Why Your Resume MUST HAVE A Career Summary

Ok, so now that we all know objectives are out and career summaries are in lets go into a little more depth about what constitutes a good career summary. A career summary should do three things: 1. It should tell the employer exactly what you are qualified to do. 2. It should tell the employer exactly what you want to do. 3. It should be captivating, powerful, and concise. I could probably add a fourth one in there about keywords but that is a whole other blog post. For now lets focus on these three things. Number 1. Without coming out and saying I’m a qualified Project Manager, your career summary should tell the employer what you are qualified to do. For example, take the following statement “Award-winning sales strategist with 10 plus years expertise in Contract Negotiation, New Product Launch, and Sales Lifecycle Management. See how I dropped in three industry specific keywords, while also telling the employer that my client was so great at their job they had won awards without having to spend two sentences telling them what awards? It is important to hone in on keywords that are relevant to the position you’re trying to get, make sure to put those in your career summary. And just think you still have 3-5 more sentences to wow them! Number 2. They should be able to tell what you want to do. Don’t come out and say I want a job as a Customer Service Rep with ABC Inc. Instead focus the entire career summary on what you are qualified to do, but related to that position. If in your career you’ve been in IT, Sales, and Healthcare don’t relate all that info in the career summary unless all three apply to the particular position (ie. You’re applying for a job with a Healthcare Sales company as their network analyst). Instead pick a course and follow it. Ok so now you don’t want to do IT or Healthcare, now you only want to work in Sales. Make your entire career summary about your Sales Experience and expertise. Don’t delve into all the dirty details about every single job you have ever had if it doesn’t apply to the position you want now. Number 3. Captivate your audience, Use powerful statements, but don’t be too wordy, be concise. The career summary should be 3-5 sentences long no more, no less. Tell the audience about yourself, use unique descriptors, strong action verbs, and industry specific keywords. Do not use “I” statements, don’t give them your life story, and do not provide information that is not related to the position you are applying to. Here’s a tip: Have three different career summaries geared towards three different positions. Then you can cut and paste and use them as you need to without having to recreate the wheel every time you want to apply to a different position.