A Project Management CV is a quick glimpse of your character and experience. It is likely to be the first point of contact between you and a potential employer. As a result, it is essential that you make your first impression count.
When looking at getting Project Management jobs the format of your CV is a great way of demonstrating key skills of a Project Manager, for example, organisation and planning. A great CV should be easy to read, concise and professional looking.
Here we offer a few Project Management CV tips.
Profile Summary
A Project Management CV should start with a short introduction to you and your characteristics. It is a section designed to allow you to tell the employer about your aims and motivations. It is a good idea to keep this section as focused as possible around the specific role you are applying for and to keep it between 4 and 6 lines long.
Education
It is expected that you would list your education in reverse chronological order. This helps both you and the hiring manager as it is likely that your most recent qualifications will also be your most relevant, for example, if you have a Project management degree or Prince2 qualification etc.
When listing your education you should include all relevant information for each of the qualifications listed. For example, key aspects to include would be where you studied, the course title, course dates and the result you achieved. It is unlikely that as a project manager you will be fresh out of school, however, employers will still want to see academic qualifications such as A-levels or GCSEs. It is a good idea to keep this section as brief as possible though as it is more beneficial to focus on the qualifications that are more relevant to the Project Management jobs you want.
Experience
As with education, it is again expected that your experience is listed in reverse chronological order. Focusing on your most relevant (and probably most recent) experience, you should describe your responsibilities briefly and highlight how the skills mentioned would be transferable to the Project Management job you are applying for. You should try to enter start and finish dates for each role, however, you are in no obligation to do so, so if you can’t remember, simply enter the months or years you held that job for.
Interests
Your interests and hobbies can help demonstrate key skills and give employers further insight into your personality so including this section is always recommended. This shouldn’t, however, be a key section of your CV so keep it short.
Referees
References are a hugely important part of the recruitment process and so it is likely that you will be asked for them at some point. Hiring recruiters like all the information to be handed to them so if you can include references on your CV then you should. However, sometimes, especially for experienced professionals, there can be reasons as to why you do not wish to include references at this stage. If this is the case for you, simply add in “references available on request”.
If you are including references then you should try to include the name, address and contact number or email of your reference.
Project Management CV hints & tips
- Your CV should be no longer than 2 A4 pages.
- There is no need to include a photo on your CV
- Try to avoid repeating yourself
- Tailor your CV to every individual job you apply for so you can focus in on the required skills for each role.
- Write succinctly to keep all the most relevant information the easiest to find.
If you want to give your Project Manager CV a professional edge, why not see what the experts think by getting a FREE CV review from TopCV?