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How to Write a Professional Summary for Your Resumé
In today's competitive job market, employers are often receiving hundreds of applications for every available position. As a result, they have come to rely heavily upon resumés as a way screen potential candidates and narrow the field to a manageable number. In many instances, employers look through job search websites, such as HotJobs.com or Monster.com in search of professionals with skills, education and experience that fit their needs. These employment search web sites, along with many companies' own online applications, require candidates to upload their resumé in order to express interest in a specific opportunity. Because this method of job application does not provide the possibility of accompanying one's resumé with a personalized e-mail or cover letter, it becomes essential to write a resumé that expresses your personality in addition to listing your professional and educational experiences and achievements. As a result, it has become common to include a professional profile or summary at the beginning of your resumé that allows you to market yourself through narrative rather than outline. This section allows your potential employers to get a sense of you as a person rather than a list of facts, not to mention getting a better feel of your written communication skills.
To write an effective summary, you should first understand what information should not be communicated in your resumé. While a summary provides an insight into what is unique and competitive about you, it is not a place for you to indicate any personal information that does not relate to your employment. Information such as ethnicity, marital status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and affiliations, etc. should never appear in your resumé. While descriptive of who you are, this information is not relevant to your qualifications to fill the position for which a potential employer is looking for candidates. Additionally, the summary should not duplicate information about education and career experience unless you can illuminate some personal quality that does not come out in the traditional formal outline. Beware of generic statements, such as "I am well organized and detail oriented" which look like you are reciting something from a copybook. Employers want to hear your unique voice and get a sense of your communication skills while reading the summary portion of your resumé. Using generalizations about your abilities will make the employers believe that you are either a poor communicator or are treating the professional statement as filler to bulk out an otherwise slender resumé.
Your summary should take the form of a short paragraph or bulleted statements, containing a few sentences. There isn't a hard limit on length, but as a rule do not take up more than one quarter of the page. You want to be concise, not look like you're rambling to fill up space. Your summary should begin with a punchy headline that summarizes what you are saying. 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:
Financial Planning Professional
Achieved Double-Digit Return for All Clients through Well-Balanced Financial Portfolios
It is important that this headline be well crafted, as it is the first impression your potential employer will have of you.
There are three things a well-written summary should address:
- Your experiences and skills as they relate to your idea job
- What you can bring to the organization and the open position that no other candidate can
- Your professional goals.
Although your resumé summary is intended to capture your unique voice and personality, it should be composed in third person, in present tense. Think of it as a summary of what one of your best colleagues would regard as your professional achievements. Reinforce your title, and sell only the experiences and skills that meet your career objective. If you have multiple career objectives, such as you wish to get a position in either marketing or public relations, develop separate resume summaries for each of the objectives. A summary can also contain 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 resumé as a whole, your summary should be well-written and free of both grammatical and typographical errors. Make sure to review your summary and be ready customize it as necessary for particular employers. An effective summary will help you "hook" a potential employer and capture his or her interest; it should sell you as a primary candidate for the job, leaving your employer with a great first impression of you.
