How To Write A Psychologist Resume ?

A psychologist is the need of every commercial entity, be it a corporate office or a government organization. Psychologists trained in helping people with their mental and psychological issues are revered in and outside their fields. But before the glory and job satisfaction comes the daunting task of landing a superb job.

In this blog, we will take a look at who is a psychologist, the importance of developing a resume so that potential employers can learn about a prospective professional, and then a complete resume guide to go through each of the sections.

Who Is A Psychologist?

Before moving on to helping psychologists land a promising role in a challenging firm, let us take a look at what the role is. In simple terms, a psychologist is a person that offers help to people who are challenged with facing mental issues. In many cases, psychologists hold medical degrees in their specialized fields. This even allows them to write prescriptions for a variety of ailments and complications. But, the majority of their roles are in a consulting capacity.

The obvious places of employment for a psychologist are hospitals and corporate entities. In the former, they meet with designated patients and help them cope with their mental and psychological issues. In the latter capacity, they help businesses to resolve mental stress and other related issues of their employees. In both cases, they are the ultimate source of getting consultations, suitable changes in routine and regimen, and so on.

Importance of Highlighting Skills & Achievements On A Resume

There is no denying that psychologists are a part of a noble cause where they help people deal with their issues through prescriptions, therapies, and changes in their habits and attitudes. But they need to secure a good job at a rewarding company. This is where a solid resume that can highlight their skills and capabilities comes into the picture.

When a job opening becomes available at a company, professionals do have not many options and avenues to showcase their candidacy. They have to come up with novel ideas to stand out from the competition. This is where a resume can come in handy. With its intricate sections and focuses, professionals can help themselves get due attention from hiring managers and headhunters.

Writing A Resume For a Trained Psychologist

In this section, we will go through the process of writing a resume for a trained psychologist. Keep in mind that developing a world-class resume is both an art and a science, as many aspects are sure to bring certain value. However, certain things are not clear but they have some effect on the readers.

So, with that in mind, let us go through the major sections for psychologist resumes so that you can reproduce them for your own.

Formatting & Structure

When we talk about the formatting and structure of a resume, we take into account the overall look and feel of the document. Think about this approach as a bird’s eye view of the resume where the collection of all sections is more evident to the hiring manager. With that in mind, professionals should go for the industry’s best practices to format their resumes. These include, but are not limited to:

On both horizontal and vertical margins, the ideal margin width is one inch
The font size and style should be standard and legible
There must be a consistent and holistic approach to design and theme

These are the prerequisites for filling the relevant sections. Once you are done with these, it becomes much easier to take up the rest of the resume.

Resume Summary or Objectives Statement

Many professionals think that a resume summary and an objective statement are the same things. They are to the untrained eye, but different to head hunters and hiring managers. Experts have stressed the importance of composing a stand-out summary because they rely on this to shortlist candidates. The resume summary is a summary of career highlights and aspirations for the future. However, the objectives statement is about the academic qualifications and ambitions of the professionals. Naturally, the former is used by experienced psychologists whereas the other one is put forward by young graduates with little to no experience.

The best way to showcase the candidacy is by composing a bold and brief paragraph, no more than 2 to 3 sentences that highlight the years and achievements in previous and current roles.

Work Experience For Psychologists

Psychologists go through different tasks in their day-to-day job. Some days, it is about meeting people and helping them with their mental and psychological issues. On other days, it is about documenting the sessions and learning insights from them. Whatever the case, it is best to stay on top of the competition and follow the industry’s best practices for reliable results. While writing the work experience in the resume section, psychologists should try to;

Use action verbs
Highlight achievements instead of mere responsibilities
Showcase numbers and statistics to highlight positive change

In this way, they will not be able to breeze through the initial screening process, but also impress the head hunters with their organizational and core psychology skills.

Academic Qualifications

Academic qualifications are necessary for both experienced and fresh graduates, even more so for the latter. Many professionals make the mistake of too much highlighting academic qualifications, even in the face of work experience and special skills. Here are two simple rules to keep in mind while developing your trained psychologist resume:

If you have 3 to 5 years of experience, the academic qualifications will always come after the work experience section.
If you do not have considerable experience, you need to make up for your academic skills and degrees by highlighting them with a summary of the objectives.

The format of writing the academic qualifications is simple. Start with the degree or diploma name and then move on to the years of attendance, major courses, and so on. The grades will only get a mention if they were outstanding.

Special Skills To Stand Out From The Competition

This is another recurring mistake that many professionals make in their psychology resume. The special skills section is not necessarily an additional section. It is a legitimate portion that must be covered with keywords and relevant phrases so that both human scanners and application tracking software can detect the eligibility of the candidates.

Since we are talking about the special skills of psychologists in both medicine and corporate settings, let us take a look at some of the in-demand traits.

Counseling
Psychotherapy
Evidence-Based Therapy
Behavior Modification
Coaching
Communication
Interpersonal Skills
Active Listening
Writing Reports

When populating your resume sections for relevant skills, you can pick ones from this list to ensure that you have enough arsenal to make a splash in the ensuing competition.

Licenses & Certifications For Added Impact

Like academic qualifications, it is almost necessary for practicing psychologists to have a handful of licenses and certifications. This shows two important things to potential employers:

The candidate did not stop formal learning after leaving college, so he is committed to his field and learning.
The relevancy and awarding bodies of certifications and licenses shed ample light on the competency of professionals.

While going through the section with licenses and certifications, make sure to add emblems and logos from online sources as it leaves a great impression on the recruiters and somehow verifies its authenticity.

Augmenting The Psychologist Resume With A Cover Letter

In modern times, a resume is not the only thing that recruiters want from potential employees. There is a steady rise in online profiles made on dedicated platforms, such as LinkedIn, Stack, Indeed, and so on. A resume in itself is limited and can be hindering to the cause. There is another document that cannot only augment the resume but makes it stand out by filling the gaps. A cover letter is the descriptive counterpart of a resume as it has paragraphs to connect the dots. The format of a cover letter is not a tough vocation to ace. The opening introduces the candidate to the recruiters. The main body or the middle sheds light on the previous achievements of the candidate. The closing section highlights the future ambitions and puts a call to action for the recruiters.

Even when a certain position does not ask for a cover letter, candidates can have a better chance of getting noticed if they attach a cover letter to their resume.

FAQ

What looks good on a psychology resume?

The following things are great on a psychology resume and must be highlighted to ensure better attention:

A striking resume summary
The work experience and academic qualifications sections
Special skills and additional responsibilities to gain the confidence
References from coworkers and bosses

How do you write a psychology resume?

The process of writing a psychology resume is simple. The first step is reading and understanding the job application and taking points. Then, taking into account the attributes and traits of their ideal candidate, populate the relevant sections of the resume, including work experience, academic qualifications, skills, certifications, and so on. In the end, either attach the latest references or leave them for the later stages of recruitment.

What should a school psychologist put on a resume?

A school psychologist is a professional that helps with counseling and other related issues with students. It is an important position and should be filled by a world-class professional. While developing a resume for a school psychologist, professionals should shed ample light on their relevant experience in a similar or closely-resembling role.

What are the 5 psychological skills?

The job of a psychologist is to connect with the problems and issues of the person and then suggest remedies. In that line, the following 5 skills are a must for a professional with relevant experience and expertise:

Evidence-Based Therapy
Behavior Modification
Coaching
Communication
Interpersonal Skills

What are the 3 most important traits of a psychologist?

It is hard to isolate the three most important skills for a professional psychologist because of the different roles and demands of those roles. Since we are on top of the issues, let us highlight the trio of attributes that help psychologists with their duties.