SLP Resume Example

After reading this article, you'll feel confident creating a SLP resume that effectively showcases your relevant skills and experience. You'll find valuable tips on writing a resume that best showcases your unique skills and achievements. There is also extensive guidance on how to structure your resume to match the job description, and to reflect your experience levels to impress HR specialists and employers. Continue reading to find the best SLP resume tips from careers experts at Jobseeker.

Key sections for a SLP resume

The key sections to include in a SLP resume are similar to those for any role or profession. If you're a candidate without much experience, you may wish to present your resume in a way that draws attention to your most valuable skills. These might not be in traditional work settings, so sections like education, projects, hobbies and skills can be more prominent.

How you choose to present your resume is up to you. There are plenty of options for a professional resume layout and format, but every application should include the following:

Resume Header

In your SLP resume header, list your name, email address, phone number and address or location. You can also add your LinkedIn, if you have one, to help employers better understand your work history and skills. While in some countries, you might include additional personal information or a photo, these aren't necessary. Make your resume header clear, concise and as brief and compact as possible. Consider different layouts that spread the information horizontally across the page rather than using a different line for each piece of information.

Only include professional, name-based email addresses in your resume header. If you have an old email address that uses nicknames, puns, references to your personal interests or anything else that could appear unprofessional, set up a new email just for your job applications. Finally, always double-check your contact details are correct and up-to-date before sending your resume.

Resume Objective

Following your resume header, write a resume summary to introduce yourself and showcase some of your key skills and achievements. Alternative names for this section are 'resume objective' and 'personal profile'. While a resume summary focuses on your career experience, a resume objective covers your ambitions and career plans. However, make sure you keep your resume summary short and snappy, and focused on the skills and experience listed in the job description.

Alternatively, focus on introducing your career ambitions, and why this role is a good fit, both for you and the organization.

A great resume summary should highlight why you're an ideal candidate for SLP roles by showing key skills and qualities that reflect the job description and provide evidence to support them. It should also introduce your personality and unique qualities to the reader, to help them start to form an opinion about you as a candidate. See below for some great examples of what to include in your SLP resume summary.

Alternatively, a poor resume summary would include bland, generic information that does little to prove your suitability for the role, while failing to provide any useful insights on you as a person or as a candidate. The graphic above shows some of the pitfalls to avoid when creating your resume summary.

Skills

Adding a list of your key skills provides a quick reference for the reader of what you can bring to a SLP role. Skills such as speech sound disorders or communication and collaboration are particularly useful for SLP jobs. Once more, review the job description and pick out any key SLP skills listed that match yours. Focus on these skills and any other key transferable skills that make you a strong candidate for the job.

How to list hard skills on your SLP resume

Under hard skills, add any specialist skills you possess that are specifically required for SLP jobs. These tend to be technical skills and industry knowledge essential to the position. Furthermore, these skills are essential for a SLP resume as they showcase your expertise in the field. It's best to aim for four or five key hard skills that match the job description. These can really showcase your suitability for the job.

You'll make more impact with your resume hard skills list if you focus on technical skills that reflect your unique expertise and specialism, and that match the key requirements in the job description. See the graphic below for some tips on hard skills for a SLP resume.

Listing soft skills on your SLP resume

Soft skills are your transferable skills and personal qualities that make you a good match for a SLP position and the organization. Soft skills tend to be more universal than hard skills, and can often apply to multiple jobs and industries. In fact, you can develop soft skills throughout your career, and they tend to be suitable for various roles and professions. It's best to aim for four or five soft skills that match the job description and reflect your strongest personal qualities.

Your soft skills section should make the most of your unique personal qualities and strengths, while also reflecting the requirements laid out in the job description. See below for some examples of useful soft skills for a speech language pathologist resume.

Education

In this section list any educational qualifications or degrees that are relevant to SLP roles.

Typically, working as a SLP requires a university or college degree, which you'll need to list on your resume. If you're working in this sector, it's usually a good idea to highlight your Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders degree or other relevant qualifications. Focus on qualifications that showcase your speech sound disorders or AAC device proficiency.

List every relevant qualification, including the name and level of the course, the name of the school, college or university, its location and your graduation date. You could also add one or two bullet points to draw attention to your grades if they were particularly good, as well as any specialist subjects you studied. This will help the hiring manager understand your knowledge and special skills better.

Additionally, mentioning any leadership roles or any societies and clubs you participated in while studying shows proactivity and initiative.

Certifications and Training

Under this section, list any relevant certifications or licenses that are relevant to SLP jobs. Add any official certifications or accreditations that increase your level of qualification and suitability for working as a SLP. Therefore, make sure you list the dates of your certifications and licenses so employers can see they're up-to-date and valid.

Take a look at some example certifications for a SLP resume below:

Work Experience

Your resume work experience section is the chance to show your relevant previous jobs and career achievements as a SLP. Mention only the most appropriate and relevant jobs you've had in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent and working backwards. Add your job title, the name of the employer, the location of the role and your dates of employment.

Under each job entry, add several bullet points highlighting your responsibilities and achievements. Consult the job description for a list of the key requirements for the role and make sure your work experience section showcases how you meet these requirements.

A good work experience section pulls the reader in with clear examples of where you've put the skills necessary for the job into good use in your career to date. This typically includes evidence of how your skills and activities contributed to positive outcomes for the organization. There are some examples of strong resume work experience sections below.

Above, you can see a weaker example of a resume work experience section to best avoid. Poor examples of resume work experience sections tend to be vague and fail to quantify your achievements and the impact you've made in your career to date. They may also focus on responsibilities above relevant skills and how you've used them.

Optional Information

As well as the main sections of a speech language pathologist resume, optional sections can help you prove your credentials to employers. Choose optional sections from the list below, if they help to showcase your relevant skills and experience.

Hobbies and Interests

Listing your hobbies and interests can reveal key qualities that some employers may value. These are particularly useful for your resume if you're short of work experience and need to showcase a particular skill or experience. Only include hobbies and interests that showcase your personality and personal qualities, and add something different to your application.

Volunteer Experience

Adding voluntary roles can be a useful way of showing relevant experience and skills for SLP roles beyond your main employment history. Add your volunteer job title or role, the name of the organization, its location and the dates you were involved.

References

It's relatively unusual to include references in a standard SLP resume, but they are required occasionally. Check the job advert to see if you'll need to add references to your resume. Only include referees that you've had prior approval from, and notify them to expect contact from the employer.

Best action words for your SLP resume

Add strong verbs to your work experience section to show the hiring manager the impact you made in your previous roles. Choose from the list of words below to make the best possible impression.

For help creating an eye-catching resume design to catch the attention of hiring managers, see Jobseeker's professional resume layouts. You can also use our clear, effective cover letter templates to complete your application.

Sample SLP resume

Now we've covered the main sections to include in your SLP resume, let's take a look at how it all comes together in the example below:

Making an ATS-friendly resume

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is just one of the tools employers and recruiters can use to streamline their hiring practices. This typically includes screening candidates by scanning and ranking their resumes based on their likely suitability for any vacancy. When writing your SLP resume, a few simple tips can help you pass the ATS stage with a higher-ranking resume, giving you a better chance of success with your applications.

Follow these guidelines to create the best ATS-friendly resume:

• Use a traditional resume format, such as reverse-chronological or functional. These will give your resume a structure that's easier for ATS systems to scan.
• Include keywords throughout your resume that align with the job description. ATS software tends to compare your resume to the job description for points of similarity, so careful, considered use of keywords should help your chances of success.
• Use clear headings that break your resume up into readable, scannable sections that match the standard content employers expect from a resume.
• Adopt a clean, unfussy design that gives your content enough white space to breathe. Use professional, readable fonts and subtle use of color and other design elements.
• Keep your resume as concise as possible, to make it easier to read, and for ATS software to scan.

Key points for your SLP resume

The best resumes focus on your skills and the value you've added to previous roles, rather than focusing on your duties and responsibilities. Use a suitable resume format and tailor your resume for every application you submit.

HR-approved resume templates and other tools by Jobseeker are the easiest way to create a winning job application. Sign up and follow the simple instructions to complete a resume that stands out from the crowd. To make the best possible impression with your applications, write a cover letter with the help of Jobseeker. You can also find plenty of expert-designed cover letter examples for inspiration.

Sources:

(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx

(2) Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications, New York State Department of Labor: https://dol.ny.gov/resumes-cover-letters-and-job-applications