Contents
Resume format for a specific job posting (Introduction)
In this blog post, I have attached a job post sample (fake company) and an example that I created specifically for that job. Below, I will explain which tips I used from which websites, and how I applied them to write my own resume. The links provided are a useful jump-off point for individuals who want to learn how to write or improve their writing. These links often contains resume outlines, and offer lots of templates and examples that might be useful to a job candidate.
In general, there are as many ways to write a resume as there are unique work experience situations. The resume in this article is only one such attempt; it is not the only right way to write a resume.
Resume Format: Headline
Novoresume recommends a resume headline fitting the following structure: “Job Title + Years of Experience + Skill/Specific Task/Impressive Achievement”
My resume headline:
"English Tutor with 10 Years of Experience Helping Students Overcome Language-Related Difficulties."
Resume Format: Summary Statement
I've decided to write a summary statement for my resume example. I am applying for an English tutoring job, and I have experience doing that work. Since it's not a new field for me, a summary statement is more appropriate than an objective statement.
Three main elements that a summary statement should have (sources: ResumeGenius, TheMuse, and Zety):
Identifies your notable accomplishments/achievements, skills, and experiences (quantify wherever possible)
Identifies your value to the employer
Expresses a desire to work for the specific employer
Based on these criteria, I wrote the following summary statement:
"I am an English tutor with nine years of part-time tutoring experience. I have helped hundreds of students improve their grades (in courses and individual assignments), build English skills (grammar, vocabulary, speaking, etc.), and overcome reading and writing difficulties (teaching essays, helping with pronunciation). As a tutor, I pride myself in putting time into preparing for classes, identifying practical approaches to solve student problems, and being patient and a good listener for students. For these reasons, I believe that I can benefit FakeSkool with my experience and teaching approach.
Analysis
I chose to use personal pronouns (I) in my summary because not using them sounded awkward here.
The section is a little long, but I believe that it's better to write more here than to write something that doesn't feel valuable. In the summary, there isn't much opportunity to quantify accomplishments. So, to make the section more specific, I added educational information in parentheses.
I spent the 2nd half of the statement talking about why I believe my tutoring approach is valuable.
A summary statement is not useful for applicants writing their job resume for the first time. It's also not useful for beginners with no experience, that is, those candidates that don't have any work experience in their field. In these cases, an objective statement is more appropriate.
Resume Format: Skills
A review of Indeed.com, coursera, and thebalancemoney provides a few important principles for writing a skill section on a resume:
The skill should come from the job description and ideally, should be a keyword/keyword phrase
The skill should be as specific as possible
Include job-specific and inter-personal skills as needed
The skills section on my resume example:
Effective at creating a customizable and flexible teaching/tutoring approach, plan, or curriculum to reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills based on a student's expressed learning goals.
Strong research skills through Google search and functional knowledge of Google Docs, Google Slides, email, and online library research databases.
Experience analyzing short stories, novels, poems, essays, resumes and news articles at a grades 1-12 English teaching level for Ontario schools.
Analysis
Note, that in some cases, employers will use software called an applicant tracking system (ATS). Your resume must first pass an ATS, before a hiring manager reads it. Only after the resume passes the software test, do employers look at the resumes.
As an applicant, you need to write your resume with this in mind. A good source of prospective keywords/keyword phrases is the job description itself. The keywords "teaching", "tutoring", "English", and "curriculum" were in the job description that I was applying for.
In the skills section, I identified my value to employers/students. Once I've created a list of items, I revised them to integrate the keywords as naturally as I could. The skills listed are specific. They include both job specific (essay analysis) and interpersonal (being able to create a customized curriculum).
Resume Format: Education
Jobscan has a comprehensive guide for writing an education section. For example, here are a few principles for writing an education section:
keyword/keyword phrase integration
Include information in a specific order or omit information that's unnecessary
Here is my resume example's education section:
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Sept 2009-2014
Bachelor of Arts Honours Major in Psychology (GPA 6.5)
Analysis
"Bachelor" is a possible keyword, so I've included that here (not to mention that this is actually my degree).
The entry starts with the academic institution, then the location, and years attended as per the order recommended. Then, the degree type and GPA come underneath. I haven't included any other educational information. For example, I've excluded high school information, since it's not too relevant.
Resume Format: Work Experience
Augie provides a list of 20 points that can help guide someone on how to write their resume's work experience section. These points outline the important points that a resume work experience section must cover. For this section, I used the following recommended principles to guide my work experience section:
talk about challenges and problems faced
focus on achievements and tangible outcomes
The partial work experience section on my resume example:
English Tutor
Owner-Operator at englishtutortoronto.net 2014 until present
The following are some notable achievements from the last 2 years (2023-2024):
Helped a grade 9 student with a math-related learning disability (grade 3 level math skills) confront her math anxiety and frustration and make small, but significant gains in that area. The same student also developed positive feelings and achievements in short story writing during the two-year duration that I tutored her.
Worked with a grade 8 ESL student on all four aspects of their English fluency (writing, listening, speaking, and reading). They have moved up one ESL level at school during the two-year duration that I have been tuturing them.
Currently have 45 positive reviews on Google Maps from past students or parents of students and able to provide reference information from past or present students
Analysis
The last point (45 positive reviews) is a tangible achievement. The work experience section points out important details and achievements relating to tutoring specific students. Focusing on these achievements expresses competence, enjoyment/pride in my work, and a more-or-less interesting reading experience. Furthermore, it also avoids the common pitfall of work experience sections that talk about duties plainly.
Resume Formatting
I believe that an aesthetically pleasing presentation is probably more important than grammar. Second language learners often have poor grammar, but that isn't an issue for many employers.
On the other hand, an aesthetically unattractive resume is likely a more serious indicator of laziness. For jobs in general, a resume should be attrative aesthetically. I considered various templates online and followed these principles with my own resume example. I believe that this sort of format is a decent template:
application of heading lines
use of shading
use of bolding and italics
colour choices
working with different text sizes
Resume Format: Feedback
After completing the resume, I decided to test it against a resume planner (Jobscan.co). Their resume format feedback tool is free and brought up a lot of interesting results. My resume had 14 issues with it:
failure to include the title of the job in my resume
I did not properly format the dates under the work experience section. As a result, jobscan didn't recognize them
the resume was missing multiple hard skill keywords in the body of the resume like "lesson plans" and "assist students"
I was missing multiple soft skills in the body of the resume like "committed and analytical skills"
These issues are why keyword phrases, formatting, and resume software are important considerations when writing a resume. This tool helped me revise my resume format and improve the final product.
Check out my other blog posts for more English learning tips.
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