Section 6: The Resume Career Summary

In many cases the resume objectives are not a proved practice.

However, the career summary (also can be called – summary of qualifications) can increase your resume effectiveness and potential.

A Career Summary is a section at the top of your resume that overviews your key work history pointers, best skills and accomplishments targeted to the job of your interest.

A career summary that provides strong matches with the job of interest can increase your chance of getting called for the job interview.

You may decide to create several career summaries each customized for a specific position and tailor your draft for any job you are going to apply for. Try to include up to four brief statements that highlight the qualities you bring to the position.

For example you can write about – important work history, expertise, key skills, work ethics, top achievement or anything that makes you stand out from the lot.

Why Use a Career Summary

A summary section is a short review of you as a candidate and makes the resume easy to read.

Think from the employers’ vantage point; they read dozens of resumes like yours every day and must spend too little time skimming over them to evaluate each one.

When offering a summary section right at the beginning, it tells the reader if you may be qualified for the job and considered for the first round job interview.

Inventory of Values
While you might have an idea of what you are bringing to the table for the company as an employee, the company may not have a good idea about whether you are a perfect fit for the company or not. Therefore, it is quite necessary that you make an inventory of the advantages and abilities that you are brining into the company. This inventory can very well be described in your career summary.

The Headline
The headline in the resume career summary is equivalent of the subject line in a letter. Many a times, the employer is too busy to go through the entire paragraph of text. Such a situation calls for a headline in the career resume summary that gives a proper idea of your career summary in a single sentence.

Action Words and Focus
Another important aspect of the resume career summary is the call to action and action words that are quite necessary in any document related to your profile. The resume career summary fulfills the dual purpose of giving the reader an idea of your career summary as well as providing him or her with an idea of your goal and vision in your professional life.

You might choose to use bullets in your summary section to better highlight your information.

For example:

• Ten years of publishing and information services experience for a major publishing firm
• Extensive background in project management and new product development, including recruiting and motivating authors on diverse projects
• Designed and implemented dozen of innovative and award-winning publications and marketing plans
• Master’s degree in Marketing

Internet marketing manager

• An internet marketing manager professional with 15 years experience in the internet industry.
• Worked on SEO, SEM, website development.
• A proven record of developing new Internet business brands and strategies. Recently completed a Masters of Business Management.

Corporate Real Estate Executive

• Increasing Bottom-Line Profitability Through Real Estate Strategies
• Accomplished executive with a proven ability to develop and implement real estate strategies that support business and financial objectives. Has led key initiatives that reduced operating budget by $32 million and contributed to 550% stock increase. Recognized as an expert in applying financial concepts to asset management decisions.

The above summaries are designed to pique the reader’s attention enough so that he will want to read the work history section.  It is the work history section that will do most of the selling.  Use this type of summary if you have worked steadily in one field and have moved upward.