5 Elements for Effective Project Manager Resume
If you are applying for a project management job, your resume should contain the right elements regardless of your years of experience. Apart from good formatting and impeccable grammar, your resume should include things hiring managers are looking for. Therefore, there are five sections that will make your resume stand out from the crowd.
Make sure to include project management certifications.
In the modern business world, in which projects are not usually completed within the given time and budget, your qualification matters the most. It will tell employers that you are likely to make these costs minimal. Your certifications prove that you were trained to comply with deadlines, know the best practices and methodologies, as well as capable of planning and allocating budget. If you compete with people who are just as experienced as you are, the preference will be given to those who have certifications.
Try to demonstrate your industry expertise and background knowledge.
Think more about each bullet point you place in your resume to specify your domain knowledge and background. Your industry expertise narrows the range of jobs project managers can get but it also gives them an advantage of “inside knowledge.” For example, if you have previously completed projects in Pharmacology, you are hardly qualified for IT projects.
Mention evidence of your hard skills.
Project managers are valued for their ability to make use of different tools and practices to deliver good results. Your skills in project management are obvious, e.g. risk management, project planning, budget planning, etc., but try adding the particular tools you used to achieve goals in these areas. This will make your resume stand out for hiring managers and employers.
Do not neglect soft skills as well.
A project manager’s role often depends on the ability to cooperate and direct teams from different departments. A good project manager spends most of his/her time communicating and working directly with people. Therefore, soft skills such as leadership, communication, negotiation, etc. are considered to be a very important characteristics of a great project manager.
List all your achievements.
Hiring managers are interested in your best results. They need to know what benefit you brought to your employees. For this reason, mention the exact number of projects you have managed in a certain time period. Explain the size and the scope of each of them in brief. Characterize the progress and results of these projects for a hiring manager to evaluate your skills and abilities in previous positions.
Consequently, you have all chances of getting the job you look for by only writing your resume the way the industry expects you to. List things people look for in a good project manager, and you will stand out to hiring managers.