Just as a sports highlight reel condenses the best moments of a game, a resume condenses your career accomplishments into a concise and impactful presentation. Your resume is essentially a shop window that displays your skills, qualifications, and experiences in a way that attracts the attention of hiring teams. Whether you are being presented to a hiring manager by a recruiter or directly applying to an open middle-management role, you need to remember that you are a stranger to the person reviewing your resume. How you present yourself, and knowing what written content to include, are essential for standing out as a high caliber candidate.
The Basics of Creating your Resume to Land a Middle-Management Role
As a recruiter, I need to stress the importance of formatting. Judgement starts as soon as your resume is opened. It can take someone 5 seconds or less to decide they do not want to read a single bullet. You may spend hours, days, or weeks on your resume, only to have it immediately dismissed. Let’s try to avoid this harsh fate. In the world of resumes, looks really do matter.
How do you prime the canvas?
- Utilize a Resume Template: Microsoft Word has many built-in templates to choose from, and you have endless options available on the internet as well. When you choose not to use one, you are doing just that- making a choice. Templates are not just a way to add visual appeal; they convey that you take extra steps and take your job hunt seriously.
- Consistent Formatting: It is absolutely critical that formatting is consistent on any written document. Inconsistent formatting instantly stands out, tells your audience that you lack attention to detail, and can rule you out immediately. Keep it clean and simple. The three most common formatting mistakes are:
- Misaligned bullet/header indents
- Inconsistent font usage
- Presenting dates (Jan 2020 to Mar 2024, January ‘20 – March ‘24) multiple ways
How do you paint the landscape?
Do not assume that anything is implied or obvious to your audience. Paint as much of the background picture as you can in order to decrease potential unknowns. Include:
- Multiple forms of contact information (so they can connect with you)
- Current address
- Year of graduation (without it, it can imply your degree was not earned)
- Previous company information (annual revenue, privately held, publicly traded) to define size and complexity
The Finer Details of a Resume Built for Middle-Management Roles
Include complete work history:
There is no “rule” that says your resume must fit on one page only, especially when applying for middle-management roles. If you are 5+ years into your career (which you probably are), stop suffering from one-page-itis and let it flow onto a second page. You want to include every stop you’ve made post-grad and include every title you held during your time at each. This is how you show that you are a highflier and climber that earned promotions, so do not cut yourself short here!
If each progressive job title was within the same job function, you do not need to bullet out individual role responsibilities for each. Simply identify the multiple titles you held, the time frame you held them, and summarize what the combined scope of responsibilities was/is.
Here is an example of how to show the finer details on a resume:
Company Name June 2019 – Present
Controller | March 2024 – Present
Accounting Manager | October 2021 – March 2024
Financial Analyst | June 2019 – October 2021
Responsibilities: How you bullet out your responsibilities is probably the most difficult part of the process. Aim to capture the impact you had with each and every bullet. Rule of thumb; if it reads like it could go on a job description, you are not being specific enough. Here is an example of a “job description” bullet vs. one that captures your direct impact:
- Weak example: Participated in process improvement initiatives.
- Strong example: Led the initiative to reduce quote turnaround time from 14 days to 24 hours.
They intend to say the same thing, but do not. The first example is far too vague, and you cannot expect your audience to grasp what (in your mind) you are implying. All of us have a tendency to “fill in the gaps” because we lived it, so we think it is clear to everyone else. Second reminder that you are a complete stranger to the person reviewing your resume.
Scope: Quantify, quantify, quantify! This is easily the biggest (and most important piece) missing from most resumes. Would you purchase an expensive couch off of Amazon if the product description said, “fits most living rooms”? Highly unlikely. You want to see the dimensions, fabric information, what the cushions are filled with, etc. Apply the same mindset to the information you are providing to the resume shopper. If the words “multiple, many, various” (aka fits most living rooms) are on your resume, replace them with a number or be more descriptive. This applies to everything you can specify. Example of the importance of quantifying:
- Weak example: Lead a team of “multiple direct reports”
- Strong example: Lead a team of 7 direct reports including, (2) Plant Controllers, (3) Staff Accountants, and (2) Financial Analysts. In this example, the candidate is letting us know that they have operational, daily functional, and analytical expertise by identifying the job titles that directly report to them and letting us know how many, all in one fell swoop.
Seal the Deal
As a Recruiter Manager at The Clark Agency, my final tip is all about finesse. By this point, your middle-management role resume looks professional, clearly and concisely captures your experience, and you have alleviated your audience’s fear of the unknown variables. Time to truly stand out as the no-brainer candidate for your next middle-management role. Think of the job description for the role you are being presented/applying for as a set of blueprints. They are explicitly telling you what their expectations for the role are, what your responsibilities will be, and what they consider the ideal candidate (skills and qualifications).
Rearrange the order of your bullets so that your alignment stands out loud and clear, and make sure you are using the same vocabulary. Sharp shoot the role to get the person reading your resume excited, engaged, and to undeniably see you as the person that ticks off every box!
