General Manager Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this General Manager resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
General managers are the leaders of their organizations, overseeing all aspects of the business and acting as a point person for top-level executives. They’re responsible for driving revenue and increasing profits, as well as ensuring that their teams are equipped with the resources they need to succeed.
If you’re looking for a new role where you can use your leadership skills to make a meaningful impact on your company’s bottom line, here are some tips and an example to follow when writing your general manager resume to help get you started.
How to Write a General Manager Resume
Here’s how to write a general manager resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most effective way to showcase your experience and qualifications. But rather than simply listing your responsibilities, you can make your bullet points much more interesting and compelling by using specific numbers and metrics.
For example, rather than saying you “managed staff,” you could say that you “increased staff by 20% while maintaining lowest employee turnover rate in company history.”
The second bullet point is much more specific and provides a clear sense of the scale of the project and the outcome. It also provides a quantifiable result—a 20% increase in staff—which is always a good thing!
Related: What Is a General Manager? How to Become One
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a general manager role, your resume goes through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This system is designed to scan your resume for specific keywords related to the job opening. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, the ATS might automatically reject your application.
The best way to make sure your resume makes it past the ATS is to include keywords that are commonly found in general manager job postings. Here are a few examples:
- Sales Management
- Account Management
- Sales
- Marketing Strategy
- Marketing
- Business Development
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Strategy
- Negotiation
- Direct Sales
- Business Strategy
- Retail
- Project Management
- Management
- Marketing Management
- Team Leadership
- Sales Operations
- Product Management
- Social Media
- Microsoft Access
- Team Building
- Inventory Management
- Business Planning
- Strategic Planning
- Purchasing
- Project Planning
- Operations Management
- Management Consulting
- Strategic Communications
- Microsoft Project
Showcase Your Technical Skills
General managers use a variety of software programs to complete their work, so it’s important to list any relevant technical skills you have. Programs like Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Google Suite (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar), and social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are all commonly used by general managers. Additionally, general managers may be called on to use specific software programs relevant to their industry, so it’s important to be familiar with as many programs as possible.
Related: How Much Does a General Manager Make?
Remember The Basics
As you’re crafting your resume, it’s important to keep a few basic guidelines in mind.
Create Easy-to Scan Sections
There are a few things you can do to make your resume easier to read, such as left-aligning your text, using a standard font type and size, and using bullets instead of paragraphs to list your experiences. You should also use all-caps and bold sparingly, and keep your bullets under two lines. Additionally, you can include some white space on the page to make the document easier to scan.
Be Concise
A resume should be one page long, but it can be two pages if you have a lot of experience to include. If a resume is too long, candidates should remove irrelevant information, such as personal details or hobbies. Font type and size, margins, and line spacing can also be tweaked to save space on a resume.
Check Your Work
Proofreading your resume is important in order to make sure it looks professional and error-free. Spell checking is a must, as are punctuation and grammar checks. It is also helpful to have someone else proofread your resume for you, as they may catch mistakes that you have missed. Beware of easily confused words, and make sure that your tense is consistent throughout the resume.
Consider a Summary
A resume summary statement can be an extremely useful way to provide context for your experience and to showcase your most relevant skills. It is a brief, targeted paragraph that explains who you are, what you do, and what you’re looking for. When crafted correctly, it can help to quickly and effectively communicate your qualifications to potential employers.
Related Resume Examples
