Using Successful Keywords for Your Project Manager Resume

Veronica Vardy
3 min readMar 29, 2017

Meta Description: Learn some of the best project management keywords and how to integrate them into your resume.

Meta Tag: Most Useful Project Management Resume Keywords

As a professional in any field, you should be updating your resume often. If you are a professional project manager, that may be more often than average. Project managers are the people in charge of making a change. They are responsible for the planning, budgeting and the initialization/completion of a project. They also have the skill to challenge any problem that may occur to ensure projects run smoothly. Project managers aren’t just limited to a single field of work either, in fact, most industries will require a project manager at some point. This requires that you choose the correct keywords for project manager resume.

Building on Your Resume

First and foremost, you want to assure that your resume is built on solid foundation. Be sure to utilize many resources when writing your resume. Be sure to look at examples from the same or similar job description and be original. Writing a resume from scratch is also a great way to make sure your resume sounds professional and is written in your voice.

Once you have a solid footing, make your resume stand out by learning how to utilize keywords and integrate them in your resume.

Tip: Make sure you have updated contact information for both yourself and prior employers.

Project Management Keywords

Now that you have a solid foundation to build on, we can move on to what you have been looking for, project management keywords and how to integrate them.

Keep in mind, depending on the field you are applying in, you will have to use not only project management keywords, but industry specific keywords as well. But don’t worry, there are project management buzzwords that will improve the chances of your resume getting noticed.

The following keywords are essential to any project manager resume, regardless of industry:

Collaborative — Collaboration is important to every company, large or small. This skill displays your ability to bring multiple people, from multiple departments, some possibly across the globe, together to complete the project.

Example: Collaborated with team members across the globe to improve global IT system.

Maintain Effective Communication — Just as important as your ability to collaborate, is your ability to communicate. As a project manager, your main responsibility is to communicate to your teams, verbally or written — if a specific type of communication is stated in the job description, make sure to use the stated one.

Example: Maintained effective [verbal/written] communication with teams and stakeholders to ensure project efficiency.

Organize Project Teams — Being organized is a useful trait in every position, especially project managers. As a project manager, you will oversee multiple teams, all working toward the same goal. You must have enough organizational skills to utilize your team’s data and produce a result.

Example: Organize project teams to complete projects on time and on budget.

Structured Problem Solving — When working with multiple teams and departments, problems are bound to occur, and the ability to solve problems on the fly can save a company time and money. Your ability to solve complex problems as they occur is a valuable skill in any industry — remember, structured problem solving takes time to master, but is worth the effort.

Example: Utilized structured problem solving as a means of overcoming problems within various teams.

Requirements Prioritization — Being able to organize and arrange tasks in order of priority ensures that the most necessary demands are met in the chance that budget or time is depleted. It might sound like a nightmare, but it happens, and the bosses want to know that you handled the project in the most efficient way possible.

Example: Prioritized requirements of projects to ensure completion of essential tasks.

Other Project Management Keywords:

  • Analytical
  • Change Management
  • Coordinated
  • Data Analysis
  • Execute Plans
  • Meeting Deadlines
  • Project Coordination
  • Project Management
  • Risk Management
  • Transformation

Being able to make your resume stand out from the others may seem like a daunting task, but if you are prepared, your resume will be professional and unique. When building your project management resume, keywords are only as strong as the foundation they rest on. Proper integration of project management and industry specific keywords will help your resume get noticed, rather than sitting in the stack. Next time you update your resume, make sure to use these project management keywords.

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