Every effective resume is to be written primarily for those are going to review it and make a hiring decision. That means that your goal is to make sure hiring managers like it. If you create a resume that will seem perfect to your friends, family members and yourself but if fails to make a good impression on decision makers, then it will be a waste of time. And the opposite is true - even if all your friends say that you have an average CV that will never get you through to the interview stage but employers will have a different opinion then you did a good job writing your own resume. Such employer-oriented approach is crucially important for effective resume writing and we believe that starting with a summary section would be a great way to establish such approach from the very beginning. Unlike the objective statements, a summary can be more effective in conveying a message about your value as an employee.
How Does a Good Summary Section Look Like?
The fact that you know that writing a summary is a good thing doesn't necessarily mean you know how to do it. There is a huge difference between an effective summary section and a generic one. Many job seekers don't bother too much inserting a few generic sentences into this part of a resume hoping it will bring them a better result than if they were using an objective statement. Such an approach will unlikely help you get a job interview. First of all, the information contained in this section should be relevant to employers. That gives you a little bit of freedom to tailor your main marketing document when you apply to different jobs. This piece of information presented at the very beginning of your resume should speak to the needs of the employer. The requirements for the position is what should drive your summary section. Since hiring managers are interested in people who have experience and skills to meet the needs of their companies that is something you have to list in this section of a resume.
We recommend organizing your summary in a bullet statement format so that employers could easily see that you possess a number of skills their company needs. Most job seekers, however, don't know what kind of skills and qualification to list in a summary section. We suggest you include at least 2 statements that demonstrate your achievements relevant for the applying job. You can also add relevant skills you have demonstrated in the past along with one or two professional traits that should help you be a good fit for the job. Lastly, you can also include relevant expertise you have which is required by the employer. The entire section shouldn't be long; being concise on a resume is always a good choice.
