Activities Director Sample

As an Activities Director, you spend your life helping others enrich theirs. Whether you’re planning and managing recreational activities at assisted living facilities, camps, parks, or schools, your efforts play a vital role in improving the mental, physical, and emotional health of those you serve. To land that crucial position, you need an Activities Director resume that showcases the unique value you can bring to the job. But how do you create that type of resume – a resume that will help you stand out from the competition?

We have you covered! In this Activities Director resume guide, we’ll provide all the tips and tricks you need to know to put together a coherent resume that highlights your most relevant skills, experiences, and achievements. We’ll also provide the insights you need to know what employers are looking for in great job candidates. Finally, we’ve included a sample resume that you can use as inspiration to create a resume that increases your odds of making just the right first impression on employers.

How to write a resume

Writing a resume requires just the type of organizational skills you use in your role as an Activities Director. You need careful planning, a keen eye for detail, and a commitment to great communication. Fortunately, your skills can aid you in this quest, as you choose the right format, structure, and value-added content for each section of your resume. In the end, you should have a document that clearly conveys one obvious message: you’re the best candidate for the job!

Format matters

It is important to choose the right format for your resume – which is why we recommend using the reverse chronological option if you can. That format type simply requires you to list experience in reverse order. You start with your most recent job and work backward, listing relevant roles you’ve held for the last ten or fifteen years.

Use a simple structure

The structure of your resume should be designed to make it easy for employers to skim quickly and identify the details they want to see. We say “skim” because employers don’t typically sit down and read resumes from start to finish. Instead, they scan them in a few seconds in search of the information that matters most to them. If they find that information, then they may read the rest of the document. To structure an easy-to-read document, simply break up the information into separate sections. For example:

• Contact details: This section is found right at the beginning of your resume. It should include your name, location, phone number, email, and LinkedIn URL. Its prominent position is designed to ensure that employers can easily figure out how to contact you for interviews, as well as job offers.

• Job heading: Also referred to as a resume headline, this one-line section goes right below your contact details. It should include the job title you’re seeking, as well as a few words that focus attention on your candidacy. For example: “Dynamic Activities Director with 5 Years of Experience in Cognitive Elder Care.”

• Summary statement: You can think of this section as your basic sales pitch—and your best chance to grab an employer’s attention. It should contain no more than three to five brief sentences and be focused on highlighting your key skills and measurable achievements.

• Core competencies: This is the skills section and should include both hard and soft skills. We’ll dig deeper into this section later in the guide.

• Work history: Your work history should be listed in reverse order. For each job, include the company name, job title, employment dates, and several bullet point achievements. More on those achievements in just a bit.

• Education: Your education section is where you list your schools and other training. Include the name of each school, attendance dates, degree or certificate earned, and relevant coursework.

Show your value

When we mentioned achievements in the last section of the guide, we were referring to more than just a dry recitation of your accomplishments. To really stand out, your achievements should give an employer some idea of the type of value you can offer as an employee. Fortunately, that’s not as complex as it sounds. All you need to do is quantify each achievement with real numbers that help the employer visualize your value. For example:

“Increased fundraising for our Elder Care activities program by 128% year-over-year.”

Activities Director resume example

Is a picture worth a thousand words? You decide! While the advice we’ve offered thus far should give you the foundation you need to build a great resume, you’ll probably benefit from a more visual example too. To that end, we’ve included a great Activities Director resume example below that you can use as a template to guide you in the creation of your own resume.

Key hard & soft skills for an Activities Director

One area that you need to pay careful attention to as you construct your resume is the skills section. The core competencies that you list in this section need to align perfectly with the abilities cited by the employer as key qualifications. Examine the job posting carefully to identify those needed skills and then use those exact words in your skill section. That will help to ensure that your resume survives any scan by an applicant tracking system, or ATS.

So, what kind of skills should you include? In addition to those listed in the job description, you will also need to add a mix of other hard and soft skills that are utilized by Activities Directors. To help you identify these vital competencies, we have included brief lists of some of the most common of these skills in the subsections below.

Hard skills for your Activities Director resume

First up: hard skills for your resume. Hard skills are job-focused abilities that you obtain in school, other job training programs, or through hands-on formal training and experience. These abilities are crucial for most Activities Directors and include skills ranging from financial management to basic medical assistance, software proficiency, and management techniques. For example:

• Program development

• Healthcare/CPR

• Fundraising and budgeting

• Event planning

• Activity coordination

• Eldercare

• Computer skills

Soft skills for your Activities Director resume

Soft skills are the lighter side of your skills section, but no less important to your ultimate success. In fact, these skills can often be the determining factor between you and another candidate in instances where your hard skills are nearly identical. Soft skills include core traits and abilities that help you to interact with patients, colleagues, superiors, and other stakeholders.

• Communication

• Leadership

• Team building

• Empathy

• Organizational skills

• Active listening

• Creative thinking

Summary & last words

As you can see, there’s nothing magical about the creation of a competent resume. With the right structural approach and a message that appeals to employers’ needs, your resume can deliver a compelling message about your qualifications and potential value as an employee. The key is to focus on the right skills, experiences, and measurable achievements to ensure that your resume narrative presents you as the best candidate for the job.

Introduction to ZipJob: Professional resume writers

If you’re like many professionals, however, you might prefer to rely on professional assistance to ensure that your resume achieves the next level of excellence you may need to land the best Activities Director roles. If that’s the case, then the ZipJob team has the expertise needed to help you achieve that goal. Each of our experienced resume writers has the industry knowledge and employer insights you need to craft a stellar resume that will help you land more interviews. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can meet your resume needs.

Why you should make use of our resume writing services to land your next job as an Activities Director

Your resume is an investment in your future, so it’s important to ensure that you partner with a resume-writing service that takes your career as seriously as you do. At ZipJob, our dedicated resume writers will work with you to ensure that you receive a resume product that you’ll be proud to submit to prospective employers. With our assistance, your resume will showcase your qualifications, translate your real-world experience into a compelling narrative, and highlight your achievements in a way that clearly illustrates your value as a part of any company’s team.

Resume writing service for Activities Director: Let us write your resume

You’ve worked hard to excel in your career as an Activities Director, and you deserve a job worthy of your efforts. However, landing a truly great job requires more than a mediocre, dull list of your previous employment and skills. To successfully compete in a dynamic job market, you need a resume that weaves a convincing story about your competence and unique value proposition. Contact us today to learn more about how the professional resume writers at ZipJob can help you achieve your resume goals.