To Write the Professional Summary of a Resume

Your resume-projected personality

Employers rely on well-written resumes to screen potential job candidates, as well as to determine how they will fit into their work environments; especially in today’s competitive job market where, in many instances, employers look through job search web sites such, as HotJobs.com and Monster.com, to find job applicants with the skills, education, experience and professionalism that fit their staffing needs.

These employment search web sites, along with many of the hiring companies’ own online applications, require candidates to upload their resumes in order to express interest in a specific position. Without an opportunity to send a personal email or a cover letter, a job applicant must make sure that the resume s/he uploads expresses his/her personality in addition to listing professional and educational experiences and achievements.

Adherence to this guideline will mean that the applicant must include a professional profile or summary to begin the uploaded resume. This allows said applicant to market him/herself through a narrative. If, for example, you are the applicant in search of a position that meets your requirements and suits your qualifications; this section will allow your potential employers to learn something unique about you and your career, as well as to get a good feel for your communication skills.

Exclude non-career related personal info

To write an effective summary, you should first understand what information should not be communicated in your resume. While a summary provides an insight into what is unique and competitive about you, it is not a place for you to convey any personal information (PI) that does not relate to your career. Information such as ethnicity, marital status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and affiliations, etc. should be left out of your resume.

While descriptive of who you are, this information is not relevant to your potential employer for the purpose of pre-screening your qualifications for their opportunity. Additionally, the summary should not contain your previous professional experience, unless you can clearly demonstrate how such background can be of value in your future career development.

Beware of generic statements such as, “I am well organized and detail oriented” since employers want to hear your unique voice and get a sense of your communication skills while reading the summary portion of your resume. So using generalizations about your abilities will lead potential employers to believe that you are either a poor communicator or are using such statements to fill up space on your resume.

Big, bold, well-crafted, professional you!

Your summary should be in the form of a short paragraph, or bulleted statements containing only several sentences; and while there isn’t a sentence limit, as a rule this should not use up more than one quarter of the page. More specifically, your summary should begin by a headline that summarizes your professional title and/or your professional statement, while emphasizing your title by featuring the headline in bold and larger font, as it allows your potential employer to grasp who you are in a direct and succinct manner.

Consider, for example, the following structure:

Financial Planning Professional
Achieved Double-Digit Return for All Clients through Well-Balanced Financial Portfolios

It is also important that this title is well crafted, as it is the first impression your potential employer will have of you. Keep in mind that there are three things a well-written summary should address:

1. Your experiences and skills as they relate to your ideal job
2. What you can bring to the organization and the open position that no other candidate can…and;
3. Your professional goals

Even though your resume summary is written by you, it should be composed in third person vernacular and present tense; and as such it should be thought of as a summary of what one of your best colleagues would say about your professional achievements. It is also important to reinforce your title, and sell only the experiences and skills that meet your career objective.

Customize, review, upload, hook, done!

If you have multiple career objectives such as, you wish to get a position in either marketing or public relations, you should develop separate resume summaries for each of the objectives. A summary can also include a brief bulleted section highlighting only a few vital competitive skills that you bring to the table. An example of an effective summary would be as follows:

Successful financial planning professional with over 15 years of personal and retirement planning experience. Managed a small financial planning firm, achieving double-digit financial returns for all clients by developing personalized investment portfolios. Leader in development and professional growth of four other financial planners in the firm through effective and motivating mentoring strategies.

Key competencies include:

• Personalized portfolio development
• Financial forecasting
• Retirement portfolio management
• Development on-going professional growth strategies

 

Much like your overall resume, your summary should be well-written and error-free; and you make sure to review your summary and customize it as necessary for the various opportunities of interest. An effective summary will help you “hook” your employer, and it should sell you as a primary candidate for the particular job, while leaving your employer with a great first impression of you.