Physiotherapist CV: example and tips

What employers look for in a physiotherapist

Physiotherapists examine and treat patients, design training programmes and follow up and document the treatment. Where you apply decides what the employer wants to hear about. A municipality wants to know whether you can work with older people, reablement and children in kindergartens and schools. A hospital looks for experience from wards, intensive care or neurology. A private clinic wants to know which patients you have treated, and whether you have an operating agreement with the municipality or additional competence.

Many employers use applicant tracking systems that look for the words in the ad. Use the same words in your CV where they match what you have done, and read our guide to an ATS-friendly CV. Selja finds the words for you when you paste in the ad. Most ads are in Norwegian, and these terms come up often:

• Authorisation as a physiotherapist.
• Examination, functional assessment, treatment and training programmes.
• Rehabilitation, reablement (hverdagsrehabilitering) and habilitation.
• Musculoskeletal disorders, neurology, older people, children and young people, heart and lungs.
• Fall prevention, group training and guidance for patients and relatives.
• Cross-disciplinary work with doctors, occupational therapists and nurses.
• Operating agreements, operating grants and Helfo fee codes in private practice.
• Patient records and documentation.

Authorisation, turnus and additional competence

Physiotherapist is a protected title that requires authorisation from the Norwegian Directorate of Health (Helsedirektoratet). The education is a three-year bachelor. According to Helsedirektoratet, anyone who has completed a bachelor in physiotherapy must complete one year of set practical service before authorisation. This can be the Norwegian turnus service or supervised practice with an employer, and you must hold a licence from Helsedirektoratet before you start. Once the turnus is approved, you can apply for authorisation.

Make this clear in your CV. Under education: “Bachelor in physiotherapy, 2025”. Under work experience: the turnus placement with the period and what you worked on. On a separate line: “Authorisation as physiotherapist, Helsedirektoratet, 2026”. If you are in the middle of your turnus, write for example “Turnus physiotherapist with licence, authorisation expected August 2027”. Employers can look you up in the Health Personnel Register (HPR).

If you have additional competence registered in HPR, for example the right to use fee code A7 or the fee code for psychomotor physiotherapy, include it in your CV, especially when applying for private practice. The same goes for a master's, for example in clinical physiotherapy, and specialist approval from the Norwegian Physiotherapist Association (Norsk Fysioterapeutforbund). Manual therapist is a separate authorisation. When you are offered a job in municipal health and care services, the employer must ask for a police certificate (politiattest).

If you trained in another country, Helsedirektoratet first assesses your education, and some applicants need practice before they can be authorised. For turnus, Helsedirektoratet requires Norwegian at B2 level or equivalent documented skills in Norwegian, Swedish or Danish. State in your CV where your application stands.

Example of a summary for a physiotherapist CV

The summary is the three to five sentences at the top of your CV. Adapt it to the workplace: a municipality wants to read about older people and rehabilitation, a clinic about patient groups and methods. Here are two made up examples. You will find more tips in our guide to writing a CV summary.

• Example, municipality: “Authorised physiotherapist with five years of experience in a municipal physiotherapy service, focusing on older people, fall prevention and reablement. Built up three regular training groups and work closely with the occupational therapist and home care service. Confident in functional tests and guiding relatives. Looking for a role where I can work more with rehabilitation after hospital stays.”
• Example, new graduate: “Physiotherapist with a bachelor from 2025 and a completed turnus in a hospital and a municipality. Have treated patients after strokes and hip operations, and led group training for older people at a day centre. Interested in neurology and focused on exercise that patients can keep up on their own. Looking for a permanent role with professional development and supervision.”

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

Physiotherapy lends itself well to numbers: patients treated, waiting times, test results and attendance. Start with a strong verb in the past tense, and show what improved. The examples are made up:

• Weak: “Treated patients.” Strong: “Treated 12 to 15 patients a day with musculoskeletal problems in private practice, with close follow up and a home programme for every patient.”
• Weak: “Ran training groups.” Strong: “Started a fall prevention training group for older people living at home, with 14 regular participants and better balance test results for most of them after twelve weeks.”
• Weak: “Stroke rehabilitation.” Strong: “Followed up patients after strokes from the ward until they could go home, working with doctors, occupational therapists and nurses.”
• Weak: “Worked on waiting lists.” Strong: “Introduced telephone assessments in the municipality, which cut the wait for a first appointment from six weeks to two.”
• Weak: “Supervised staff.” Strong: “Trained 25 home care staff in moving and handling and simple exercises, and wrote an exercise plan that was adopted for all new users.”
• Weak: “Paediatric physiotherapy.” Strong: “Followed up 30 children with motor difficulties in kindergartens and schools, and designed training programmes that parents and staff could do with the children.”

Skills, tests and courses worth including

List specific methods, tests and courses, not just specialist areas. Include the name of the course, who ran it and the year.

• Examinations and tests you use, for example balance and functional tests, walking tests and pain assessment.
• Treatment: exercise, manual therapy techniques, guidance and group training.
• Programmes and courses, for example Otago exercise for older people or AktivA for patients with osteoarthritis.
• A master's or further education, for example in clinical physiotherapy, with the institution and year.
• Additional competence registered in HPR, and specialist approval from the Norwegian Physiotherapist Association.
• Record systems, for example DIPS in hospitals, Gerica, CosDoc or Profil in municipalities, and the system the clinic uses in private practice.
• Languages you use with patients.

New graduate, or a physiotherapist with long experience

As a new graduate, your turnus and placements are your most important experience. List the turnus as work experience with the place, department and period, and say which patient groups you worked with and what you were responsible for. Placements from your degree can go briefly under education. Coaching at a sports club or instructing at a gym also counts, because it shows you can motivate people. Our guide to a CV for recent graduates has more advice.

With long experience, show your specialisation. If you have a master's, specialist approval, an operating agreement or professional responsibility, put it early in your CV. Cut older jobs down and use the space for results and professional development from recent years. If you are applying for a management role, say how many people you have led and what the service achieved. Before you negotiate pay, you can check the figures in the free pay check.

Common mistakes in a physiotherapist CV

These mistakes come up again and again in physiotherapist CVs:

• The authorisation is missing, or the turnus has no place and period.
• Only specialist areas, such as neurology and orthopaedics, without showing what you did.
• Long lists of courses, including old courses that do not fit the job.
• The same CV for a municipality, a hospital and a private clinic.
• Patient details that could identify someone.
• No numbers, even though you have patient numbers, groups and waiting times.

Create your physiotherapist CV and cover letter in under a minute with Selja

A municipality, a hospital and a private clinic use different words in their ads, and rewriting your CV every time takes a while. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, with the words from the ad, such as reablement, fall prevention or musculoskeletal disorders, where they match what you have done.

Selja never adds experience or courses you do not have. If the ad asks for something your CV does not show, Selja asks you and only uses what you confirm. It is free to start: check your CV for free, or take a free ATS check against the ad. Get started when you want to create the application.

The application and the interview

The application should show why you want to work in that particular place, and what you can contribute. Mention the patient group, the service or the clinic, and give one concrete example from practice. Keep it to one page. See our example of a job application.

In the interview you may be given a patient case and asked how you prioritise and work with others. Practise with the interview questions for the role, and read our guide on how to prepare for a job interview. If you work closely with nurses, our nurse CV guide has more examples of bullet points from health services.