Tour Guide Resume: Templates, Examples, & Top Tips

Explaining historical events and explaining them to people is what you do as a Tour Guide. Now, let us help you explain to a hiring manager why you should be working for them. Download one of our resume templates to put your job application at the front of the line.

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Margaret Buj
Reviewed by
Margaret Buj
Career expert
Updated on April 11, 2023
Written by
ResumeGiants Team
Resume and Cover Letter Experts

As a professional tour guide, you likely know your way around a city, historical site, or university campus and how to keep your guests engaged with your wide range of knowledge. 

But do you know how to optimize your resume to land bigger and better opportunities in the future?

If not, don’t worry, let us guide you for once!  

On this page we provide you with a tour guide template resume and take you through the steps to how to write a resume for a fruitful future career as a tour guide. 

Among other key points, our guide covers:

  • The best resume format to use 
  • How to write an effective resume summary
  • Resume objective examples
  • Job descriptions for a resume
  • The best skills for a resume
  • Resume sample extra sections

There is a lot to consider including and highlighting in your resume and just like when you give a guided tour, you’ll want to show off your most interesting attributes to a hiring manager.

Thousands of our users have used our resume building with fantastic results, and we’re going to be your guide when it comes to resume writing. 

So, ready to take a tour to learn how to create a job-winning resume?

Tour Guide Resume Sample

A well-written and formatted tour guide resume is the most powerful tool you can have when starting a new job hunt. 

It should act as your calling card, clearly outline all of your skills and experience, and fully sell why you are ideal for the new position. 

It’s always a good idea to check out other tour guide examples before you begin. We’ve put together an exemplary tour guide resume sample to give you a strong base to start from: 

Resume Example
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Armando Matos

[Tour Guide]

[134 Parklane Dr, Olmos Park, Texas, 78212 |  235-073-0006 | Armatos2202@gmail.com]

Summary

Friendly and knowledgeable tour guide with extensive knowledge of local San Antonio and general American history. Experienced in guided private walking tours,both around university campuses and historic monuments. Apt at giving informative speeches and answering any questions that clients have.

Experience

Tour Guide

The Alamo| San Antonio, Texas

2018 – 2021

*Guided 10 weekly private walking tours around the Alamo complex 

*Significantly researched and explained the history of the monument to guests

*Developed creative tour programs to exceed client expectations

*Received Alamo Guide of the Year award for top scoring in the client surveys

Tour Guide 

University of Texas at San Antonio| San Antonio, Texas 

2017

*Toured more than 30 groups of visitors during the campus open days

*Managed the registration tables, greeted families, and gave directions

*Received 100% positive feedback from students, parents, and supervisors.

Education

Bachelor of Arts – History

The University of Texas at San Antonio | Sant Antonio, Texas

2014 – 2018

  • Achieved a 3.5 GPA
  • Completed 2 semesters of internships

Skills

Soft Skills

*Active listening

*Adaptability

*Extroverted personality 

*Excellent communication 

*Interpersonal Skills

*Rapport building

Hard Skills

*Languages (Spanish, French, and Portuguese)

*Extensive knowledge of local (and American) history

*Organizational skills

Affiliations

*Licensed Member of The Guild of Professional Tour Guides

Certificates

* CPR Certified

Hobbies and Interests

Listening to podcasts about American history 

* Cycling 

* Writing short fiction 

* Volunteering at battlefield recreations

If you’re curious to see how a good tour guide resume compares to similar professions, such as  for Interpreter positions.

What’s the Best Tour Guide Resume Format?

When creating your resume you’ll have to consider a few different aspects about yourself, such as your education and skills. However, the most important may be your experience

Your experience will determine how you should format your resume, mainly what should be highlighted and how to introduce yourself. 

There are three formats that you should consider include: 

  • Reverse-chronological: Shows your work history from most recent to least, and highlights your experience.
  • Functional: Focuses more on your relevant skills.
  • Hybrid: Mixes the two previous formats. 

If you are an experienced tour guide, reverse-chronological format would probably suit you better. If you have had less professional experience, you should focus on presenting your skills. 

As a tour guide, hybrid would also be a good bet, as hiring managers would love to see that you have experience but to also see the summary of your competences on top of your resume.

It’s also important to create a clear and easy-to-follow resume, you can do this by:

  • Using a simple font like Arial or Calibri, which are both easy to read but not too distracting. 
  • Highlighting key points, use bold and italic fonts, as well as bullet points. 
  • Using white space. It helps break up sections of text so it’s easier for recruiters to scan through your resume quickly.

It’s essential not to use more than two fonts (one for headings and another for body text) or two colors (one for headings and another for body text).

With our resume builder you can have an easier time getting the job done keeping your resume in order and matching it to your work history.

How to Write a Tour Guide Resume Summary or Resume Objective

Aside from your contact details, the first thing that a reader of your document should see is a resume description. This should be either a resume objective or summary.

While there is not too much difference between these short descriptive paragraphs, which one you wish to include will depend on your goals and level of experience. 

In a resume summary, you will want to include key details of your professional career and achievements to date, as well as highlight key skills and experience that you bring to the table. 

A resume objective, on the other hand, is a more common strategy for entry-level tour guides who don’t yet have a lot of professional experience under their belt. 

However, some experienced tour guides may also use an objective so that hiring managers are clear about their future goals.  A strong objective statement tells potential employers what kind of work you want to do and why they should hire you. It also provides an opportunity for you to showcase your skills and experience as well as show off any particular strengths.

💡top tip

Whether you choose to include a summary or objective statement, you should aim to keep the paragraph short and to the point. Only include the skills and experience most relevant information to the job you’re applying to.

Tour Guide Resume Summary Example

Here is a positive example of a resume summary for a tour guide. You’ll notice how the applicant includes positive attributes of their personality and also goes into specific details about their skills and achievements. 

Right ✅

Friendly and knowledgeable tour guide with extensive knowledge of local San Antonio and general American history.Experienced in guided private walking tours,both around university campuses and historic monuments. Apt at giving informative speeches and answering any questions that clients have.

And here is a wrong example of a resume summary section, where the information is bland and basic.

Wrong ❌

 I am a tour guide who has been giving tours for years now. I’m good at talking about history and can answer most questions from clients.

This could be much more detailed. Apart from being written a bit too informally, it doesn’t tell a hiring manager what experience they have or what they are skilled at.

Tour Guide Resume Objective Example

Here’s an example of how a good tour guide resume objective should look. This is a good example because it outlines the applicant’s key skills and experiences while stating the kind of work they are looking for. 

Right ✅

Senior year student in History at the University of Texas at San Antonio with a friendly and inquisitive personality. Volunteered as a campus guide for prospective students at my college and received uniformly positive feedback. Keen to educate and entertain others with my historical knowledge.

A not-so-favorable example of an entry-level objective section would be: 

Wrong ❌

 I’ve wanted to be a tour guide for years now. I like history and I think I have the qualifications. I’m sure I’d do a good job if you hired me to work as a guide at your establishment.  

This description doesn’t give much of an idea of the candidate’s skills and experience. The direct appeal to be hired also comes across as blunt and desperate

How to Describe Your Tour Guide Experience on Your Resume

It’s not enough to say that you have experience as a tour guide; you need to be able to show it on your resume. Once again, the most important thing is honesty and clarity

When writing a tour guide description for resumes outlining your past jobs and employers, use their full names, and include the dates of employment.

You should also include information about the kinds of tours or activities you worked on, including cities or countries where you were employed.

Use bullet points and short sentences. This helps make information easier to read, which makes it more effective in conveying all the relevant information needed by potential employers with little time at hand (which is usually the case).

Bullet points allow readers’ eyes to skim over text quickly without losing track of what’s being said—they’re like mini summaries! When using them in your own writing, remember to avoid  sounding repetitive or redundant when listing additional examples from past jobs/projects. 

💡top tip

Use formatting wisely when listing job duties! If there’s room within each bullet point then definitely use bolding/italicizing etc…but if there isn’t then avoid using any since this will make it harder for a hiring manager scanning through your resume.

Tour Guide Resume Examples: Experience

Here is an example of a good tour guide resume example for a job description:

Right ✅

Tour Guide

The Alamo| San Antonio, Texas

2018 – 2021

  • Guided 10 weekly private walking tours around the Alamo complex 
  • Significantly researched and explained the history of the monument to guests
  • Developed creative tour programs to exceed client expectations
  • Received Alamo Guide of the Year award for scoring 100% in client surveys

You’ll notice that the applicant took time to include numbers quantifying their responsibilities and achievements, and has clearly listed and elaborated on their key tasks. 

Wrong ❌

Alamo Tour Guide

2018 – 2021

  • Gave tours at The Alamo
  • Received an award

This example, on the other hand, is very basic and offers information without supporting it with suitable data and numbers. It also gives the impression that the writer can barely be bothered to elaborate.

Tour Guide Resume Education Section

Your educational background should be listed in reverse chronological order on your resume, so the latest accomplishment is at the top of the list. 

If you have a degree related to your field of work, you should include it here (e.g. an English, History, or Language studies degree). 

The format for an education listing should be: 

  • The name of your degree;
  • The name of the school/university;
  • The year you graduated (you can also put a month).

💡top tip

Having a Bachelor’s degree may not necessarily be a requirement for some tour guide jobs, and if this is the case for you, you can list other educational achievements.

Your formal education, other informal classes you attended, or any relevant training you did can all be listed in this section. 

Courses you took in the past, like communication skills training, or language courses can further make you more competent for the role.

If you do have a Bachelor’s degree already, don’t include your high school education in your tour guide resume. 

If you haven’t graduated yet, you can include your high school education, as well as the university where you currently study and the estimated graduation date. 

💡top tip

To boost your education section further, include relevant academic awards, certifications, acknowledgments, or projects you are enrolled in.

Tour Guide Resume Examples:  Education Section

Below you can see correct and incorrect tour guide resume examples for the education sections:

Right ✅

Education

Bachelor of Arts – History

The University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, Texas

2014 – 2018

  • Achieved a 3.5 GPA
  • Completed 2 semesters of internships

This is formatted really well. It also gives a clear description of your education, and it provides a great example of what a guide should study in college.

This will definitely impress any employer.

On a side note, if you have a high GPA it’s also great to add it, if not leave it out.

Wrong ❌

Education

Degree from University of Texas at San Antonio 

High school Diploma 

Unfortunately if you turn in a resume with an education section like this, you’ll be heading nowhere. It should give some more detail, especially when it comes to your courses. 

The Best Tour Guide Skills for a Resume

Your best skills to include on your resume are those that are relevant to the job you are applying for. 

This means that if you’re applying for a position as a city guide, then your skills should be related to city guiding (e.g., knowledge of local history and culture).

However, you should also include any skills and abilities that enhance your ability to be an effective tour guide—for example, if you have exceptional language skills and speak multiple languages fluently, or are trained in first aid. 

It’s important to divide your skills into “Hard” and “Soft” skills to make this section easier for hiring managers to digest. 

A tour guide skills resume section example could be formatted like this:

Soft Skills

  • Active listening
  • Adaptability
  • Extroverted personality 
  • Excellent communication 
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Rapport building

Hard Skills

  • Languages (Spanish, French, and Portuguese)
  • Extensive knowledge of local (and general American) history
  • Organizational skills
  • Trained in First Aid

How to Add Other Sections for an Effective Resume

You can add other sections to your tour guide resume that will be especially useful in helping you land your dream job. 

As an example. Many tour guides include a separate section for certifications and licenses. If you have any additional skills that are relevant to the job or your background, this is also a good place to put them.

We also recommend a section specifying any other relevant experience that falls outside of being a tour guide, but could still be valuable for an employer. 

For instance, maybe you’ve had experience working with children. Or maybe some volunteer work would look good in this section. The possibilities are endless!

You should also add your list of references as an extra section on your tour guide resume. This can be either an actual list of names and contact information or simply an explanation that “references will be provided upon request.”

If you’re unsure how to format these sections or what to include, try using our free Resume Builder tool.

Tour Guide Resume Sample Extra Sections

Even though these are “extra” achievements or details, you should be clear and concise, as well as keep the information relevant

Here are some examples of what might go into some of the above categories on your resume:

Key Takeaway

The key to writing a great resume is finding the right balance between highlighting your strengths while remaining concise enough to read quickly. 

You’ll have no trouble at all guiding yourself if you remember to keep the information relevant, highlight your experience and/or skills, and keep your resume clear and easy to read. 

Remember, if you are stuck at any point, you can also use our professional resume templates. Using resume building tools also makes the job much easier and will keep you from creating a messy resume. 

With these tour guide tips and resume drafting tools you won’t have much trouble guiding yourself to a resume that fits you perfectly. 

Free Resume Templates

Using resume templates that are proven to work will help you to move your career search forward. Start and customize as many resumes as you need with our free resume builder .