
As a hiring manager, I come across a lot of resumes for project managers. Some stand out, for both good and bad reasons. This post will talk a little bit about how to make your Project Manager resume stand out from the crowd and help you get that first foot in the door.
Value over Duties
Everyone can list out their job descriptions on their resumes. What will put a hiring manager to sleep quickly is reading the words “responsible for…”. You want to excite the reader of your resume by showing them what value you have given to the organization you work/worked for. How profitable were your projects? What value did they bring for your company? Did you help develop your team members? By demonstrating that you’ve got a solid track record for delivering value, you can show to the hiring manager that if they bring you on, that you can continue to add value to their organization.
Show You’re a Difference Maker
The next thing that will make you stand out in the crowd is to show to the reader of your resume that you are going to make a positive impact to the organization that is lucky enough to hire you. Instead of speaking about the types of projects that you have managed, talk about what a difference the success of those projects has had on the organization. And also, what have you yourself done to better the company as part of your time there? Perhaps you contributed to the development of a PMO or helped implement best practices around project management? Prove to the hiring manager that you haven’t been just going through the motions in your job and that you can deliver impactful value.
Demonstrate Learnings
Nobody is perfect, especially project managers. Everyone makes mistakes regardless of experience and knowledge. It’s showing the ability to learn from those mistakes to continually improve that will impress a hiring manager. To go along with successful experience, it’s important to demonstrate that you are capable of learning and while you do not want to highlight your career mistakes, it’s important to show that you have the ability to recognize when a mistake has been made and more importantly, how you’ve grown from the experience to make yourself an even stronger professional.
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