An excellent project manager resume must reflect this occupation's transcendence across career paths and will have you zooming along that path to your next job.
Project managers are the corporate magicians of the 21st century. With a remarkable knack for ensuring each project outcome is greater than the sum of its parts, they rely on a skill set that’s very specific but infinitely applicable in virtually any field making your resume the key to transitioning among fields and projects easily.
Resume guide for a project manager resume
Resume.io can help you project that when writing a project manager resume that we hope will secure a range of fascinating offers. We’ve developed more than 500 occupation-specific resume guides and resume examples along with expert advice and job search resources such as our resume builder.
This project manager resume writing guide, along with the corresponding resume example, will cover these topics:
- How to write a project manager resume — particularly which aspects of your qualifications and responsibilities to cover in an impactful way
- How to use role-specific language on your resume to pass the ATS test
- Choosing the best format for structuring your project manager resume
- Using summaries
- Adding your car sales experience
- Listing education and relevant experience
- Resume layout and design tips, including advantages of using a template
- What the car sales market looks like and what salary you can expect
How to write a project manager resume
First things first: the easiest part of writing a project manager resume applies to virtually all occupations. Here is the basic framework of components:
- The resume header
- The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
- The employment history section
- The resume skills section
- The education section
Before we move on to each section, we offer a few general writing tips: Above all, a project manager resume should be easy to read. Be consistent in your use of bullet points and lists, and don’t go into too much detail that could be expanded upon during an interview. Avoid repeating the same phrases in multiple parts of the resume unless the context is different. Make sure you include enough keywords for the ATS, but not if it sounds forced and disrupts the flow. Keep in mind your resume will be "read" by machines first and then humans.
Nailing down the content for your project manager resume may not be straightforward. The best project managers don’t take too much time to analyze decisions or weigh options.They rely on their experience, people skills and instincts to make correct call after correct call.
The nature of a project manager's work varies greatly, depending on the industry and functional area. But there are some common aspects. How you go about managing your projects and the attitude you bring to each one are uniquely yours. And in every instance, the impact on those around you is huge.
So what elements of your role should your project manager resume include? Here are some ideas:
- Be clear that your project management approach depends on the framework you are presented with. There is no fixed recipe for a successful project, so flexibility and adaptability are critical.
- You must be able to take direction and give direction in equal measure, channeling the ideas and opinions of the experts in the room rather than imposing your non-expert view.
- Project managers should guide the strategic direction, but it is the project team members who will mostly formulate it. Listening skills are critical so you can keep on top of the current situation and head off any future issues coming down the road at you. This flexible mindset is crucial because when the success of a project is subject to so many variables, you never know.
- Evaluating the impact of ideas and the effectiveness of contributions is core to a project manager's role. You should not be afraid to challenge others to get things back on the right track.
- You need to be a logical thinker who is not swayed by emotion and can envisage the final outcomes.
- It is vital to get along well with a diverse range of people. The job involves coaxing people to adhere to challenging timescales and get on board with unorthodox thinking. Many projects entail working with external service providers and subcontractors; efficient management of these workers falls on the project manager’s shoulders.
A project manager resume has to cover all of these aspects of the role and many more. But first, to make any of it matter, you need to make sure that the hiring manager will actually receive and read your resume at all. So let's look at how ATS software works and how your resume can pass through this digital screening tool.
A project manager resume has to cover all of these aspects of the role and many more. But first, to make any of it matter, you need to make sure that the hiring manager will actually receive and read your resume at all. So let's look at how ATS software works and how your resume can pass through this digital screening tool.
How can you pass the ATS test?
Each project manager position you apply for will have very specific requirements, as outlined in the advertised job posting. The project / job description will contain keywords that the applicant tracking system (ATS) software will be searching for in each project management resume submitted online. Only resumes with a high enough keyword score ranking will make it through this digital filter and the rest are eliminated.
Sometimes the project scope and requirements are not entirely clear or specific in the posted job description, so the right keyword choices can be tricky. Still, the more deliberate you can be in scrutinizing the job description and incorporating well-matched keywords in your project manager resume, the higher its ATS score. Applicants who understand how an ATS works have a much better chance of delivering their resume to human eyes. Then the project manager recruitment journey can begin in earnest.
In many of our resume writing guides, we suggest researching the employer’s website to better understand the job application. For a project manager, this is very important because the expectations and project management structure for every business will be different.
The summary and skills sections of your project manager resume are where keywords matter most for ATS protection. Later on, we'll take a closer look at writing each of those sections.
Choosing the best resume format for a project manager
The most commonly used reverse chronological order format is recommended for structuring resumes in most occupations, and may be suitable for many project manager resumes. It gives recruiters the most straightforward overview of your career highlights, beginning with your most recent project, in the employment history section.
But if you are new to the workforce, making a dramatic career shift, or your project manager background has not followed a linear path of employee positions, take a look at alternative resume formats.
Having primarily a consulting background of contract work might be a reason to consider a functional resume structure. Maybe you want to focus on specific project manager skills, an occupation-specific area of professional expertise or industry sector. This should depend on the position you are seeking, as well as your career goals. Another option is a hybrid resume format, combining some elements of the chronological and functional structure.
When exploring the many resume templates in our resume builder, select the format that best suits your situation. We have plenty of versions of the three formats available as resume examples.
Include your contact information
A well-designed header will draw attention to your project management resume for the right reasons. There will be no mistake about who your resume belongs to, your occupation and your contact information so recruiters can readily get in touch with you to set up an interview.
These key facts belong in your header:
- Name and title. Use your first and last name. If you have a very common name and you want to use your middle name, go ahead. Include the title of the job you want.
- Best phone contact number. Choose the one you check most often and ensure you have a professional greeting.
- Email. Don’t use your work email, but if you don’t have a professional-sounding email address with a format such as first initial-last name, create one.
- Location. Your city and state is enough. Do not include your street address for safety reasons.
- Social media. If your LinkedIn or other professional accounts are current and show your professional network and skills, add them here.
- A photo of yourself. This may make HR personnel uneasy as they cannot risk even the hint of bias in hiring.
- Any personal information. This includes any data someone could use to spoof your identity or any information on your personal life.
Ideally, the header had a lot to do with impressing them at first glance, because of the eye-pleasing design. Consider aligning the visual style of your resume and cover letter documents so it is obvious they are a matched set. Try to be consistent with the brand or image of the employer and industry at the same time.
Kermit Addams
Manager of All Things Important
(813) 991-4721
(813) 429-5516
(813) 662-0497
Birthdate: June 12, 1999
Make use of a summary
Your project manager resume summary should adopt a tone of proficiency and confidence. More than anything else, your future boss wants to understand that you are a project manager who can help make the impossible possible. You can handle anything thrown at you.
Don’t just describe what you do, describe how you do it. Help resume readers imagine what it is like to have you leading their project team. Project managers serve a critical role that will impact so many of their colleagues. So in the few seconds that hiring decision-makers spend reading your resume summary, it has to instill a sense of confidence in them.
The summary, which varies slightly from a personal statement, is one of the few places on a resume for a project manager where you can express the subtleties of your experience in free-form text. It is hard to summarize an extensive, project-rich career in a few sentences. But if you include the most hard-hitting ones and include some sample numbers to back up your claims, your project manager resume summary will create a great first impression.
We already emphasized the importance of using the right keywords in your project manager resume to ensure it passes through the ATS screening filter. The posted job requirements are your best source of keywords for that purpose.
The summary is one place where it's important to strive for a strong correlation with the keywords you've identified in the posted job description. Besides ATS protection to better the chances of hiring managers seeing your resume, the right keywords can actually inform the way you choose to present yourself in the summary to make the best first impression possible.
For more guidance, check out these related resume examples:
- Chief officer executive resume example
- Senior business analyst resume example
- Grant writer resume example
- Consultant resume example
- Product manager resume example
- Project manager resume example
- Business analyst resume example
- Executive assistant resume example
- Program manager resume example
- Procurement manager resume example
- Executive resume example
You can find adaptable project manager resume example summaries below:
Results-driven and highly motivated individual with a solid educational background in project management, eager to embark on a dynamic project management career. Possessing excellent organizational and communication skills, coupled with a strong analytical mindset. A quick learner well-versed in project management methodologies and tools, and committed to delivering high-quality results within defined timelines and budgets
Dynamic project manager with an enviable track record spanning nine years in the retail sector. Proficient in stakeholder management, risk assessment and strategy formulation. Flexible approach to project methodology means that team performance and cohesiveness is optimized, while ensuring all goals are met within scope and budget.
Strategic Senior Project Manager with more than a decade of spearheading and delivering complex initiatives across diverse industries. Expertise in project lifecycle management, from initiation through execution and closure, consistently achieving on-time and within-budget project delivery. Exceptional communication skills, fostering collaborative relationships with clients, executive leadership, and team members.
Outline your project management experience: an agile path
When writing the employment history section of your project manager resume, it's important to include the projects most relevant to the future role you seek. Projects completed a decade ago may be somewhat relevant, but your experience will seem more current if you can highlight recent examples.
Substantiate these examples with as many figures and statistics as you can, since the core rationale behind most projects is to bring a measurable business benefit. Unless you can quantify your past contributions, not many potential employers will take your resume seriously. It's important to understand and communicate your contributions in relatable terms.
Make sure there is a “people” thread running through your employment history. No project managers achieve anything by themselves, so describe how you motivated those around you to work together for a common goal. Otherwise, it’s like outlining in a PowerPoint presentation what has to be done, but failing to mention you have to bring people together to achieve it.
For detailed project descriptions in your employment history section, you might consider using the STARR method for outlining each accomplishment: Situation, Task(s), Actions / strategy, Result and, optionally, Reflection. This approach helps keep the work experience highlights on your project manager resume logical and straightforward.
Here are a few examples of how a project manager might elaborate on their skills in their employment history section.:
- Coordinated and managed multi-functional project teams (of 25-300 people).
- Oversaw strategic goals and tactical decisions with weekly cross-functional meetings.
- Ensured quality assurance and evaluated project risks at every stage.
- Managed external partners and service providers to add incremental value.
- Oversaw cost management - responsible person for budgeting and finance.
- Recruited internal project teams and helped to develop more junior members.
- Evaluated project success and built my career from learning from mistakes.
- Technical expertise ensured that we were using the best-in-market solutions.
Below is a project manager employment history resume sample.
Project Manager, Macy's, Inc., Los Angeles
September 2012 - Present
- Develop key project goals and work collaboratively with cross-functional teams to achieve them in a timely and effective manner.
- Apply rigorous time management and task tracking methods to successfully oversee and manage all project stages from conception to completion.
- Oversee visual display plans and managed teams creating those plans.
- Ensure project strategies are consistent with the company’s overall mission and seek to effectively convey and promote the Macy's brand.
- Cooperate in developing the creative budget and monitor project expenditures accordingly.
Associate Project Manager, Sam Edelman, San Francisco
September 2008 - August 2012
- Worked in collaboration with the senior project manager to define project goals and establish a timeline and plan to achieve them.
- Collaborated with other team members to create fresh brand ideas and project initiatives.
- Managed marketing agendas and suggested ways to improve audience saturation.
- Handled overall management of workflow in the marketing department.
CV skills example: the know-how
In the world of 360-degree feedback, it is often a good idea to ask for examples of your core skills. This is an interesting exercise. When writing your project manager resume, it helps you stay true to yourself and focus on your best-fit jobs.
A project manager needs a host of soft skills to juggle the many aspects of keeping a project running smoothly and on budget. Aside from excellent communication skills, problem-solving and organization, project managers also need to manage both time and risk.
Complementing those hard skills are knowledge of the industry in which you work and project management software.
In addition to listing your skills or offering pre-written skills, the resume builder allows you to include your proficiency level.
Check out a project manager resume sample for the skills section below.
Project managing skills
Hiring managers will be looking beyond the text to ascertain whether you have the skills for the role, so make it absolutely clear to them that this is the case.
A resume for a project manager should be infused with professional skills throughout. Each bullet item should enumerate one of the actions you have taken to successfully shepherd a project and within your summary, highlight an impressive achievement and the skills you used to get there.
Detail your education & relevant project management certifications
What your project manager resume may have in common with many others is the listing of an undergraduate business degree in the education section, since this can give you a broad understanding of which business levers to pull and how to pull them efficiently.
It's also not unusual for project managers to have an operations background, where higher-level educational qualifications are less significant, or a degree in the specific industry in which the PM works.
While your track record of relevant employment experience normally takes precedence, a mix of education and training will still be considered if several job candidates have similar qualifications. The same goes for on-the-job training.
If you have quite a few courses or other project management qualifications to list in the education section, be sure to include dates. This readily shows a track record of consistent learning. Your project manager resume should reflect your continuing intentions to keep learning and growing
Below is the education section from a project manager resume example.
M.B.A, Pomona College, Claremont
August 2008 - May 2010
Bachelor of Business Administration, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill
August 2004 - May 2008
Resume layout and design
While great resume writing is important, project managers know how much presentation counts too. Choosing the best layout, design and text formatting options for your PM resume is a matter of personal taste. Always strive for the right balance between style and functionality.
To take the guesswork out of layout and design decisions for your project manager resume, consider using one of our resume templates, offering quick, professional formatting options that are easily customizable. A great template can quickly take your resume format from average to stand-out in just a few clicks. Resume.io's field-tested templates are organized in four categories: simple, creative, professional and modern. Each is pre-filled with sample sentences that our builder tool makes easy to replace with your own text for an eye-catching project manager resume.
Project manager job market and outlook
If you can herd cats and juggle all the details of a project, you have the makings of an excellent project manager and good for you, because good project managers are hard to find. This field is expected to see 6 percent growth over the next decade, according to US labor statistics.
Title
Almost all industry verticals require project managers, but here are Knowledge Hut’s top 10 with their average base salaries:
- Construction, $71,726
- Engineering, $150,124
- IT, $89,299
- Finance / Insurance services, $71,330
- Healthcare, $73,547
- Marketing, $75,178
- Manufacturing, $65,871
- Law, $86,565
- Consulting, $120,500
- Energy and Utility services, $90,337
Key takeaways for a project manager resume
- Demonstrate how your own unique brand of "glue" keeps the project teams working together.
- Include figures and growth stats to demonstrate your contributions as a project manager.
- Focus on the scale of projects you have led as well as the detail and execution.
- Portray yourself as efficient, unflappable and ruthlessly organized.
- Make sure that your written resume is clear and logical.
- Detail how you have positively impacted the work of those around you.
- Make yourself an indispensable asset to your next employer's next project.
- Take advantage of the resume builder and templates to get your job hunt started today!
