Implementation Project Manager | Career Transition Coach | Strategic Partner | Knocking down information silos, one day at a time
Are you trying to tweak your resume to highlight your project management skills and it just isn't landing? We've literally all been there.... Here's my story: It was June 2023. I had been living the non-profit life for nearly a decade. Non-profits tend to be very people-focused. From my experience, roles required much less technical expertise. Also - they pay less. And therefore, they're less competitive. Why is that important to my story? My resume didn't need to be 🔥 to land a PM role at that time in the non-profit space. All of that's fine and dandy, but your girl has big dreams to travel, retire early, own properties - The whole 9. So I knew I needed something different... I started coffee chatting with A LOT of project managers to learn what key skills I was missing. I was also reading (notice I didn't say I was applying for) numerous project management job descriptions. Lastly, I was researching ways to upskill to build credibility. After all of that work, I edited my resume, found a mentor, and sent him what I thought was a knock-out resume for feedback. He's one of the nicest humans on the planet and gave me feedback in the most eloquent way. But if we're calling it what it is, I had a lot of things to iterate on to make my resume stand out in a brand new way. Finally, after about 10 iterations, I was ready to start applying. One year ago today, I began my journey into the technical PM space. Now - I work as an Implementation Project Manager at a SaaS company that's rapidly growing. I have a supportive team, opportunity to grow, a killer salary, and the motivation to grow into a value-driving change-agent. You can build a stand-out resume, but don't be like me. Don't let it take you 3 months of iterating before you're comfortable applying for one job. Here are some steps to ensuring you're driving the most value with your time when it comes to resume writing: Step 1 - Get a mentor or a coach to ensure you're strategizing together Step 2 - Use an existing template that is from a credible source to save time. My personal resume is on my coaching website if you're interested! Step 3 - Follow whatever customized plan you and your mentor establish! Make sure it's actionable. I recommend setting SMART goal driven objectives. And that's it, folks! I know it's easier said than done (looord do I know)... But I'm here if I can support in any way! What resources or strategies are you all using to ensure your resumes are prestine and competitive? What struggles are you having with your resume? #projectmanagement #projectmanager #resumewriting #resume #tweaking #iterations #socialwork #nonprofit #tech #technicalprojectmanagement #technicalskills #upskilling #pmp #pmpcertification #careertransition #networking #coaching #mentor
Thanks for sharing your story! I personally struggle with knowing what to include and what a hiring manager might just see as useless info. Like, should I list my hard/soft still at the top of the resume to make it easier to see what they are, or does that just look like I am stuffing keywords?
I have 20+ years in the corporate banking/financial industry so for me it was heavy on people and cross collaboration as well. When I decided to pivot, I took 1 year off to determine what industry I wanted, to upskill, do bootcamps, apply, the knowledge etc to fill any gaps I had before I started applying because I wanted to focus on absorbing and applying the information. The tweaking of the resume is something I think most people go through initially but now with so many people transferring over it created room for mentoring and some great advice from those of us who went through it, you can definitely streamline the duration of time. Cheers to you Skye!👏🏾
I really wanted to make a coffee table book of all of our early resume iterations Skye Dodd, PMP. I feel like it could be incredibly entertaining 🤣. I love the message behind your post. Your resume is one piece of the puzzle. It doesn’t need to be “perfect” in order to start taking action in the other areas of your job search. As you find more clarity through networking, upskilling, and researching, you can continue to edit and revise your resume.
You had a strategy, took the necessary time and steps to develop and follow it, and it's paid off (TWICE!). Great post that any aspiring PM can follow Skye Dodd, PMP!
Great tips all around, Skye! Job searching can get overwhelming for me because I feel like I need to do everything at once, but this is such a straightforward and simple strategy to follow. Your post has calmed down the craziness in my head as I get ready to jump back into this interesting job market 😅
Your tip on setting SMART goals is gold, I'll definitely give it a shot! Thanks for the inspiration and advice!
What an a great story Skye! So cool to see how well it's worked out for you too. A great Monday reminder to strategize your resume goals and work to achieve them.
Kulbir Nagra
1mo
A great post thank you for sharing. It's great not just about your current success but the journey and the strategy behind it
Senior Project Manager | Program Manager | Project Management | Agile Methodologies & ScrumMaster | Digital Transformation & Cloud Solutions | Risk Management | Software Development
1moSkye Dodd, PMP would you mentor me?