A strong resume is a powerful tool in your job search. It’s a single document that shows employers why you’re the best fit for their organization and how you can contribute to their overall success. But writing a resume that clearly communicates these things and looks good can be tough.

In the BCBA space, a well-crafted resume is incredibly important. There are lots of jobs available, but not all of them are created equal. So when there’s a position that’s perfect for you—with great benefits and a healthy company culture—you want to make sure you can put your best foot forward. Your resume helps you do just that.

In this article, we’ll look at a few different elements of crafting your perfect resume. First, we’ll discuss why a resume is so important, then we’ll dive into how to write a great resume along with some helpful tips to keep you on the right track. We even added a few resume examples you can use as a guide while you write your own.

Why a Well-Crafted Resume Is Important

Captures Attention

You only have seconds to capture a reviewer’s attention when they’re skimming through applicants. Many ABA companies need to hire quickly, so they won’t waste time reading every word of every resume that gets submitted. If your resume doesn’t grab their attention quickly, it’ll get passed over without a second thought.

Most resumes aren’t laid out to accomplish this goal. They often contain some good information but aren’t presenting those facts correctly. Common mistakes include putting relevant information too far from the top, including too many words, and not laying out the information in a way that’s easy to scan. It’s important to remember that no one reads your entire resume. You need to use headings and a clever layout design so the most important pieces of information are what people notice first.

Gets You an Interview

Your resume isn’t what gets you the job, it’s what gets you an interview. A well-crafted resume should capture the attention of recruiters and convince them that you’re worth meeting in person. This could be based on your technical skills, educational background, past jobs, or a combination of them all.

Going one step further, your resume can also help you in the initial interview. It helps you break down your past experience and career goals into a language the interviewer can understand. When prepared with a great resume, you’ll answer their questions before they ask them, showing you’re a highly qualified candidate.

How to Create a Great Resume

Introductory Information

Your resume should always start with your name and contact information. It should be easy for a reviewer to see who they’re considering and how to get in touch with you. If they have to search for this information, they’re likely to skip to the next candidate and never give you a chance.

Next you should list your education and any credentials or licenses you hold. Be sure to include what type of degree you earned and the name of the university you attended. For professional credentials and licenses, list the organization who conferred them to you and when you earned it. And for your BCBA, include your number and the year it was earned.

Work Experience 

There are many different ways to lay out your work history on a resume, but the core information always needs to be obvious. Who did you work for? When did you work there? What was your job title? Ideally, the answers to these three questions will be the header of each job listed on your resume.

Writing out job descriptions in a concise, easy-to-scan fashion is also important. Your key responsibilities and accomplishments should be listed in single-line bullet points. Each bullet point should start with a verb and keep it simple, yet specific. Point to clear actions and measurable results.

What to Include

It’s tempting to include every little detail about your past jobs to show your dynamic skill set, but this can weigh down your resume. When reviewers scan your work experience, they’re looking for a few specific pieces of information:

• What setting did you work in? (in home, center-based, school, ABA facility, etc.)
• What was your case load or weekly billable hours?
• What age range did you work with?
• Did you supervise anyone?

You can also include anything that went above and beyond your regular BCBA casework. For example, if you supervised master’s students earning their clinical hours or were a member of the peer review committee you could note that in the bullet list for that job.

Tips for Writing a Great Resume

For New Professionals

When you’re just starting out in the ABA field, you probably have little (if any) job experience as a BCBA. In this case, rely on your supervised experience as your work history. You can include all of your training hours as previous experience to show you have the skills and knowledge to function in a professional ABA setting.

It’s also important to show your professional growth, which indicates future potential. Show the career progression you had throughout your training from the start of your experience to the end. Many common scenarios can show a potential employer your growth, such as:

• You started a position as a behavior technician and ended leading a team of your peers. 
• You started with a small caseload and worked up to the same caseload that established BCBAs handle.
• You started handling mostly easy cases and by the time you left were handling all difficult cases.
• You were asked to help train other behavior technicians when they joined the team.

For Existing Professionals

If you have some professional experience as a BCBA, then you should focus more on updating the information in your resume instead of creating a new one. You likely have your work history already written out and the information organized logically. But to snag that perfect job, you have to find a way to make your existing resume even better.

One way to do this is to tailor the information to the job you want. Within your job descriptions, highlight aspects of your previous experience that cater to the new position you want. For example, if the position you’re applying for requires you to supervise behavior technicians, be sure to include your past supervisory experience as one of the first bullet points in each description where it applies.

Remember to always organize your resume so the most relevant information is the first thing a reviewer sees. Not every job will require the same experience or skills, so don’t use the exact same resume for each application. Make small adjustments to fit the job description and company culture so reviewers can see you’re a qualified candidate who would be a great fit on their team.

These are just a few examples of situations that show you’ve already grown in your career and have the potential to be a valuable team member. 

Example of a Great Resume

Let Your Resume Do the Heavy Lifting

Your resume can mean the difference between a first interview and an employer passing you up, so don’t let common mistakes keep you from having a chance. After you’ve followed these tips and crafted the perfect resume, PsycTalent can help to match you with the right employer.
Schedule a consultation or visit our website to learn more about how we can help you land your perfect job.