A project manager resume needs to showcase a wide variety of skills. How can you create a project manager resume that you’re happy to show off to a recruiter?
How to Write Your Project Manager Resume More Effectively
Project Manager Resume
No matter what type of resume you’re creating, remember that your resume is how you show off your best skills. But this can be a bit complicated. If you have years of experience to show for it, it can be a daunting task to showcase all the reasons you’re perfect for a project manager job in a concise resume. The good news is that with the right guidance, you can prepare for any job title, whether it’s an entry-level job or one that requires a bit more experience. Here’s how you can prepare your resume for a project manager position.
What Is A Project Manager?
A Project Management Professional (PMP) ensures that your company completes successful projects regularly. It typically requires assessing team members’ skills, assigning them to the proper tasks, and ensuring that the team has the right time, requirements, and knowledge of the project and its methodologies. In short, a great project manager can help a team do its job more effectively and productively.
Skills And Qualifications For Project Manager Resumes
Project managers need a wide variety of skills and qualifications to maximize the usage of a professional resume. No matter what type of project manager you’re planning to be, from an IT project manager to a construction project manager and beyond, here’s how to fill out your skills section to get a hiring manager’s attention.
You need hard skills (skills gained through education and training) in a project manager role. Here are a few to consider:
- Microsoft Office Suite skills
- Software development methodologies (Agile, Scrum)
- Knowledge of project budgets
- Process improvement capabilities
- Project lifecycle management
- Ability to read metrics
- Ability to deliver on initiatives
- Risk management
While hard skills are certainly important, you also need soft skills to effectively connect with your team members and clients . Here are a few of the soft skills that are most desired in project management:
- Leadership skills
- Motivation
- Problem-solving
- Interpersonal skills
- Communication skills
- Adaptability
- Conflict management
Overall, both hard and soft skills are crucial if you want to create a project manager resume that a hiring manager takes seriously. List both of them on your resume.
Project Manager Resume Example
A Quick Overview of Your Project Manager Resume
When you go to a resume builder and decide to create your project manager resume, you need to understand how to make a resume.
First, you need to know which resume format you’re planning to use. The chronological format is the most common, especially for project and program managers, who usually have a lot of work history. Regardless of the format, these are usually the headings you’ll include:
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Resume header with your contact information
Your resume header includes all your personal contact information. It may include a link to your website, links to your professional social media sites, and your phone number and email address.
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Resume summary or resume objective
At the very top of your resume, you can find the resume summary or resume objective. This is a 2-3 sentence paragraph that goes over the information presented in your resume. A resume objective, which is more common for people with less experience, will also provide an objective that you’re hoping to achieve with your resume.
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Skills section
In your skills section, you’ll include a handful of your top skills. Focus on skills that the job description specifically requires, as well as skills that you can back up with previous experience, awards, and achievements.
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Work experience section
Your work experience section will typically include up to the last 10 years of experience, listed in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent jobs first. If you have more than 10 years of experience, you can list it on your LinkedIn profile, or mention it in your cover letter, especially if your less recent positions don’t feature relevant skills and achievements.
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Education section
The education section will usually be at the end of your resume. It includes all professional education you’ve completed, including any specialized coursework or certification programs.
Most resume templates will include all of these sections. And some templates also include extra sections for qualifications or certifications for people who feel their resume could benefit from providing this additional information. If you want to learn more about how to write all of these resume sections, check out the ResumeNerd resume examples. You can find other project manager resumes to improve your resume.
It's also important that you write a great cover letter to go along with your resume. No matter how great your resume is, a cover letter can help you go over even more information about your work experience and why you fit a specific project manager job description. You can use the ResumeNerd cover letter builder to create your cover letter.
