Guidance Counselor Resume Examples
It’s too easy for students to feel overwhelmed, lost, or emotionally drained by the demands of their academic and personal lives. Without a helpful hand guiding them, these issues often only get worse. This is where the vital work done by guidance counselors can make a difference.
Guidance counselors shepherd students through academic development and personal growth. These helpful roles have been filled since the early 20th century and have only grown in importance. If you’re interested in taking on one of these highly regarded positions, use our guidance counselor resume example to gain an understanding of what hiring managers look for on a resume.
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What is a Guidance Counselor?
Guidance counselors play a key role in mentoring students to achieve their full potential and become productive members of society. They assess students’ interests and skills and guide them in planning their academic goals and career. Guidance counselors help ensure quality academic performance by encouraging lower truancy rates, boosting student morale, and more.
They counsel students regarding issues that affect learning and performance, like peer pressure or depression. They may organize workshops or information sessions to improve student performance and prepare them for real-world experiences. In 2019, there was an estimated 333,500 guidance and career counselors employed in the U.S., and job opportunities are expected to continue expanding.
What Makes This a Great
Guidance Counselor Resume Example?
Our resume examples are crafted by resume experts with comprehensive knowledge of recruiters’ requirements. You can use our guidance counselor resume example as a guide to separate your resume from the others so that you stand out to recruiters.
Here’s how referring to our resume examples can help you:
- Content by certified experts: Our resume examples use industry-specific keywords, such as “counseling strategies” and “skills-based career planning,” to help you come across to hiring managers as an expert in your field. You can also use our Resume Builder’s pre-written, customizable content suggestions to craft each section of your resume.
- Experience-appropriate formatting: The example above uses a chronological resume format to showcase the job seeker’s many years of work experience in reverse-chronological order. While this is the most appropriate format for highly experienced candidates, the more skills-focused functional and combination formats are equally viable options for greener applicants.
- The right template for the job: You should choose a resume template that appropriately meshes with the norms of your industry. Counseling can be a conservative, academia-adjacent field, so selecting a less flashy template may be a wise move. Regardless of your needs, our builder has a diverse selection of templates for everyone.
3 Guidance Counselor Professional Summary Examples
Your professional summary should briefly encapsulate the most job-relevant and compelling elements of your experience and skills. Use our guidance counselor resume example as an outline to draft your own summary, and use our Resume Builder for even more help.
Here are three example summaries you could also consider while writing:
- Certified guidance counselor with over eight years of experience counseling elementary-grade students. Design activity schedules by collaborating with teachers and parents to develop positive learning habits in children from an early age. Expertise in dealing with children suffering from neglect and self-harm tendencies.
- Dedicated guidance counselor with over four years of experience. Extensive knowledge of academic and career opportunities. Conduct individual interactive sessions to gauge students’ academic interests and guide them to achieve their educational goals. Effectively manage time for counseling students, maintaining accurate student records, as well as communicating with teachers and parents to ensure the all-around success of students.
- Accomplished guidance counselor with over 10 years of experience working with students across all age groups in the K-12 system. Reputation of fostering an environment that enhances academic performance of students while also ensuring their holistic development. Always maintain an approachable attitude and remain skilled in meeting requirements of students with special needs.
3 Guidance Counselor Work Experience Examples
A work experience section should effectively display past job responsibilities by framing them in the context of specific accomplishments. Our Resume Builder provides pre-written content for guidance counselors that’s simple to customize with your own quantifiable achievements.
Here are three more examples from work experience sections you might consider:
- Spearheaded anti-bullying programs to reduce reported instances of bullying by 30%.
- Effectively counseled over 230 students for behavioral issues; increased attendance rates and GPAs by shared average of 40%.
- Collaborated with admissions team to implement more than 23 career seminars for 215 high-school students each year.
Top Skills for Your Guidance Counselor Resume
Many employers automatically shortlist candidates by instantly running their resumes through applicant tracking systems (ATS) to weed out applicants who lack the required skills. This means it’s crucial to make sure your resume includes these sought-after skills, which you can borrow directly from our examples and builder.
Here are some hard and soft skills we could suggest:
Hard Skills
- Behavioral analysis
- Career guidance
- Group counseling techniques
- Skills development programs
Soft Skills
- Documentation
- Active listening
- Interpersonal skills
- Problem-solving
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Guidance Counselor FAQs
- What are sought-after qualities in a good guidance counselor?
- What is an ideal resume layout for a guidance counselor’s resume?
- What is the difference between a school counselor and a guidance counselor?
What are sought-after qualities in a good guidance counselor?
The first thing recruiters look for in guidance counselors are their assessment, listening, and communication skills. Good guidance counselors display empathy, possess sound decision-making skills, and encourage students’ positive choices. Other required qualities include accessibility, conflict-resolution skills, and a genuine interest in reaching out to students to help them solve their problems and realize their goals.
What is an ideal resume layout for a guidance counselor’s resume?
A guidance counselor should be organized and clear-minded, and this should be reflected on their resume too. A minimalist color scheme, for example, could be a great way to communicate these qualities, along with using easy-to-read headers and bullet points. Most guidance counselors should also keep their resume to a single page unless they have a need to include over a decade of relevant experience. In these cases, two pages can be acceptable.
What is the difference between a school counselor and a guidance counselor?
“Guidance counselor” and “school counselor” are often used interchangeably. However, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) encourages the use of “school counselor” in place of the term “guidance counselor.” Both terms can refer to modern counseling methods, which include academic assessments and training, as well as the social, emotional, and behavioral aspects of students’ well-being in relation to their academic success.
