How To Write A Professional Summary For Your Resume
In the modern job market, employers rely on well authored resumes to sift through potential candidates. In many instances, employers look through job search web sites, like HotJobs.com or Monster.com among others, to find professionals with the abilities,knowledge and experience that fit their requirements. The career search web sites, along with recruitment companies have you apply on their website, require applicants to upload their resume in order to show interest in a specific opportunity. You may not have the chance to send a descriptive email, or a cover letter. Thats when you have to double check that your resume conveys your personality in addition to listing your professional and educational experiences and achievements. To do this, you may want to throw in a professional profile or a summary at the beginning of your resume that allows you to market yourself through a narrative description. This section permits your potential employers to see something unique about you and your career path, as well as get a good sampling of your communication skills.
To write a great summary, you should first understand what information should not be conveyed in your resume. Although a summary provides an insight into what is unique and competitive about you, it is not a spot for you to outline any personal information that is not related to your career. Information such as ethnicity, marital status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and affiliations, etc. should be left out of your resume. Although it may be a reflection of who you are, this information is not relevant to your potential employer in order to pre-screen your qualifications for their current position. In addition, the summary should not contain your previous career experience, unless you can clearly how your background may be of value in your future career goals. Beware of generic statements, like -I am well organized and detail oriented-. Employers wish to hear your unique view points and get a feel of how well you communicate while reading the summary portion of your resume. If you use generalizations about your abilities,it will make the employers believe that you are either have poor communication skills or are using such statements to just add content on your resume.
Your summary may be in the form of a short paragraph or perhaps bulleted statements, containing only a few sentences. There is not a sentence limit, but as a rule do not take up more than one quarter of the page. Your summary should begin by a headline that describes your professional title and you may also include your professional statement. Emphasize your title by featuring the headline in bold and larger font, as it allows your potential employer to grasp who you are quickly. For example:
Sales and Marketing Professional
Acquired New Accounts and Maintained Existing Accounts by Providing Exceptional Customer Service and Satisfaction
Take your time when constructing your title, since it is the first impression your potential employer will have of you.
There are three things a good summary should list:
- Your experiences and skills as they relate to your ideal job
- What you can offer to the team and the open position that no other candidate can
- Your career goals.
Even though your resume summary is written by you, it should be written in third person, and in present tense. Try to think of it as a summary of what one of your best colleagues would say about your professional achievements. Reinforce your title, and sell only the experiences and skills that meet your career objective. If you have a few career objectives, as in you wish to obtain a position in either marketing or public management, compose separate resume summaries for each of the desired objectives. A summary may also contain a concise bulleted section highlighting only a few vital competitive skills that you bring. An example of an effective summary would be as follows.
Successful sales and marketing professional with over 10 years of account management experience. Managed both large and small accounts while maintaining customer satisfaction. Leader in the development and maintenance of new business growth through viral marketing tactics. Able to provide effective and motivating mentoring strategies.
Key competencies include:
o Personalized account development
o Sales forecasting
o Sales account management
o Develope growth strategies
Much like your overall resume, your summary should be written well and does not contain errors. Be sure to double check your summary, and adjust as necessary for the different opportunities of interest. A good summary will help you interest your employer; it should sell you as a primary applicant for the job, along with giving your employer a great first impression.
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