NYU Silver Social Work
Resume Guide

Make a comprehensive list of your experience. Include:

• • Education, certifications, and licensing

  • Jobs, placements or internships, and volunteer work

  • Trainings completed and presentations given

  • Projects, research and professional activities (memberships, committee work, conferences) 

  • Language and technology skills

Keep a copy of this list so you can reference it to apply to different roles whenever you are job searching.

A resume does not necessarily have to include everything you've ever done, but is a "snapshot" designed to showcase your relevant background and qualifications that is directly related or relevant to a specific position for which you are applying. It should clearly tell the reader who your target audience is, what you want to do in your next role, and why your experience is a fit for that role.

• Use the job description(s) as your guide and review it carefully to identify the key terms and skills to highlight in your resume.

• Research the organization(s) to determine what to emphasize and appropriate terminology to use in your resume

  • Explore their websites and social media to understand the organization’s mission, vision, values, programs, approaches and/or modalities they use, and populations they serve

  • Connect on LinkedIn with Silver alums and other professionals who work there to learn what qualifications, skills, and experience are valued by the organization

• From the list you created above, only keep the most relevant experience and information to customize your resume to the specific role(s) to which you are applying

An employer or hiring manager should be able to read information on your resume easily and find information on your resume quickly. 

Tips:

• Use clear headings (bold or larger font) so information can be easily located

• Use 1/2 to 1 inch margins with 10-12 pt standard (Arial, Times New Roman) font for readability

• Maintain consistency in heading styles, spacing, and date formats throughout your resume

• If you are not directly handing your resume to a person, it's likely your resume is going to be screened by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS); ensure your resume is ATS-friendly by:

  • Organizing information top down, not in columns

  • Avoiding complex designs, images, or graphic elements

• Aim to keep your resume to one page (unless your relevant experience or the role necessitates two; note: if you opt for two, it must be two full pages)

• List your experience in reverse chronological order (most recent experiences should be listed first in each section)

Feel free to utilize these templates by going to 'File,' clicking 'Make a Copy,' and plugging in your own information.

• • • CV versus Resume

    • In the United States, the term ‘resume’ is more common than ‘CV’. ‘CV’ usually refers to a longer academic document that contains much more information than a regular resume

• Formatting

  • • Do not include visual charts, tables

    • Do not include a picture of yourself on your resume

• Personal Information

  • • Do not include: photograph, marital status, identification number, your parents’ names, or your date of birth

    • If you are currently living in the United States and applying for internships or jobs here, there is no need to write U.S. or U.S.A. 

    • For phone numbers, there is no need to include an international calling code prefix, but always include your area code, even for local opportunities

• Resources

  • Wasserman Center International Student Services

  • American Resume Requirements

  • CDC Skill Guides | NYU Shanghai

Use clear and concise headings that convey the information they represent.

• Consider these headings: 

  • Emphasize your social work experience by using headings such as "Social Work Experience" or "Clinical Experience"

  • "Social Work Experience" or "Relevant Experience;" — headings like these are more flexible and can include jobs, internships, and volunteer work

  • "Additional Experience"

  • "Skills;" "Activities and Memberships;" "Trainings and Certifications"

• Be careful with listing sections titled “Professional Experience” or “Work Experience” in addition to your “Social Work Experience” section, which implies that social work experience is NOT professional or work experience

• Use capitalization, italics, bold, and underlining to direct attention to important content

• Keep contact information on one line below your name to save space.

• Information to include:

  • First and last name: Font size should be larger and/or bolded than the rest of your information to stand out

  • Pronouns: If you are comfortable

  • Credentials: Once licensed, you can include any credentials after your name (i.e. First Name, Last Name, LMSW)

  • Phone number

  • Email Address: Practicum placements prefer your NYU email address. For jobs, choose an email address that is easy for employers to remember / contact you at

  • City and State: You do not need to include your full address, you can just list your current city and state

  • LinkedIn: Optionally, you can include your LinkedIn, but try to customize your URL and only write the following link format on your resume: linkedin.com/in/yourcustomizedurl

• Education should go first after your contact information because you are currently a student, will be graduating, and/or will have just graduated and therefore, it is the most relevant aspect to your experience that employers will be looking for

• You only have to include institutions in this section from which you have been conferred a degree. Therefore, you do not have to include any institutions from which you transferred, took a course, studied abroad, etc.

• You should include any institutions you are currently studying at, even if you have not graduated yet and put your expected graduation date

• Information to include:

  • Name of the institution and School: New York University Silver School of Social Work

  • Location: New York, NY

  • Degree (make sure to spell out the full degree): Master of Social Work

  • Below your degree, you can include a line about licensure if you are in the process of pursuing your social work license to let employers know where you are in the process (example: Licensure: Exam date scheduled for July 10, 2024)

  • Graduation Date (month and year; “expected” is not needed): May 2024

  • Include (if relevant) any scholarships, fellowships, or specializations*

    • *If 2 or more of each or applying for a research or academic-focused opportunity, include in its own section

  • Optional (if relevant and/or applying for a research or academic-focused opportunity): relevant coursework, research, or projects

  • GPA is generally not relevant or needed, unless asked for by an application (i.e. a fellowship)

• Include paid employment, internships, volunteer work, and/or military service.

• For each experience, include:

  • Name of employer or organization 

  • Location (city and state in the United States; city and country if outside of the United States) 

  • Your job title

  • Dates of employment (month and year) 

  • Descriptions of organizations are not necessary

• Consider dividing your experience into two sections (for example, "Social Work Experience" and "Additional Experience") to bring your more relevant experience higher up on your resume and employers read about those experiences first.

• Use bullet points to describe your experiences, not paragraphs.

• Summaries:  If you decide to include one, they should go below your contact information section. Summaries should be concise and shouldn't be redundant of the information that's already on your resume. There are different approaches to summaries: one approach is to help career changers bridge the narrative between two different industries; another is to convey your social work identity, expertise, and accomplishments to an employer. 

  • Example 1: “Abolitionist social worker with background in marketing applying for position of Community Outreach Specialist to help a dynamic team of professionals enhance community-based alternatives to incarceration by combining expertise in harm reduction strategies and conducting targeted outreach to diverse populations.”

  • Template: [Descriptor] social worker looking for a position at [company name], where I can apply my [years of experience] of [type of experience] and [skill 1], [skill 2] and [skill 3] to [career goal or shared goal with company].

• Skills: In this section, you should list things such as language (in parentheses, describe your proficiency in that language) and/or technology skills, not key skills that should already be described in your experiences. 

• Trainings and Certifications: Include any certifications or trainings you have completed that relate to skills and experience the position requires. List titles of trainings/certifications and dates completed.

• Leadership Experience: List any leadership roles you have held. Describe leadership with bullet points focusing on relevant information and accomplishments.

• Professional Associations/Affiliations: List any professional associations or affiliations you belong to that are relevant to the job you’re seeking (example: NASW).

  • List organizations, indicating leadership positions and committee work. Include corresponding years of membership.

• Activities/Service: Include membership or involvement in clubs, student government, community service, and/or participation on athletic teams. Emphasize leadership roles, if any.

How should I approach writing a bullet?

Bullets should be action-oriented descriptive statements that are specific and answer the questions:

• What did I do? 

• How and why did I do this work? 

• What was the result? 

• What value did I add?

How should I begin?

Social workers often don't give themselves enough credit for all the hard work they do on a day-to-day basis and consequently, their resumes are often missing crucial skills and experiences that they have gained. If you don't write it down, an employer doesn't know that you did it. Try this exercise first:

• Verbally describe what you do/did on a day-to-day basis in your internships, jobs, experiences, etc. as if you were telling a friend what you do everyday

  • Don't downplay the importance of "mundane" or "soft" skills that are essential to social work practice such as documentation, triaging requests, collaborating in interdisciplinary teams, etc.

• Write everything you say down on your resume - each skill should have its own bullet

• Then, work to refine each bullet using the tips below to craft it into resume-friendly language

Bullet Conventions

• Start each bullet with a strong action verb (in the correct tense) that emphasizes a skill you want to highlight

  • Action Verb List

  • Social Work Action Verb List

• Do not use personal pronouns (i.e. I, Me, We, My)

• Your bullets should be no longer than two lines

Strengthening Bullets

• Include details such as context, quantification, results, and outcomes to your bullets

  • Example:
    Came up with activities for volunteers → Organized community service activities for 10 full-time volunteers to support the needs of LGBTQ youth in homeless shelters

  • Include details such as presenting issues, age ranges, number of clients seen individually or in groups, frequency or length of treatment, modalities or approaches used for treatment, and outcomes of treatment

  • For non-direct practice positions, include details about impacts of a project you managed or a program you developed, the scale to which you conducted outreach or organized a community, how much you raised through a grant fundraiser, any collaborative or team initiatives, the budget amount you managed, and any other administrative skills

  • For less relevant social work positions, emphasize transferable skills gained in these positions that are applicable to social work, such as communication, empathy, problem-solving, conflict resolution, interpersonal skills, working with people, providing support, or handling client interactions

• Include as many social work keywords as possible in your resume, especially those that are included in the job description

• Match language used in the job description (example: if they want "experience with youth," but your resume says "experience with children," change it to "youth")

• Ensure your descriptions are skill-based, not task-based (example: instead of “Answered phones” (task) you can say “Conducted outreach to customers over the phone to identify and troubleshoot concerns on a daily basis” (skill)

• Avoid passive phrases such as "assisted with" or "participated in" and instead focus on the active role you took and the outcomes you achieved in your experiences (example: instead of saying "participating in weekly meetings" you could say "Advocated for clients during weekly team meetings by providing treatment recommendations")
  
  

Reviewing Bullets

• Questions to ask yourself:

  • Am I reflecting everything this experience entails from start to finish? 

  • Did I provide enough detail for someone who may not understand this role? (population, setting, scope, etc.)

  • Have I explained how and/or why I did this work? Is the purpose of my work clear?

  • Can I share the outcome of my efforts? Results-oriented data?

  • Can what I’m describing be quantified?

  • Will my audience be able to find value in the skill(s) I’ve described?

• Aim to have 4-6 bullets for more relevant and recent experiences and 2-3 bullets for less recent and relevant experiences

• Order your bullets so that the most relevant skills that speak to the job description are towards the top

• Consider whether the reader will be able to find value in the skills described or if your bullet can be replaced by something else

Only the most relevant information to what you are applying for should be included on your resume. Clarity, fine-tuning, and relevance are key.

• • Ask yourself:

    • Is there too much information included?

    • Is there irrelevant or unnecessary information?

    • Is there redundant information?

• Information not needed on a resume: 

  • Relevant coursework

  • GPA 

  • Descriptions of agencies

  • References

• Information you should leave out: 

  • Microsoft Office (unless specifically listed in job description as desired skill)

  • Google Suite

  • English

  • Soft skills (empathy, active listening, etc. (these skills should already be demonstrated through your bullets)

• Acronyms should be spelled out AND put in parentheses as you don't know which format Applicant Tracking Systems are screening for

  • Example: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• Spelling and grammar should be triple checked

Most resumes are sent via email or through an online system in PDF format.

• Email/Online:

  • Convert to a PDF whenever possible to maintain formatting

  • Be sure to include your last name in the title of the document. (Example: Kwak_Resume.pdf)

  • It is important to follow all instructions and requirements when applying

• Printed:

  • Printed resumes are important to bring to career fairs, networking events, and interviews. Print your resume on 8.5” x 11” paper.

Whenever you have to type your information into fields or upload your resume on a job board website, it's likely the organization you're applying to is using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Ensure your resume makes it past an ATS screener by:

• Being extra attentive to your formatting:

  • Organize information top down, not in columns

  • Avoid complex designs, images, or graphic elements

• Including key words from the job description on your resume:

  • Match language used in the job description (example: if they want "experience with youth," but your resume says "experience with children," change it to "youth")