School Counselor Resume Sample, Job Description, Skills

Your daily job is to advise and assist young people in their personal and career development. So writing a school counselor resume should be a piece of cake, right?

I mean, you are familiar with all the ASCA Assessments, CLEP, CPI, and you probably helped hundreds of kids already. But do you know how to make your school counselor resume stand out?

Studies show you have 7 seconds to grab and hold the recruiter’s attention with your resume. Follow our guide and squeeze the most out of those few moments.

This guide will show you:

• A school counselor resume example better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
• How to write a school counselor resume that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a school counselor resume.
• How to describe your experience on a resume for a school counselor to get any job you want

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Looking for a different education and learning resume advice? Check out our guides:

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• Camp Counselor Resume
• Librarian Resume
• English Teacher Resume
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• Art Teacher Resume
• High School Teacher Resume
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• Assistant Principal Resume
• Coaching Resume
• Life Coach Resume
• Psychology Resume
• Social Worker Resume
• Front Desk Resume
• Front Desk Receptionist Resume
• Resume for Education Jobs
• Resume Examples for All Careers

School Counselor Resume Sample

Here’s how to write a school counselor resume worthy of Tami Taylor.

1. Choose the Best Format for Your School Counselor Resume

It’s advisable for your school counseling resume to draw the recruiter’s attention at first glance.

How?

By following these simple formatting rules:

• Place a professional resume header at the top of your resume. You don’t have to write address on your resume, it’s enough to put your contact details.
• Each part of your resume should have a reader-friendly header.
• Of all different types of resumes, the reverse-chronological resume is the optimal one. It puts your most recent achievements and experience first.
• Make sure your resume font is comfortably large to read.
• Don’t cram in too much information. White space is your resume’s friend.
• Send your resume in a PDF file format as it keeps your formatting in order. Send your resume as a DOC only if you’ve been asked to.

Resume formatting rules can be broken. But be careful when opting for the hybrid resume format or skills-based resume.

2. Write a School Counselor Resume Objective or Summary

You need to write a great profile in your resume.

It’s a short opening paragraph that sums up all your school counseling resume’s highlights and serves as an elevator pitch.

There are two options:

A resume summary statement is a great option if your experience spans over 2 years. It focuses on your experience and key achievements.

A job objective is perfect for an entry-level school counselor resume. It puts your transferable skills on display to show the hiring manager what makes you a great candidate.

Your resume profile, in either form, will always benefit if you add some numbers to show your true impact.

Pro Tip: It will be much easier if you write this section once your entire school counseling resume is ready. You’ll have no problems picking out the choicest bits.

3. Create the Perfect School Counselor Job Description for a Resume

Here’s the thing:

Your job experience must immediately prove to the recruiter—

You’ll do the job better than anyone else.

So make sure you tailor your resume to the job posting:

• Put your latest position up top.
• In each entry, list your business job title, dates, company name, and location.
• Don’t write full-length paragraphs. Opt for 6-7 bullet points instead.
• See to it that each bullet uses action words for resumes, such as assisted, developed, organized, delivered, etc.
• Concentrate on the expertise relevant to the position. Leave out everything else.

Pro Tip: Quantify your experience bullet points. You can pick out up to 3 of your key achievements and list them in an accordingly labeled subsection.

4. Make Your School Counselor Resume Education Section Stand Out

Of all people, a guidance counselor knows best the value of proper education.

So, make sure the education section of your resume testifies to it:

• If you have over 5 years of professional experience, it’s enough to list your school name and location, degree, and graduation year.
• If you have under 5 years of experience you may want to get more into details and list your relevant coursework, academic achievements, and GPA (if higher than 3.5).

If you have any relevant certifications and licenses, put them into a dedicated section to make sure they won’t go unnoticed.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

5. Highlight Your School Counselor Skills

It’s your skills that the employer needs.

The list below will help you identify what you’d like to give prominence to on your school counselor resume:

School Counselor Resume—Skills

• Conflict resolution
• Developmental awareness
• Student assessment
• Student placement
• Scheduling
• New student transition
• Academic and career counseling
• Mental health counseling
• Family and teacher consulting
• Crisis intervention
• Grief management;
• Program evaluation
• Program development and coordination
• Needs assessment
• Distance learning
• Counseling and administration
• Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws and mandated reporting
• Charter school environment
• Student guidance
• MS Office
• Web proficiency
• Counseling procedures,
• Student appraisal
• Career development
• Communication abilities
• Analytical skills
• Teamwork skills
• Critical thinking
• Decision making
• Leadership skills
• Problem solving
• Time management

It’s important to focus on the skills relevant to the job. Don’t add things just to fill up space.

Here’s how to identify what skills to put on a school counselor resume:

• Make a comprehensive list of all your skills for a resume (include your soft skills and hard skills, as well as technical strengths).
• Revisit the job advert to see what skills the employer is looking for.
• Find these skills on your list and focus on them on your school counselor resume.
• Pick up to 10 of your strongest skills and put them in your resume’s key skills section.
• Put your skills in a couple of different places on your resume, for example in your resume profile and job description.

Pro Tip: Focus on your strongest skills to avoid the so-called presenter’s paradox.

6. Add Other Sections to Your School Counselor Resume

Show the recruiter there’s more to you.

Consider incorporating additional sections into your school counselor resume:

• List of accomplishments
• Volunteer work
• Language skills
• List of interests

7. Attach a School Counselor Resume Cover Letter

Are cover letters necessary?

You bet they are.

About 50% of the recruiters expect them to be sent along with your resume.

With the tips below, you’ll make your cover letter in a matter of minutes:

• Select the best format for an application letter.
• Make sure the cover letter intro is nothing less than captivating.
• Show what you have to offer to the company. Not what you want.
• Learn how to end a cover letter so the recruiter gives you a call.

And double-check if your cover letter isn’t too long.

Pro Tip: Following up on a job application can get you a long way. Don’t fail to do it.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Here we go!

This is how you make a job-winning resume for school counselor positions.

Are you writing a school counseling resume for the first time? Or perhaps you’re a seasoned pro eager to help the rookies out? We’d love to hear from you, leave your comment below!