How to Write Stand-Out Resume Headlines

Updated June 18, 20221.2k

Resume writing can be tedious for the everyday job seeker. Here’s how to craft the perfect, attention-grabbing resume headline to get a recruiter’s attention.

Resume Headline

Writing a professional resume has several different components, including a header containing all your contact information, a resume summary or objective, a skills section, a work experience section, and an education section. Each section is essential to getting the hiring manager’s attention and presenting important information. So where does a resume headline come in and how can you write a great one to land a new job?

What Is a Resume Headline?

The resume headline, also called the resume title, is a phrase that goes at the top of your resume. This one-liner concisely showcases your skills, work experience, and who you are as an employee to recruiters.

It can be tough to condense your years of experience or accomplishments into just one sentence. However, being able to do so on your resume can also show off your great communication skills. Saying more with less is a skill that can help you stand out in a job search.

What To Include in the Resume Headline

The resume headline should focus on the most relevant aspects of the job description. Here’s a list of the elements you need to pay especially close attention to in the resume header:

Job title
Your years of experience
Related qualifications
Most notable work-related accomplishments

The job title is one of the most important elements. A sales associate is very different from a sales executive, for instance. If you don’t have the appropriate work experience to fit a senior or managerial role, then your resume might be thrown out.

That doesn’t mean that a junior staff member cannot move up in their career. An executive assistant can successfully apply to be a project manager within the same company if they have years of experience under their belt.

You can also talk about any certifications or awards you earned for your current position. These can make you seem far more credible in your field, and in some cases, more desirable to hiring managers. If you have more than one award, major accomplishment, or certification related to the role, then you need to pick either the most impressive or the most relevant one.

For instance, earning a Webby Award can be great to show off for a web designer position, but less so for an architectural job. You need to carefully select which accomplishments will seem the most impressive for the role you’re applying to.

What To Include in the Resume Headline

A good resume headline will tell recruiters all about who you are in just a few words. Here are a few resume headline examples to help you get started:

Award-winning graphic designer with five design awards
Multilingual ICU doctor with 20 years of experience in the healthcare field
Sales manager with a proven track record of increasing quarterly revenue by 10%
Head archivist with 5 years of archiving and curating experience

These examples are direct reflections of a candidate’s work experience and previous accomplishments. A good resume headline avoids cliches and gets to the point. It doesn’t need to be especially elaborate, so long as it can precisely describe who you are as an employee.

FAQs: Resume Headline

What is the difference between a resume and a CV?

A resume focuses more on work experiences than education. Resumes are mainly used to apply for a job within a company or specific industry. Resumes tend to be around one to two pages in length, depending on your experience, in comparison to CVs.

A CV (or curriculum vitae) is typically used to show off all of the above plus a more comprehensive listing of academic accomplishments in order to earn a high position in academia, a grant, or another education-related venture. The education section takes up a larger portion of the document.

Do I need to include a resume summary if I write a resume headline?

At first glance, the resume headline, and resume summary or resume objective, might seem very similar. They seem to accomplish the same goals, except the resume objective tends to be much longer and acts as an all-encompassing summary of the entire resume. It gives you more space to discuss your skills and work experience in a way that a headline doesn’t.

However, recruiters go through dozens of applications every day. They might not even read through your entire resume before filing it or throwing it out altogether. In fact, many companies run resumes through an applicant tracking system (ATS) before it ever gets in front of an actual hiring manager. This system scans for specific keywords in a resume to see which candidates fit the position most. The resume headline acts as a great place to outline your specific qualifications and use keywords that will pass these types of systems.

Where can I find free resume templates?

Writing a new headline for every single job application you create can be tedious. Instead of stressing over writing the perfect resume, try using a resume builder tool. With dozens of resume templates, sample resumes, and other writing tips, you can craft the best resume for your next job application in just a few minutes.

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About The Author

Cindi Cervone Carlson

Cindi Cervone Carlson is a Senior Vice President for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Cindi is responsible for developing, delivering, and implementing a dynamic, world-class organization dedicated to delivering outplacement consulting, training, support, and executive coaching. Cindi started her career at Challenger as a client who had lost her job. Over the past nine years, she has risen from an entry-level, part-time professional to Senior Vice President.