meds help only when given correctly. Precision protects health and prevents harm.

How to Improve Medication Administration Skills

1. Follow the rights: Person, medication, dose, route, time, documentation, and right to refuse—verify each, every time.
2. Double-check high-risk meds: Look-alike/sound-alike names, narrow therapeutic index drugs, and dosage calculations deserve extra scrutiny.
3. Use tech wisely: MARs, barcoding, and e-records reduce errors when used consistently.
4. Clarify orders: If anything’s unclear—dose, timing, route—pause and confirm before administering.
5. Store and dispose safely: Temperature, light, and security matter; document wastage appropriately.
6. Monitor and report: Track side effects, efficacy, and adverse events; escalate promptly.
7. Stay educated: Review common medications in your setting and updates to guidelines.

How to Display Medication Administration Skills on Your Resume

8. ASL Proficiency

Comfort and accuracy in American Sign Language so Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals are met on equal ground—clearly, respectfully, and without guesswork.

Why It's Important

Access. Autonomy. Trust. When communication opens up, care improves.

How to Improve ASL Proficiency Skills

1. Practice daily: Short, consistent sessions beat occasional marathons.
2. Engage with community: Join local or virtual meetups; conversation sharpens fluency and cultural awareness.
3. Take structured courses: Level up with sequenced classes and feedback; pursue CEUs where possible.
4. Immerse: Follow Deaf creators, attend events, and watch ASL news to widen vocabulary and speed.
5. Seek feedback: Work with mentors or peers who can correct form and nuance.

How to Display ASL Proficiency Skills on Your Resume

9. SMART Goals

Objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—clear targets that guide support and make progress visible.

Why It's Important

Vague hopes drift. SMART goals move. They focus effort and prove outcomes.

How to Improve SMART Goals Skills

1. Specific: State the exact behavior or outcome. Avoid fuzzy verbs.
2. Measurable: Define how you’ll track change—counts, checklists, ratings, or time on task.
3. Achievable: Match supports and capacity; break big goals into steps.
4. Relevant: Align with the person’s priorities and care plan, not just what’s convenient.
5. Time-bound: Set deadlines and review dates to keep momentum.

Example: “Client will prepare a simple breakfast independently on 4 of 5 mornings within 8 weeks, using a visual checklist.”

How to Display SMART Goals Skills on Your Resume

10. Nonviolent Communication

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) centers on observing without judgment, naming feelings, identifying needs, and making clear, doable requests—so conversations build connection rather than friction.

Why It's Important

It lowers defensiveness, repairs trust, and turns conflicts into collaborative problem-solving.

How to Improve Nonviolent Communication Skills

1. Observe cleanly: Describe what happened without labels or blame.
2. Name feelings: Use simple emotion words to ground the conversation.
3. Identify needs: Link feelings to human needs like safety, autonomy, respect, rest.
4. Make requests: Ask for specific, doable actions—no hidden ultimatums.

Daily practices that help: reflective listening, summarizing what you heard, and checking for consent before offering advice. This turns heat into clarity.

How to Display Nonviolent Communication Skills on Your Resume

11. Therapeutic Rapport

A trusting, professional relationship where the person feels seen, safe, and respected—fertile ground for meaningful change.

Why It's Important

Without rapport, even great plans stall. With it, engagement rises, honesty flows, and goals stick.

How to Improve Therapeutic Rapport Skills

1. Listen fully: Maintain presence, reflect back, and clarify; don’t rush the pauses.
2. Show empathy: Validate emotions without trying to fix them too fast.
3. Protect confidentiality: Discuss privacy upfront and keep your promises.
4. Respect boundaries: Be clear about roles, limits, and availability.
5. Be consistent: Small reliability—on time, prepared, calm—builds big trust.

How to Display Therapeutic Rapport Skills on Your Resume

12. HIPAA Compliance

Adhering to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to protect the privacy and security of health information—policies, practices, and tech that keep PHI safe.

Why It's Important

Privacy isn’t optional. Compliance builds trust, avoids breaches, and meets legal obligations.

How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills

1. Know the rules: Understand Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification standards and your role within them.
2. Train regularly: Refresh annually, document completion, and practice incident drills.
3. Secure communication: Use approved, encrypted systems; avoid personal devices unless managed and authorized.
4. Limit access: Apply the minimum necessary standard, strong passwords, MFA, and timely deprovisioning.
5. Encrypt and audit: Protect data at rest and in transit; review access logs for anomalies.
6. Plan for incidents: Know reporting timelines, containment steps, and documentation requirements.
7. Physical safeguards: Lock screens, secure records, and control workspace access.
8. Honor rights: Support access, amendment, and accounting requests promptly.

How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume