Academic Advisor Resume Example & Tips

As an Academic Advisor, you act as a valuable resource to help students navigate their careers as students. You help them make good decisions about academics and extracurricular activities that will guide them to life-long success. But who helps you? 

For starters, you can refer to this “Academic Advisor Resume Example, Tips & Tricks” guide to assist you on your career journey. When you hear the calling to step into an Academic Advisor role, you have to have a stellar resume to win the coveted interview that will bring you one step closer to your dream. 

This guide will help you highlight career achievements, experience, and knowledge surrounding course planning, program design, academic support, student guidance, academic policies, and the emotional support you provide students. As you explore this text, you’ll find strategies to captivate hiring managers’ attention and effectively present yourself as the ideal candidate for academic advising positions. It doesn’t even matter if you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out. The right resume will open exciting doors into academia. 

How to write a resume

The importance of writing a polished resume that screams your accomplishments cannot be understated. Many people in search of a new position worry about being too boastful when writing their resume. Think of every commercial or product/service advertisement you’ve ever seen or heard. All of them eulogize the product or service as being the best on the market, even if we know that some of them aren’t. That’s the type of attitude you have to use when searching for a job. 

Your advertising media is your resume. When you craft a well-structured and targeted resume for a new Academic Advisor position, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to showcase your qualifications and achievements. Here’s an example:

All Academic Advisors can develop well-rounded academic plans for students. But if you use just that text as a bullet, you’re missing the mark on leveraging achievements. Instead, you should write something that talks about how many academic plans you’ve written in a particular timeframe or discuss whether your ability to connect with students lowered attrition. “Worked with approximately 10 new students per week to devise academic plans that lowered overall student attrition by 5%” is a great achievement bullet. 

Now that you know how to word achievements, let’s talk about the actual writing process.

Resume format and structure

It may surprise you to find out that most hiring managers don’t want to see creatively designed resumes. Most of them expect to get a simple reverse-chronological resume. It’s considered a clean and professional resume format. The sections in your resume should include:

• Contact information: Name, location (not full address), email, phone number, and LinkedIn URL (but only if it is properly optimized).

• Title, branding statement, and profile paragraph: This is the top part of your resume and should be future-facing. You want the first thing people see to be what you bring to the table for them. 

• Core competencies: A list of 9-12 keywords/phrases that mirror skills prospective employers want. This is not a dumping ground for skills. It should be properly tailored to the job you’re trying to get.

• Professional experience: Your work history, starting with the current/most recent job and working backward for no more than 10-15 years. 

• Education: This is where you put degrees you’ve earned, professional development courses you’ve taken, and certifications you possess.

• Extras: This section is the place to highlight things like specialized research, public speaking, awards, and professional affiliations.

Tailor your resume to each job

Once you write your awesome new resume, your work isn’t done. What you end up with should be considered your base resume. You’ll want to tailor it each time you send it to a new employer. Companies and hiring managers want to see that you’ve taken the time to customize your resume for their specific job openings. By specifically targeting relevant keywords you find in their job description, you can have a customized resume with just a few wording tweaks. 

Get past ATS scans and impress hiring managers

Not only will tweaking your resume impress a hiring manager by showing them that you care enough to read their posting, but it will also help you get past an Applicant Tracking System. These ATS scans are programmed to check your resume for a certain amount of experience, a particular level of education, and they scan against pre-programmed keywords. These keywords can be found in the job description. If you don’t have the right keywords in your resume, then it could be rejected by the ATS scan, end up in a digital nowhere land, and never see the hands of a hiring manager.

Which parts of your resume should you tailor?

• The Title: This should mirror the job description and will likely be changed with every single job to which you apply. If the title of your resume is currently “Academic Advisor,” but the job description is looking for an “Admissions Advisor,” be sure to change your title accordingly. 

• Profile Paragraph: Your profile paragraph and any highlight bullets beneath it are the first place that keywords appear in your resume. This paragraph basically answers the tell-me-about-yourself interview question. As you review the job description, you will notice that there are some key phrases. These are the tasks that are imperative to the successful completion of your day in the new role. Weave those key phrases into the verbiage of the profile paragraph. 

• Core Competencies: This is the list of skills just below your profile section. This is the “Beat the Bots” section. As you compare the list of your current skills with that of the job posting, make note of keywords that you’re not using and include them here. 

Academic Advisor resume example 

So, a whole lot of information has just been thrown at you. You may be feeling overwhelmed. If that’s the case, we have a sample resume that you can check out below that might pull all of it together for you.

Key hard & soft skills for Academic Advisor

Did you notice that this resume sample has a well-balanced combination of hard and soft skills? Let’s define hard and soft skills.

• Hard skills: These are skills that you’ve acquired through education and experience

• Soft skills: These are inherent qualities you possess that contribute to your effectiveness in your role

The goal is to stand out from the sea of other Academic Advisor job candidates. You don’t want to do that by turning your resume into an indiscriminate list of skills. It’s a much better idea to align your skills with concrete examples and accomplishments from your career. That way, when you win an interview, you can intelligently talk about the skills you’ve listed on your resume. 

While the hard skills you present to a hiring manager will vary depending on the institution, some of the more common Academic Advisor hard skills are:

• Program Management

• Career Development

• Research

• Knowledge of Academic Policies

• Regulatory Compliance

As with anything in life, there are things you’ve learned and things that just come naturally to you. In the resume world, those natural abilities are soft skills. Here are the top soft skills an Academic Advisor needs to have:

• Empathy

• Active Listening

• Problem-Solving

• Interpersonal Skills

• Leadership/Mentorship

Summary & last words

Back in the day, it was easy to write an interview-winning resume. You would list the companies you worked for, the title of the position you held, and what you did. As the job market has become more – dare we say cut-throat – putting your best foot forward with a compelling resume is a must. By following the example resume, tips, and tricks in this guide, you will be well on your way to impressing prospective hiring managers. 

Three things should be at the top of your must-do list when composing your resume:

1. Showcasing qualifications and measurable accomplishments

2. Incorporate keywords from the job description into your resume

3. Use a strong mix of hard and soft skills – in some cases, those soft skills can be what lands you the job

Introduction to ZipJob: Professional resume writers

When it comes to professional resume writing, ZipJob is your trusted partner. We understand the challenges of creating a resume that stands out and lands interviews. That's why we've curated a team of highly skilled writers who are dedicated to helping you succeed. With ZipJob, you can expect a personalized approach that maximizes your chances of securing an interview with hiring managers seeking qualified Academic Advisors.

Why you should make use of our resume writing services to land your next job as Academic Advisor

Our team of writers has a proven track record of delivering exceptional resumes, significantly increasing your likelihood of being invited for an interview. But our services go beyond just crafting resumes. We offer valuable career expertise that enables you to effectively showcase your skills and achievements, ultimately putting you in a position to earn more money.

Resume writing service for Academic Advisor: Let us write your resume

Choose ZipJob for a professional resume writing experience that is tailored to your unique goals and aspirations. Our commitment to excellence and our understanding of the job market set us apart. Let us empower you to present yourself in the best possible light and open doors to exciting career opportunities.

If you want proof, be sure to check out some of our Before and After Resume Samples.