By the time most people reach a management position, they may have spent years in a particular industry or a particular company. Moving from one company or industry to another while keeping or advancing your position may be tricky. Here are a few important tips for your resume:
- Make sure you know your own strengths and highlight them. “Management” covers a lot of skills, including people, financial, regulatory, production, assets, vendors, subcontracting, and office management. Where do you want to focus your career? Where is your expertise? Hiring managers and recruiters are not going to hunt for your strengths; your resume has to tell them.
- Many individuals enter management positions from other fields, such as finance, legal, or technical. Your prior positions may give you a depth of industry experience that other managers lack. By keeping your goal in mind (a management job in X industry with X company), you can decide how much emphasis to give to that earlier experience.
- Job titles vary from industry to industry and from company to company. Do not become so stuck on a title that you miss the opportunity to broaden your managerial experience and move to the next level.
- Focus in on the keywords most important to the industry or company you are targeting and then demonstrate through achievements that you have the skills and experience represented by those keywords. For example, in your profile you might say, “managed P&L.” But in the bullet points, be sure to give the details: “Held full P&L responsibility for $45 million autoparts division.”
- As always, numbers speak. Indicate the value of your accomplishments in dollars, percentages, or other figures (“increased closure rate on sales 25% in first six months by removing underperformers and mentoring remaining sales staff”). Employers like candidates who can deliver tangible results.
It may have been years since you sought a management job on your own, relying instead on promotions or calls from headhunters. If you need the help of a professional resume writer for any reason, please contact me.