Are you a project manager currently looking for a job? If you answer positively, then one thing you need to take care of is a solid PM resume. Writing a project manager resume is not much different from writing a resume for pretty much any other job. It implies including the same basic sections, such as contact information, experience, education.
It also requires time and attention to detail to make it flawless. But, despite all these similarities, it has its unique peculiarities and can get somewhat challenging if you don’t know how to approach them.
Whether you have vast experience or just starting your career path, in order to get employed, you need to have a strong project manager resume sample that can persuade a potential employer that you are a perfect fit for them.
If you want to have a resume that can advance your job search, you’ve come to the right place! Our expert team offers you to leverage our vast experience in the resume writing business for your success. In this article, you will find a step-by-step writing guide, helpful project manager resume examples, and handy tips that will help you land an interview!
How to Write a Project Manager Resume
Every good resume strives to present you as a perfect applicant for the chosen job. It communicates the biggest accomplishments, indicates the level of qualification, can engage a recruiter from the first lines, and makes potential employers want to recruit you.
Your project manager sample resume should do just that. But, how can you achieve all these goals at once?
Later in our guide, you will find detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to write a resume for both senior and entry-level project management jobs. But, first, let’s go over the main steps for creating excellent project manager resumes:
- Carefully read the job description and center your resume around it. Remember that recruiters will likely scan your resume via an applicant tracking system (ATS), which will identify how well your job application matches the description.
- Find the format and template that will work best for you.
- Create an effective resume summary or objective.
- Emphasize your past experience.
- Make a list of the key skills.
- Use relevant action verbs to make your resume stand out.
- Don’t forget to specify your level of education on a resume to gain a competitive advantage.
- Consider adding a few additional sections that will highlight your professionalism, reliability, and skills.
This is a short overview of the steps that are in the process. Further in this guide, we will look closer at each of these steps and share with you some of the best tips, tricks, and examples to help you craft a winning resume.
Choose the Right Template for a Project Manager Resume
To create a flawless resume project manager, first think about the proper formatting and choose the right project manager resume template.
Although there are quite a few different project manager resume templates, despite all the distinctive features, they all have something in common - they strive to show your biggest strengths.
Here is how to get things right:
- Choose the reverse-chronological format.
- Locate the contact section in your resume header.
- Choose clear and eye-friendly fonts, headings, and layouts.
- Go with a one-page template. Or make your resume two pages long if you’ve got vast professional experience.
- Split your resume into the following parts:
- Header
- Work experience
- Education
- Skills
- Other Sections (e.g. volunteering experiences, additional training, certifications, etc.)
- Make sure you have plenty of white space and you use it wisely.
- Save it as a PDF file, unless otherwise is stated in the description for a job you will apply for.
Write a Project Manager Resume Summary or Summary Objective
A resume summary is a great way to showcase your biggest strengths and emphasize vast professional experience. Thus, if you have many years of experience, then you should write a project manager resume summary.
Sample project manager resume summary:
CPMP-certified project manager with over 10 years of experience. Managed numerous multi-million dollar projects for a large law firm, performed risk assessment, and implemented an effective cost control strategy that saved the company over $5 million. Looking to leverage proven PM experience at [company name].
If you lack experience and apply for entry-level project manager jobs, then a resume objective will be your best bet as it focuses on your goals rather than experience.
Sample project manager resume objective:
Detail-oriented and highly-motivated management graduate with solid analysis and problem-solving skills looking to land a position of a junior PM at [company name] to leverage proven skills for the company’s projects.
Put Your Education on Resume for a Project Manager
When writing a resume for project manager jobs, most job seekers put the biggest emphasis on their work experience and forget to polish their education section. This is fine if you possess vast PM experience and apply for a senior-level job. If that’s the case, it is enough to specify your highest degree of education.
Here is the basic education info you should add to your IT project manager resume sample (or any other PM job resume) if you have lots of experience:
- Name of school and location
- Years
- Degree
But, if you are a junior specialist, you may want to spend more time working on your education section. In this case, we recommend adding a few strong bullet points under the basic information to make up for the lack of experience. Some extra points you can provide are:
- GPA (if it’s high)
- Relevant coursework
- Honors
- Extracurricular activities
- Studying abroad
Put Skills on a Project Manager Resume
To show yourself as a perfect employee for the job, you need to prove to the hiring manager that you have everything they are looking for in a great project manager. The right way to do this is by indicating the right skills in your project manager resume.
Here is a list of the main skills every PM should possess:
- Risk Management
- Presentation Skills
- Methodologies (e.g. Agile, Prince2, Scrum, CPM, Kanban, Lean, XP, etc.)
- Cost Control
- MS Office Skills
- Analytical Skills
- Project Scheduling
- General management skills
- Teamwork
- Interpersonal Skills
- Strategic Planning & Analysis
- Leadership Skills
- Business Development
- Business Case Writing
- Verbal and Written Communication
- Mentoring
- Problem Solving Skills
- Organizational Skills
- Time Management
- Active Listening Skills
- Attention to Detail
- Critical Thinking
Please note that your project manager skills resume section should be perfectly tailored to the specific position. So, be sure to focus on the job description when listing your abilities.
Add Contact Info to Your Resume
All project manager resume examples should contain such contact info as your full name, phone number, and email address. Additionally, you can also provide links to your social media.
As we already said, the best place to put your contact info is the header of your project manager resume. This way, you will make it easy to notice for recruiting firms. Some other tips for shaping your contact section include:
- Use an email that looks professional.
- Carefully check the accuracy of your data.
- Regularly update the contact info in your resume to ensure that it is always up to date.
Add Other Sections to Your Effective Resume
How to make your project manager resume more unique? Think about adding a few extra sections to your resume!
The best project manager resume shows not only your professional but also personal qualities. These additional sections can help you emphasize your professionalism, as well as personality, and help you land a job with ease:
- Languages you speak. Multilingual experts always have a competitive advantage. Therefore, if you speak multiple languages, be sure to specify them on your resume to impress hiring managers and boost your chances.
- Certifications & licenses. It may not be one of the requirements, but if you have any relevant certifications or licenses, it can make you stand out. Here are some of the most common certifications for a PM job:
- CPMP
- CAPM
- CSM
- CPM
- MPM, etc.
- Volunteering experience. Volunteering always looks great to potential employers. And it looks especially great when you are applying for such jobs as a PM because volunteering projects often require just the same skills as being a project manager.
- Conferences attended. If you regularly attend PM conferences, this is a good thing to mention on your resume as it shows your passion for your job and desire to keep up with trends.
- Academic or other side projects. Academic and side projects can also highlight your PM skills, especially if they are relevant to the job. Just look at these academic projects in resume example:
- Managed a students’ charity project (this example indicates your management skills, as well as your responsibility, personal traits, and values).
Use Key Action Verbs
Using relevant resume keywords and action verbs is a sure way to make your resume stand out among loads of other applications. The right verbs can help you shape strong, action-oriented bullets that will help you get more interviews. Also, action verbs can help you add a confident tone to your resume and attract the recruiter’s attention.
Below you can find a list of the most appropriate and effective action verbs that you can use in your project management resume:
- Aligned
- Collaborated
- Executed
- Achieved
- Coordinated
- Delivered
- Ensured
- Decreased
- Spearheaded
- Directed
- Exceeded
- Enabled
- Headed
- Improved
- Forecasted
- Motivated
- Guided
- Identified
- Refocused
Senior Project Manager Resume Sample
This article is a general guide for writing a PM resume. However, when it comes to writing senior project manager resumes, in particular, it can be a bit trickier. Senior-level positions have higher demands, and your resume has to match them.
Here are a few main things to keep in mind:
- Write a resume summary. If a resume objective can work great for entry-level jobs, a senior PM should start his resume with a strong project management resume summary that highlights his best points.
- Quantify your accomplishments. To make your senior project manager resume truly great, you should quantify your achievements. This will help recruiters see a proven track record of your experience and accomplishments.
- Don’t focus on education too much. A great senior-level project manager resume example should not drive too much attention to the education section. To occupy such a high position, you need to emphasize your vast experience and strong skills. Thus, only mention your highest level of education on such a resume.
- Proofread. Lastly, if you plan on landing a senior-level PM job, you have to ensure that your resume has no typos or other errors. Be sure to carefully proofread your resume before submitting it.