Tutor Skills for a Resume

Families and tutoring companies hire tutors who explain clearly, adapt to each student and get results. Show the subjects and levels you teach, how you find gaps and the progress your students make.

Updated

12 skills at a glance

Hard skills

What the work takes, how a hiring manager judges each skill, and a bullet point that shows it.

  1. Subject knowledge at the levels taught

    Name the subjects and the highest level you teach, and any degree or score that proves it.

    Example bullet pointTaught chemistry and biology from ninth grade to AP level, drawing on a degree in biochemistry.

  2. Test preparation (SAT, ACT, AP, GRE)

    Name the tests and the average score gains your students made.

    Example bullet pointPrepared 15 students a year for the ACT, with an average gain of four composite points.

  3. Diagnostic assessment

    Show how you find the real gap behind a student's trouble.

    Example bullet pointFound that a student's calculus trouble came from gaps in algebra, and closed those first.

  4. Lesson planning for individuals

    Show plans built around each student's goals.

    Example bullet pointPlanned each student's sessions around their school syllabus and target grade, reviewed every month.

  5. Online teaching tools

    Name the tools and how you keep online sessions engaging.

    Example bullet pointTaught online with Zoom, a shared whiteboard and short quizzes, keeping students active every few minutes.

  6. Progress tracking and reporting

    Show how you measure progress and share it with families.

    Example bullet pointSent parents a monthly summary with scores, goals and what to practice next.

  7. Study and organization skills coaching

    Show the habits you helped students build and their effect.

    Example bullet pointTaught students a weekly planner routine that helped them hand in homework on time.

Soft skills

Shown through what you did, never claimed as adjectives.

  1. Patience

    Show it with a student who found the subject hard or stressful.

    Example bullet pointWorked with a student anxious about math until she could solve problems aloud with confidence.

  2. Clear explanation

    Show how you make hard ideas simple.

    Example bullet pointExplained chemical bonding with everyday examples, so students could reason through new problems.

  3. Encouragement

    Show how you built a student's confidence and effort.

    Example bullet pointCelebrated small wins with a struggling student, who went from skipping homework to finishing every assignment.

  4. Adapting to each student

    Show different approaches for different learners.

    Example bullet pointSwitched to spoken explanations and color-coded notes for a student with dyslexia.

  5. Reliability

    Show steady attendance and long relationships with families.

    Example bullet pointKept the same weekly schedule with most families for two years or more.

Licenses and certifications

Give them a section of their own, with who issued each one and the year or expiry date.

  • Teaching license, if held
  • CRLA tutor certification
  • Background check clearance

Keywords from tutor job postings

Use the ones that are true for you, in your bullet points as well as your skills list.

  • students
  • SAT
  • algebra
  • calculus
  • sessions
  • online
  • one-on-one
  • score
  • parents

Each posting has its own words. Our guide to tailoring your resume to a job description shows how to find them and where to put them.

Where to put your skills

  • In a skills section: a short list of the hard skills the posting names, in its words.
  • In your bullet points: every skill that matters should show up in something you did, with a result. That is where a hiring manager believes it.
  • In your summary: two or three of the skills the job asks for most.

More on choosing them in how to choose and prove the skills on your resume.

Questions

What skills should a tutor put on a resume?

Your subjects and levels, test preparation, diagnostic assessment, individual lesson planning, online teaching tools, progress reporting and study skills coaching, plus patience and clear explanation.

How do I show results as a tutor?

Give average score gains, grade improvements or exam results, with the number of students and the time it took.

Can I list tutoring I did privately?

Yes. Describe it like any job, with the subjects, the number of students and the results.

Put them to work

Start from a tutor resume that already uses these skills, for an invented person, and make it yours in the builder.

Use this exampleRead the tutor resume example