Project Manager Resume Guide and Samples

03 April 2022 • 7 min read

Wisedoc

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Did you know that the top 10% of highest-paid Project Managers earn as much as $135,000 or more? Project managers oversee transforming big ideas into successful projects, products, or features. In a nutshell, they provide value. The goal of your project manager’s resume is to show the employer how valuable your PMP certification is. It is elusive, it is hard work to get it right, what is the important part of it? Create your Resume in such a way that it highlights your most significant achievements, but don't worry we're here to help. In this guide, you'll find project manager resume samples as well as tips on how to create your very own winning project manager resume.

Here’s What You Can Get From This Guide:
How to Choose the Best Resume Format for Your Project Manager Resume Few Resume Samples Make a Strong Project Manager Resume Summary Make Your Work Experience Shine by Using the Following Tips Skills Every Project Manager Resume Should Have If This is Your First Project Manager Job Include a Cover letter with Your Project Manager Resume Key Takeaways

So, What Do Project Managers Do?

Project managers (PMs) oversee the planning, organizing, and supervising the completion of specific projects for an organization while ensuring that they are completed on time, on budget, and within the scope in the broadest sense. They can alter an organization's direction by directing complicated initiatives from start to finish, reducing costs, maximizing corporate efficiencies, and increasing revenue. That being said, there are several general tasks that any good project manager can expect to perform on a daily basis.

A Day in the Life of a Project Manager:

• Communicating with team members
• Communicating with Key stakeholders
• Issue identification and resolution
• Budgeting
• Team building
• Time management and approvals etc.

Now let’s jump right into how to secure one of them with a strong Resume.

How to Choose the Best Resume Format for Your Project Manager Resume?

Start your resume by structuring the way it can show your biggest wins as a Project manager. You need to realize that over 98% of Fortune 500 companies use an Applicant tracking system or ATS in their recruitment process. For the ATS, chronological resumes are the easiest to scan. This is what gives this format a competitive edge in today's job market. The reverse-chronological resume is most advantageous when:

• You have several years of professional experience.
• Your career progression has been steady, and preferably in one type of industry.

This resume format focuses on who you are now. Your abilities, strengths, and experience.

And now for one of the most crucial resume hints. To preserve the layout of your project management resume template, save it as a PDF. Word documents and other file formats have the potential to ruin your formatting.

Divide your resume into the following sections:

• Personal Info in the Header
• Summary statement/Career objective
• Work History
• Skills
• Education and
• Additional Sections(Certifications, Awards/Accolades, Training, Conferences, Etc.)

To increase your chances of securing a job, make sure your online presence is ideal and optimize your LinkedIn summary and profile.

Check: Use one of our Expert reviewed templates and put your best foot forward.

Make a Strong Project Manager Resume Summary

Writing an appealing project manager resume summary is the next step. Your resume summary should include a concise review of your professional background (2-3 sentences) to help the hiring manager decide whether you're a good fit for the job. So, to ensure that the recruiter doesn't trash your project manager’s resume after merely glancing at it (and reading it entirely), your resume summary must be powerful.

A strong resume summary consists of the following elements:

• Your title and professional history in a crisp manner.
• Your top professional accomplishments.
• Your most relevant skills according to the job description.

Few Examples of Project manager resume summary:

You have a lot of job experience as a project manager; therefore, the next step is to effectively list it. Always start with your most recent/current position first while writing your work history.

Write down your achievements and responsibilities in a clear and crisp manner. Try to stick to 5-6 bullet points for the most recent roles and 2-3 for older jobs. You undoubtedly want your project manager’s resume to leave a lasting impression on the hiring manager and assist you in obtaining the position. Filling in only the basics of your work experience isn't nearly enough; you'll wind up with a project manager resume that looks a lot like the resumes of other candidates. If you want your project manager resume to stand out, think about what hiring managers are looking for. Definitely, it’s years and years of experience. However, the duties you held in past positions are significantly less important.

Remember, the most significant aspect of your professional past to recruiters is a proven track record of achievement. So, focusing on your achievements/accomplishments over your responsibilities of past work experience always wins. So, to make your work experience shine in the resume, use action verbs to describe your accomplishments. To read more about action verbs: click this article.

Include only relevant work experience, such as project management experience; the recruiter will not be impressed if you were a baseball trainer in high school.

Make your accomplishments measurable, such as "Consistently delivered projects up to 34% under budget" rather than "Consistently delivered projects under budget."

Example of a Project manager’s appealing work experience:

To have a long and rewarding career as a project manager, you'll need a wide range of project management skills.

Your specialized skills will vary depending on your organization, but all project managers deal with budgets, deadlines, and team members, therefore your resume skills section should include applicable hard and soft skills that demonstrate these qualities fully. Browse the job descriptions carefully before applying to see what skills you'll need.

Hard Skills in project management are acquired through actual training, schooling, or work experience. For example, to optimize workflow procedures, you'll need to quickly pick up technical abilities and learn how to use project management software like Salesforce or Kanban. You should also be familiar with performance tracking software (Wrike, ProofHub), as well as spreadsheet and database software (Airtable, Jira).

Soft Skills, on the other hand, are personality attributes that affect how you interact with others in the workplace. So that your colleagues feel encouraged and empowered while working on their unique projects, you'll need strong management and people abilities. Refine your time management abilities because you'll have to handle several deadlines and issue reminders to your employees.

Here are some Hard skills and soft skills employers look for in a project manager:

Here are a few things to bear in mind if you're an entry-level employee looking for your first job or an experienced professional trying to make a career change into project management:

In your summary, tell your story.

Resume summaries can help bridge the gap between your previous experience and what you want to accomplish next, so it's worth spending a couple of lines (no more than three!) explaining who you are and what you want to do next. You may say something like this: Recent graduate with expertise leading projects from conception to conclusion, including a campus-wide election. In a coordinator-level post, I'm looking to combine hands-on experience and expertise with project management approaches.

Consider taking the lead using your technical abilities.

If you don't have a lot of immediately transferable experience but do have a relevant certification (such as PMI, Scrum, Six Sigma, or Agile certifications) or experience with project management tools or methodology, put that at the top of your resume, before your experience. This might help you build a positive first impression with hiring supervisors.

Highlight the projects you've handled.

Even if you weren't a project manager. Did you assist in the implementation of new expenditure management software? Organize an office relocation? Collaborate on the launch of a new product? That should be highlighted in your experience area! Also, be as explicit as possible. Have you ever been in charge of a budget? Do you want to make timelines? Are you interacting with vendors? Make certain to include those specifics.

Now that you've learned how to write an effective project manager resume, let's talk about how to write an effective cover letter. The goal of a cover letter is to impress the hiring manager that you're the whole package: a capable project manager who is also a good match for the organization. As a result, your cover letter should be tailored to the job and include any relevant data not included in your project manager’s resume.

Here's how to make an engaging cover letter (even if you're not sure you can write!):