Health educators play an important role with school settings and in communities as a whole. When you are ready to take on a new challenge, you need to start thinking about getting your health educator resume into shape.
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Teaching others how to stay healthy or improve their physical condition requires patience and consistency. A job search can be the same way. You need to take care with your health educator resume to ensure that you give yourself the best chance at that coveted interview. That takes patience and consistent messaging.
You don’t have to do it alone. Resume.io is a powerful resource for job seekers, as we provide resume guides and resume examples for 300+ professions, along with a user-friendly resume builder. Let us help you confidently express yourself and impress employers with a health education resume that grabs the attention of recruiters.
This resume guide, along with the corresponding resume example will cover the following topics:
- What does a health educator do?
- How to write a health educator resume (tips and tricks)
- The best format for a health educator resume sample
- Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education, skills)
- Professional resume layout and design hints.
What does a health educator do?
Some health educators work in school setting where they teach formal health classes to students. Those educators also have teaching certifications. But the majority of health educators do not work in schools, instead, they work in community settings.
The main job of health educators is, not surprisingly, to teach individuals or groups methods to help improve or maintain their health. This may include developing, promoting and teaching nutrition programs; assessing an individual’s health and encouraging lifestyle changes; suggesting treatment processes; and acting as an ongoing support person.
Health educators must be sensitive to the cultures in which they work and be sure that the health information they give out fits within community standards.
Where do health educators work?*
Community health workers
| Government | 18% |
| Individual and family services | 17% |
| Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations | 14% |
| Hospitals | 8% |
| Outpatient care centers | 8% |
Health education specialists
| Government | 24% |
| Hospitals | 22% |
| Individual and family services | 8% |
| Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations | 7% |
| Outpatient care centers | 7% |
*Source:
Health educator job market and outlook
If you have chosen to be a health educator, you're in a healthy career in more ways than one. The demand for people with your skills is expected to leap by 13% from 2019 levels to 2019. That’s much faster than average!
The main reasons for this growth is the recognition that teaching healthy habits and behaviors leads to improved health and, therefore, reduced healthcare costs.
Health educators earn a median salary of $66,206 with a range between $57,846 and $74,396, according to Salary.com. Education, certifications, additional skills and years of experience all play a role in expected salary.
How to write a health educator resume
Habits and structure are important in maintaining health. They are just as important in your job search. All CVs contain elements in common. Here are the commonalities your health education resume sample should include:
- The resume header
- The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
- The employment history section
- The resume skills section
- The education section
You assess each patient or community and address their needs in the appropriate tone and to ensure your message comes across strongly. Your health education should do the same thing. Your job here is to decide the organization’s needs and style and tailor your message to meet those needs in a style they will appreciate.
Put your finger on the pulse of the community or organization in which you want to work to understand what the job will entail. Try to put a face to the hiring manager and your prospective boss. Imagine your message is going directly to them. Anticipate what needs they have and tell them how you can help within your resume sample. That little bit of extra work could be the thing that gets you the interview.
A muscular health education resume will stick to this formula:
- Imagine you are writing your resume for one employer only each time you apply for a new position.
- Present yourself professionally with a clean, legible resume template and design that garners attention without being overly fussy.
- Ensure that you use appropriate keywords and phrases to avoid being filtered out by ATS software.
ATS optimization
Take these steps so that Applicant Tracking Systems algorithms are more likely to allow you to pass through to a human being:
- Analyze the job list
- Highlight any skills, attributes or requirements listed
- Check your resume for those keywords and phrases
- Insert any that you don’t have that are relevant to your experience
- Make sure you use the exact wording.
One thing to note: Don’t overdo it. Keep your wording natural and remember that recruiters have seen all the tricks before.
Choosing the best resume format for a health educator
The tried-and-true reverse chronological order resume is most likely to be your best bet format. Why? Because it works and because it makes it easy for recruiters to find the information they seek.
If you are in a technology or specialty field and need to highlight niche or complex skills, you may want to use functional resume format instead. Within this format, you can expand your skills section to show off your expertise and contract your employment history to a simple listing of employers or contract engagements.
Other life situations that call for different resume types are gaps in work history, first-time entry into the job market or career changing. Check out our alternate formats for more information on how to write resumes in those circumstances.
Resume summary example: exercise your creativity
Your health education resume summary tells prospective employers: “This is what I want you to know about me and my accomplishments.” It occupies the top of your resume and while it may not be the first section hiring managers look at, it offers a more personal view of you and your professional personality and allows you to get a bit creative.
If you’re having trouble finding inspiration for your summary (since it’s the most free-form writing section on your resume), you can find additional writing material in our related medical category of resume examples. The health care administration resume example, epidemiologist resume example or the general healthcare resume example can offer some help.
Choose one or two strong adjectives about yourself and your career and mix them into your descriptions of your greatest achievements. Get the hiring managers blood pumping as you explain how you will elevate the health of the community with your knowledge and communication skills. You have two or three sentences to get creative, so be concise and be sure the message of this section fits with the rest of your resume.
See the resume example content for a summary below.
Experienced and passionate health educator with a love for teaching and empowering my students through powerful health awareness. Adept in designing and implementing a comprehensive curriculum that meets specific goals, as well as education requirements and standards. Bringing forth the ability to accurately assess the needs of different clients, and provide life-changing suggestions and support. Familiar with various teaching techniques, and the drive to continue to grow and advance as a Health Educator.
Employment history sample: the build up
Like most employment history sections, a health educator’s employment history should be organized in reverse chronological order and offer details about your career. This section will take up the bulk of your resume unless you have just entered the job market.
Each job listing is the story of your success and growth at that position. Try organizing your bullet items so that your biggest achievement is at the top. Use strong action words such as developed, encouraged, spearheaded, educated, motivated that give a picture of you as a dedicated go-getter.
Do not create lists of responsibilities, instead show that you were able to develop health programs that increased community participation in your organization’s initiatives or use facts to demonstrate improved community or individual health. As a health professional, you use data all the time to monitor patient health so you know they make a strong case. Use those numbers to make a strong case for yourself in your employment history.
The CAR method
If you are having a hard time wording the bullet items in your employment history section, try the CAR method:
- Explain a challenge you faced at work.
- Describe the action you took.
- Detail the results you achieved.
See the resume sample content below.
- Designed a comprehensive Health curriculum aimed at providing students with health awareness and disease prevention techniques.
- Collected and presented detailed health information to the public concerning disease awareness, prevention, and management.
- Created and distributed STD prevention education materials to community members.
- Assessed the overall health and fitness of clients and developed treatment plans and lifestyle suggestions accordingly.
- Worked with clients to develop beneficial stress management methods.
CV skills example: knowledge and empathy
A healthy skills section is the backbone of your health educator resume sample because it tells at a glance what you bring to the job and what you believe is most important. Recruiters will look here first to make sure you have the attributes they seek. That’s why it is so important to tailor this section to the specific job listing.
You need a strong combination of health and medical knowledge, or hard skills, and interpersonal, or soft skills to be outstanding in your field. Make sure you create a good mix of both as you compile your list of 5-7 skills for this section.
- Choose higher level skills that differentiate you
- Match the exact wording of skills in the job listing
- Use a vague description such as “communication” without qualifying it
- List basic skills that are expected at your experience level
See the resume example content below.
- Curriculum Development
- Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Technology Infused Education
- Informal and Formal Assessments
- Mentoring Skills
- Advanced Communication Skills
Health educator resume education example
Your health educator education section is simply a listing of your degrees and certifications. In fact, you may choose to call this section exactly that: Education and Certifications. You may also separate the two if your one-page resume has enough space or you have multiple certifications to list.
The minimum requirement for a health educator is a bachelor’s degree, but if you have a higher degree, you may eliminate your high school experience.
See resume example content below.
- 2004-2008 WCSU, Bachelor of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences Danbury, CT
- 2000-2004 New Milford High School, High School Diploma New Milford, CT
Resume layout and design: first impressions
Don’t underestimate the need for a professional-looking layout and design. We all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but first impressions do count. Take the opportunity to wow your future boss by creating a polished, easy-to-read layout.
Here are some key tenets of resume design:
- Make sure your contact information stands out. You want that hiring manager to be able to contact you without a hunt.
- Yes, you have a lot to say, but leave your margins ample and avoid big blocks of type. If it’s not easy to read, it may not be read at all.
- Go for eye-catching, but stay on the conservative side of flashy. You want to be remembered — in a good way.
- Make sure you spellcheck and grammar check. The best design won’t get you very far if your text contains errors.
Consider using one of our resume templates to save you the tedious task of formatting for perfection.
Key takeaways for a health educator resume
- You’ve chosen a healthy career in more than one way! You can grow your career as you grow the health of your community.
- Use your skill at assessing how to communicate with different patients to speak directly to each prospective employer.
- Target your resume by inserting keywords and phrases that appear in the job listing.
- Using the online resume maker as a way to make your life easier and the job application process - faster!
