A well-written curriculum vitae (CV) plays an essential role in a tutor’s career success. It depicts a comprehensive picture of your professional background and experiences for the hiring manager. Your CV can also open doors to admissions to academic programs and research projects or even receive funds to work on a project. Therefore, if you are looking for a career move and further success as a private tutor, you should know how to write a well-structured and credible CV. In this article, I will elaborate on the tutor CV format and list some tutor CV samples.
Is a CV the same as a resume?
A CV and a resume are documents prepared for job applications, and they are sometimes used synonymously. However, these documents are slightly different. In fact, in Canada and the US, a resume and a CV refer to different documents. In European countries like the UK and New Zealand, people use the term CV to refer to resume-style documents, and the term “resume” is not common. Let’s take a quick look at the differences between a CV and a resume.
- Size: A resume is one or maximally two pages long, but a CV does not have a fixed size; its length depends on the applicant’s job history.
- Content: the descriptions in the resume are carefully selected for a particular job, but the CV is more general and contains all records pertaining to the applicant’s background experiences.
- Career type: a resume is commonly used to apply for industry jobs, while a CV is more common in the academic domain. CVs are often used to apply for research programs and fellowships.
- Modifiability: the details in a resume change frequently according to the job description in the job advertisement. However, the information in a CV is somewhat fixed. Of course, you can always add information about your new experiences to the resume.
Looking for tips for writing a tutor resume? Check out the following links for more information.
Tutoring Resume Examples: Transforming Challenges into Triumphs!
What goes in a private tutor CVs?
1- Contact information
The first thing that goes after your name and job title in the CV is your contact information. You need to write the location, phone number, and email address, and if it is updated, you can insert the link to your LinkedIn page. This order for writing contact information is the most common, but you can change it.
2- Professional summary
This is a short paragraph describing in a nutshell what you have achieved and what you aim to achieve. The paragraph is three or maximally four sentences long, and the sentences do not start with the subject. The professional summary is your chance to hook the hiring manager to read the rest of your CV. One thing you can do to hook the employer is to use relevant and robust words. Watch this video on YouTube to learn how to integrate keywords from the job description in your CV.
3- Experiences and work history
As mentioned earlier, the CV is not as specific as the resume, so you can include all your professional records here, but you must prioritise the relevant ones. If there is enough space, you can mention other experiences as well. Listing the experiences should be in reverse chronological order, and you should mention the job title, the company or institute, and the start and end date of your experience there.
4- Educational background
When relevant to the job description, the education section compels the employer to consider your CV, and you will at least get an interview. Your skills and knowledge about what you aim to do depends on your education and, of course, place of graduation. In this section you need to list your degrees from most recent to least recent, followed by your major, name of the university, and time of graduation. If you have other certifications, you can also list them here. However, if you want to place more emphasis on them, you can add a separate section after “Skills” to list your certifications, licences, and relevant qualifications.
5- Skills and abilities
This is where you list your hard and soft skills. The key to writing this section is to prioritise the relevant skills to what you said in your work history. It makes your claims justified. For a tutor, skills like critical thinking, classroom management, lesson planning,
Practical tips to make your CV shine
1- Keep it short
I said earlier that a CV is longer than a resume, but you should still be frugal with words. Try to use industry-related terminology to boost the content of the CV.
2- Avoid typical CV cliches
Words and expressions like “Team Player, Hard Worker, Self-motivated, Go-getter, etc.” are overused in CVs, and they just do not have the effect they used to have. You should replace these cliches with more authentic, exact, and measurable descriptions. For instance, in the CV summary, instead of using “Flexible and adaptable,” you can say, ” Adapted teaching methods to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, engaging students in the learning process and promoting online student-student interactions.” This sentence actually conveys something about your communication skills to the employer and makes your claims more authentic and believable.
2- Make your CV eye-friendly
Hiring managers spend less than 10 seconds scanning your work history. You have to make it easy for the manager to go through your work history by using bullet points and indentation.
3- Show off your achievements
When explaining your experiences, put your achievements under the spotlight. Since it is a CV we are writing, you do not need to worry if the achievement is relevant to the job offer. So, do not be modest when it comes to achievements because it may cost you a good position.
4- Keep it formal
Obviously, you cannot use an informal tone in your CV and it is best if you avoid contractions. Also, employ an active voice when writing different parts of the resume, especially in the CV summary. But aside from the formal language, you should keep the appearance formal as well by using the following measures:
- A4 paper size.
- Preferable fonts: Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, Helvetica
- Font size: 10-12 pt for body texts, 14-16 pt for headings, and 28-35 pt for your name.
- Colours: you can use one or maximally two colors other than black to decorate your CV and make it more readable. Do not use very bright or flashy colors. Burgundy and navy blue are examples of appropriate colours to use in your tutor CV.
5- Avoid using old-fashioned CV components
A profile picture used to be shared in CVs, but nowadays, it is advised to remove the profile from the CV because it can act as an irrelevant factor in your employment or cause bias and discrimination due to age, race, and appearance. Additionally, there is no need to include references in your CV unless asked for in the job description. Save the space for other sections of the CV.
6- Reread and read again
Typos, spelling, and grammatical mistakes are bad in any CV, but in a tutor’s CV, it is mortifying. So, make sure to proofread your resume before you send it. You can also ask someone else to give it a look or use proofreading tools such as Grammarly to make sure there are no mistakes.
7- Choose the appropriate file name and format
As you finish and revise the CV, you end up with several files which are either dated, numbered or labeled to tell you which is which. Remember to remove these version numbers from the file name before you send the CV. MajidZare_CV is a good example of the CV file name. Moreover, your CV file may get distorted when the hiring manager opens it on their computer. To prevent that from happening, convert the file into .pdf format.
Tutor CV layout example
Download tutor CV templates
Soar your income with private tutor jobs
Tutoring is a favoured position among educators in the UK thanks to its flexibility, higher income, and its relative convenience. Online tutoring platforms have even made it easier for tutors to monetise their knowledge and skills. An online tutor can efficiently juggle work and personal life and plan their schedule the way they like. Furthermore, tutors are in great demand in the UK at different levels, like GCSE and A-level. The market is higher in more complex subjects such as Maths, Physics, and Chemistry, which increases the tuition rate.
Ostado is one of the leading online tutoring platforms in the UK with thousands of active clients who use Ostado’s tutoring service in one or several subjects. So, if you have the knowledge to teach any of these subjects at primary, secondary, or further education levels, become a tutor on Ostado to earn an income from your expertise in your free time.
Tutor CV examples; final words
A professional CV is the key to succeeding in your career as a tutor. Here, we went through different sections of the CV and gave you examples to further clarify what you are expected to write in your tutor CV. Once your CV is ready, you can send it to us, and we will be glad to have you among our professional online tutors. In the competitive tutoring industry, Ostado has done the marketing for you to facilitate your job as a tutor. So join us now and start teaching your favourite subject.
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- What makes a good tutor?Subject expertise and experience, approachable and friendly, focused and devoted, flexible and understanding are some of the qualities that make a good tutor. For the complete list, click on "What makes a good tutor?"
- Is tutoring considered a skill?Tutoring is more than a skill. It is a profession involving lots of hard and soft skills. You can learn more about these skills in "Requirements to be a Tutor."
- How much do tutors earn in the UK?According to numbers from PayScale, the tuition fee in the UK is £15 an hour on average. Factors such as the tutor's experience, subject complexity, and location affect the tuition fee.