Resumes are an inevitable part of landing a great job, and it is the first step that will help you in impressing the hiring manager and in landing an interview. But what makes writing a resume hard is understanding the aspects of the job that one applies to. let us know about that the Operations Manager Resume Examples, Skills, Objective.
If you are applying for an Operations Manager, you need to understand the duties and responsibilities that are associated with the job to draft a great resume. You must also try to understand your strengths and skills that can help to add jewels to your resume to bring the right shine.
The entire aspect of drafting a resume might seem too overwhelming in the initial stages. Still, this article aims to guide you through the process of creating an impressive Operation Manager resume and landing that interview.
Who are Operations Managers?
The operations manager usually looks after the high-level HR duties, wherein they are responsible for attracting talents, training them, and maintaining a good hiring procedure for the company. They are usually responsible for all the leadership roles that can help the company promote and recruit a great workforce.
Operational managers are responsible for a variegated stream of work inside the organization. They look after several aspects of the organization, right from finance, IT, production, hiring, and many more. The operations manager looks after the organizational structure of the company and works with operation leaders to improve the efficiency of the business.
Job Description of Operation Manager
Whenever you are applying for the role of Operations Manager, you can encounter a job description that will look for the following qualities. Even though the name of the designation might sometimes differ depending on the hierarchy and the organization structures, an Operation Manager job description would include the following details.
The following responsibilities would be highlighted in the job description of an Operations Manager;
- Planning strategies and making decisions for the company.
- Developing and implementing different operational policies for the organization, ensuring its effectiveness.
- Assisting HR in recruiting the best talent as per the requirements of the company.
- Boost the performance of the company by showing dedicated support and promoting company culture among employees.
- Work alongside senior stakeholders to plan and understand the future goals and developments.
- Work with senior executive teams to highlight the mission, vision, and values of the company.
- Ensuring that all the company’s adherence to all forms of legal practices is cleared.
- Network on behalf of the company and build partnerships with potential clients.
- Lead the management team and training programs for all the new talent of the company.
The responsibilities mentioned in the job description can vary depending upon the requirement of the position and the organizational structure of an organization.
Resume Format
There are several resume formats available, which can be used by the candidates to highlight the necessary details on their resume. The most trusted format for this position would be the reverse chronological order format. This format allows the Operations Manager to highlight their recent successful project at the top of the resume, seeking attention to the most important part.
The format of the reverse chronological resume includes the following details.
- Contact information
- Objective
- Experience
- Education
- Skills
- Others
The reverse chronological order resume is trusted to be one of the best in terms of highlighting the experience of the candidates. It works great for professionally experienced people having a good professional history that can be lined up on the experience section. It helps grab the attention of the interviewer to the essential part of the resume and create a great impression of the candidate.
Apart from the plus point of highlighting the key aspects of a candidate, a reverse chronological order resume also helps in cracking the ATS systems that are initially used by companies to screen the resumes. The format is easy to scan and allows the system to track definite data.
Contact Information
The first section of the resume includes the contact information. This section of the resume is often overlooked by candidates compared to the rest of it. So, to make sure you do not miss this section, start with the contact information.
Contact information is quite an essential part of resumes. It helps the recruiters track the candidates on professional portals like LinkedIn or contact the candidate in case of different positions.
To ensure you do not goof up this section of the resume, add the following details.
- Full name
- Phone number
- LinkedIn profile
Once you have entered the following details, verify all the details. Enter the latest and professional details on the resume. A LinkedIn profile is a must-add here; most of the recruiters prefer hiring through this career portal as it gives high chances of proving the candidate’s credibility since it is an official site.
Objective
The objective is essentially the summary of the resume. If you are following a reverse chronological order to write the resume, make sure you reverse your professional summary to match the format. The objective included needs to start with highlighting the most recent experience of the candidate and carry on with the responsibilities undertaken in the same position. A well-calibrated and figurative data will add clarity to the objective.
The objective of the resume works as an elevator pitch that will encourage the hiring managers to further analyze your resume. So spend a great deal of time polishing it accordingly.
What to include?
- Years of experience in the industry.
- Latest job position and the responsibilities.
- One project that you contributed the most in your previous position.
- Constructive numbers to add credibility to your project and skills.
Sample objective
A detail-oriented Junior Operations Manager with 9 years of experience in the industry. Worked with XYZ company for 5 years making major contributions in recruitment and training, improving the productivity of the employees by 24%. Implemented a detailed training program for the former workers to align the skills with the latest development, improving the efficiency and technology used by 15%. I am passionate and looking forward to working in your company to polish my skills and add value to my existing skill set.
When an interviewer reads the above objective, the key highlights will be the highlighted words. The words or percentages will add a positive stance to your resume and help create a positive impression on the interviewer. A good project analysis will also help the interviewer to formulate questions in the interview.
Things to avoid
- Do not include unnecessary adjectives and skills at the start.
- Do not add unnecessary details about the job. Jobs can be further elaborated in the experience section.
- Avoid bluffing in your objective; it will be very apparent when the interviewer starts reading your resume.
Work Experience
Work Experience is about conveying to the interviewer that you have successfully undergone a certain job position and have brought value by your skills. Most of the candidates fall into the trap of adding responsibilities and the job description of the previous role. Well, avoid doing it. The interviewer knows what a job description for a certain position is, so try adding the values that you brought to the position.
Let us understand this with an example:
Junior Operations Manager
XYZ company
2017- 2018
- Implemented training program
- Managed inventory and cost of production reports.
- Lead training programs for all levels of employees.
- Developed a pull-up system, managed legal deals, led a management team, and set up a time initiative.
When you read the above description, all you see is responsibilities scattered over bulletins. The same can be found in the job description of any junior Operations Manager. The experience seems way too bland, as it does not highlight the key points and robs the section of its true essence. So, what should you do? Follow the second example:
Junior Operations Manager
XYZ company
2017- 2018
- An implemented training program that improved employee productivity by 25%, improving sales by $3 million.
- Trained and led a management team of 50 employees under the support and guidance of an industry expert. The program brought about a 15% revenue improvement.
- Managed inventory cost and implemented analysis that improved the inventory management by 5% in 6 months.
- Initiated the setup time, generating lead time by 23%.
The above bullet points are similar to the one shown in the previous example; the only difference here is the addition of the result or the output that your decision brought to the company. Such a description of work experience will help highlight the skills of the candidate and add credibility using numbers.
Using the above format, one can also easily showcase the responsibilities of the previous job position and depict the work attitude that candidates possess. If you have more than one previous experience, make sure to follow the same format throughout the job descriptions.
An experienced candidate needs to make sure that they add only a few top experiences to the resume. You can choose the latest experiences that you have achieved and skip the internships and other smaller positions. Also, when writing about a certain job position, ensure to add projects that made a significant impact in your professional career. The projects do not have to be huge; they can be as simple as working alongside a senior.
Education
An experienced candidate often overlooks this section of the resume instead, adding a lot of weight to the experience section. That is not a smart move. Though experience is certainly a great way to highlight your skills, educational qualification too will help you earn major brownie points and help you remain fighting till the top of the list. The education section of an Operation Manager must have at least the mention of a Bachelor’s degree, if not more.
When mentioning a degree, make sure to add the relevant achievements. This will help to keep the section a lot cleaner and also help you add value apart from just mentioning GPAs.
Educational Qualifications
Bachelors in Business Studies
California University
2008-20012
GPA: 3.8
- Won excellency award in Operations and production studies.
- Double major in administrative and organizational planning
- Won award for management and leadership excellence.
When you write the educational qualification in such a format, ensure that you add awards and achievements that revolve around the position you are applying for. A key reason to do so is to keep the section relevant to the position and earn brownie points.
The above format of writing the education section will help you highlight your achievements in college. If you have additional degrees, you can also similarly format them. Bullet all the necessary achievements that you have earned, which will directly affect the credibility of your skills and education.
Skills
A lot of us mention skills in the skills section of the candidates like,
Skills:
- Budgeting
- Leadership
- Time management
- Problem-solving
- Financial Management and so on.
However, an inexperienced candidate can also add these to their resume and get away with it. The skills listed above just mention how you have certain skills that you might probably put to use once you secure a position in the company. And this calls for no interview. The best way to highlight skills is to mention how you have used them in your previous experiences or projects. This is what will land you an interview rather than wasting a great section.
Start with listing your skills. You might find hundreds of skills that you hone and are perfect for this particular job position. Follow the steps below to make a list perfect for your resume:
- Filter the list according to the requirement of the description; this will help you beat the ATS system, as well as, keep your resume to the point.
- Once you have a curated list of skills, think of relevant experience wherein you applied the skills and added value to a certain project.
- Add the experience on the list, and add credibility to the same using a constructive number or percentage.
Following the above steps will instantly draft you a section that could impress any interviewer in the world. Let us see a sample that can help you with the drafting.
Skills
- Generated high-quality training programs that improved the efficiency of working within a time-constrained policy change.
- Worked with multiple teams to change the overall organizational structure to a more customer-oriented structure, improved customer retention by 15%.
- Initiated, financial budgeting and management, collaborating with the sales team growing revenue by 30%.
- Aligned the organizational structure according to the needs and demands of the executives as well as the clients.
When you draft a skill section that looks similar to the one above, you directly improve the quality of the skills. The skills are supported by evidence, which convinces the interviewer that you apply the skills to bring about positive changes. In the above section, the highlighted points align with the following skills: time management, problem-solving, team player, flexibility, critical thinking, and so much more.
You can add your skills and highlight them with the necessary experience. Some of the skills that you can use for an Operations Manager position are:
- Customer relationship management
- Product lifecycle study
- Detail-oriented
- Strategy
- Critical thinking
- Financial management
.
Things to Include Apart from the Normal
Now that you have finished most parts of the resume, there can be some additional details that you can add to make your resume stand out among the crowd. These sections can be added in such a manner that it highlights other parts of the position that you are applying for. Some of the sections that you can effectively include in the resume are:
- Certifications and awards
- Activities
- Volunteer work
All the details can be aligned in a single section of the resume at the end. This section will work as a tiebreaker for other similar resumes that interviewers will encounter during the interview process.
Certifications
The certification sections can include state or legal certifications that are required for a certain position. It can also include other relevant certifications that revolve around the position and depict your skills in the overall finance or managerial section.
Activities
The activities section can include extraneous activities that are carried out by the candidate outside a professional environment. The activities can include seminars, research papers, blogging, publications, and other similar points.
Volunteer work
All the skills you possess can be used for some good purpose. So, if you are someone who contributed to the local NGO or church for similar management or financial planning, or anything related to your position, it can be included in this section.
The additional sections are not mandatory and can be included as per the requirements of the candidate. A good suggestion, though, would be to add at least a few points in the section to improve the chances of getting hired.
Is a Cover Letter Necessary?
No, if it is boring, but yes, if it adds value.
A cover letter is often used to personally connect with the hiring manager and convey to them that you are passionate about the position and what drives you to apply for that particular position. The resume would be a professional history of a candidate, but what will get you through the line is the personal motivation for the role you are applying for. A cover letter will help you add that personal touch, so do not try to skip this step.
When writing a cover letter, ensure to keep the following things in mind; this will help you keep the letter to the point without adding unnecessary details that are already present on the resume.
- Use a name when sending the cover letter.
Whenever you are sending across a cover letter, ensure that you add a name to address a particular person. The name can be that of the department head, HR, interviewing manager, or any other relevant recruiting person. It will help you add a personal touch to the letter.
- Depict how passionate you are about the job
After addressing the person, write about your passion for the job and why you are looking forward to this new position. The point can be bolstered using the next step.
- Depict how your values align with the company.
Jot down points in the letter that tell the receiver how your values align with the company and what motivates you to work with the company. You can also list a particular person in the company that you are eager to work with or would love to work with. List a few company cultures that align with your management style.
- Show how you are planning your initial steps if you get hired.
Even though you are not sure about getting hired, convey to them how you will add value to the company if you ever get hired as a professional. This can include the initial plans that you will apply once you get hired for the position and other relevant work that you will carry in that position.
Conclusion
The duties of an operations manager come with a lot of responsibilities. Be it hiring new individuals, training them, or making new policies, each responsibility requires a lot of attention. A candidate can not showcase the skills they have for the promotion before getting hired, but they can convey their working attitude and skills through a resume. So, build a resume that leaves a lasting impression on the interviewer.
Add double-checked contact information, a polished objective or professional summary, highlight your experience and add your educational qualification. Ensure to add a few additional details relevant to the position like skills, certifications, achievements, and many more. All these details combined will create a great impact on the interviewer.
FAQ’s
- Is it necessary to include the certifications section in the resume?
The certification section is mandatory only if the job position asks for the same.
- How to know what skills matter for a particular position?
The skills can be listed with the help of a job description. Job descriptions include keywords that can be used in the resume to make an impact.
- As a fresher, should you include an objective or professional summary?
Freshers often do not have a lot of experience. Hence, a better choice would be to include an objective rather than a professional summary.
