How to Create an Educational Psychologist Resume: With Template

Educational psychologists are central to understanding children's learning and development, so candidates require a comprehensive set of skills and qualifications to fulfil this role. It may be necessary for individuals who have an interest in an educational psychology career to produce an impressive resume to demonstrate such attributes. Understanding how to produce an educational psychologist resume can help you create a notable document and may increase your chances of success when applying for jobs. In this article, we discuss step-by-step instructions for a resume, examine a template and example and offer tips on how to enhance your own.

How to write an educational psychologist resume

Here is a step-by-step guide to creating an educational psychologist resume:

1. Choose a resume template

Before you can begin writing your resume, it's important to choose the correct format, depending on the amount of experience you have as an educational psychologist. There are three main types of resume you can choose from: chronological, functional and combination. Chronological resumes are good for candidates with lots of experience, focusing on employment history and primary duties.

Functional resumes are a good option for recently qualified educational psychologists with no experience, focusing instead on skills. Combination resumes are suitable for candidates with extensive experience who wish to showcase both skills and experience. Consider referring to the job description and advertisement to deduce how much experience recruiters require before selecting the resume format.

Related: Resume Format Guide (With Examples)

2. Create a resume header

The first section of a professional resume is the header. This contains your contact details, including full name, titles, such as a doctor of educational psychology, phone number, email address and location. Providing this information is important to ensure that hiring managers can contact you with updates regarding your progress. This also gives them the chance to contact you for a preliminary interview to discuss anything on the resume that was striking or if they require further information.

Related: Jobs That Involve Working With Children

3. Write your professional summary

The professional summary section is typically the hiring manager's introduction to a candidate. This section consists of two or three brief sentences that summarise the overall resume. A professional summary aims to encourage the hiring manager or recruiter to continue reading, so it's important to include information that you consider attractive to the employer. Consider referring to any specialist skills, experience or certifications that you believe the hiring manager may value.

This can include certifications such as a Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies, a PhD or specific skills such as diplomacy or active listening. Additionally, candidates can introduce how much experience they have in the industry, allowing the hiring manager to deduce whether they qualify for the role. The professional summary is also a good opportunity for those with little or no experience to explain why their skills and educational psychology qualifications compensate for this. Ultimately, this section aims to convince the hiring manager that you're the ideal candidate for the role.

Related: Types of Psychology Degree Skills and How to Improve Them

4. Add your employment history

Depending on your experience, the employment history section may be the dominant feature of your education psychology resume. If a role is senior, such as a supervisor or head of an educational psychology department, you can prioritise this section, including information that demonstrates you're capable of fulfilling the role's primary responsibilities. You can list your experience in reverse chronological order, starting from the most recent example.

This section provides the hiring manager with the most up-to-date information about your employment history. You can also include information about your work setting, such as the school or clinic, and the dates you worked there. To explain your primary responsibilities, use bullet points to describe your duties and any key achievements, including special diagnostics or work that led to children reaching major learning and developmental targets.

Related: How to Write a Psychology Resume Objective (With Examples)

5. Include your skills

If you choose a functional resume format, your skills section is the dominant feature. But this section is still an integral addition to any educational psychology resume. It’s designed to show the hiring manager that you have the ideal candidate’s qualities and can conduct the primary duties, such as assessing children, conducting tests and writing reports about their progress.

Related: How to Write a Psychology Resume Objective (With Examples)

Your skills section can contain a mixture of both role-specific hard skills and transferable soft skills. To ensure you include the correct skills, refer to the job description to incorporate the ideal candidate’s qualities if they're applicable to you. Here are some examples of educational psychology skills you can include in your resume:

• Compassion and empathy towards children and young adults

• Observational skills

• Problem-solving

• Critical thinking

• Rapport

• Active listening

• Strong ethics

• Confidentiality

• Verbal and written communication skills

• Knowledge of behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, experimentalism and social learning theories

Related:

• How to Become a Child Psychologist (With Salary and Duties)

• Social Learning Theory (Principles, Benefits, Application)

6. Write your education section

Educational psychologists require a comprehensive set of certifications before qualifying. Therefore, the education section of your resume is important. To become an educational psychologist, candidates require a postgraduate degree in psychology alongside a supervised work placement as an educational psychologist while studying. To qualify for a postgraduate degree, they typically require a bachelor's degree in psychology or related topic.

After completing their studies, it’s necessary for candidates to register with the Psychology Board of Australia to ensure they uphold stringent industry and ethical standards. Additionally, applicants typically require a series of police background checks. This is to ensure they're qualified to work with children and vulnerable groups.

Related: How to Become an Educational Psychologist: A Career Guide

7. Proofread before submitting

After writing your resume, it’s important to proofread the final draft. This is particularly significant, as educational psychology candidates require comprehensive written communication skills to compile reports. To ensure that you provide the hiring manager with a good impression of your writing skills, check there are no spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors in your resume. This demonstrates proficiency and can increase your chances of success.

Related:

• Psychologist Resume Skills: Definition and Examples

• How to Write a Psychologist Cover Letter in 7 Steps

Resume template

Here is a resume template you can use to create your own document:

[First name] [Last name]

[Phone number] | [email address] | [City], [State]

Professional Summary

[Two or three sentences that highlight years of experience, relevant skills, education or certifications and achievements as a professional.]

Experience

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]

[Company or Organisation] | [City], [State]

• [Job duty]

• [Job duty]

• [Job duty]

• [Job duty]

• [Job duty]

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City], [State]

• [Job duty]

• [Job duty]

• [Job duty]

Skills

[Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill]

Education

[Degree and major], [Name of school or university]

Related: How to Become a Behavioural Therapist (Step-by-Step Guide)

Resume example

Here’s an example of a completed resume that focuses on employment history instead of skills:

*Sarah Jane Smith
7183-228-1382 | sjanesmith@mail.com | Hobart, Tasmania*

Professional Summary

Dedicated and skilled educational psychologist with three years of professional experience working in schools to diagnose developmental and learning conditions. My skills and positive rapport with children have led to several successful cases of clients reaching key learning and developmental targets much sooner than expected.

Experience

Educational Psychologist | 2019–present
Future Now Clinic | Hobart, Tasmania

• Assessing children's motivations in learning environments, observing how to best connect with and teach clients

• Conducting research and studies into effective ways of engaging with children at different developmental stages

• Consulting with children who find paying attention and concentrating challenging, finding the root cause of their symptoms

• Working alongside teachers and parents to motivate children and help them achieve their developmental targets

• Compiling written reports of children and young adults’ progress after consultation

Skills

Active listening | Clinical understanding | Patience | Positive rapport with children | Empathy | Written, verbal and non-verbal communication

Education

Bachelor of Psychology, Perth University
Master of Psychology, Perth University
Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies

Related:

• 6 Universal Rules for Resume Writing

• How to Create an Educational Psychologist Resume: With Template

Tips to enhance your resume

As candidates design resumes to attract the attention of the hiring manager or recruiter and encourage them to continue reading, it's important to find ways of enhancing your resume to improve your chances of securing an interview. Here are three ways you can do so with your educational psychologist resume:

• Use the job description for keywords: In some recruitment processes, hiring managers and recruiters use applicant tracking systems to check candidate resumes and select the most keyword-dense documents. To increase your chances of success, consider selecting keywords from the job description and advertisement and incorporate these into your professional summary and skills section.

• Keep your sentences short: Resumes aim to provide the hiring manager with a brief overview of a candidate's skills and experience, allowing the recruiter to seek more information in an interview. To ensure that hiring managers can quickly collect all the information they need, consider keeping your sentences short and language accessible.

• Use metrics and anecdotes: To improve your chances of securing an interview, consider including quantifiable data in your resume. Such information can include your average success rate in treating clients with learning and developmental conditions and can prove to the hiring manager that your skills and qualifications have tangible results.

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