If you’re looking for a job in project management, it’s important to have a resume that showcases your skills and experience. A great resume can help you stand out from the competition and land an interview. But how can you make sure your resume is standout?
In this article, I’ll provide some tips to help you get started towards creating a kick-ass resume to land your next gig as a project manager. Also, click here to download the resume template: https://www.examspm.com/pm-resume/
First and foremost, it’s important to remember that your resume is a marketing tool designed to sell you to potential employers. As such, it’s important to focus on what you can offer them, rather than simply listing your past experience and qualifications. When drafting your resume, start by asking yourself what kinds of projects you’ve successfully managed in the past, and what specific skills and knowledge you bring to the table. Once you have a good sense of what you have to offer, craft your resume accordingly.
In addition to highlighting your skills and experience, it’s also important to present yourself in the best possible light. Be sure to proofread your resume carefully before submitting it, and consider having someone else take a look as well. First impressions count, so make sure your resume makes a good one!
Here are some tips for creating a great project manager resume:
1. Start with a strong summary.
Your summary is the first thing potential employers will see, so make sure it’s strong. Your summary should highlight your relevant experience and skills.
The most important is that your resume should be clear and concise. Your resume will perform best if it highlights your unique skills and experience, while also being easy to read.
2. Use bulleted lists to showcase your experience and skills.
Bulleted lists are a great way to showcase your experience and skills. Make sure to include quantifiable information whenever possible (e.g., “managed a team of 5 people”).
When writing your resume, use bullet points or short paragraphs to ensure that everything is easy to read and understand. Most importantly, make sure to tailor your resume to fit the specific job you’re applying for—this will help show off your relevant skills and experience, and increase your chances of landing an interview.
If you have any examples of project deliverables or outcomes, such as reports, metrics, or communications, be sure to include these as well. The more specific you can get, the better.
For example, instead of saying “managed projects for an e-commerce company,” it’s much more compelling to say “managed and delivered digital projects on time and within budget for a leading e-commerce company, resulting in an increase in online sales from 15% to 25%” instead.
3. Use a professional format.
Make sure your resume is formatted correctly and looks professional. Use clean fonts and standard margins.
There are several different ways to format a resume, but a standard layout is generally the best. You want to make sure that your resume is easy to visually scan so that potential employers can quickly see if you’re a good fit for the position.
Keep your resume to one or two pages. Hiring managers often receive dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes for each open position, so they don’t have time to read through lengthy documents. Keep your resume short and sweet to increase the chances that it will be read in its entirety.
In terms of content, you want to start by including your contact information at the top of the page. This should include your name, phone number, and email address. You can also include links to your personal website or blog, as well as any professional social media profiles you might have.
Next, you’ll want to add a brief summary of your qualifications. This is an opportunity to highlight your most relevant skills and experience for the position you’re applying for. Keep it brief – one or two sentences should suffice.
After the summary, you can begin listing out your professional experience. For each position, include the name and location of the company, as well as your title and dates of employment. Beneath each job listing, provide a brief overview of your responsibilities and accomplishments. Again, try to keep it concise – bullet points are often helpful here.
If you have any relevant educational qualifications (such as a bachelor’s degree in project management), you can list them after your work history. Alternatively, you can create a separate section for education if you feel it would be more effective.
Finally, don’t forget to include any additional skills or certifications you might have that could be relevant to the position. These could include form management software proficiency, agile methodology certification, etc.
Save it as a PDF. When submitting your resume electronically, always save it as a PDF to ensure that the format stays intact. This will prevent potential employers from having to scramble to figure out how to open your resume, and it will also ensure that they see the document exactly as you intended.
If you want this template, use the link in the description to download it for free.
4.Write in plain English
When it comes to resume writing, candidates tend to think the more complicated they make it, the better. Whenever possible, describe the work experiences you have in plain English.
This is what I call the plain English Rule.
Take a look at this person’s professional summary below and tell me if you can understand it. While you’re reading this, keep in mind “what is he trying to say?”
Proven talent for aligning business strategy and objectives with established project management paradigms to achieve maximum operational impacts with minimum resource expenditures. Organized, Growth-focused team leader with a marked interest in opportunities within the multiple sectors alike. Champions innovative solutions to integrate best practices, drive continuous improvement, analyze data, and provide key insights to inform strategic plans. Exceptionally dedicated professional with strong leadership and relationship building, communication, and organizational skills for the diverse modern worksite.
Doesn’t this just feels like a whole bunch of big words jumbled up together? Do you have any idea what this person’s professional work experience consist of and how they can add value to an organization? Do you feel like you’ve read the whole thing and yet nothing at all as well? I certainly don’t.
Unfortunately, most resumes look like this. Most candidates don’t follow the Plain English Rule.
Plus, who is going to say they have poor communication or organizational skills on their resume? Those subjective terms don’t tell me much about your capabilities.
Now, let’s take a look at a good professional summary:
Detail-oriented project manager with 4-years of experience across industries, contributing to technology-enabled initiatives. Keen ability to manage multiple projects with competing deadlines, stakeholder requirements and development cycles. Experienced in marketing data analytics and social media marketing.
Much better! It’s very clear that this person is not only an experienced project manager, but also someone who has experience in data analytics and digital marketing.
Go back and look through your own resume again and apply the Plain English Test. Is it easy to understand what you’re communicating using the plain English? If it’s not, go back and revise it accordingly.
5. Use keywords
A lot of recruiters use bots to scan resumes before an actual human even takes a look at it. While I can give you a long list of project management keywords, you don’t just want to stuff these keywords into your resume. You want to work in the right keywords into your resume at the appropriate times. Different positions will also have different keywords, so how do you know which ones to include?
Here’s a trick to help you find the right keyword for each position. Copy the job positioning into a Google doc or word document. Next, highlight all the keywords that you see on the job posting. Now you have an exact list of keywords that this employer may be looking for. Look through your resume again and include these keywords when describing your work experiences.
You can also include these keywords in the skills section of your LinkedIn profile.
6. What if I don’t have any work experiences?
If you are a new grad or if you are transitioning into project management from another field, apply for intern or entry-level positions that don’t require prior work experiences.
You can also highlight your experiences working on group projects at school, charity work that you’ve taken on, or leadership roles that you’ve taken on sports teams or clubs, etc. Any leadership or management experience can increase the chances of landing the job.
7. Proofread your resume carefully.
Proofreading is essential! Make sure to proofread your resume for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. You don’t want potential employers to think you’re careless!
Skim your resume and pretend you are the hiring manager. What would you think? Is your resume compelling? If not, take another look and make your achievements shine. By thinking like a hiring manager, you can ensure that your resume makes a strong impression.
8. Bonus: Create your own website
Some candidates may choose to take the extra step of creating a personal brand. Your website is an additional your opportunity to show off your work and highlight your achievements.
Here are some examples of project managers who nailed their website below! As you can see, they come in different formats, but they all accomplish one goal – make the candidate stand out from the crowd!
We hope you found these 8 tips on enhancing your project manager resume helpful! Be sure to download the resume template by going here: https://www.examspm.com/pm-resume/