You’ve got the qualifications and skills behind you; now, you need to get yourself some experience in the project management space.
Getting your foot on the ladder can be tricky, especially with no experience to speak of. But don’t fret; with a well-presented and persuasive resume, you will secure an interview in no time.
To help you craft such a resume, we’ve pulled together some of our top tips and an entry-level project manager resume example to inspire you.
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Entry Level Project Manager Resume Example
The example Entry Level Project Manager resume above shows you how a professional resume should look, along with the type of content it should contain.
You’ll notice that the information is well organized across the page, and its easy for busy hiring managers to spot the candidate’s important skills.
Keep this in mind as you write your own resume.
Entry Level Project Manager resume layout and format
When it comes to holding the attention of recruiting managers, the format and layout of your resume play a key role.
Your resume needs to strike a perfect balance between looking awesome, and being easy for recruiters to read (which is not always easy to achieve)
Use the following formatting tips to get started.
Tips for resume formatting
- Length: Attention spans in recruitment are notoriously short, so keep your resume short and sweet. There’s no exact rule for resume length, but aim for 2 pages or less if you want to ensure yours gets read in full.
- Font and text: Simplicity and a pleasant reading experience are crucial if you want to highlight your most valuable skills to recruiters. Use a clear font (avoid fancy ones) and break up the text in your resume with bullet points to ensure information can be easily consumed.
- Design & structure: Go with a resume design that looks good, but also allows for easy reading and navigation for employers. Ensure the page is clearly split up into sections by adding large font headings and dividing borders. Keep the color scheme simple and don’t overcrowd the page.
- Photos and images: In the USA adding a photo to your resume is optional – you don’t have to do it, but it can be a nice way to get your personality across.
Quick tip: Formatting a resume to look professional can be difficult and time-consuming. If you want to create an attractive resume quickly, try our quick-and-easy Resume Builder and use one of their eye-catching resume templates.
Resume layout
Organize the document into these sections when you write your resume.
- Name and contact details – Employers need to know how to get in touch with you – so list your email and cell phone number here.
- Resume summary – An intro paragraph at the top of the resume which summarizes your suitability for target jobs.
- Skills section – A bullet-pointed list of your most relevant skills and knowledge.
- Work experience – A list of your previous jobs (or at least the most relevant and recent ones)
- Education – Add academic and professional qualifications that prove you can carry out the job
- Additional info – If they are relevant to the jobs you are applying for, you can add an extra section for things like hobbies and interests.
Now, here’s what to include in each of these sections in your resume.
Resume Contact Details
Keep your contact details short to save resume space and include the following.
- Name and profession title
- Cell phone number
- Location – Add your local area such as Silicon Valley or New York, unless you are looking for work in a different location
- Email address – Keep it professional and don’t use an old address that you thought was cool in high school, but now looks a bit embarrassing.
You can add a link to your LinkedIn profile if you have one – you do not need to include personal details like date of birth or marital status.
Entry Level Project Manager Resume Summary
Start your resume with a bang by adding a powerful summary to the top, summarizing your most valuable skills and experience.
This short paragraph is your chance to show recruiters why you are a perfect fit for the job and encourage them to read more of your resume.
Top tips for creating an effective resume summary:
- Keep it brief: Attention spans are short in the job market, so keep your summary brief and high-level at around 4-7 lines – This is just enough to catch the eye of rushed hiring managers.
- Tailor it: Recruiters will be scanning for the skills and knowledge they mentioned in the job description, so add as many as you can to your summary.
- Avoid cliches: Recruiters always see cringey cliches like “hardworking guru who works well in a team or individually” – they don’t mean much to anyone, so focus your summary on tangible skills and experience.
Example resume summary for Entry Level Project Manager
Driven Junior Project Manager, with experience across with the full project management lifecycle including managing and delivering assigned projects. Maintains a proven track record of supporting Senior Project Managers on large and complex projects, while managing smaller projects independently. Skilled at managing project resources while continually seeking opportunities to increase customer satisfaction. Adept at analyzing data and identifying solutions, while adapting to shifting priorities and deadlines.
What to include in your Entry Level Project Manager resume summary?
- Summary of your experience: Provide an overview of the type of work you have done in the past and the impact you have made at previous employers.
- Relevant skills: Scatter your most in-demand Entry Level Project Manager skills through your summary to ensure they are noticed quickly by hiring managers.
- Important qualifications: Showcase your level of education with a quick mention of any qualifications that are essential for the Entry Level Project Manager roles you are applying to.
Quick tip: Choose from hundreds of pre-written summaries across all industries, and add one to your resume with one click in our quick-and-easy Resume Builder. All written by our recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset.
Core skills section
Underneath your summary, write a core skills section to make your most relevant skills jump off the page at readers.
It should be made up of 2-3 columns of bullet points of your relevant skills.
Before you do this, look over the job description and make a list of any specific skills, specialisms or knowledge required.
Then, make sure to use your findings in your list. This will paint you as the perfect match for the role.
Best skills for your Entry Level Project Manager resume
Project management principles – understanding the universal project management principles to be applied to all projects.
Quality control – inspecting, measuring and testing to verify that the project outputs meet acceptance criteria defined during quality planning.
Risk management – identifying, analyzing and responding to any risk that arises over the life cycle of a project to ensure the project remains on track and meets its goal.
Requirements analysis – defining, analyzing, validating, and aligning stakeholders’ expectations for new projects to determine what the project should accomplish and eliminate any ambiguities or conflicting requirements.
Corrective actions – taking appropriate actions when a project has deviated from the planned scope, schedule, cost, or quality requirements to bring the project’s performance back on track and in line with expectations.
Quick tip: Our quick-and-easy Resume Builder contains thousands of in-demand skills for every profession that can be added to your resume in seconds – saving you time and greatly improving your chances of landing job interviews.
Resume work experience section
Now that you’ve reeled recruiters in with your awesome summary, it’s time to delve into your work experience.
Here you’ll list your previous jobs (starting with your most recent and working backward) and showcase how you apply your skills in the workplace.
Provide lots of detail in recent jobs, and less in older roles.
If you have no relevant paid experience, you can include voluntary work and placements – but if you have lots of experience, you can leave out some of the really old jobs.
Structuring your job descriptions
Without a good structure, your job description can look messy and overwhelming to anyone reading them.
Make it easy for recruiters to read your work experience by structuring your roles like this.
Job outline
Kick off each role with a high-level overview to summarize the focus of the job, what the organization/department does, and how you fit into the bigger picture.
Key responsibilities
Then delve into the detail of your job by listing out easy-to-read bullet points which show how you apply your skills in the workplace.
Tailor these bullet points to focus on the skills and knowledge that are required in the jobs you are applying for.
Key achievements
Finish each role by highlighting some impressive achievements you made whilst in the role.
Anything that benefited the employer can be included from making financial savings, to winning new customers.
Quantify your achievements with facts and figures if you can, e.g. “reduced call wait time by 10%”
Example job for Entry Level Project Manager resume
Outline
Working for Washington’s leading construction company, supporting on projects with budgets of up to $2M.
Key Responsibilities
- Supported the Senior Project Manager in the delivery of project objectives
- Defined the project scope
- Accurately calculated project costs
- Planned, tracked, and reported on project performance
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our quick-and-easy Resume Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education resume section
Near the end of your resume add your education section
Experienced candidates should keep it brief and focus on professional qualifications – and junior candidates can include high school diplomas, double majors, college degrees, Deans list etc.
Additional info for your resume
Any other info that didn’t fall into any of the previous sections can be added here.
If you have hobbies that are related to your profession or any awards or publications – add them here.
Writing your Entry Level Project Manager resume
A winning Entry Level Project Manager resume should look great, read well, and sell your skillset to hiring managers.
If you follow the steps above, you should be able to bag yourself a top job in no time.
And don’t forget you can use our quick-and-easy Resume Builder if you want to save time and ensure your resume contains the very best content.
Good luck with your job search!