How To Highlight Project Management Skills On A Resume

Updated 28 August 2023

The skills listed on your resume allow recruiters to evaluate your qualifications and expertise easily. Project managers require a variety of skills to perform their job effectively. Understanding how to highlight relevant skills and which skills to include can help you create an appealing resume. In this article, we discuss how to include project management skills on a resume, list important skills you can include, share some tips to incorporate these skills effectively on your resume and provide a template and some examples for your reference.

How To Highlight Project Management Skills On A Resume?

Including project management skills on a resume helps you demonstrate your suitability for the job you have applied. A combination of hard and soft abilities can be essential to analyse project performance, manage resources, lead project teams and report on progress and results. You can follow these steps to highlight your project management skills:

1. Identify your project management skills

Review your professional abilities and determine the skills that reflect your capacity to manage a project effectively. Consider making a list of project management skills and matching them to your work experience. Review the job description to find the skills the role may require and try to incorporate relevant ones.

2. Classify your skills as per the type

You can consider organising them under suitable categories if you have over ten skills. Technical, soft and project management are some of the common categories you can use. Though you can list all related skills in the skills section of your resume, choose one or two key skills to incorporate into your professional summary.

3. Demonstrate examples of how you apply these skills

Mention specific instances of your past work experience that reflect how you use your project management skills. Provide measurable examples of applying your skills and use numbers to quantify the results, wherever applicable. For example, instead of saying you have excellent leadership skills, you can mention that you managed a large project with 50 team members.

4. Write a professional summary, including one or two key skills

The professional summary is often one of the first sections a hiring manager notices. Incorporate one or two key project management skills in the summary section. An effective summary with relevant skills and keywords also increases the chances of a hiring manager reviewing your entire resume.

5. List related certifications

Certifications are an effective way to demonstrate your skills and expertise level in a specific domain. If you hold any certification related to your project management abilities, include them in this section. While listing a certificate, mention the name of issuing authority and the year you received it.

Important Project Management Skills On A Resume

Following are a few important skills to include on a project management resume:

Project management methodology (PMM)
Software proficiency
Data analysis
Cost control
Time management
Communication
Presentation
Active listening
Collaboration
Prioritisation
Negotiation
Problem-solving
Dependability
Delegation
Scheduling
Budgeting
Adaptability
Empathy
Spreadsheets
Risk management
Constructive feedback

Tips For Highlighting Project Management Skills

Following are some tips to help you highlight your project management skills:

Action verbs: Describe your project management skills using strong verbs that reflect your experience with a specific skill. You can use words like managed, facilitated, produced and developed.
Measurable data: While including your skills in the past work experience section, include related metrics to highlight your skill level. For example, you can specify you managed a project to complete seven days ahead of schedule, which helped the organisation save 20% of the estimated project cost.
Categorise skills: Many soft and hard skills can help you carry out project manager responsibilities. Categorising in your skills section makes it easy for the hiring manager to review your skills.
Transferable skills: Skills such as good communication and leadership are common transferable skills that can be valuable in various roles. If you do not have work experience as a project manager, consider mentioning transferrable skills.
Proofread: Ensure that you proofread your entire resume to properly emphasise relevant skills and avoid repetition. You can also ask a coworker or family member to review your resume and share feedback.

Examples Of Project Management Skills In Different Sections Of A Resume

You can showcase your project management skills in various sections of a resume, including your work experience to your professional summary. Here are examples of different sections of a resume showing how you can highlight your project management skill:

Project management skills in a resume's objective section

Here are a few examples of resume objectives highlighting project management skills:

Individual with strong leadership and management skills seeking a project management role in a new industry where I can apply my problem-solving and negotiation expertise.
Detail-oriented project manager with nine years of experience looking to work for a company to apply my risk management and cost control expertise.

Project management skills in a resume skills section

Technical skills: Cost control | Risk management | Data analysis
Additional skills: Leadership | Communication | Time management

Project management skills in a resume work experience section

Project Manager, April 2018–May 2022, Wavewood Technologies, Nagpur, Maharashtra

Recorded project details such as task progress, resources costs and allotted budgets to analyse performance, generate performance reports for key leaders and implement corrective measures, which improved the performance of all projects by an average of 25%
Facilitated meetings with key leaders and collaborated with project teams to ensure timely decision-making and effective communication between project stakeholders at all levels

Resume Template Highlighting Project Management Skills

Here is a resume template which highlights project management skills that you can refer to create your resume:

[First name] [Last name], [Degree or certification if applicable]
[Phone number] | [Email address] | [City], [State]

Professional Summary

[Two to three sentences that highlight years of experience, relevant skills, education or certifications and achievements as a professional.]

Experience

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City], [State]

(Strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome or quantified results.
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City], [State]

(Strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome or quantified results.
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

Skills

[Project management skills]: [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill]
[Technical skills]: [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill]
[Soft skills]: [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill]

Education

[Degree and major] | [Name of school or university]

[City], [State]

Example Resume Highlighting Project Management Skills

Here is an example resume which highlights project management skills that you can refer to while writing your resume:

Rohit Kumar +91 9999 888 777
rohit.kumar@email.com
New Delhi

Professional Summary

Project manager with over six years of expertise in data analysis and performance reporting seeking to progress my career with a new organisation that offers opportunities for applying leadership and communication skills.

Experience

Project manager, Aug 2016-May 2022
Green-Light Technical Services, Pune, Maharashtra

Cooperated with teams to determine project schedule and developed risk mitigation plans
Created strategy and architecture for clients as per business plans and guided team and other managers to ensure end-to-end project delivery
Created, prioritised, managed and documented assigned projects using a task management application to standardise project tracking and documentation

Education

Master of Business Administration in business management, August 2014-May 2016
Veda International Management Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Researched the impact of various communication techniques on workplace motivation and helped the team with data cleaning and analysis

Bachelor of Science in computer science, August 2010-May 2014
Delhi Regional University, Dwarka, New Delhi

Participated in the college literary club and won a state-level gold medal in the debate on the impact of automation in the workplace
Organised inter-college annual hackathon competition, drafted all official communications and scheduled all events

Skills

Project management skills: Delegation | Multi-tasking | Analytical-thinking | Problem-solving | Risk analysis | Scheduling
Technical skills: Spreadsheets | Project management software | Data analysis*
Soft skills: Communication | Delegation | Negotiation | Collaboration | Constructive feedback

How To Highlight Project Management Skills On A Resume