Notary resume examples & templates

A notary is responsible for verifying documents and signatures and ensuring documents comply with laws and regulations. That means your notary resume should reflect your exceptional attention to detail and ability to stay current on requirements. It should also show your ability to maintain information accuracy and communicate clearly with customers.

A generic, vague resume won’t get you very far. You need a document that seals the deal with clarity and professionalism. Your resume is the first impression you make, so you want to ensure it’s a great one. 

Resume guide for a notary resume

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This resume guide and corresponding notary resume example will cover the following:

• How to write a notary resume
• Choosing the right resume format for notary jobs
• How to add your contact information
• Using summaries
• Adding your notary experience
• Listing education and relevant experience
• Picking the right resume design/layout
• What the notary job market looks like and what salary you can expect

How to write a notary resume

The very first step in writing your notary resume is understanding what sections to include. Your resume should contain the following elements:

• The resume header
• The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The resume skills section
• The education section

Bringing in new customers as a notary requires a strong sales pitch, and your resume is no different. Instead of selling your value to clients, you’re selling your value to the hiring company. To do this effectively, you need to gather as much detail as you can about the company and its needs. Then, think about how what you offer can meet those needs. This is your unique value proposition. This starts with your resume and should follow a formula like this:

• Highlight specific achievements rather than daily responsibilities. Anyone can make a list of their day-to-day duties and tasks, but what sets you apart from other notaries? What have you accomplished?
• Tailor your resume to each role and company for which you apply. Try to adjust your style, tone, and content to be as relevant as possible to the organization and their requirements.
• Showcase your professionalism with a resume template that’s polished and easy to read without being too formal or stuffy.
• Don’t forget about keywords. Whether you’re submitting your resume to be reviewed by ATS screening software or by a recruiter or manager, your resume should reflect the right language and key phrases.

Choosing the right resume format for a notary resume

Notaries are detail-oriented and focused on accuracy, as they deal with important documents and contracts. Your resume should reflect your ability to be professional and on the ball, the same qualities you exhibit as a notary.

The best resume format for most notary roles is reverse chronological. This format puts the most focus on your prior work history, listed in reverse chronological order to tell the story of your career.

If you’re new to the notary field (whether because you’re just starting your career or making a major pivot), you might find success with an alternative format, such as the functional format, which focuses more on your skills and less on your work history. There’s also the option of a hybrid format that blends the two.

Whichever seems like the best fit, there are many resume templates in our resume builder. Simply select the format that best suits your situation. We also have several versions of all three formats available as resume examples.

When it comes to design, a notary resume should use an organized, well-structured modern or professional layout. 

Include your contact information

When you meet new customers, you probably introduce yourself or even share a business card. Your resume’s header is the way to do this with your resume document. 

It’s most important to use your header to make your contact information easily accessible. Of course, you should also present it professionally and know which information to include.

• Full name & title. Just list your first and last name, along with the title of the role you are pursuing.
• Professional email address. Use a simple format like firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Avoid quirky, unprofessional email addresses.
• Phone number. List a number where you can easily be contacted. Make sure your voicemail inbox is set up with a professional greeting and available to take new messages.
• Location. List only your city and state, not your street address or zip code (sharing your full address is both outdated and unsafe). If you’re willing to relocate, note that here.
• LinkedIn. If your LinkedIn profile is active, relevant, and shows your notary expertise and strong network, include it here.

Don’t include:

• Date of birth. This information is not necessary and could lead to age discrimination.
• Personal details. Keep details like your marital status, social security number, passport number, etc. off of your resume.
• Photo or headshot. It’s not customary to include a photo for most jobs in the US, so your best bet is to leave this off.

Make use of a summary

Your resume summary expands on the introduction from your header. It’s where you start delving into the real meat of your resume: the narrative of your career and how you stand out from other candidates. 

In just 2-3 lines, you’ll introduce yourself as someone who can solve the company's problems. Use action verbs and quantifiable metrics to show off your achievements and talents, not just your ability to check off notary tasks. 

Don’t just reiterate or rephrase your resume, but instead present an overarching summary of what makes you uniquely qualified. In other words, demonstrate your unique value. For instance, your summary may include a line like, “Consistently achieved highest customer satisfaction metrics while handling a high volume of clients.” 

You can find adaptable notary resume example summaries below:

Outline your notary work experience 

The typical notary resume will be written in reverse chronological order, so start with your most recent or current employer and work your way backward. Only go back the last 10-15 years to avoid ageism and irrelevant information. Keep your experience as related to notary work as possible. 

Underneath the heading for each employer and role, add concise bullet point statements to detail your contributions. Use dynamic action words here: delivered, achieved, verified, maintained, organized, accomplished. 

Try to be as specific about your achievements as possible; don’t just list job tasks. For example, you can probably imagine a fairly basic notary resume with bullets like these:

• “Perform notarizations for several types of documents.”
• “Maintain meticulous records.”
• “Conduct mobile notary services for elderly and disabled clients.”
• “Train and mentor junior notaries.”

It’s true that those are all duties a notary public might execute, but nothing stands out or shows unique value. If you instead focus on results and specific details, it changes the impact of your resume. Take a look:

• “Perform an average of 50 notarizations per week, including loan documents, affidavits, and real estate transactions.”
• “Maintain meticulous records of all notarial acts in compliance with Texas state law.”
• “Conduct mobile notary services for elderly and disabled clients, increasing accessibility by 30%.”
• “Train and mentor junior notaries, improving team efficiency by 25%.”

Take a look at the notary employment history resume sample below:

How to write a notary resume with no experience 

If you don’t have direct experience on your resume, it’s still possible to land a notary job. You’ll just need to focus on your transferable skills and any related experience. 

For starters, transferable skills can include customer service skills from a job in sales, serving, or anything else that directly works with customers. Anything that displays your communication abilities is impactful as well. 

Do you have any experience tangentially related to notary work? For instance, perhaps you’ve worked as a real estate agent or assistant or have experience proofreading legal documents. Even administrative assistant experience can be relevant. 

Of course, your education matters, too. If you have a notary license or have undergone the training, be sure to include it. 

Include the relevant key skills that make you a great notary 

Your resume’s skills section should list your hard and soft skills to showcase your expertise. Hard skills are those that can be tested and demonstrated, like notary expertise, use of specific software or technology, or knowledge of regulations. 

However, soft skills like customer service, communication skills, and an awareness of industry trends will also help you stand out from the crowd.

Our resume builder offers plenty of pre-written key skills to choose from, as well as the opportunity to add your own.  

Here’s what the skills box looks like in our notary resume template. 

The skills section isn’t the only place to detail your key skills, however. You should weave them throughout your resume by providing specific examples and achievements to show them in action. 

For example, in your work experience and summary sections, highlight your:

• Notary industry knowledge by showcasing your knowledge of relevant laws and regulations
• Confidentiality ability by detailing your experience handling confidential information, such as in prior notary roles or roles in HR, finance, or healthcare
• Customer service skills by noting any customer service ratings, repeat customers, or referrals

Look to the job description as a guide for the best skills to include.

Detail your education & relevant notary certifications

On a notary resume, like most others, the education section is pretty straightforward. Simply start by listing your academic credentials in reverse chronological order. If you have any college degrees or higher, you can leave off your high school information. It can also be helpful to include notary-adjacent education like a paralegal certificate or other legal training.

Beyond formal education, however, this section is an excellent opportunity to list relevant training, certifications, and other information. For instance:

• Licenses and certifications. Of course, you should list your state Notary Public License here, as well as a Remote Online Notarization (RON) Certification if you have it.
• Other training. Don’t forget about other courses, workshops, or even webinars that have enhanced your skills in notary work. For instance, compliance or ethics training or courses in electronic document management systems.
• Professional associations. Memberships in business or trade associations, like the National Notary Association, American Society of Notaries, or Notary Association of America.

Pick the right resume layout and design for a notary resume

As we’ve mentioned, your notary public resume should reflect your professionalism and keen attention to detail and accuracy. That means making sure your resume design is straightforward and clear, not confusing or distracting. 

To accomplish this, select a resume template with clean lines to separate the sections, a modern font, and no or limited color. Avoid graphics or anything flashy: the goal is to catch the reader’s attention for your content, not catch them off guard with your design. Remember to use a good balance of white space to text so it doesn’t seem like an impenetrable page of words.

Although writing a notary resume isn’t quite as easy as simply stamping a signature, there are ways to make it easier. Start with our varied resume templates, which take care of the tedious design and formatting aspects for you. 

Notary text-only resume example

Notary job market and outlook

The notary job market has been in flux over the past few years. With high interest rates and a challenging economy, many notaries have seen fewer appointments, especially as real estate has slowed down. However, several notaries report expanding their service offerings and ramping up their networking to bring in new business. 

Mobile notaries, specifically, have seen an increase in business, with more and more customers feeling comfortable with the idea of a notary coming to their home. 

What type of salary you can expect as a notary

How much a notary earns depends on a few factors including whether they’re self-employed or employed by an organization and whether they work part-time or full-time. 

According to the National Notary Association, over half of full-time mobile notaries earn over $2,000 per month. Full-time notaries who have been in business for three or more years can earn $4,000 or more monthly—16 percent of full-timers bring in over $7,500 per month.

On the part-time side, 43 percent earn over $500 a month and almost 30 percent bring in over $1,000 per month.

Key takeaways for building a notary resume

A career as a notary can offer flexibility and variety, as well as a chance to work with diverse clientele and help them with major life events like buying a house. To land a notary job, your resume must reflect your ability to be professional, accurate, and in charge of confidential information. You’ve also got to have exceptional communication and customer service skills, both to serve your notary clients and to meet the needs of hiring managers who view your resume. 

Begin your job search with our resume builder, but take it to the next level with resume.io.

With 18 career-boosting tools, you can easily search for notary jobs, monitor your progress, prepare for interviews, and negotiate salaries with confidence using our complete career toolkit.