Alcohol and drug counselor resume examples from 2025

A resume summary is your opening statement that highlights your strongest skills and top accomplishments. It is your chance to quickly let recruiters know who you are professionally - and why they should hire you for the alcohol and drug counselor role.

Step 1: Mention your current job title or the role you're pursuing.

Step 2: Include your years of experience in alcohol and drug counselor-related roles. Consider adding relevant company and industry experience as relevant to the job listing.

Step 3: Highlight your greatest accomplishments. Here is your chance to make sure your biggest wins aren't buried in your resume.

Step 4: Again, keep it short. Your goal is to summarize your experience and highlight your accomplishments, not write a paragraph.

These four steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some alcohol and drug counselor interviews.

Many resumes are filtered out by hiring software before a human eye ever sees them. A robust Skills section can let recruiters (and bots) know you have the skills to do the job. Here is how to make the most of your skills section:

1. Look at the job listing and skills listed. You need to include the exact keywords from the job description to get your resume in front of an actual human. Do you have those skills? Fantastic! Be sure to list them.
2. Include as many relevant hard or technical alcohol and drug counselor skills as possible for each job you apply to.
3. Be specific with the skills you have and be sure you are using the most up to date and accurate terms.

These five steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some alcohol and drug counselor interviews.

Your employment history is arguably one of the most important parts of your resume. It shows you have experience and foundation in your field to successfully master the alcohol and drug counselor position. Here is how to most effectively structure your work experience:

1. List your most recent experience first, followed by earlier roles in reverse chronological order. Employers care about your most recent experience the most.
2. Start with your job title, company name, city, and state on the left. Align dates in month and year format on the right-hand side.
3. Include only recent, relevant jobs.

Your resume is your chance to show your biggest accomplishments. Don't just list your job responsibilities, instead take the opportunity to show why you're really good at what you do. Here is how you do that:

• Start with strong action verbs like managed, spearheaded, created, etc. Your goal is to show what you did and verbs will help demonstrate your contributions.
• Use numbers to quantify your achievements. Did you save time with a new report? Increase revenue? How large was the team you managed?
• Keep it concise. You're highlighting your achievements. Consider if all details you are sharing are relevant, or can be written more efficiently.

Here are great bullet points from alcohol and drug counselor resumes:

The education section should display your highest degree first.

Place your education section appropriately on your resume. If you graduated over 5 years ago, this section should be at the bottom of your resume. If you just graduated and lack relevant work experience, the education section should go to the top.

If you have a bachelor's or master's degree, do not list your high school education. If your graduation year is more than 15-20 years ago, it's better not to include dates in this section.

Here are some examples of good education entries from alcohol and drug counselor resumes:

If you have any additional certifications or education-like achievements, add them to the education section.

Include the full name of the certification, along with the name of the issuing organization and date of obtainment.

Here are some of the best certifications to have on alcohol and drug counselor resumes:

1. Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor
2. Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC)
3. Pastoral Counseling Certification
4. Certified Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC)
5. Certified Professional Counselor
6. Master Addiction Counselor (MAC)
7. Master Addictions Counselor
8. Professional Level Drug, Alcohol & Addiction Counselor Certification (DAACC)
9. Certified Domestic Violence Counselor (CDVC)
10. National Certified Counselor (NCC)