Criminologist Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Criminologist resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Criminologists study the nature of crime, its causes, and its effects on society. They look at how it affects individuals, communities, and entire nations. They study the characteristics of different types of offenders and the best ways to prevent crime from happening in the first place. And they evaluate programs designed to rehabilitate criminals or keep them from reoffending.
Criminologists can work in a variety of settings. They might work directly with law enforcement officers to help them solve crimes. Or they might work in research labs, analyzing data and publishing findings that inform public policy. Others might work in academia, teaching or conducting research at colleges and universities.
To land a job as a criminologist, you’ll need a resume that showcases your relevant experience and skills. Here are some tips and an example to help you write yours.
How to Write a Criminologist Resume
Here’s how to write a criminologist resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most effective way to showcase your experience and qualifications. But rather than simply listing your responsibilities, you can make your bullet points much more interesting by using them to tell a story about your work.
For example, rather than saying you “conducted research on crime rates in low-income neighborhoods,” you could say you “conducted research on crime rates in low-income neighborhoods and discovered that rates of violent crime were five times higher than national average.”
The second bullet point is much more interesting and compelling because it provides more detail about what you did and the results of your work.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a criminologist role, your resume is likely to go through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This program will scan your resume for certain keywords related to the job in order to determine whether your skills and experience are a match. If you don’t have enough relevant keywords on your resume, the ATS might not forward your application to a recruiter.
To make sure you have enough keywords on your resume, take a look at the job posting and try to include as many of the same terms as possible. Here are some of the most common keywords for criminologist roles:
- Criminology
- Criminal Justice
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Investigation
- Law Enforcement
- Police
- Public Safety
- Investigation
- Firearms Handling
- Homeland Security
- Interrogation
- Security
- Crime Prevention
- Physical Security
- Surveillance
- Criminalistics
- Intelligence Analysis
- Counterterrorism
- Probation
- Legal Research
- Psychology
- Qualitative Research
- Social Media
- Research
- Qualitative & Quantitative Research
- Qualitative Methodologies
- Statistics
- Organizational Development
- Human Resources (HR)
- Human Resources Management
Showcase Your Technical Skills
As a criminologist, you rely on technology to help you research, study, and solve crimes. That’s why it’s important to list your technical skills prominently on your resume. By doing so, you’ll show that you’re a valuable candidate who is familiar with the essential tools and systems used in your field.
Recruiters are looking for criminologists who are proficient in specific programs, such as SPSS, R, and MATLAB. They also want to see that you have experience with data mining, machine learning, and modeling. So be sure to list all of your relevant technical skills prominently on your resume.