Program managers manage the program strategy and implementation of many products. Here’s how you can write a resume to showcase your program management skills.
Program Manager Resume Examples for You to Use This Year
Program Manager Resume Examples
Program managers are an important part of many teams, especially those that are part of the office setting. They create process improvements and lead a team effectively. They coordinate program strategy and implementation between multiple groups within a company. This article will teach you which information to include in your program manager's resume.
What To Highlight in a Program Manager Resume
It’s most common for hiring managers to look for past work achievements that show a strong work ethic and the ability to inspire your team members to follow you. Even if you don’t have a previous job title as a program manager, you want to mention these work achievements so that a hiring manager knows they can trust you in this strategic position.
Structure of a Program Manager Resume
Before you start writing your program manager resume, you first need to choose a resume format. The three resume formats are chronological, which emphasizes your work history, the functional format, which highlights your skills and the combination format, which emphasizes both. Once you’ve decided on the format that best fits your resume, you can start writing it.
Header
Your resume header should entail your full name and contact information. This includes your phone number, email address and professional social media links, like your LinkedIn profile.
Resume summary
The first paragraph of your resume is a two-to-three sentence paragraph that gives a hiring manager everything they need to understand you as an applicant. As a program manager, you’ll almost certainly use a resume summary, which goes over specific metrics and past experiences to show why you are the perfect candidate for the job. A resume objective, however, is geared more toward people with less experience and won’t usually work well in this situation.
Skills
A program manager’s skills section needs to highlight both hard skills, which are skills you use specifically for program management and soft skills, which are skills you can use for any job, such as communication skills. Here are a few bullet points to help you understand how to describe your skills.
- Meeting initiatives
- Understanding methodologies
- Supply chain management
- Microsoft Excel usage
- Product development
- Coordinating with stakeholders
- Change management skills
- Communication skills
- Building cross-functional teams
- Problem-solving skills
- Taking a manager role
- Risk management
- Time management
- Creating an effective workflow
Remember that each recruiter will want something slightly different from their program manager. Look at the job listing and pull your skills primarily from it to ensure your resume exceeds an applicant tracking system (ATS).
Work history
In your work experience section, you want to include up to 10 years of experience. This can be experience as a program manager or other management roles. Remember to list your experience in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent at the top.
Education
A program manager usually needs a bachelor’s degree. To boost your chances during your job search, you’ll want it to be in business administration or business management. You can also include certifications and membership in any associations here.
Do’s and Don’ts for a Program Manager Resume
Keep these tips in mind when writing your program manager resume to land your next job:
-
Do:
- Mention specific achievements from your past project teams. Talk about the ways that your team succeeded and how you used your leadership skills.
- Be as specific as possible about your skills. For example, you may list Agile or Scrum instead of the Waterfall methodology.
- Point out if you’re a member of any program manager associations. The most common is the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).
-
Don’t:
- Overstate your experience and skills in your resume. While you want to show the best side of yourself, you shouldn’t apply to be a senior program manager as an entry-level worker.
- Use a resume design that doesn’t make sense for the company you are applying to. There are many program manager resume templates at ResumeNerd so you can find a great design.
- Talk about your projects in vague terms. A hiring manager will always want specifics about your past experiences and programs.
FAQ: Program Manager Resumes
A cover letter is always a good idea, regardless of whether the job description requests one. When you write a cover letter, you can explain more about your experiences, your past milestones, and exactly why you’re better than other job seekers for this program manager job. Plus, the ResumeNerd cover letter builder means it’s as easy to create one.
If you don’t have many years of experience, you’ll want to focus on two things: past leadership experience and any education or certifications. Remember that you don’t need work experience as a program manager to become one for the first time. You can showcase management experience in other areas to demonstrate how you’ll be able to function as a program manager.
Every time you apply for a new job, it’s important that you change your resume slightly to appeal to a specific job posting. A company looking for a more technical program manager will want a different applicant than one looking for a program manager more attuned to the team-building portion of management. Read through the job description, look for keywords and include those keywords in your resume.
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