Why Should I Write A Resume Headline
Although many candidates put little effort into the headline of their resume, it can actually drastically improve your chances of getting noticed by a prospective employer.
Imagine youre a recruiter, and youre sent hundreds if not thousands of resumes every day. Do you think you would closely inspect every single application you come across?
The answer is, probably not. In fact, youd probably be much more likely to quickly scan through each resume, looking for keywords, figures, and achievements that stand out and are relevant to the job posting.
Well, your resume headline is your first chance to immediately grab the recruiters attention with exactly the numbers or facts they are looking for.
However, lets not forget that the rest of your document is just as important, and its essential to follow tried-and-tested resume-building techniques to maximize your chances of success.
Nowadays, you can even use an online resume maker to speed up the resume creation process and to ensure that you meet all the recommended professional guidelines.
What Is A Resume Headline And Why To Use It
A resume headline is a brief statement that summarises the value you bring to the job.
In the same way that a news headline draws in a reader, your resume headline is there to grab attention and get the rest of your information read.
A strong resume headline will:
- Highlight your abilities
- Determine whether you called for an interview
In other wordsâ¦
A resume headline is your chance to reach out to the recruiter and introduce who you are and what you do. Itâs where you tell the reader what you can do for them.
Pro-Tip Remember that a resume headline and a resume objective are different. Theyâre both snappy phrases at the top of your resume, but a headline is about what youâve done an objective is about the job you want.
Best Example For Resume Headline:
1. Sr. Production Manager with 20 years of wide experience in strategic management for resolving problems and bringing out solutions that improve operational efficiency.
2. IT Recruiter with Ten Years of Experience in ITES Recruitment Skilled at Recruiting candidates and Staffing Excellent written and oral communication skills capable of explaining complex issues in easy-to-understand terms.
A resume is prospective means for obtaining job, it is the resume headline that is what the recruiters often read.
It is actually giving a brief summary of your overall skills that is evident in the body. Its like how a spice added to a dish adds flavour.
Hence, by having it written in catchy phrases its very likely that recruiters would like to review the details and would induce to set up an interview call.
A well-defined and formed headline would place your resume at the top that gives a brief description of your experience and education background.
So if you are thinking of career change, then revamp your resume and make the change come in. Its the design that matter most!!
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What Does A Resume Headline Actually Look Like
OK, so how does this all come together? Lets run through a few examples.
Say youre a project and program manager who just earned your Project Management Professional certification. Youve selected a few project and program management jobs that you want to apply for and notice that this certification is consistently listed as a preferred qualification. Youre also seeing a common theme among the job descriptions that got you excitedthey all call for someone who has worked with SaaS companies. Great news, you have.
Your headline and subhead, then, may look like this:
PMP-Certified Project Manager | Senior Program ManagerDelivering Complex ProjectsOn Time & Within Budgetfor Global SaaS Providers
This keyword-rich headline tells the reviewer right away that you are a project manager and a program manager and that you have the valuable PMP certification. And then the subhead makes it clear that you have experience in a SaaS environment and know how to successfully deliver projects on deadline and within budget. Youll also notice that every word in the headline and subhead earns its spot on the page. There is no fluff. There are no clichés.
Everything works together to bring the reader into your story and make them eager to continue on into your summary section .
Purdue University BSME Honors Graduate With Robot Programming Experience
Here are a few more headline examples, for a variety of industries and roles:
Keep It Concise And Simple
A world-famous study by Ladders found that most recruiters spend only around 7 seconds looking at each resume they are presented with.
This means that overwhelming readers with a complex block of text from the get-go are a surefire way to get your resume quickly discarded. Make sure you keep your headline straight to the point so that it can be easily read and remembered.
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Use Common Job Titles
If youre looking for a job as a chief of staff and are basically working as one now, but have an oddball title that doesnt immediately or clearly convey what you do, introduce yourself as a chief of staff in that headline. It all comes back to the keywords both the ATS and the people reading your resume are looking for. You dont want to miss the chance to be considered for a full-stack engineering role because your current company uses the title full-stack magician or be overlooked for a customer support role because your last company insisted on the title weekend happiness concierge .
Craft A Powerful Linkedin Professional Headline
Social Media for CEOs & Leaders | Raise Your Visibility, Increase Your Impact | LinkedIn Expert | Author | CEO
The professional headline is the line that appears immediately below your name at the top of the profile. Its one of the first things visitors to your page will see. By default, LinkedIn populates the headline with your current job title and company. Since this information appears in Experience for your current job, theres no need to repeat the information. Besides, customizing your headline shows how you stand out from others who have the same job title as yours and use similar keywords.
A good headline tells others what you do and what benefit they get from working with you. It represents your core values, expertise and personal branding. Still some use their job title because it describes the various things they do within the 120-character limit.
Here are a few things to consider when creating your winning headline:
While youre editing your headline, look for examples. Use them for ideas.
Here are some real headlines:
A few things not to do
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How To Write The Headlines
Resume headlines are gateway to your career growth. So do make efforts to write out the best possible titles to enhance your image.
To make it easier it is mandatory to consider the foremost two points to note before starting to write.
Consider the following before starting to write the resume headline
- What is the type of job you are applying for?
- Why should they consider you for that job?
Resume headlines should
Include Years Of Relevant Experience
Suppose you’re a subject matter expert or have over five years of experience in a particular field relevant to the position. In that case, you can include this information in your headline to demonstrate your expertise. Suppose you have less than five years of relevant experience. In that case, you can include this information in your professional summary and save the resume headline to highlight your related skills and abilities.
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Customer Service Resume Headline
Customer service may be harder because there are so many careers and skills involve. Tips for writing a resume headline here would be to avoid clichés and overused language in your writing.
There are a lot of words and keywords but remember you’re highlighting skills for customer service careers in a short summary.
Here is a great example for this type of career:
Sales associate with experience with 10+ years of experience in retail and sales.
Here is another example for a good headline for your resume:
Financial firm customer service representative with a background in phone handling.
Who Should Use A Resume Headline
Anyone can use a resume title regardless of their industry, title or level of experience. If youre a seasoned professional, a resume headline gives you the opportunity to highlight a few of your greatest accomplishments. If you have limited job experience or youre just entering the job market for the first time, the headline will give you an opportunity to share the qualifications you currently have and hope to earn in your career.
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What’s A Headline On A Resume
A resume headline is essentially a one-liner on your resume. It’s meant to snag the attention of a hiring manager so they’ll take a closer look.
When you write a resume headline, you’ll write one line or one sentence detailing why you should be considered. Resume headlines are meant to have the same effect as a news article headline might.
Resume headlines are placed directly at the top of your resume, almost like a resume title. A good resume headline will be powerful. And make the first impression for those hiring managers.
Pro tip: HR managers read a resume for an average of seven seconds. Make the headline impactful!
How To Write Resume Headline In Naukri For Experienced Job Seekers
Even with a lot of experience, relevance can be easily overlooked when your resume headline is not properly structured. Apart from showing how long you have been working in that capacity, you also need to show how well you have done within those years.
In the midst of several achievements, identify and adopt the best ones in your resume headline. Show statistics or quantifiable data to prove your statements and the value you added to your previous companies. Do note that it is suggested to include the goals you reached in your most recent position.
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Avoid Writing Long Stories
Its a headline and not the body, so always keep it to the point, informative, short and crisp. A one-line phrase is what you exactly want to send out to your hiring manager.
Some examples of a good resume headline are
- Award-Winning Senior Marketing Manager With Over 6 Years Experience in Brand Marketing
- Self-Motivated Product Manager Experienced in Defining And Leading Innovative Software And Services Development
- Lead Software Engineer With Hands On Experience In JavaScript, Python, PHP, Scala, and Ruby on Rails
- Experienced HR Executive with Five Years Experience in Talent Acquisition
- Dedicated, Bilingual High School Teacher Specializing in Science
- Energetic MBA Graduate Specializing in Finance and Internship Experience in Global Economics
In A Nut Shell
As a part of an attractive resume format, resume headline is something that delivers a snapshot of your experience and skills. Save the time of your recruiters by telling about yourself in a polite and crisp manner. A well-defined resume headline is what you need to appear smart, if you are looking for a job. This small piece of content matters a lot and is an important considering when designing a format for resume.
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Where Does The Resume Headline Go
You’ll want to place that resume headline at the top of your resume, so it stands out to recruiters and is the first thing they see or focus in on. While we did describe the resume headline as a title, it’s not quite a title. It should be placed in your resume header.
Make sure to set your headline in title case . Your resume will be directly beneath the formal title. You can see this displayed in any number of headline examples out there. The title of the resume will be the job title pretty much.
Then you’ll support that title with a short resume summary of relevant skills to create a good headline.
There are plenty of tips out there for creating a strong resume headline. And we’ll share some of those. You can look at regular title examples and headline helpers to give you some guidance or inspiration as well.
Here’s the resume headline checklist to follow:
- Make sure it’s one line.
- Put the resume headline beneath your contact information in your resume header.
- Use title case.
- Keep it short and impactful.
- Include a career achievement.
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Add Your Soft And Hard Skills
Adding your soft and hard skills in your resume gives the recruiter an idea of how you might be as a person, soft skills comprise of your work ethics and abilities such as good communication, leadership skills etc. on the other hand hard skills are the technical abilities related to the job. Both are equally important and play a huge role when it comes to selecting the right candidate for the position
What Is A Resume Title
Caitlin Proctor, CPRW
7 min read
Your resume title is the first thing you should list under your name and contact information. Itâs different from your job title: this is an opportunity to introduce your professional self in a snappy line or two of attention-grabbing, highly-relevant, keyword-optimized text.
The perfect resume title should make the perfect first impression. Most people donât include one, so it can be really effective if you use the right headline. It will resonate and set you apart from the competition.
The best resume headlines are specific to your industry and include what makes you a great hire. This post includes more than 30 industry-specific resume titles compiled by our team of professional resume writers. You can use this list to navigate directly to your industry or job function for some examples of effective resume titles.
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Change Your Resume For Every Position
Creating your resume can feel like a long, lengthy process. This often lends itself to using the same resume for as many positions as possible once weve created one. But as weve learned from Robert Coombs story, quantity does not always equal results.
Make sure youre taking the time to write a resume title specific to each job you apply for. It goes a long way with showing the recruiter youre serious, and that you mean business.
Customise Your Headline For Each Role
Though your skills and experience may be the same, different job profiles require different requirements. So it’s important to customise the resume headline for each job you’re applying for. Review the job description multiple times and identify important keywords for each job. Once you’ve got a clear understanding of the job requirements, you can highlight your skills to match the job profile.
Read more:
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Format Your Resume Headline
Format your resume headline to make it attractive and easy to read. Capitalize each word to make it in title case as you would do with the title of an article. It helps your headline stand out from the rest of the content. Use the same font that you have used in the resume to maintain a professional look. Even if you decide to use a different font, make sure it is a professional one. Avoid using informal styles and too many different fonts and colours.
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Program Manager Resume That Got Hired At Deepmind
The fifth example from Tobias is an extraordinary example of letting job recruiters know a bit about your character and intentions. We can see hes business-minded and has a passion for technology. Not only is he showing that hes an ideal fit to take on the role of the program manager, but we can sense that hes a strongly motivated person. This is one great way to make up for any lack of experience by conveying how youre willing to learn, adapt, and to go above and beyond.
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Use The Proper Format/title Case
It is important that you format your resume and the resume headline properly. It is not a title but you need to be sure to use the title and formatting properly here.
Think of the headline as the cover letter for the resume. This might seem a little silly but it’s your introduction to the resume, which is what cover letters are as well, right?
Headline And Summary Sample
A headline and summary replace the traditional objective with a more powerful statement of your goal, or direction, and what you bring to it.
In Beths resume, her job goal is stated in the headline Project Coordinator. This is more effective than old-style objective statements like: A challenging position that will allow me to use my project coordination skills. Today, statements like that are considered too general and self-serving to be effective.
Here are the headline and summary for Beths resume:
Beth includes:
- A headline stating her job goal. If Beth applies to a project coordinator job related to a particular function or product, she could add that for example, Project Coordinator Technology.
- A paragraph summarizing her strengths and experience. Beth presents herself as an experienced, highly skilled professional with an interest in working in consulting.
- A bulleted list of skills. To back up her job target as a project coordinator, Beth lists related functions and software shes skilled in.
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