Creating a great resume headline to capture the attention of employers is critical. Recruiters are significantly less likely to read a resume that doesn’t open with a strong statement about your skills, experience, or accomplishments. As humans, our attention naturally gravitates to bold statements that interest us, so use these examples to help build a captivating headline:
- Offering 10+ years of experience as a hands-on manager who boosted revenue $100K in three months.
Hiring decision makers love this type of headline because it gives them everything they’re most interested in. In one line, it tells them how much experience you have: Offering 10+ years of experience; what type of character you have: hands-on; what your role was: manager; and what you did with that role: boosted revenue $100K.
Here’s two more examples:
- Well-rounded professional with experience using Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and other design software.
- Innovative and analytical problem solver who stepped in to address systemic challenges that previously hadn’t been solved.
These are what we in the resume writing industry would call “leader lines”. Saying leader line is just a gussied-up way of using words to get someone to read more deeply into something. In the first example, we showcased two skills you do have and hinted that there are other skills the hiring decision maker can read about later. In the second example, we mentioned that you fixed problems no one else could but didn’t provide any context. Later in your resume, you’ll want to explain exactly what problem you fixed and why you were the only one who could.
Here are three more examples:
- Decorated combat veteran who utilized leadership skills to build well-qualified teams and provide meaningful mentorship.
- Recent college graduate with two supporting internships, a 3.4 GPA, and four semesters on the Dean’s List.
- Senior executive who capitalized on emerging market trends to transform retail business into an online shopping experience.
Whether you’re a combat vet, college graduate, or senior executive, these examples demonstrate how to build trust with your reader. They provide clear accomplishments and abilities that show who you are and what you’re capable of.
Four examples to go:
- Results-focused team player who collaborated with colleagues to design, build, and implement a new process that cut wait-times 50%
- Organized administrative assistant with experience managing complex schedules, organizing travel, and relaying correspondence.
- Experienced Registered Nurse (RN) for more than 20 years, administering care to diverse patients in a trauma level 1 hospital.
- Skilled sales executive who built new relationships, strengthened existing ones, and achieved superior account retention.
There are thousands of different ways to write headlines, and each headline should be unique to your individual situation. However, using these examples is a great way to avoid writer’s block and kick off your resume. If you’d rather leave the writing up to the professionals, head over to Resume Writing Group and let our expert team of writers craft a job-winning resume for you.
