Director Of Financial Aid Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Director Of Financial Aid resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
If you’re passionate about helping students pay for college, this could be the job for you. Directors of financial aid are tasked with managing all aspects of a university’s financial aid program. This includes administering scholarships, grants, and loans to students; managing budgets; and overseeing compliance with federal regulations. Directors of financial aid are often highly visible members of the university community, interacting with students, families, and other staff members on a regular basis.
Because this position requires so much interaction with people from all different departments and levels of experience, it’s important to write a compelling resume that highlights your strengths as a communicator and problem-solver. Follow these tips and resume example to write a director of financial aid resume that hiring managers will love.
How to Write a Director Of Financial Aid Resume
Here’s how to write a resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
The best way to make your resume stand out is to use specific numbers and statistics to demonstrate your experience and accomplishments. So rather than saying you “managed financial aid office,” you could say that you “reduced average wait time for student requests from 10 days to 2 days, resulting in a 20% increase in student satisfaction rate.”
The second bullet point is much more specific and provides a clear indication of the impact of your work. And that’s what hiring managers want to see—quantifiable evidence that you can make a difference in their organization.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a director of financial aid role, your resume is likely to be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. The ATS will search for keywords related to the position, like “financial aid” and “student loans.” If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, your application might not make it past the initial screening process.
To increase your chances of getting an interview, focus on including relevant keywords throughout all the sections of your resume. You can add them into the work experience, skills, summary, and education sections. Here are some common director of financial aid keywords to get you started:
- Financial Aid
- Student Financial Aid
- Student Loans
- Higher Education
- Student Loan Default Prevention
- Enrollment Management
- Scholarship
- Student Affairs
- Financial Literacy
- Admissions
- Staff Development
- Adult Education
- Student Financial Aid Counseling
- Academic Advising
- Community Outreach
- Student Development
- Teaching
- Program Development
- Leadership Development
- Higher Education Administration
- Institutional Research
- Postsecondary Education
- Student Athlete Advisory Committee
- Student Employment
- Research
- Strategic Planning
- Fundraising
- Nonprofit Organizations
- Accounting
- Team Leadership
Showcase Your Technical Skills
As the Director of Financial Aid, you will be responsible for managing the financial aid process for students. This includes overseeing the distribution of financial aid, counseling students and families on financial aid options, and working with the admissions team to ensure that students receive the financial aid they need. To be successful in this role, you will need to be proficient in the use of financial aid software, such as PowerFAIDS and Banner. You should also have a solid understanding of federal financial aid regulations and how they apply to the distribution of aid.