Capture the hiring manager's attention with a strong, tailored Summary

A well-crafted Summary that nails the key highlights on your resume most relevant to your prospective job opportunity gives the recruiter a reason to keep reading after their initial 6-second scan.  Think of it like a movie preview. When it captures your attention you are excited to watch the full-length feature.  

Your Summary is the best opportunity to quickly show what about you, your skills, and your experience will translate to success in the role to which you are applying. Not everyone uses a Summary and it's not right or wrong to have one - it's purely about personal preference.  

If you do craft one for your resume, here are a couple of things to keep in mind:  

1) You won't always use the same Summary. True, you can't change the experience you have and you won't want to fabricate anything, but you will want to pick and choose what to highlight depending on the prospective opportunity. Why? Because each role is a little different and each employer has varied requirements.  

Here's a Tip: Employers tell you exactly what they are looking for within the job posting, on their company career site, or LinkedIn profiles. If the requirements are 3+ years as a Nurse in an intensive care setting, you won't be focusing on your teaching career before you transitioned into Nursing unless teaching experience is also one of the keys they mention. Like the rest of your resume, it needs to be tailored.  

 2) It needs to be brief. If you want to expand to more than 3 sentences, the cover letter is a better opportunity. Boil it down until it's as concise and impactful as possible. Each sentence, each word has a specific purpose. More on that below.  

3) It's strengthened by containing a value proposition for the employer.  Organizations hire to fill a specific need. They are growing, they are hurting, they need to improve, there are any number of reasons they hire - but they are all looking to solve something specific. Your goal in an application is to understand what that particular need is and address it.    

You shouldn't decide what to include in your Summary until you understand the needs of the employer. Then, show what about you and your experience makes you qualified to help them solve that 'thing'. By showing the employer you understand their need, and articulating your value proposition clearly, you dramatically increase your chances of standing out from the crowd.  

 Ok, so how do I write a good Summary?  

I like to use a 3-part process, one part per sentence.  

1) The first sentence describes you (by your role) and your competencies. Your 'role' can be your current or desired job title (within reason), mention of the key terms from your prospective job with a couple of examples of what you are great at that also match your prospective role.    

If I'm a Marketing Manager applying for a Digital Marketing Director role, I would call myself 'Digital Marketing Director' or 'Leader', and lead with something like Digital Marketing leader with expert knowledge of SEO, social marketing, PPC advertising, and team building.  If I'm applying for a Talent Acquisition role but my related job titles have used the term 'recruitment' instead of 'talent acquisition', I would still lead with something like Talent Acquisition Director with 4+ years in building recruiting lifecycle programs in the medical device industry.    

Wait, isn't that fabricating details? Nope. I'm not telling you to change the job titles in your Work Experience section, this is simply how you describe yourself, and you have a 300% greater chance of landing an interview (according to research by Jobscan) if you use the exact job title in your resume. The key is your prospective employer sees right away that you are already doing the job they are hiring for, or at the very least you have the capacity to do it because you've done something very similar recently. After all, it's all about landing an interview where you can discuss the details.  

Tip 1: Pick one term to describe yourself. Maybe you are an expert in Business Development, Customer Success, and Digital Media. You likely won't want to lead with all of those unless the job description mentions you should be great in all those areas. More often than not, a recruiter is hiring for one of those roles and your resume needs to be laser-focused on that.  

Tip 2: If you are changing careers, describe yourself using your desired job title. If you are transitioning from Business Analytics to Project Management, describe yourself as a Project Manager. You can add “with background in Business Analytics” to acknowledge that part of your career. And you'll have the opportunity to explain this in an interview, which is the goal.  

2) The second sentence connects your expertise to your value proposition. This is where you define how your unique skills will make you a valuable asset to your prospective employer. Begin the sentence with a term like 'Expert', 'Excels in', 'Skilled at', 'Proficient in', or another synonym followed by a few of the most valuable skills or key accountabilities required in your prospective job.  

Examples: Expert in creating graphics and illustrations using Figma and Adobe suite for web marketing programs that drive conversions.  

Or, Excels at developing full-cycle recruitment and hiring processes to improve time-to-hire and decrease cost-per-hire metrics.  

Tip:  Carefully examine your prospective job opportunity for the keys they are looking for in a new hire. It might be included in the summary of responsibilities, the description of the role, or the essential functions. Don't lie about experiences or skills you don't have. But if you are qualified for the role, spell it out for the hiring manager using their language. If they are looking for a Senior Accountant to lead a team, audit their work, and be responsible for the month-end close - and you've done that - why not say you are Senior Accountant who excels at leading teams, audit, and reconciliation, and accurate month-end closing?  

3) The third sentence concludes your Summary with a 'known for' differentiator or a 'driven to' value proposition that is employer-specific. You face stiff competition for the hiring manager's time and attention with many others who have a very similar skill set and experience. It's important to provide a clear reason why the employer should call you for an interview above others. Again, don't make them guess if you have what it takes to succeed in their role.  Do the math for them.  

Conclude your summary with what you are known for, what you are most proud of accomplishing in your career, or what specific point you would love the opportunity to discuss in an interview that will resonate in the new role.    

Here are examples of 'known for' statements:  

   Known for crafting and delivering compelling client presentations...  

   Known for exceeding QoQ and YoY sales quotas with 92% customer retention...  

   Consistently noted in performance reviews as...  

   Received 3 awards for customer service excellence...  

Here are examples of 'driven to' conclusions that are specific to the employer:  

   ...driven to advance 123 Inc.'s mission to end world hunger.  

   ...motivated to contribute my acute-care experience to ABC Healthcare's world-class team.  

   ...excited to help ACME become the global leader in widget production.  

Tip: You don't need to keep it strictly to 3 sentences, 4 is perfectly fine if you have enough value to highlight that's relevant to the employer and you are keeping it concise.  

Now, let's put it all together. Describe yourself using your role or desired title. Elaborate on your expertise and connect it to your value proposition. Conclude with the differentiator that sets you apart from other candidates, possibly with what you will contribute to the specific employer.  

Here's how it might read for Jobflow to hire a Marketing Manager to grow social media, drive subscription conversions, and take ideas from both Sales and Tech teams and turn them into actionable marketing programs:  

Dynamic, tech-savvy Marketing Manager with 8 years of experience gaining 500k+ social media followers, collaborating cross-functionally with Sales and Tech teams to achieve business goals, and developing innovative marketing collateral to drive conversions. Known for building and leading a team of specialists towards a common goal.  Motivated to utilize my experience and skill set to advance Jobflow’s mission to help every job seeker land a better job in a fraction of the time.  

Here is how it might for a CPA applying to an Accounting Director role to manage financial systems migrations, manage teams across global environments, and provide sound strategic financial leadership:  

Accomplished CPA and Accounting leader with 10+ years of experience with Sage Intacct system migrations and financial transformation initiatives. Proven record of implementing robust internal controls, driving operational excellence, and strategic financial leadership. Adept at managing multiple priorities and leading teams across complex, multinational environments, with focus on innovation and process optimization.  

This leads right into your Work Experience section where you can detail more about how you exemplified or accomplished what you touch on in your Summary.  

Your Summary is the perfect opportunity to share a quick narrative that touches on all the highlights of what about you will set you up for success in the new role, depending on exactly what the hiring manager for the new role is looking for. Follow the step-by-step guide to nail your opening and hook the reader.  

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 If you are looking for help with your Summary, particularly how to summarize the highlights and tailor it for every opportunity, we do this work for you at Jobflow! (It's free, no subscription is required). Simply:  

     
1.        upload your resume    
2.        show us the job you want to apply to    
   

In under 2 minutes we'll:  

     
•        show you exactly what the employer is looking for in prospective hires for the role    
•        craft a new Summary that highlights your skills and experience to match the job opportunity    
•        add it to the top of your updated resume we optimize and tailor for your application    
•        craft a cover letter that tells a compelling narrative about your career and the strengths you'll bring to the new role

And we provide all documents in formatted, ATS-friendly versions!