Project Manager Resume Sample

A project manager is an essential part of the infrastructure of any company. They are the bridges that connect the clients, the company, and employees together. Thus, it is essential that the metaphorical roads of these pathways are well-constructed and clear of obstructions.

As such, your primary goal as someone seeking a job in project management is to clearly showcase this ability in your resume for potential employers. However, it is also crucial that you present your skillset in a way that appeals to the hiring manager in the field you will be applying to.

Following these tips will help you accomplish both of these tasks with flair and enable you to land your dream project management job.

1. Identify the type of project management your desired job requires

Before you even begin writing your resume there are two important questions that you first need to ask yourself:

1. What type of projects will I be managing?
2. Do I have experience in the field I am applying to?

Before you can write your resume, you need to identify which of the following fields you work in:

Architecture	Environmental Restoration
Biotechnology	Finance
Business Services	Health Care
Construction	Information Technology
Energy	Landscape Architecture
Engineering	Manufacturing

 

Depending on the answer, you can tailor your resume to appeal to employers within that specialization. Secondly, you need to determine if you possess knowledge and skills outside of project management in that field.

The sample our experts have provided above is an example of the resume of an IT project manager, who has extensive experience working in the information technology field. As such, it is structured in a way that prominently displays both the candidate’s skill in a managerial role, as well as their expertise working in IT.

If you don’t have a lot of experience or skills in the specific field you are applying to, fear not, our guide still has you covered.

2. Consider using a qualifications summary

The go-to opening for most resumes is the career objective. However, given the large number of responsibilities you have as a PM, it is likely you are highly experienced, and want to put the spotlight on your long list of accomplishments. Therefore, we suggest using a qualifications summary for your resume introduction.

A qualifications summary is a list of four or more bullet points usually consisting of your experience, skills, accomplishments, and education/certifications in your area of expertise. As a result, it empowers you to brandish all your shiniest weapons at once. More specifically, using one can do the following for your resume:

1. Highlight your experience managing projects

• Technical Project Manager with 9+ years of extensive experience in the Information Technology industry, and 5+ years of experience in simultaneously managing 6+ software development projects, bringing over 50 successful projects to completion in total.

Unlike in a career objective, using a qualifications summary allows you to flesh out your level of experience, and put your peacock feathers on full display. In this case the candidate is able to emphasize their experience in both managing projects, and working in IT.

This is invaluable for any company looking to hire an IT project manager. You can use this tactic regardless of your field of expertise.

Additionally, a summary of qualifications allows you to show off exactly what you have done during those years of experience.

Things like the total number of projects you’ve completed, or the positive impact you’ve made on company revenue – this type of quantifiable information all helps strengthen your application.

Check out our guide on how to write a summary of qualifications for a more detailed explanation.

2. Show off your most outstanding achievements

Think about the most shining examples of what you have accomplished as a PM and immediately put them on display for the hiring manager.

If you’re having trouble thinking of specifics, consider which of the following you have accomplished and quantify those accomplishments in a way that will impress potential employers:

• Have you completed many projects within budget and on schedule?
• Do you simultaneously manage a large number of projects?
• Do you manage many teams at once or a very large team?
• Have you completed a large number of projects?
• Do you manage projects with very big budgets?
• Have you significantly increased the revenue stream of your company?

In addition, if you are able to add how you use specific project management techniques or tools to accomplish these things, it will become the cherry on top of the delicious cake you are feeding to the hiring manager.

Take a look at the example from the IT project manager sample resume to get an idea of what this looks like:

• Implemented Global Delivery Model at Dolphin Software Solutions by recruiting 10 developers from 4 different countries, reducing labor costs by 20% while simultaneously decreasing projected project completion time by 30%.

3. Emphasize your expertise related to the field in which you are applying.

While proving your competence as a project manager is your primary objective, demonstrating your expertise is also critical.. In our resume sample, the candidate is applying to be a technical project manager, and so they cite their most exceptional accomplishment as a software developer:

• Spearheaded an open source development project using PHP and MySQL to create free content management software, attracting dozens of programmers worldwide and resulting in thousands of users.

By putting this in the qualifications summary, it immediately tells the hiring manager that you also understand the ins and outs of an IT project. Of course you will need to mould this to fit your field.

If you are inexperienced in the field you are applying to, this point isn’t applicable to you. Instead you should replace this with another outstanding example of your success with project management techniques and tools:

• Utilized the Scrum (Agile) methodology and implemented the use of project management software at Dolphin Software Solutions, resulting in the completion of over 80% of managed projects within budget and on schedule.

Your ability to effectively make use of project management methodologies, software, and other techniques is transferable to any field you may want to transition to, and can serve to compensate for any lack of specialized knowledge.

By starting your resume with a summary of qualifications, you can immediately capture the attention of the hiring manager by showing them the best of what you have to offer.

3. Prove your ability to problem solve with quantification

Quantification is an important step in creating strong bullet points when writing any resume. If you can give something a number, do it. It is particularly important when writing your work experience.

As a PM, your primary role in the company is to produce results by solving problems and ensuring the smooth completion of quality deliverables. The bullet points in your professional experience section should reflect this. A good bullet point should be composed of the following:

• Problem: A task you are responsible for or an issue that needs fixing
• Action: How you completed the task or fixed the problem
• Result: The effect your action had on the problem.

Examples from our sample resume:

• Implemented Global Delivery Model at Dolphin Software Solutions by recruiting 10 developers from 4 different countries, reducing labor costs by 20% while simultaneously decreasing projected project completion time by 30%.
• Manage, schedule, and organize an average of 7 projects simultaneously, each with budgets in excess of $300 thousand, ensuring smooth completion of project tasks.
• Led 3 teams in the successful development of 40+ projects, resulting in over $15 million revenue for the company to date.

Notice that in some cases the problem, action, and result are all quantified. While you may not be able to quantify quite to this level it will give you a good idea of what types of things you can think about when it comes to giving your potential employer the juicy numbers they hunger for.

Quantification of your achievements gives the hiring manager concrete evidence of what you are capable of. For a project manager, the list of things you can quantify is almost endless, such as:

• Number of projects completed
• Average number of projects managed simultaneously
• Number of teams managed, or size of team
• Budget of projects
• Revenue earned through completed deliverables

For more tips and ideas on how to craft the best bullet point possible, take a look at the bullet point section of our article on how to write a resume.

4. Categorize your skills and certifications section

The key focus of any project manager’s resume skill section should be on their ability to lead a team project and act as a bridge between that team, upper management, and the clients.

Towards this end, you should display your skills in a way that reflects your abilities to handle the broad range of responsibilities you have during the life-cycle of a project. One of the best ways to do this is through categorization, which can help you in the following ways:

1. Saves space on your resume, enabling you to embellish more on other sections
2. Presents your skills in a clear and organized way, making it easy for the hiring manager to understand your strengths and find what they’re looking for
3. Emphasizes that you have multiple skillsets and allows you to show your expertise or technical skills in your field

Of course, if you’re not applying for an IT position, a technical skills section listing your knowledge of various programming languages is unnecessary. Instead, as someone applying to an architecture or construction firm for example, you would want to include your skill with software like AutoCAD, Revit, and Sketchup.

For a project manager resume, we recommend placing your skills section towards top to ensure your abilities are as prominent as possible. For more information on how to write a resume skills section, check out our detailed guide.

5. Use Adjectives to Emphasize Key Points

While a well organized skills section and achievement-oriented bullets can often speak for themselves, it never hurts to enhance them with a few well placed adjectives.

We’ve compiled some of the best adjectives for management positions below:

Adaptable	Diplomatic	Extensive	Strategic
Cohesive	Discerning	Flexible	Structured
Cost-effective	Disciplined	Harmonious	Team-minded
Decisive	Economical	Organized	Timely

 

For more inspiration and details on how to strategically use adjectives, check out our detailed guide and list of 135 resume adjectives.

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