Before you get to do what you do best as a project manager—plan, procure, and execute—there’s one crucial project that requires your attention. You should put together a great project manager resume that shows off your skills and experience in the field.
Creating a resume is a project like any other. And, since you’re good with projects, you already have a head start.
We’re going to help you by giving you a thorough, step-by-step guide that you can follow to craft a professional document even if you have zero prior experience. Let’s dive straight into it!
Key Takeaways
It's usually the best practice to keep your resume one page long and use formatting options to convey information in a clean and concise way.
One of the most optimal ways to list your previous jobs, professional accomplishments, and academic achievements is by using the reverse-chronological resume format.
The mandatory sections you need to include in your project manager resume are the ones featuring contact information, a resume summary/objective, work experience, education history, and skills.
Optional project manager resume sections allow you to dress up your resume and catch the eye of hiring managers.
You should tailor everything in your resume—from your skills to work experience—to be relevant to the position you're applying for.
What is the Right Format to Use for a Project Manager Resume?
There are three time-tested resume formats proven to work best with recruiters, and they are:
Chronological resume: this is the most popular project manager resume format. It places your professional experience in focus and lists it in reverse-chronological order, putting the latest and most important professional endeavors first.
Functional resume: you should consider using this format if you lack professional experience, which is why it’s great for creating a professional resume as a beginner.
Combination (hybrid) resume: this format blends chronological and functional formats into one. It also puts skills into focus but expands on every skill with a list of prominent professional achievements related to it. That makes this option great for industry veterans.
Resume Layout
A resume layout determines the appearance of your document.
For starters, your project manager resume should be one page long. Most recruiters spend less than a minute skimming through resumes, so you want to show them as much information as possible as quickly as possible. Here’s how to do that:
Resume Layout Essentials
Pick a good font for your resume—the best option is to use 10–12 pt font size for the body and 14–16 pt for subheadings.
Have at least 1-inch margins on all sides.
Utilize white space to make different sections more distinct.
What Sections Should a Project Manager Resume Contain?
To make sure you’ve given recruiters all the information they want to see, include the mandatory sections and then some optional parts that allow you to add even more useful content to your project manager resume. Let’s see what these sections are:
Mandatory Sections
Contact information
Resume objective or summary
Work history
Education
Skills
Optional Sections
Certifications
Languages
Conferences and awards
If all of this sounds like too much of a hassle, check out our resume builder. It features professional templates that have all the sections suggested, so you can simply fill them in with your information. That makes it as easy as it gets to craft a stylish project manager resume in a breeze.
Project Manager Resume Template
Let’s take a look at a project manager resume template to see all that talk about formats, layouts, and sections in action.
Project Manager Resume Contact Information
Your project manager resume should start with your contact information. It’s as clear-cut section as it gets—it gives recruiters your name and professional title and provides a few options for them to contact you.
Here’s an example:
Contact Information Example
Jeffery Espinoza
Project Manager
+ 321 555 4321
jefferyespinoza@example.com
Orlando, FL
linkedin.com/in/jefferyespinoza42
When writing this section, you must make sure there are no typing mistakes.
Also, keep your job title and email address professional. Don’t call yourself a “Project Guru” or use similar witty titles, as it usually draws the wrong kind of attention.
Unlike your phone number and email address, your physical address is optional. Only include it if the job posting asks for it or if you’re applying for a position abroad. Even then, just add your city and state.
Speaking of optional information, you’re welcome to include your LinkedIn profile, but don’t list any irrelevant social media accounts.
Project Manager Resume Objective or Summary
Resume objectives and summaries act as elevator pitches that are supposed to grab the hiring managers’ attention in just a couple of sentences. Look at either of those as a description for your project manager resume that gives recruiters a rundown of what to expect from you.
A project manager resume objective should emphasize your skills and career goals to show that you’re perfect for the job. It’s typically used by candidates with no professional experience.
On the flip side, experienced applicants will write a summary to showcase a couple of their most prominent achievements, enticing potential employers to continue reading their resumes.
Junior Project Manager Resume Objective
Students, recent graduates, or candidates who switched careers and don’t have any professional experience should use a resume objective. Let’s take a look at a good example of this section:
Good Example
“Driven recent graduate with a BA in marketing and proven organizational and management skills. Seeking to leverage data processing knowledge to successfully fill a junior position as a project manager at Company Y and execute digital marketing strategies.”
The candidate emphasized their skills briefly and concisely while displaying a high level of determination, which is definitely a way to make a good impression.
Compare that to the following example:
Bad Example
“Marketing graduate looking for a position at Company Y to apply what I’ve learned so far.”
The second applicant gave no meaningful information to hiring managers, which makes their resume objective bland and forgettable.
Project Manager Resume Summary
To instantly grab recruiters’ attention, your project manager resume summary should contain some of the most important accomplishments and results that have marked your career. Let’s see the following good example to clarify this:
Good Example
“Accomplished project manager with 10+ years of experience in the industry. Proven planning and organizational skills with an impeccable track record of meeting every project deadline for 6 years straight. Spearheaded new solutions that increased the [previous company’s] annual revenue by 13%. Looking to leverage leadership proficiency and top-notch communication skills at [your company].”
On the other hand, we have the following example where the candidate didn’t provide any information of value:
Bad Example
“Experienced project manager. Looking for a position where I can leverage my strong organizational and team working skills.”
Pro tip
Avoid using personal pronouns in your resume summary or objective. You want the focus to be on the company and what you’ll be able to do for them.
Project Manager Resume Work Experience
Your workplace competence and efficiency are what interest recruiters the most, which makes the work experience section the most important part of your resume. That’s why we created a set of guidelines to help you get the most out of it.
General Tips
Project managers are in charge of running complicated projects from start to finish, so it's important to properly show how experienced you are in the field. Be sure to include specific details about the projects you have managed, like the scope, budget, and timeline. You should also highlight any successes or achievements you have had in your previous roles.
To do that, list your previous jobs in reverse-chronological order and include the following information for every job:
The role
The name of the company you worked for and its location
Your dates of employment
The most prominent responsibilities, achievements, and results
Including exact numbers and percentages adds weight to your accomplishments and successes—especially when you’re mentioning budget, timeline, and KPIs. Additionally, clever usage of action verbs and power words will make you stand out among other candidates.
Lastly, you want to give recruiters as much valuable and relevant information as possible, but you need to keep it brief and concise, without obsolete data.
Entry Level Project Manager
Entry-level job seekers likely don’t have enough professional experience to showcase. If you are one of them, you can focus on your relevant academic accomplishments, volunteer work, internships, and other similar activities.
By following the general tips we talked about, you can still end up with a clean, professional, and eye-catching work experience section, like in the example below:
Entry Level Resume Example
Work Experience
Project Manager Intern
WorkAds Westland, MI
September 2021–Present
Collaborated with 3 other teams on 20+ complex projects under tight deadlines.
Monitored operating procedures and communicated 25+ project updates to senior directors.
Supervised by senior project managers while implementing details and executing marketing projects.
The candidate used accurate numbers and powerful words like "collaborated," "monitored," "implemented," and "executed" in a smart way, creating a captivating internship work experience section.
Experienced Project Manager
The key to writing a strong work experience section as a seasoned project manager is to be detailed and specific while focusing on your achievements and contributions to the projects you worked on. Your successes show the value you can bring to your potential employer, which makes you stand out and increases your chances of getting an interview.
Let’s see that in an example:
Experienced Project Manager Example
Work Experience
Marketing Project Manager
Ad-venture Orlando, FL
October 2019–Present
Implemented Prince2 method to boost workplace productivity by 23%.
Reconstructed email marketing strategies that resulted in a revenue increase of 19%.
Orchestrated an innovative seasonal Q4 digital marketing strategy that resulted in a 35% increase in conversion rates compared to the previous year.
Even though this section on work experience is short, it has a lot of useful, measurable information that will catch the eye of any hiring manager.
IT Project Manager
When writing the work experience section for an IT project manager, it’s essential to showcase your technical expertise as well as your ability to manage projects and teams. A combination of those skills and abilities will make you stand out from the competition. Check out the example:
IT Project Resume Example
Work Experience
IT Project Manager
SolutionSoft Chicago, IL
November 2020–Present
Successfully delivered an enterprise-wide cloud migration project for a Future 500 company, which resulted in improved system performance and cost savings of $350,000.
Implemented a new project management system that resulted in a 15% increase in project efficiency and improved communication among team members.
Managed the development of a new e-commerce platform for a startup company, resulting in a 50% increase in online sales within the first year.
Project Manager Resume Education Section
Here are a few things to keep in mind when adding an education section to your project manager resume:
You should include only your highest degree. If you’re adding more than one (e.g., an MSc and BA degree), list them in reverse-chronological order, but don’t add your high school diploma unless it’s your highest one.
Include the name of the degree, the institution you attended, and the years attended.
You can list relevant coursework, training, and prominent achievements in a bullet list.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Education Section Example
Education
MSc in Computer Science & Information Systems
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
2018–2019
Magna cum laude
GPA: 3.8
You can list your degree even if you haven’t obtained it yet. Leave out the date of graduation and write "current" instead, or write "expected" if you expect to graduate on time.
In the same way, you should include this information even if you dropped out of college—simply write how many credits you earned towards your degree.
Finally, if you have a certification or two that are tightly connected to your academic career, consider including them as part of this section. On the other hand, if you have obtained multiple prominent certifications, you should make a separate section to highlight them all and further showcase your expertise. We’ll talk about that later in the article.
Project Manager Resume Skills
Project managers need to have a vast range of skills to be successful in the role. These skills vary from being highly technical to being transferable or interpersonal.
Hard skills are highly specific and determined based on your career, position, or even the company that you work for. These allow you to do the job in the first place, and, as a result, recruiters will be interested to see them first. You’ll often have degrees or certificates to showcase your proficiency in hard skills.
On the other hand, we have soft skills that are more general, often representing personal qualities and attributes. These are usually developed through real-life experience and are, therefore, more difficult to prove.
Nevertheless, recruiters always look forward to seeing them on a resume, as they make candidates come across as more flexible, organized, efficient, communicative, etc.
You should list your skills on your project manager resume after your education section and make sure that your soft and hard skills are separate.
Hard Skills
When adding hard skills to your project management resume, it’s crucial to have the position you’re applying for in mind. Research the job posting to figure out which skills recruiters are looking for the most, and then list them in order of importance. Some examples of hard skills you may need include:
Project management methodologies and frameworks (e.g., Agile or Waterfall)
Project management software (e.g., Asana or Trello)
Knowledge of industry-specific standards and regulations
Relevant programming languages
Database management systems
Knowledge of financial management principles (e.g., budgeting and cost control)
Soft Skills
A quality selection of soft skills is vital to creating a top-notch project manager resume. Some of the most sought-after soft skills by recruiters are:
Communication
Teamwork
Leadership
Problem-solving
Adaptability
Time management
Emotional intelligence
Project Manager Resume Optional Sections
To further highlight your skills and competence as a project manager, use optional sections. These allow you to show that you have more to offer than what’s necessary and are great at leaving a lasting impression on hiring managers.
Certifications
Certifications are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in the field of project management. They aren’t always required for the job, and their value depends on the industry and specific job requirements. Nevertheless, your project manager resume can only benefit from this section.
Some of the most well-known certifications for project managers are:
Certifications Section Example
Project Manager Professional (PMP). This is considered the gold standard for project manager professionals.
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). CAPM is considered a stepping stone towards PMP and is designed for newcomers in the field.
Certified Scrum Master (CSM). This is a highly valuable certification if you’re applying for a job at a company that uses Scrum principles.
Languages
Knowledge of foreign languages is always a plus on a resume. In certain instances, this section can even be mandatory. For example, if you’re supposed to work on an international level and cooperate with teams across the globe, being able to maintain fluid communication would be essential.
When adding a foreign language section, start with the one you’re most proficient in and list them based on your proficiency levels. These levels go as follows:
Language Proficiency Description
Native/bilingual
Fluent
Proficient
Intermediate
Elementary
Conferences & Awards
Adding relevant conferences and awards to your resume is another powerful way to set yourself apart from other candidates and highlight your professional achievements.
To properly list them, include the name of the conference and the dates of attendance. Be sure to mention any presentations or workshops you took part in, too.
The same goes for listing your awards. Include the name of the award, the date you received it, and a brief description of the recognition.
Lastly, make sure that every bit of information is relevant and highly impactful. Don't include every conference and award you've received because it will make the overall section look less impressive.
Should You Submit a Cover Letter With Your Project Manager Resume?
A cover letter accompanies your project manager resume. It represents a perfect way to introduce yourself to recruiters and give a thorough explanation of why you think you’re the best candidate for the position. Because of that, even though a cover letter is considered optional, it’s highly recommended to write one and submit it for optimal chances of success.
Fortunately, writing a cover letter is not as difficult as it seems. Here are a few simple tips that can help you in the process:
Cover Letter Guidelines
Use the first paragraph to grab the recruiter's attention with a couple of your most impressive achievements.
Expand on your skills and accomplishments in the following 1–3 paragraphs.
End your cover letter with a call to action before formally closing it.
Bonus tip: Address the recruiter by their name for the biggest impact.
Expert Tips for Creating a Project Manager Resume
Let’s wrap up this guide with several expert tips that will ensure your project manager resume is top-notch:
Tailor your resume to the specific job. Research the job description and the company to understand exactly what the recruiter is looking for.
Make your resume one page long, have a clear and organized format, and use bullet points instead of blocks of text.
In addition to listing your skills in a separate section, provide specific examples of how you used them in your resume summary or objective and your work experience section.
Carefully proofread the whole resume to ensure there are no errors. You could also ask someone to review it before you submit it.
Job Winning Project Manager Resume Examples
Let's put everything we've learned into practice by looking at some job-winning project manager resume examples.
Closing Thoughts
A well-written project manager resume is the first step in your job-hunting journey. It allows you to present yourself in the best light possible and show recruiters just how good you are before you even get to the interview.
That’s why we’ve created this thorough guide that gives you more than enough information to create a professional resume from scratch. Of course, you can always speed things up by using our resume builder. No matter the path that you choose, you’ll have a job-winning application document in no time.
