Can you convert content into cash? As a grant writer, you’ll need to craft perfect proposals that will help you to secure funding for your organization.
But first, you must carefully craft the resume that’s going to get you hired.
To help you do this, we’ve put together our top writing advice, complete with a grant writer resume example to inspire your own.
Guide contents
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Grant Writer Resume Example
This example Grant Writer resume gives you a general idea of how to structure your own resume, along with the type of content you need to include.
Sticking with this resume format will help you to get noticed by employers and ensure that they can quickly see the benefit of hiring you.
Now, lets walk through a step-by-step guide on how to write your own winning resume.
Grant Writer resume layout and formatting
When it comes to holding the attention of recruiting managers, the format and layout of your resume play a key role.
Your resume needs to strike a perfect balance between looking awesome, and being easy for recruiters to read (which is not always easy to achieve)
Use the following formatting tips to get started.
How to format your resume
- Length: Attention spans in recruitment are notoriously short, so keep your resume short and sweet. There’s no exact rule for resume length, but aim for 2 pages or less if you want to ensure yours gets read in full.
- Font & text: Simplicity and a pleasant reading experience are crucial if you want to highlight your most valuable skills to recruiters. Use a clear font (avoid fancy ones) and break up the text in your resume with bullet points to ensure information can be easily consumed.
- Design & layout: Go with a resume design that looks good, but also allows for easy reading and navigation for employers. Ensure the page is clearly split up into sections by adding large font headings and dividing borders. Keep the color scheme simple and don’t overcrowd the page.
- Photos: You are not obliged to add a photo to your resume in the USA, but it can be a nice way of adding some life to the document.
Quick tip: Achieving a professional look for your resume can be difficult and time-consuming. If you want to create an attractive resume quickly, try our quick-and-easy Resume Builder and use one of their eye-catching resume templates.
Resume layout
When you write your resume, include the sections below.
- Name and contact details – Pop these at the very top to ensure recruiters know how to contact you.
- Resume summary – An eye-catching paragraph which summarizes your most valuable attributes – placed near the top of your resume
- Skills section – A bullet pointed list of your most in-demand skills, enabling recruiters to see your suitability from a glance.
- Work experience – List some or all of your previous jobs in reverse chronological order – voluntary work and college placements can be included if you have no paid experience.
- Education – A summary of your professional training and academic qualifications.
- Additional info – An optional section for anything that may boost your application, such as relevant hobbies and interests
Here’s what you should include in each section of your resume.
Resume Contact Details
Add your name and contact details to the very top of your resume, making it easy for recruiters to get in touch
- Name and profession title
- Cell phone number – or another number you can answer quickly
- Location – Add your local area such as San Diego or New York – not your full address as that will take up too much space.
- Email address – Use your name or close variation – no nicknames from high school.
You can add a link to your LinkedIn profile if you have one – you do not need to include personal details like date of birth or marital status.
Grant Writer Resume Summary
Now it’s time to get into the real content of your resume, starting with the summary.
Your resume summary is a short paragraph at the top of the document, and its jobs is to catch the eye of hiring managers by summarizing all your skills and knowledge that are most important to the roles you are applying for.
3 tips for creating a resume summary that will get noticed:
- Keep it concise: Your summary is intended to be a high-level introduction to hook readers’ attention, so keep it brief (4-7 lines) – save the details for later in your resume.
- Tailor to target jobs: Ensure your profile makes an impact by matching it closely to the requirements of the job description, copying as many key terms as possible.
- Don’t use cliches: Recruiters always see cringey cliches like “hardworking guru who works well in a team or individually” – they don’t mean much to anyone, so focus your summary on tangible skills and experience.
Example resume summary for Grant Writer
What info to include in your Grant Writer resume summary?
- Summary of experience: Summarize the type of work you have done in the past and the benefits you have delivered for the organizations you worked at.
- Relevant skills: Highlight your skills which are most relevant to Grant Writer jobs, to ensure that recruiters see your most in-demand skills as soon as they open your resume.
- Vital qualifications: If your job requires any qualifications such as a professional course or a college degree, mention it briefly in your summary.
Quick tip: Choose from hundreds of pre-written summaries across all industries, and add one to your resume with one-click in our quick-and-easy Resume Builder. All written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset and style.
Core skills section
Next, you should create a bullet pointed list of your core skills, formatted into 2-3 columns.
Here, you should focus on including the most important skills or knowledge listed in the job advertisement.
This will instantly prove that you’re an ideal candidate, even if a recruiter only has time to briefly scan your resume.
Top skills for your Grant Writer resume
Funding Opportunities – identifying relevant funding opportunities which meet the grant criteria for application.
Grant Research – researching the wide variety of grants available to ensure applications are only made to those most suitable.
Financial Projections – creating complex reports which outline the financial outcomes if grants are given.
Budget Management – allocating grant funds and tracking expenses against these agreed budget allocations to reduce the chance of overspending.
Experienced Copywriter – writing persuasive copy with the purpose of convincing grant funders to provide support.
Quick tip: Our quick-and-easy Resume Builder contains thousands of in-demand skills for every profession that can be added to your resume in seconds – saving you time and greatly improving your chances of landing job interviews and getting hired.
Resume work experience section
Once you’ve got recruiters interested with your impactful summary, your work experience is where the real detail will lie.
Lay out your previous jobs from current to oldest, detailing what you contributed and achieved in each one.
If you’re highly experienced you can cut this section down to your most recent few years of work, but if you are junior you can bulk this up with voluntary work and college placements.
Structuring your job descriptions
It’s easy to overwhelm readers when writing about a job you have been doing for years or even months.
Break the information up like this to keep it simple for recruiters to understand.
Job outline
Kick off each role with a high-level overview to summarize the focus of the job, what the organization/department does, and how you fit into the bigger picture.
Key responsibilities
List your notable responsibilities in short sharp bullet points to demonstrate your input and how you contributed to the organization’s success.
Highlight the skills that are most important to the roles you are applying for.
Key achievements
Round off each job by adding some impressive achievements you made in the role.
Anything you’ve done that has made a big impact on your employer will make a good impression, think; generating revenue, saving costs, or improving a product.
Quantify your achievements with number where possible e.g. “reduced call wait time by 10%”
Example job for Grant Writer resume
Outline
Work as the primary Grant Writer for a large children’s hospice in Milwaukee that provides inpatient and outpatient palliative care and support for up to 340 patients and their guardians each year. Responsible for sourcing and securing a $3.1 million annual fundraising target from government and private grants with support from a team of administrators and freelancers.
Key Responsibilities
- Draft and submit grant applications, closely analysing briefs to write targeted bids
- Work closely with fundraising administrators, delegating tasks fairly, prioritising projects accordingly and monitoring progress
- Identify new potential funders and open-source grants to apply for
- Conduct research and compile evidence, facts and quotes from internal and external staff to support applications
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our quick-and-easy Resume Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education section
After your work experience, add your education section.
If you are an experienced professional, you can keep this part short – adding basic details of each qualification.
If you have little or no experience, bulk this section up by adding more detail and highlight important skills and knowledge for your target jobs.
Additional information
At the end of your resume, you can add any extra information that might be relevant to the jobs you are applying for.
This could be hobbies, interests, publications, clubs or memberships.
This section is optional and doesn’t need to be added if you have nothing more relevant to add.
Writing your Grant Writer resume
A winning Grant Writer resume should look great, read well, and sell your skillset to hiring managers.
If you follow the steps above, you should be able to bag yourself a top job in no time.
And don’t forget you can use our quick-and-easy Resume Builder if you want to save time and ensure your resume contains the very best content.
Good luck with your job search!