Radiologic Technologist Resume Keywords From X-Ray to MRI

Rad tech resume keywords, grouped by what they prove

The radiologic technologist skills that postings ask for fall into five groups. Use the terms that describe work you have actually done, since any of them can come up in an interview or in a skills check on your first day.

Exams and procedures

• Diagnostic radiography
• Digital radiography (DR)
• Computed radiography (CR)
• Portable radiography
• C-arm fluoroscopy
• Fluoroscopy
• Trauma imaging
• Chest, abdomen, spine, and extremity exams
• Pediatric radiography
• Weight-bearing views
• Scoliosis series
• Upper GI and esophagram studies
• Modified barium swallow
• Arthrography

Patient care and positioning

• Patient positioning
• Patient identification (two identifiers)
• Safe patient handling
• Patient transfers
• Trauma positioning
• Pregnancy screening
• Infection control
• Isolation precautions
• Venipuncture
• Patient education
• HIPAA

Radiation safety and image quality

• Radiation safety
• ALARA
• Collimation
• Technique selection (kVp and mAs)
• Exposure index (EI)
• Repeat analysis
• Image critique
• Anatomical side markers
• Quality control (QC)
• Dosimetry

Systems and equipment

• PACS
• RIS
• Modality worklist
• Epic Radiant
• Cerner (Oracle Health)
• DR room and portable unit vendors (GE, Siemens, Philips, Fujifilm, Carestream, Canon)

Credentials and licensure

• ARRT
• R.T.(R)(ARRT)
• Registry eligible
• State radiologic technologist license
• California CRT
• Fluoroscopy permit
• AHA BLS

Write your credentials the way ARRT writes them

ARRT publishes a standard format for its credentials. Write R.T. with periods, add each discipline in parentheses with no spaces between them, and end with (ARRT). People usually list their disciplines in the order they earned them.

• One discipline: Dana Ortiz, R.T.(R)(ARRT)
• Radiography and CT: Dana Ortiz, R.T.(R)(CT)(ARRT)
• With a degree: Dana Ortiz, B.S., R.T.(R)(CT)(ARRT)

Put the full string next to your name at the top of the page, and repeat the credential in your certifications section. Hiring teams often search their applicant tracking system for "ARRT" or for a discipline like CT, and some readers look at nothing but the top line on a first pass.

When I recruited for a hospital imaging department, I kept ARRT's verification page open in a second browser tab and looked up each candidate before sending a resume to the manager. "ARRT certified" with no discipline always sent me to that tab, because ARRT also certifies sonographers, mammographers, and radiation therapists. A complete credential string answered the question on the page.

The letters in parentheses tell the reader which roles you can step into:

State licenses and permits get their own line

ARRT certification is national, but many states also license radiologic technologists, and some add separate permits. California is the clearest example. A radiologic technologist there needs a state CRT certificate, and anyone who positions the patient, positions the equipment, or selects exposure factors during fluoroscopy also needs a fluoroscopy permit. Some California hospitals hire new graduates and give them a fixed period, such as six months, to pass the fluoroscopy permit exam.

Write the state, the license name, and its status, so a reader can match it to the posting quickly:

California CRT (active) • Radiologic Technologist Fluoroscopy Permit (active) • AHA BLS

Travel techs should list every state where they hold an active license. A recruiter filling a 13-week contract in Arizona will look for that state first.

Rad tech, x-ray tech, and limited-scope titles

Job boards use "radiologic technologist," "rad tech," and "x-ray tech" for the same jobs, and you can use more than one of these titles on your resume. In states with limited-scope licensing, "x-ray tech" can also mean a limited permit holder who images only certain body areas, such as the X-ray Technician Limited Permit (XT) in California.

If you hold R.T.(R), use "Radiologic Technologist" as your job title and keep the ARRT string visible, so a clinic reading your x-ray tech resume does not assume you have a limited scope. If you hold a limited permit, use your state's exact permit name and list the categories it covers, such as chest, extremities, or torso-skeletal. Clinics that hire limited-scope operators check that list against the exams they perform.

Exam experience: name the place it happened

"Performed diagnostic radiographic procedures" is accurate for almost every rad tech, so it says little about you. The department where you worked tells a hiring manager much more, because each one comes with its own exams, pace, and equipment. Below are the areas that come up most in postings, with a sample bullet for each.

Emergency department and trauma

Trauma postings look for speed and for experience positioning patients who cannot move on their own. Name the trauma level if your hospital has one, and describe the patients you imaged.

Performed trauma imaging in a Level II emergency department, including portable chest and pelvis films in the trauma bay and extremity exams on patients who could not be moved from the stretcher.

Surgery and C-arm

The surgery department I recruited for had one question before anything else: had this person run a C-arm in the OR without a second tech in the room? "Fluoroscopy" in a skills list did not answer it. A bullet that named the cases and used the word "independently" did.

Operated C-arm fluoroscopy independently for orthopedic, spine, and pain management cases; moved the unit without breaking the sterile field and sent images to PACS at the end of each case.

Portables and inpatient floors

A night-shift lead I hired for told me she skipped resumes that never mentioned portables, because nights at her hospital were mostly ICU chest films and overflow from the emergency department. If portables were a large part of your shifts, give them their own bullet with a realistic volume.

Completed 20–30 portable exams per night shift across ICU, step-down, and NICU, including chest films ordered for line and tube placement checks.

Fluoroscopy

Fluoroscopy postings usually list the studies and expect you to work alongside a radiologist or radiologist assistant. Name the studies you set up most often.

Assisted radiologists with upper GI, esophagram, and modified barium swallow studies; prepared contrast, positioned patients on the fluoroscopy table, and recorded fluoroscopy time for each study.

Outpatient imaging and orthopedic clinics

Outpatient and orthopedic postings focus on scheduled volume, standing and weight-bearing views, and keeping the schedule on time.

Imaged 35–50 patients per shift in a two-room DR orthopedic clinic, including standing knee and foot series, scoliosis films, and post-operative hardware follow-ups.

You do not need a bullet for every area. Choose the two or three that match the job you want, and use the posting's own words for them where they fit your experience. If you want a step-by-step method, here is how to find keywords in a job description.

Radiation safety in words a lead tech recognizes

"Radiation safety" and "ALARA" appear on almost every radiography resume. On their own, they show that you finished school. Specific practices show how you work. These phrases describe habits that a lead tech or imaging manager can picture:

• Collimated to the area of interest
• Kept exposure index within department target ranges
• Used pediatric technique charts
• Completed pregnancy screening before exams
• Took part in reject analysis reviews
• Reduced repeat exams
• Coached students on technique selection

Put one or two of them into a bullet instead of listing them all:

Kept exposure index within department targets on DR exams and joined monthly reject analysis reviews with the department's QC technologist.

Shielding needs a careful choice of words. In 2019, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine recommended ending routine gonadal and fetal shielding, and many imaging departments have changed their policies since then. Others still use shielding in some situations. A line like "applied patient shielding on every exam" can read as out of date to some managers, while "followed department shielding protocol" is accurate in both kinds of department.

PACS, RIS, and the systems you used

Most postings mention PACS, and many mention the hospital's EHR. The words alone are common. Naming the actual system is more useful, because a manager whose department runs the same one knows you will need less training. Examples you might list, if you have used them:

• Epic Radiant
• Cerner (Oracle Health)
• Fujifilm Synapse PACS
• Sectra PACS
• Philips Vue PACS
• GE Centricity PACS
• Carestream DRX-Revolution portable
• GE, Siemens, or Philips DR rooms

The work you did inside the system matters too. Checking images before sending them, fixing wrong-patient or wrong-exam errors through the department's correction process, and reconciling the modality worklist all show that you handle an exam from order to final image.

Some techs put systems and exams into a two-column table to save space. Tables can come through out of order when software reads the file, so check the layout with an ATS Resume Checker before you send it.

Moving into CT or MRI

CT technologist and MRI technologist postings use a different vocabulary from general radiography. If you are cross-training, show the new modality as training in progress under your current job, and keep it separate from work you do independently.

Cross-training in CT: ARRT post-primary structured education complete; documenting clinical procedures toward ARRT CT requirements.

CT technologist keywords

• IV contrast administration
• Power injector
• CT angiography (CTA)
• Stroke protocol
• Trauma CT
• Dose monitoring (CTDIvol and DLP)
• Multiplanar reformats (MPR)
• 3D reconstruction
• Low-dose lung cancer screening
• Contrast reaction response
• Renal function screening (eGFR)

MRI technologist keywords

• MRI safety screening
• MR Zone III and Zone IV
• Implant and device screening
• MR Conditional devices
• Coil selection
• Pulse sequences
• Gadolinium contrast
• MR arthrography
• Breast MRI
• Cardiac MRI
• ARRT (MR) or ARMRIT

MRI postings often put safety first, because a mistake with an implant or a metal object can injure someone. If you completed MRI safety training or screened patients during cross-training, give it a bullet of its own.

A master resume makes this easier. Keep one full version with everything, then create a CT- or MRI-focused copy for each application. An AI Resume Optimizer can help you draft that version faster, but check every term it adds against what you have actually done.

New graduates: your competency list is your keyword list

With new grads I coach, I start by asking for the competency report from their program's clinical tracking system, which is often Trajecsys. It lists every exam a clinical instructor signed off on, and it almost always includes more than the resume does: C-arm cases, pediatric chest films, a few fluoroscopy studies, portable rounds in the ICU.

Use that report to build your clinical section. Name each site with its type, because "Level I trauma center" and "outpatient imaging center" work as keywords on their own, and list the competencies that match the posting:

Clinical Education, A.A.S. in Radiography, 2025–2027

• Level I trauma center: emergency department, OR with C-arm, portables in ICU and step-down
• Outpatient imaging center: DR, fluoroscopy, orthopedic follow-ups
• Competencies: chest, abdomen, spine, upper and lower extremities, pediatric chest, portable chest, C-arm, upper GI, venipuncture

Put your registry status near your name and write it as a fact: "ARRT Radiography exam scheduled for June 2027" or "Registry eligible, exam date pending." Some employers hire graduates before they pass the registry, as long as they pass within a set time, so a clear status line helps a recruiter decide whether to call you now or in a few weeks.

A final check before you apply

Read the posting next to your resume and mark the terms that appear in both. Then look at what is left in the posting: a modality, a system, a license, or a department you did not mention. If it describes real experience, add it in the right place. If it does not, leave it out. Adding CT because a posting mentions CT coverage, when you only observed CT in school, is one of the common keyword mistakes that tends to come out quickly in an interview.

A Resume Keyword Scanner does the first part for you and shows which radiologic technologist resume keywords from a posting are already on your page. For a fuller walkthrough, here is how to match your resume to a job description one posting at a time.

If you are also looking at roles outside imaging, the guide to resume keywords by industry shows how the vocabulary changes from field to field.

Questions rad techs ask about their resumes

Should I put my ARRT ID number on my resume?

It is optional. Employers can check your status through ARRT's online verification, and many applications ask for the number in a separate field. If you include it, add it to your certifications section rather than the top line, where the credential string is enough.

How long should a rad tech resume be?

One page works for most technologists with one modality and a few years of experience. Two pages make sense if you cover several modalities, have led a team, or have a long list of travel contracts. Our guide on one-page vs two-page resumes goes into the trade-offs.

How should travel techs list their contracts?

Put the contracts under one agency heading instead of listing each one as a separate job with the same bullets. For each contract, give the facility type, city and state, dates, modalities, and the EHR and PACS you used. A list like that shows a recruiter how many systems you have already learned.

Do I need a summary at the top?

A two-line summary helps if you work in more than one modality or are changing settings. Include your credential string, years of experience, main modality, and the role you want, for example: "R.T.(R)(CT)(ARRT) with six years in a Level I trauma center, seeking a CT technologist role in an outpatient imaging center."