You want to work with and support students with special needs as a paraprofessional.
But in order to secure the position, you first need to be invited in for an interview, and this requires a standout resume.
So, for an application that effectively showcases your qualifications and interpersonal skills, check out our special education paraprofessional resume example and writing guide below.
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Special Education Paraprofessional Resume Example
This example Special Education Paraprofessional resume provides you with a general idea of how your resume should look, and what information recruiters expect to see.
The rest of this guide will explain how to layout your resume and create each section effectively.
Special Education Paraprofessional resume layout and format
If you want to get noticed in the job market, you have to pay attention to the format and layout of your resume.
Essentially your resume needs to look highly polished, and provide hiring managers with an easy reading experience.
Use these resume formatting tips to get a head start on this.
Formatting your resume for success
- Length: To ensure that recruiters will read all of your resume, limit its length to 2 pages – as they someteimes read hundreds of resumes daily.
- Font & readability: 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.
- Layout & Structure: Your resume should look appealing – but don’t overlook functionality when it comes to design. Organise the page into clear sections using bold headings and borders.
- 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
Divide the page into these sections when you write your own resume.
- Name and contact details – Simply state who you are, and how to get in touch with you.
- Resume summary – An introductory paragraph at the very top of your resume which summarizes your skills, experience and suitability for your target jobs.
- Core skills section – A bullet-pointed list of your skills that relate most to your target jobs.
- Work experience – A list of your current and previous jobs, including all of your responsibilities and achievements.
- Education – A section that showcases all of your education and academic achievements.
- Additional info (optional) – Here you can add an extra section for things like hobbies and interests, or anything else that might be relevant to your target jobs.
Here’s what to include in each part of your resume.
Contact Details
Keep your contact details short to save resume space and include the following.
- Name and profession title
- Cell phone number
- Location – Add your local area such as Silicon Valley or New York, unless you are looking for work in a different location
- Email address – Keep it professional and don’t use an old address that you thought was cool in high school, but now looks a bit embarrassing.
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.
Special Education Paraprofessional Resume Summary
Your resume summary is like an elevator pitch. It’s your chance to sell yourself to employers within a short space of time.
Achieve this by summarizing your skills and expertise, whilst highlighting your abilities that closely match the jobs you are aiming for.
How to create a resume summary that will get you noticed:
- Keep it short: 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: Tailor your resume to your target jobs by studying the job description and adding as many matching skills as you can.
- Avoid using cliches: You may be a “team player who always give 110%” but generic phrases don’t tell employers much about you in reality – stick to factual information.
Example resume summary for Special Education Paraprofessional
What to include in your Special Education Paraprofessional resume summary?
- Summary of experience: Briefly describe the work you have performed in the past and the contributions you have made to the organizations you have worked for.
- Relevant skills: Incorporate your highly relevant skills for Special Education Paraprofessional jobs to exhibit your suitability as soon as your resume is opened.
- Qualifications: Mention any Special Education Paraprofessional qualifications that are important to your profession in the summary briefly, to show you are qualified to carry out the role.
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.
Best skills for your Special Education Paraprofessional resume
Classroom Management – Managing a classroom environment and maintaining structure and routine, including managing behavior and attention spans.
Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) – Creating and implementing IEPs to support students in achieving their individual IEP goals.
Behavioral Intervention – Using positive behavior intervention strategies to support students with challenging behaviors.
Instructional Support – Providing instructional support to students, including modifying materials and adapting lesson plans to meet the needs of individual students.
Data Collection and Analysis – Collecting data and analyzing results to inform instructional decisions and improve outcomes for students.
Assistive Technology – Maintaining knowledge of assistive technology and implementing technology-based tools and strategies to support students with disabilities.
Crisis Management – Responding appropriately to crisis situations and providing support and intervention as needed, including following established protocols for emergency situations.
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.
Work experience
So, you’ve grabbed the recruiters’ attention with your summary, now it’s time to show them what you’re really capable of in your work experience section.
List your previous jobs from current to oldest, showing off the impact you made at each organization.
If you have tons of experience, you should just list the most recent an relevant jobs – but if you have little or no experience, add it all and even consider putting in voluntary work.
Structuring your jobs
Without a good structure, your job description can look messy and overwhelming to anyone reading them.
Make it easy for recruiters to read your work experience by structuring your roles like this.
Job outline
Each role description should begin with a qucik summary of the job and company, along with how the job fits into the strucuture of the organization.
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 Special Education Paraprofessional resume
Outline
Support children aged 5-11 with physical and behavioral additional needs within a classroom setting at a mainstream elementary school, assisting them with physical tasks and emotional regulation and focus to help integrate them and encourage learning.
Key Responsibilities
- Adapts classroom activities, assignments, and materials under the direction of the lead teacher
- Assist additionally needs students with personal hygiene activities such as using the bathroom
- Maintain regular communication with supervising staff, support personnel, and parents/carers
- Evaluate and record student progress according to their individualized education plan (IEP)
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
Near the end of your resume add your education section
Experienced candidates should keep it brief and focus on professional qualifications – and junior candidates can include high school diplomas, college degrees etc.
Additional information
If you have anything else to add which is relevant to the jobs you are applying for, the additional info section is the place to add it.
Perhaps you have a hobby which involves relevant skills, or maybe you have some awards or publications worth mentioning.
Writing your own Special Education Paraprofessional resume
Writing a Special Education Paraprofessional resume can be challenging but following the steps above will ensure that you land plenty of interviews.
If you want to speed up the process and use an attractive professional template, try out our quick-and-easy Resume Builder.
Good luck with your job search!