On this page
- Resume guide for an aesthetician resume
- How to write an aesthetician resume
- Choosing the best resume format for an aesthetician resume
- Include your contact information
- Make use of a summary
- Right vs wrong: the same aesthetician summary, twice
- Outline your aesthetician experience
- Name the device tier your license actually covers
- Build a snapshot of your key skills
- List your education and licenses
- Choose the right layout and design
- Aesthetician job market and outlook
- What salary you can expect as an aesthetician
- Key takeaways for an aesthetician resume
- Related beauty and wellness resume examples
- FAQ
In short, an aesthetician resume is a one to two page document that names your state license, the tier of that license, and the treatment depths and devices that tier allows you to use.
That last part is where most applicants lose the job. However, a medical spa or a dermatology practice is not hiring a skin care professional in the abstract. Instead, they are holding a device schedule with holes in it: a laser room that sits empty two days a week, a peel list a physician assistant is absorbing, and a resurfacing waitlist. That is why the resume that says plainly which of those rooms you may legally work in wins over the resume that describes a love of skin health.
One note on spelling. Also, this page uses "aesthetician" for the job. However, most state boards, including Washington's, spell the license "esthetician", and the two words describe the same work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the occupation as skincare specialists and has no separate profile under either spelling, so every federal figure here is published under that name.
Resume guide for an aesthetician resume
Therefore, this guide and the corresponding aesthetician resume example will cover:
- First, how to write an aesthetician resume, section by section
- Then, why your license tier belongs above your experience, not below it
- Also, three adaptable summaries: newly licensed, practicing and lead
- In addition, what a device block looks like and where the physician authority starts
- Finally, what the job market looks like and what you can expect to earn
How to write an aesthetician resume
Overall, six sections: contact header, summary, license and device authority, treatment experience, education, and skills. In general, one page for your first five years, two once you carry a device schedule and train other people on it.
The order matters. License comes before experience because it is a gate rather than an achievement. A practice that needs a laser operator cannot hire an experienced facialist for that room, however good the rest of the file reads.
SectionWhat it is answeringWhere it goes
- License and tierWhat may this person legally do to a client's skin?Directly under the summary
- Device authorityWhich platforms can I schedule them on, and under whose authority?Its own block, not buried in bullets
- Treatment experienceWhat did they run, and how often?Reverse chronological, with counts
- EducationWhich board approved the hours, and how many?Name the board every time
Name the board and the hours, because neither is national
Training hours are set state by state and are not portable as hours. The Washington State Department of Licensing requires 750 school hours for an esthetician license and a further 450 for the master esthetician license, 1,200 combined, against 1,600 for a cosmetologist (Washington State Department of Licensing, retrieved 17 September 2026). The California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology sets its esthetician minimum at 600 hours and its cosmetologist minimum at 1,000 (California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, retrieved 17 September 2026).
That is the same two credentials with a 150-hour gap on the esthetician side and a 600-hour gap on the cosmetologist side. Writing "1,500 hours of training" with no board attached tells a reader nothing they can check. Write it as the board writes it: "Esthetician license, Washington State Department of Licensing, #MA60219834, 750 board-approved hours, Lakeshore Academy of Esthetics." A hiring manager can verify that line in one search.
Run the finished file through the ATS resume checker before you submit it. Medical spa groups and dermatology practices run applications through a parser before a human opens them.
Choosing the best resume format for an aesthetician resume
Reverse chronological. One page for your first five years, two once you have carried a device schedule, trained other licensees, or built a service the practice still runs.
However, functional and skills-based formats fail here for a specific reason. The reader is checking continuity of licensure and of supervised device time: which license, since when, which platforms, under whose authority, and for how long. A format that hides the timeline reads as a timeline worth hiding, and in a regulated trade that is an expensive impression to give.
Include your contact information
Priyanka Rasmussen
Master Aesthetician, Washington #MM60228471Laser, IPL, radio frequency and medium depth peels(425) 555-2138, priyanka.rasmussen@example.com, Bellevue, WAPriyanka Rasmussen
Skin care professional and beauty enthusiastExperienced in advanced treatments(425) 555-2138, glowbypriyanka@email.comTo begin with, put the license number in the header. Practices verify it with the board anyway, and the file that lets them do it in ten seconds moves ahead of the one that does not. Also, use a plain email address; the handle you use on social media is not the name that belongs on a credentialing form.
Make use of a summary
Specifically, four lines: license and tier, years in the treatment room, the depth and device range you work at, and one number of your own.
Newly licensed aesthetician adaptable resume summary example
Practicing aesthetician adaptable resume summary example
Lead aesthetician adaptable resume summary example
Right vs wrong: the same aesthetician summary, twice
In practice, a manager can put the left column on a schedule tomorrow. The right column, on the other hand, cannot, and a practice manager reading thirty files is building a schedule.
Outline your aesthetician experience
Employer, city, setting and dates, then three to five bullets. For example, each bullet names a service type or a platform and carries a count.
- Instead of
Performed facials and other skin care treatments
UseRan 1,140 services in a year: facials, superficial exfoliation, extractions and body waxing
- Instead of
Experienced with advanced skin care devices
UseOperated LED, ultrasonic and microcurrent over-the-counter devices, and IPL and radio frequency under a delegating physician
- Instead of
Recommended products to clients
UseRetail attached to 34 percent of my own services, tracked by service line rather than by day
- Instead of
Maintained a clean and safe treatment room
UseKept the implement and linen routine to the board's own sequence, with a dated log for every device session
- Instead of
Helped train new staff
UseTrained four newly licensed aestheticians onto the device schedule, each signed off before first use
Adaptable resume employment history example
Lead Master Aesthetician, Meridian Point Dermatology and Laser, Bellevue, WA, January 2021 to Present
Run the clinical aesthetics side of a physician-led practice: five device platforms, four licensed aestheticians and about 29 device sessions a week.
Grew the device schedule from two platforms and 11 sessions a week to five platforms and 29, without a single prescriptive session run outside the delegating physician's written authority.
Built the device log now used on every prescriptive session, recording platform, settings, operator license number and the authority the session was run under.
Train and sign off every new aesthetician before first device use, including the over-the-counter and prescriptive distinction the board draws.
Teach the device unit at a board-approved esthetics school, 40 contact hours a year.
Name the device tier your license actually covers
The most useful line on an aesthetician resume states which treatment depths and which devices your license tier allows, because in several states those two things are set in statute and the practice cannot schedule around them.
Washington is the clearest published example. Specifically, under RCW 18.16.020, esthetics is the care of the skin including "superficial and light peels, or by any device, except laser". Master esthetics includes everything esthetics allows, plus "the performance of medium depth peels and the use of medical devices for care of the skin and permanent hair reduction", and the statute lists those devices as including "lasers, light, radio frequency, plasma, intense pulsed light, and ultrasound" (RCW 18.16.020, retrieved 17 September 2026).
The Washington State Department of Licensing draws the second line on FDA device classification rather than on the device name. Over-the-counter devices may be used by both estheticians and master estheticians. In addition, prescriptive devices may be used only by master estheticians, and only under the authority of a licensed physician, who may delegate their use to a trained and licensed professional (Washington State Department of Licensing, retrieved 17 September 2026).
| Washington tier | Peel depth allowed | Devices allowed | Physician authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Esthetician | Superficial and light peels | Any device except laser, limited to FDA over-the-counter devices | Not required for over-the-counter devices |
| Master esthetician | Superficial, light and medium depth peels | Laser, light, radio frequency, plasma, intense pulsed light and ultrasound | Required for prescriptive devices; a licensed physician may delegate use to a trained and licensed professional |
How to write your own scope lines
Washington is one state. In fact, not every state has a master tier at all, and the states that do draw the peel and device lines in their own words. Therefore, do not copy Washington's language onto a resume you are sending to Ohio; instead, go to your own board, find the scope section, and write your line in its vocabulary.
Adaptable resume license and device block example
Licensed to perform: superficial, light and medium depth chemical exfoliation; extractions; dermaplaning; body waxing; lash and brow services
Devices operated, over-the-counter: LED, ultrasonic, microcurrent, high frequency, vacuum-assisted extraction
Devices operated under physician authority: 1064 nm and 755 nm laser hair reduction, intense pulsed light, monopolar radio frequency, microneedling with radio frequency
Delegation: all prescriptive device sessions run under the delegating physician's written authority, logged by platform, settings and operator license number
Four lines, because they answer four different questions. First, what you may do to skin without a device. Then, what you may run on your own license. Finally, what you may run only with a physician behind you. And whether you keep the record that proves the difference.
Indeed, the wage consequence is visible in the federal data. Skincare specialists working in offices of physicians had a median of $24.81 an hour in May 2025, against $21.10 an hour in personal care services, $21.75 in traveler accommodation and $20.15 in health and personal care retailers (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data, published 27 August 2026). For instance, offices of physicians is the highest-paid industry line on the profile and the smallest, at 6 percent of employment. In short, the tier is what gets you into it.
One warning. Above all, do not write "laser certified" unless you can name the license that permits it. In other words, a manufacturer's training certificate is evidence of training on a platform; it is not scope, and in a state that reserves laser work to a higher tier it is a reason not to call you back.
Build a snapshot of your key skills
Specifically, ten to fourteen entries in three groups: treatments, devices, and the operational side of a treatment room.
Adaptable resume skills example
Treatments: Chemical exfoliation to medium depth, Extractions, Dermaplaning, Body waxing, Lash and brow services, Post-procedure care
Devices and platforms: Laser hair reduction, Intense pulsed light, Radio frequency, Microneedling with radio frequency, LED, Ultrasonic and microcurrent
Treatment room operations: Device logging and delegation records, Implement and linen protocol to board sequence, Inventory and par levels, Retail by service line, Room turnover timing
Systems: Boulevard, Zenoti, Mindbody, electronic patient record charting in a physician-led practice
Keep the device list honest. After all, a manager who puts you on a platform you have only watched finds out within one session.
List your education and licenses
License first with its number, tier and board, then the hours and the school, then continuing education and product or platform certifications.
Adaptable resume education and licensure example
Master Esthetician License, Washington State Department of Licensing, #MM60228471, 450 board-approved hours, issued 2015
Esthetician License, Washington State Department of Licensing, #MA60219834, 750 board-approved hours, issued 2012
Lakeshore Academy of Esthetics, Renton, WA. Esthetics program 2011 to 2012; master esthetics program 2014 to 2015.
Continuing education: Laser and light safety for licensed operators (2024). Bloodborne pathogens, annual. CPR and first aid, American Red Cross (2026).
Platform training: manufacturer certification on two laser platforms and one radio frequency platform, each with the physician's sign-off on file.
Choose the right layout and design
Similarly, single column, plain type at 11 or 12 point, clear section headings, no photograph. This is a visual trade and the temptation to design the resume is strong, but a two-column template with a headshot and a skills wheel is what a practice applicant system parses into nonsense.
Do
- Put the license number, tier and board in the header or the first block.
- Separate what your license allows from what a physician's delegation allows.
- Give counts: services a year, sessions a week, platforms run.
- Name the board every time you name an hours figure.
- Keep a device block as its own section.
- Say whether your continuing education is current.
Don’t
- Do not write "advanced treatments" when the specific depth and device list is the thing being hired.
- Do not claim laser work without the license tier that permits it in the state you are applying to.
- Do not list an expired license without marking it expired.
- Do not use a two-column template with a photograph for a practice portal.
- Do not name or describe an individual client, before or after.
Aesthetician job market and outlook
In summary, a small, growing occupation concentrated in personal care services and heavily self-employed.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Skincare specialist jobs, 2025 | 104,200 |
| Projected change, 2025-35 | 9 percent, +9,100 |
| Projected annual openings | About 14,200 |
| Typical entry-level education | Postsecondary nondegree award |
| On-the-job training | None |
| Median annual wage, May 2025 | $45,330, or $21.79 an hour |
The tier is worth more than the occupation's growth rate
Skincare specialists are projected to grow 9 percent between 2025 and 2035, adding 9,100 jobs, with about 14,200 openings a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections, published 27 August 2026). That is faster than most occupations, on a small base of 104,200 jobs.
The more useful number is the spread inside the occupation. Offices of physicians paid a median of $24.81 an hour in May 2025 and personal care services paid $21.10, a gap of $3.71 an hour on the same license category (BLS, May 2025 wage data). Offices of physicians is 6 percent of employment; personal care services is 52 percent.
That gap is almost entirely a scope story. The setting that pays more is the one where a physician's delegation makes higher-tier devices available, and in several states only a higher license tier may accept that delegation. Your resume's job is to say which side of that line you are on.
Where the jobs sit:
| Setting | Share of employment | Median hourly wage, May 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Personal care services | 52 percent | $21.10 |
| Self-employed | 29 percent | Not published |
| Offices of physicians | 6 percent | $24.81 |
| Health and personal care retailers | 3 percent | $20.15 |
| Traveler accommodation | 3 percent | $21.75 |
In fact, nearly three in ten skincare specialists are self-employed. As a result, a room rental history is work history, and it should be written the same way an employed role is: the setting, the dates, the service mix and the counts.
What salary you can expect as an aesthetician
Overall, the median annual wage for skincare specialists was $45,330 in May 2025, which is $21.79 an hour (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, published 27 August 2026).
Meanwhile, the industry spread around that median runs from $20.15 an hour in health and personal care retailers to $24.81 in offices of physicians, a difference of $4.66 an hour on the same occupation (BLS, May 2025). At the same time, retail counters and personal care services hold most of the employment and are the two lowest-paid lines on the profile.
Three things move an aesthetician's pay inside that band, and all three are documentable on a resume: the license tier, where a state has one; the setting, since the federal data says plainly which settings pay more; and commission and retail, usually a percentage of service revenue plus a percentage of product, which a manager will discuss against your own numbers rather than an industry average. That is why the summary carries a retail figure written as your own result, not as a benchmark.
In addition, tips are a real part of the total in day spa and salon settings. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act a tipped employee is one who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips, and employers, including managers and supervisors, may not keep tips from a tip pool (U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #15, retrieved 17 September 2026). State rules on the cash wage vary widely, so ask how the house handles it before you accept a number.
Key takeaways for an aesthetician resume
- First, lead with the license, its number, its tier and the board that issued it.
- Next, give a device block: what your license allows, and what a physician's delegation allows.
- Name the board every time you state an hours figure, because hours are set state by state.
- Then put a count in every experience bullet: services a year, sessions a week, platforms run.
- Keep manufacturer platform training separate from scope, and list it last.
- Say whether your continuing education and CPR are current, and keep the file single column.
Related beauty and wellness resume examples
- Esthetician resume
- Hair stylist resume
- Nail technician resume
- Massage therapist resume
- Spa manager resume
- Salon receptionist resume
- Salon manager resume
- Wellness manager resume
- Cosmetology resume
- Cosmetologist resume
- Makeup artist resume
- Beauty and wellness resume
Aesthetician resume questions, answered
How long should an aesthetician resume be?
One page for your first five years. Two once you carry a device schedule, train other licensees, or have a service line you built that the practice still runs. Never three.
Is "aesthetician" or "esthetician" the right spelling on a resume?
Use the spelling your state board uses on the license itself, because that is the string a credentialing clerk will search. If your board writes "esthetician", write "esthetician" in the license line even if the posting says "aesthetician". The two spellings describe the same occupation, which BLS publishes as skincare specialists.
What do I put on an aesthetician resume with no experience?
Your school hours written as work: the program, the board that approved it, the hours, and the number and mix of services you completed on the clinic floor. Then your license with its number and issue date, the over-the-counter devices you were trained on, and your bloodborne pathogens and CPR dates. A newly licensed aesthetician who can state a service count and a clean record is a straightforward hire.
Do I need a master esthetician license to work with lasers?
It depends entirely on the state, so check your own board rather than a national article. In Washington, RCW 18.16.020 reserves lasers and medium depth peels to master estheticians, and the Department of Licensing permits prescriptive devices only for master estheticians and only under the authority of a licensed physician, who may delegate their use (both retrieved 17 September 2026). Many states have no master tier at all.
Should I list manufacturer platform certifications?
Yes, but last, and labeled as training. A manufacturer certificate proves you have been taught a platform. It does not widen your license. Listing it under education with the delegating physician's sign-off noted is accurate; putting it in the header as though it were scope is the most common error on these files.
How do I show results without before-and-after photographs?
Use what the practice already counts: services completed, device sessions a week, platforms you are signed off on, retail as a share of your own service revenue, the number of aestheticians you trained, and any record you wrote that is still in use. Give the before, the after and the period. Client photographs raise consent questions not worth taking into a job application.