Resumé writing is difficult, even if you have the world’s most impressive education and job history. Anyone can get caught up and stuck when writing their resumé, especially tutors and educators. 

If you’re an educator or plan on offering or already do offer tutoring, these resumé writing tips can help you craft a compelling resumé that leads to securing more jobs:

1. Showcase Your Experience First

Experience should be the first section of your resumé right below your contact information and name listing. When adding in your experience, you’ll want to include the following details:

• Dates,
• Position(s), and
• Location(s) / employer(s).

But these are just the basics. You’ll also want to add in key points in the position that helped your employer and are relevant to future potential jobs. You may have been part of an expert review panel, or you may have helped students increase their test scores by 30% – add this into your experience.

For example, instead of just mentioning that you tutored students in math, it would be better to mention that you tutored students in grade six and seven in mathematics.

When you add in the key points of your experience, you’re working to showcase how you’ve been able to help past employers, what exactly the position entailed, and how this experience can potentially help others in the future.

Be sure to mention what type of tutoring was offered. Did you tutor for any specific program? Some potential detail include any of these options:

• ACT,
• SAT,
• Common core, and/or
• After school programs.

Some potential hires want to increase their ACT or SAT scores, and this simple mention in your resumé can mean the difference between getting hired and being overlooked.

2. Add in a Skills Section

Hard skills get all of the praise on a Resumé because they were what employers once viewed as most important. A good example of this was the weight that a Bachelor’s degree had on a resumé, but then everyone started going to college.

A lot of people have degrees, and while important, there needs to be a way to differentiate between candidates using more than just a degree.

Soft skills are the answer.

The soft skills of a person can be just as valuable as a degree because they demonstrate how a person may fit into the work environment. Adding in a skills section is important and may include some of the following ideas:

• Experience working online,
• ESL,
• Classroom management,
• Critical thinking,
• Communication,
• Patience,
• Teamwork/Collaboration, and
• Conflict resolution.

As an educator or tutor, you must deal with communication, management, critical thinking, and conflict resolution. Adding in these integral skills is a must in 2021 and beyond to determine if you’re a good fit for a certain position or not. 

3. Add in Achievements

You don’t need to have stellar academic achievements, such as being published in a research journal or graduating at the top of your class. But if you do have these accomplishments, they can assist you in landing a job.

These types of achievements can make you stand out from the competition, but they should be backed up by quantifiable achievements, too.

Quantifiable achievements are key, and they can include including specific details such as:

• Helping students improve their grade point average in math by 40% or
• Assisting with the design of the school’s online curriculum leading to an increase in enrollment by 25%.

The quantifiable achievements should be added into your experience section where you’ve listed different jobs. You’ll see more benefits by explaining how and what you were able to achieve in your position.

4. Highlight Your Own Education

As an educator or tutor, people want to know where you learned. You’ll want to mention where you went to college, if possible, as well as your GPA if it’s impressive. You don’t want to dwell on this section or add in too much material because it’s less important than the previous tips we’ve covered.

Highlighting your education is important even if you haven’t graduated yet.

There are plenty of tutors who are in the top of their class in a subject and are still attending school. You can mention your education and your prospective date of graduation even if you’re just in your freshman or sophomore year of studies.

5. Remove Vagueness from the Resumé

You’re not a professional resumé writer or in human resources, so you might easily overlook parts of your resumé that are vague. A good example of this would be in your education section, which may look something like this:

• 3.8 GPA
• BA Degree
• Math and Science classes

Yes, this information is important, but it’s not thorough enough to impress a hiring manager. You can make it better by not being vague and adding the following type of information:

• Graduated in the top 5% of my class with a 3.8 GPA
• Maintained a 4.0 in core science and Math classes
• B.A. degree in liberal arts; received award for XYZ

The second example shines and allows for anyone reading the resumé to truly understand how hiring you for the position will benefit them. If you already have a resumé, be sure to revise it to remove any vague areas.

6. Add in Any Certifications

As a tutor, you don’t need a certification, but they never hurt when you’re trying to land a job. Certifications, such as an NTA or CRLA, can help strengthen your resumé and will help people hiring you know that you’re serious about your career as a tutor.

Teachers can also add in any certifications they may have.

Again, if you don’t have any certifications, don’t feel obligated to go and obtain them if you already have a well-rounded resumé.

Resumé writing is an art, and while it can be difficult to write your resumé, the tips above can help. You want to showcase all your key attributes while also making sure that the resumé is clear and concise.

Adding in keywords, such as “English teacher,” can also help, as automatons are scanning more and more resumés in search of keywords that fit in the job description. And when you write a resumé, be ready to slightly modify it for any new positions that you apply for, especially if they’re slightly different.

Updating, revising, and maintaining your resumé can take time and effort. Your dedication to self-promotion through this important representation of you and your experience can make a world of difference in a job search.  In other words, optimizing your resumé for a specific position can help you land the job.