Recruiters and Hiring managers spend less than 6 seconds to check a resume to fill the existing vacancies. Paying attention to each individual detail in your resume would be exhausting because there’s a whole lot of similar resumes piled up!
So, most of the time they skim-read your resume as they are busy with their schedules. For the same reason, there should be a way to make your resume the most convincing and eye-catching.. That’s where the resume summary kicks in.
The resume summary is the best place to highlight your most significant skills, experience, qualifications and strengths that might most likely be missed by employers.
The resume summary goes by different other names as follows:
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Summary statement
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Achievement statement
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Qualifications summary
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Summary of experience
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Professional summary
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Career summary
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Competencies
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Profile
Read on to learn how to write a successful professional summary. If you want to know how to craft a perfect resume, read our resume writing guide.
In this article, you will learn:
What is a resume summary?
A summary is the part of your resume that comes right below the resume header and above the work experience section. This is a short paragraph of 3-4 sentences highlighting your professional strengths and achievements to the recruiter.
Including a summary statement is a great way to make your resume stand out from other resumes and to convince the recruiter that you are the best fit for the job.
The most common mistakes made when creating a resume summary are:
- Not summarizing your career background
- Lack of career accomplishment quantification
- Summary not tailored according to job description
So, here are a few things that you can include in your resume summary statement to make it sparkle:
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Action verbs/adjectives
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Your job title
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Relevant skills
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Keywords
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Notable accomplishments with quantified results
Why do you need a career summary?
Including a summary statement on your resume is a good idea because it can provide you with a number of benefits.
Among them, one of the most important benefits is: getting noticed faster. On reading a flawless summary statement, employers will quickly identify you as a good match for the job. A correctly written resume summary will allow the employer to locate the required skills and experience much faster in your resume.
Not only it is an awesome way to get recruiters’ first impression, but also it can be used to highlight only the most important skills and experience in a nutshell. That way, you don’t have to worry about years of work experience that might make your resume look complex.
The summary statement is also the best place to apply keywords mentioned in the job advertisement.
How to write a resume summary properly?
When writing a resume summary, first list your experiences followed by your strengths, qualifications as well as your key achievements. Furthermore, refer to the job advertisement and ask yourself what you can do for the company. Use your answers to enhance your career summary.
Here’s how you can write and organize a profile section correctly.
01. Note down your most important experiences and skills
Make a list of similar positions you’ve held in the past that are related to the job you’re looking for. Incorporate those experiences to write your summary of qualifications. Certifications, awards and other significant achievements that highlight your personality also could be included.
02. Review the job advertisement and tailor your resume summary
First and foremost, you should be well aware that most companies are using Applicant Tracking Systems to filter out resumes. Even your prospective company may be using an ATS to streamline the hiring process.
So, to beat the ATS, you should have your resume tailored for the job using the job advertisement (job description) as a source.
Skim through the job description to find keywords related to the job and make note of them. These can be skills, tools and technologies that are unique to the job. By fitting them smartly into your summary to match with the job description could increase the job-winning probability significantly.
03. Add some numbers to show your achievements
To make your summary stand out, you must present your achievements with quantified results.
Quantities are very important to highlight what changes you’ve brought about in a company throughout your attachment to a certain job position. They will look for this because what you have achieved in the past is proof of what you would be able to achieve in your future job role.
Additionally, always try to use strong action verbs in your summary statement to emphasize what you did.
04. Use powerful action verbs
Using action verbs is also a great tactic to make your profile section impressive.
It does not matter to the recruiters what you do in your current position. But they want to determine what you did in your past career and how you got your accomplishments. Through that, they will understand how you can offer something to their goals.
So when you present your achievements in a summary statement, always try to emphasize your summary by using strong action verbs to describe what you did.
Resume summary vs. resume objective
Years ago, there was no such thing as a resume summary. Instead, there was an objective statement, which is a brief introduction to the applicant.
It highlights the needs of the job seeker and his/her future goals. Here’s an example of a resume objective which is now outdated:
To obtain a job as a Digital marketing Manager at a high end technology company.
Sounds self centered? Exactly! Instead of focusing on personal interests, you should focus on the employer’s needs. So later, career experts and resume experts realized that the resume objective statement failed to show the value of the applicant. Better results could be obtained using a summary statement instead.
From then until now, experienced candidates include a summary in place of an objective statement in their resumes. Applicants are encouraged to describe how they can contribute towards the company’s goals rather than detailing out their future goals. It indeed is a great way to “sell yourself” to the employer.
Let’s look at an example of a summary statement:
Digital Marketing Specialist with SEO skills and 15 years of experience in the digital marketing field. Increased domain authority from 0 to 50 within 2 years and brought up the organic traffic search by 36% by using various digital marketing strategies.
Resume keywords
Resume keywords refer to the technical skills and the job title that can be found in a specific job advertisement. Adding those keywords to your summary statement will make it even easier to pass the ATS test.
Let’s look at a sample job advertisement for hiring a sales associate. The highlighted words are the appropriate keywords that you can use in your summary when applying for the job.
25+ resume summary examples for different job fields
01. Administrative assistant summary statement example
Professional Administrative Assistant with 5 years of experience in the field. Creating presentations, assembling facility reports, and maintaining confidentiality reduced labor expenses by about 25% a year, and faster account collection saved about $25,000. Managed appointments and communications for the directors of the company. Skilled in Accounting and Bookkeeping.
02. Receptionist resume summary
Office receptionist with 7+ years of experience managing the administrative functions of the company. Ability to analyze information and provide clients with appropriate solutions. Was successfully able to complete almost 95% of customer issues without going to the next level with outstanding customer service skills and problem-solving skills.
03. Executive assistant summary statement sample
Has more than 10 years of professional experience working as an executive assistant to 5+ top-level CEOs. Created and optimized travel itineraries which helped to reduce travel costs by 35%. Created New call system to eliminate customer misunderstandings and Save $ 1.5 million each year.
04. Office manager summary for resume
Energetic office manager with over 6 years of professional experience in the field. Boosted efficiency at XYZ company by 40% with top-notch management and organizational skills. Managed and trained a team of 10 office assistants to streamline the operations. Cut lead times by 38% and costs by 25%.
05. Customer service summary example for resume
Highly experienced customer service executive in a fast-paced call center with proven customer service skills. Received an average 95% customer satisfaction rating up to the date, while resolving 100+ customer queries daily. Awarded best employee of the month five times.
06. Sales summary sample of a resume
Tech-savvy sales manager with 10+ years of industry-relevant experience specializing in software and IoT devices. Recruited, trained, and managed 100+ junior sales executives in the last 3 years. Exceeded the company revenue goals by over 100% year over year. Increased the annual sales from $100K to $2.5M per year.
07. Cashier resume summary sample
Has 5+ years of experience as a head cashier in several restaurants and specializes in handling daily accounts and maintaining inventory. Handled 150+ transactions per day and maintained customer satisfaction at a rate of 98%. Efficiency is very high as I have dealt with various POS systems.
08. Sample resume summary for teacher
A dedicated teacher and have taught English to thousands of students for over 10 years. Utilized expert knowledge of English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching methodology. Converted English as the easiest subject for many students whose English was a difficult subject and the pass percentage of the students was increased by 80%. Received about a 99% satisfaction rate from their parents.
09. Nursing summary statement for resume
Licensed and certified nursing assistant with 10+ years of experience in the ICUs of community hospitals. Managed the expenditure of drugs and supplies in the internal ward of 100+ beds capacity while maintaining the inventory and auditing. Maintained 50+ of patient’s critical records and assisted with the execution of medical officer’s orders.
10. Medical assistant resume summary
An attentive medical assistant with 5+ years of experience in community hospitals with a fast-paced environment. Assisted medical officer to administer exams of 2500+ patients. Team-oriented with proven ability to give quality care for patients and their families.
11. Accountant resume summary
MBA qualified senior accountant with 6+ years of professional experience with account reconciliation and IT skills. Highly skilled in budget analysis, financial audits, and forensic accounting. Managed a $10M budget with a ten-person finance team including two trainee accountants and reduced costs by 25% over 2 years.
12. Career summary example for financial analyst
CFA certified financial analyst with over 10 years of experience in the industry. Managed a $50 million program budget and delivered a 0.5% under-run using effective rate analysis on labor, material, and overhead costs. Analyzed potential investments and conducted industry, market, and company-specific research.
13. Bartender career summary example
Professional bartender certified by the Maryland bartending academy with a deep knowledge of local craft beers, wine, spirits, and cocktails. Used social networking skills to increase good relations with customers and through that increased the revenue by 35%. Mixed and served drinks to 100+ customers daily in a fast-paced environment.
14. Server resume summary
Friendly server with 5+ years of extensive experience in a fast-paced restaurant. Received 1000+ positive feedbacks from guests for the exquisite dining experience they had due to my high-quality serving skills. All the dishes were delivered on time and no complaints at all. Possessed a certificate in food handling and safety.
15. Project manager summary for resume
PMP certified IT project manager with 10+ years of experience managing multiple software projects. Coordinated a team of 15+ IT professionals, and performed budget allocation and analysis. Executed a lean training project and cut costs by up to 25% in 6 months. Experienced with working on agile and waterfall project management methodologies.
16. Data analyst summary of qualifications
Data analyst with a decade of experience analyzing business processes. Built complex SQL reports to audit $1.85M of pay and benefits for over 200 individual records. Created Gantt charts to manage the company’s milestone progress. Possessed analytical abilities and data mining skills and utilized them to ensure data accuracy through the creation and implementation of data integrity queries.
17. Business analyst resume summary
Results-oriented business analyst with a Ph.D. in computer science and 5+ years of experience in the IT industry. Analyzed the business process in-depth which resulted in an increment of revenue by 25%. Organized and facilitated monthly meetings with clients to document requirements and to find potential solutions.
18. Human resource manager summary of statement
HR professional with 10+ years of experience in recruiting and career coaching. Passionate about IT and sales recruitments. Worked with every stage of the recruitment process. Familiar with 5+ human resources information software including BambooHR and Optimum HRIS.
19. Software engineer resume summary
Results-driven software engineer with 3 years of experience in producing clean codes for high volume companies. Highly skilled with full stack development and eCommerce website development. Gathered requirements from clients to build 10 responsive websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Adhered to agile best practices and slashed costs by 35%.
20. IT specialist summary for resume
IT specialist with 6+ years of experience in information security and system administration. Highly skilled in networking and operating systems software. Microsoft certified solution expert. Diagnosed, troubleshot, and resolved a range of software and hardware issues. Led the implementation project of SAP at XYZ company.
21. Warehouse supervisor summary statement
Logistic expert with 10+ years of experience in supply chain management, inventory control, ERP, business reporting, and logistic software. Managed an inventory worth $75M and improved the inventory accuracy from 65% to 99% accuracy rate over a period of 6 months. Reported weekly KPIs to the warehouse Manager.
22. Resume summary sample for housekeeper
Hard-working housekeeper with 10+ years of work experience as a housekeeping supervisor in boutique hotels and residences. Hands-on experience with all cleaning materials and tools. Managed a team of 5 housekeeping staff members and monitored them regularly. Proven time-management and organizational skills.
23. Social media marketing manager summary of statement
Creative social media manager with 8+ years of experience. Increased followers on social media by 150% over the period of one year. Constructed effective social media campaigns to increase the page’s reach and analyzed social media presence, engagement, and effectiveness on all social media platforms. Doubled website traffic from 1500 average daily visitors to 7500 by only using social media campaigns.
24. Marketing manager resume summary
Marketing Manager with 10+ years of extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Oversaw the marketing budget carefully to optimize advertising sources. Expert negotiation skills and social skills increased the annual revenue of the company by 200% last year. Monitored and analyzed sales trends on new medicinal product launches.
25. Restaurant manager summary example
Experienced restaurant manager with 5 years of experience in a fast-paced star-class restaurant. Increased the revenue of the restaurant by promoting the use of social networks. Recruited and trained a staff of 20+ employees and improved average daily sales by $10k. Developed and rolled out new in-house policies.
26. Dental assistant resume summary
A qualified dental assistant who adept at working with all ages. Assisted professional staff in all facets of dental treatments of patients. Organized 50+ patient’s medical records daily and assisted in billing insurance, and tracked monthly income and expenses.
27. Healthcare sales summary statement
Healthcare sales executive with 5+ years of experience in generating over $1.5M in revenue selling healthcare items to large-scale hospitals. Recruited and managed a team of 10 qualified sales executives. Excelled in building good relationships among current and prospective clients.
28. Pastry Chef resume summary example
Energetic Pastry Chef with exceptional knowledge culinary applications, recipes and baking techniques. Having over 6 years of work experience in several star-class restaurants and hotels. Highly flexible to work at dynamic work environments ranging from banquets to specialty pastry shops.
29. Product Owner sample professional profile
Results-driven Product Owner and Agile Coach with 10+ years of experience in developing and leading development of Agile projects. Led over 7 development teams each with 10+ members and finished the project 2 to 3 weeks ahead of planned schedule. Key skills include SaaS, B2B application development, critical thinking and typing 70 wpm.
30. Audio Engineer resume summary example
Energetic Audio Engineer with 9+ years of experience in live music production, HD recording, editing and mixing. Enthusiastic team player possessing an array of skills including microphones, Wireless In-Ear Monitors and equipment maintenance.
