The future of employment for leadership professionals is bright, and you’ll need a strong resume to land the best managerial positions. Your management resume should demonstrate a history of effective leadership, emphasizing an ability to motivate teams and achieve results. In this guide, we’ll provide expert strategies to help you create a resume that proves you can drive success and growth as a leader within your industry.
Key takeaways:
To demonstrate that you can lead a team to reach strategic objectives, your resume must clearly communicate past success. Every section should point to your ability to drive measurable results. Your management resume should include the following:
Include your most up-to-date contact information in the header of your resume to make it easy for hiring managers to follow up or schedule an interview. List your full name, phone number, email address, location, and a link to your online professional profile.
Your Name
(123) 456-7890 | email@example.com | City, State Abbreviation Zip Code | LinkedIn
Your profile, the opening statement of your resume, offers a snapshot of who you are as a leader. To pique the interest of hiring managers, this small glimpse of your management career should include all of your most compelling qualifications. Start with a strong opening sentence listing your job title and years of experience. Then, mention key strengths, specialties, and priorities.
Include information that will connect with the needs of potential employers. For example, if you’re applying to a company undergoing a digital transformation, highlight your experience leading technology adoption initiatives. For roles within rapidly growing companies, emphasize your ability to scale operations while maintaining quality service and culture.
Senior risk management professional with over 10 years of experience in e-commerce safety and compliance. Develops AI-powered solutions to enhance product safety and streamline recall processes. Recognized for building and leading high-performing teams across global markets.
Operational professional with over eight years in shipping and logistics and three years in a leadership position. Known for optimizing store performance, enhancing customer satisfaction, and driving revenue growth. Passionate about team leadership and process improvement.
The professional experience section of your management resume is like your career’s highlight reel. This section is where you demonstrate how you’ve used key skills to overcome challenges, achieve results, and manage responsibilities. Discuss the teams or projects you’ve led and include examples that directly relate to the job you’re pursuing.
The emphasis should be on your leadership impact, weaving your responsibilities and job duties into the content to give the reader the scope and scale of your role.
Asking yourself simple questions can help you quantify your accomplishments: How much? How many? How often? For example, what did you and your team achieve? How did you lead them through change or navigate obstacles? Help hiring managers envision how you could add value to their organization.
Senior Risk Manager, Amazon, Nashville, TN
June 2020 – present
Senior Team Lead, FedEx Store, San Diego, CA
June 2021 – present
Use numbers to highlight those times in the past when you reached targets, improved processes, exceeded sales, and managed people. As you describe past responsibilities and accomplishments, include metrics like percentages and dollar amounts to quantify your work. This tactic helps to measure your success and provides concrete evidence for your claims.
Even within the same industry, every management position will have its own requirements. Sending the same generalized resume to every job you’re interested in won’t get you very far. The best approach is to research the company and the role, and then tailor your document each time you submit an application. This demonstrates your genuine interest in that unique position.
For example, imagine you’re interested in working for a growing e-commerce startup, and you know they need a leader to optimize supply chain operations. You would emphasize any experience scaling logistics or implementing inventory management systems. Show that you understand their specific needs and have a track record of addressing similar challenges.
Employment for management professionals is expected to grow faster than average over the next 10 years. This healthy demand means hiring teams may be more willing to invest in people with little experience but the right education, skills, and ambition.
Instead of focusing on work history, structure your resume to highlight transferable skills, education, industry expertise, and training. If you have leadership experience related to your target role in a volunteer, sports, or school setting, mention that as well. You can also seek out insight and mentorship from current industry leaders. Ask them how they made the leap from no management experience to their first leadership role.
Educational requirements will vary depending on the type of management position you’re applying for. When listing your academic information, always begin with your highest level of education first. If you’ve taken relevant managerial, leadership, administrative, or business-related coursework, you can list that here as well.
In addition to any formal education, include certifications that empower your role as a manager. Software proficiencies, regulatory certifications, licenses, and role-specific credentials will help distinguish you from other top candidates.
Template:
[Degree Name] | [Graduation Year]
[School Name] | [City, State Abbreviation]
Example:
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Management | June 2014
University of Florida | Gainesville, FL
Template:
[Certification Name] | [Awarding Organization] | [Completion Year]
Example:
Certified Manager | Institute of Certified Professional Managers | 2022
With over 9.5 million professionals employed at the management level, the technical and interpersonal abilities required for each individual will be different. To determine which key skills to include, it’s always best to defer to the job description of the position you’re seeking. If you’re looking for some inspiration, here’s a list of common skills most leadership professionals will need to demonstrate.
Hard Skills | |
---|---|
Agile and Scrum methodologies | Budgeting and forecasting |
Business intelligence tools | Contract negotiation |
Customer relationship management (CRM) software (Salesforce, Hubspot, Oracle) | Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems |
Financial analysis | Performance metrics tracking |
Six Sigma techniques | Supply chain management |
Soft Skills | |
---|---|
Change management | Conflict de-escalation and mediation |
Constructive feedback delivery | Crisis management and rapid decision-making |
Cross-functional team leadership | Executive presence and board communication |
Organizational culture shaping | Remote team engagement |
Stakeholder relationship management | Talent identification and development |
Leadership is about taking initiative and approaching your work with a proactive mindset. To help you communicate this drive for excellence, use action verbs when creating bullet points for your professional experience section. This approach will also help to keep your descriptions concise and impactful. Use some of the words below as you write your management resume:
Action Verbs | |
---|---|
Achieved | Analyzed |
Championed | Collaborated |
Conducted | Elevated |
Implemented | Innovated |
Navigated | Optimized |
Spearheaded | Streamlined |
Synchronized | Transformed |
The best management resume template is clean, concise, and well-structured. Each section is clearly defined and uses elements like bullet points to organize information. The layout should make it easy for hiring managers to quickly scan and locate key information about your leadership experience and achievements.
Consider industry and company culture when making your selection. A template that works for a creative tech startup may not be suited for a role at an established financial institution. Strike a balance between modern and professional for the best first impression.
Cameron Malfara
(123) 456-7890 | youremail@example.com | San Diego, CA 12345 | LinkedIn | Portfolio
Operational professional with over eight years in shipping and logistics and three years in a leadership position. Known for optimizing store performance, enhancing customer satisfaction, and driving revenue growth. Passionate about team leadership and process improvement.
Senior Team Lead | FedEx Store | San Diego, CA
June 2021 – present
Customer Service Representative | UPS Store | San Clemente, CA
April 2015 – May 2021
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Business Administration | Expected: June 2025
San Diego State University | San Diego, CA
Every piece of information on your management resume should be relevant to the role you’re pursuing. Customize your document every time you submit an application and let the job requirements be your guide as you choose which leadership skills, experiences, qualifications, and achievements to include in your resume.
If an employer uses ATS software, your resume is more likely to be approved for the next round of the hiring process if you use keywords and phrases. Incorporate similar language naturally throughout your resume. Address every major requirement listed in the job description as much as you can, showing how you align with the company’s management needs.
Management resumes are best set up to showcase your career progression over time, making the chronological format the best option for this job type. The professional experience section takes up the majority of the page and lists your most recent positions in reverse chronological order.
Hiring managers are most interested in your recent leadership accomplishments and how they relate to the position they’re trying to fill. If you have a strong work history, your stability and longevity stand out as a key strength and add to your credibility as a manager.
Complete your application with a well-crafted cover letter to present the full picture of your management experience. Think of it as your personal pitch to the hiring manager or executive team. Add a narrative component to the bullet points and raw data of your resume. Use those persuasive communication skills to describe why you’re the perfect fit.
Resume Templates offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.