Top Project Management Resume Skills Employers Want to See

Project managers are the glue that keeps projects together. They oversee teams and ensure that staff members complete their tasks correctly and on time. Many industries need project managers to supervise staff, whether it’s for construction or web development.

Every project manager has different skills, education, and certification levels. But that doesn’t mean that some universal skills don’t apply to all project managers. If you are interested in this career path, read on. We’ll cover the top project management skills employers want to see on your resume.

Leadership

A true leader is not someone who manages a team – it’s someone who can inspire, motivate, and push teams to do better. Many oversee staff members, but they act more like bosses than leaders. Exercising totalitarian control, being unable or unwilling to communicate, not setting examples and being difficult does not lead to progress.

Leadership skills come with experience, working with others, and take work to develop and perfect. In any job involving people, influential leaders know how to read a room, work with their teams, and motivate them to complete projects with little-to-no conflict.

Team Management

Team management is an essential skill you need on your project management resume. It attracts hiring managers who need someone who can handle working with multiple people on stressful projects. Team management involves setting goals, communicating efficiently, delegating tasks, managing the team’s performance, and handling conflicts.

Not everyone has the capacity or experience to manage multiple people at once. Although perfect synchronization isn’t a must, how a project manager operates is vital to a project’s success. Be realistic about using this skill on your resume if you do not have the right experience. If you are applying to a job that involves working with teams above twenty people and you only managed five before, be upfront about that during the interview.

Problem-Solving

It’s no secret that when many people work together with a deadline, mistakes will happen. And although errors are part of the process, some lead to disastrous consequences if the project manager doesn’t handle them well. Problem-solving is a valuable skill that involves identifying a problem, finding out why it happened, seeking solutions, and implementing them.

When you include problem-solving in your resume, you show potential hiring managers that you can guide your team through obstacles and challenges. During the interview, you can expand on this skill by describing a problematic situation you successfully managed. You can use daily life examples if you don’t have professional experience.

Organization

Working with multiple people at once requires a high degree of organization. Successful project managers gauge how a task needs completion, who the best person is for the job, and set milestones to measure progress. Although it’s not as cut-and-dry as a formula, you still need to know how to balance tasks between staff. Without this skill, projects quickly go awry, and you have more responsibilities to handle.

Organization skills are a must in virtually every resume because every career and job needs them. And while some project managers manage to make it work without organizing well, that is not the norm. Chaos leads to demoralization, confusion, and loss of time and money.

Communication

Good communicators get far in their professional and personal lives. Not everyone has this skill, although most people use it on their resume. Communication skills don’t mean that you are comfortable talking to people. They include getting the message across in a way that everyone understands. As easy as that may seem in theory, it’s not the case in practice.

The way you deliver your message is just as important as its content. A good project manager communicates with their team proficiently to relay expectations and requirements. Being a good communicator takes some practice but leads to significant gains later.

Risk Assessment

Many project managers must have strong risk assessment skills to mitigate losses later. Successful risk assessment considers the process related to the project and how its factors influence its completion. Identifying hazards and risks, whether on the ground or behind a screen, protects project managers, teams, and companies from issues that affect them negatively.

Risk assessment is not specific to one industry. However, it does require experience that goes beyond the personal. Only include this skill in your resume if you have experience identifying and mitigating risk in a professional setting. Industry-specific examples boost your chances of landing the job you seek.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution differs from problem-solving because the former takes place between people. Although teams usually work together harmoniously, individual members may not always get along. Whether this is due to personal or professional issues, resentment grows between these members and creates a hostile environment. In worst-case scenarios, these conflicts begin to affect morale and work. These conflicts lead to time and money losses and may even cause some members to quit.

The way you lead and guide your team sets an example for others. You must have people skills, exercise solid judgment, and present satisfactory answers to both parties. Successful project managers are unbiased and work with their team members to resolve conflicts before they become significant issues.

Applying to Project Management Jobs

Being a good project manager takes patience and perseverance, but the results are worth the effort. But remember that it’s not easy to jump from graduating without experience to managing a team on a stressful project. Usually, people work their way up in their professional lives until they have the expertise to take on a project management role.

The next step after completing your resume is to apply through job boards and online portals for a project management position. But always ensure that your resume has the format and keywords to help boost your chances of finding a good job.

With Rocket Resume, you won’t have to worry about starting from scratch. With its intuitive tools and easy-to-use format, you can have a ready resume in a few minutes. Simply fill out the prompts and personalize your information without hassles or obstacles. Moreover, Rocket Resume CVs pass through Applicant Tracking Systems without issues, helping your document reach a hiring manager’s hands.

Are you ready to start on your project management resume? Visit Rocket Resume today for a personalized and professional CV without the hassle.