Your Resume Summary

By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP

If your resume doesn’t include a summary section at the top, I recommend that you add one.

The summary goes below the title, which goes below the contact information. See my previous post about the importance of a title.

IMPORTANT: This summary should not contain a personal objective. Especially if you’re an executive, nobody on the hiring team wants to know what you want out of the job, at least not initially. They want to know your skills and what you will contribute to the company.

Many people think that this summary section should be a career summary or an overarching professional profile—a series of statements about your abilities and strengths as a leader. A personal branding statement, if you will. I slightly disagree.

While you should state information about yourself that makes you different than your competition, the resume is a marketing tool, and the summary is meant to continue to engage the hiring team after the title. What better way to further engage the reader after the title than to write a summary that addresses the company’s needs?

You might feel awkward when you write about yourself. But you know your strengths and expertise. How can your strengths and expertise address the company’s needs? That’s a little bit harder and definitely more interesting and effective for your audience, which is the hiring team.

Think about it. Which would you rather read?

“I’m a seasoned executive with 25 years of experience. I lead teams to increase revenue and improve teamwork.
Experience with spreadsheets, business development, and increasing sales.”

Or

“Award-winning accounting executive building teams that double revenue every year
by chairing monthly business development meetings to hold division leaders accountable.
Regularly review systems and processes to ensure optimal workflow and that customers are priority.”

You do this by thoroughly reading the job posting and then using the company’s words and phrasing in your summary to address what they need. Usually you’ll find this information in the first or second paragraph of the job posting

We’re looking for a(n) who can .

This person will .

The information is also in the first 2-3 statements under Required Skills or Position Description.

Yep, that’s right, plagiarize the heck out of that job posting. Use their words to help them!

A bunch of clients have asked me, “Won’t the company see that I’ve plagiarized and count that against me?”

Nope.

First of all, most resumes are horribly written and difficult to decipher, so the recruiter (and the hiring team) is looking for anything on the resume that shows you understand the position and you have the skills and experience to get the job done. If you demonstrate on your resume with your title and summary that you understand what they need and you can solve it, you’re way ahead of 99% of your competition.

Secondly, the more words that you use from the job posting, the better your chances of getting through the company software. The company may have very specific words that they use as part of the company culture. Where you might say “Human Resources” they might say “People Resources.” You and I know it’s the same thing, but the distinction is important to the company. Show that you understand their culture and that you speak their language by using their words.

Finally, the hiring team (and the recruiter) probably doesn’t even know what the job posting says. You have no idea who wrote the job posting, so it may even have been an intern or a contractor who has no idea about the industry.

Whatever the case, usually the only information you have to go on is the job posting. So use it! Consider it your ultimate cheat sheet.

Use that cheat sheet to address the company’s needs in the summary by demonstrating your strengths and expertise. This methodology will make your resume different and get you to the top of the pile.

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Better job. More pay. More control.

For a free resume review, please contact us at Control Your Career!