Stunning General Manager Resume Examples for This Year

A general manager needs to be able to manage a number of people at once. Here’s how to create a general manager resume that looks great for every application.

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Stunning General Manager Resume Examples for You to Use This Year

General Manager Resume Examples

A general manager needs to have a wide variety of skills. The skills that a hiring manager is going to look for in the perfect resume will be fairly significant and will require plenty of past experience. That means, for the most part, everyone applying for this job is going to be similarly qualified. If you want to rise above other job seekers, then you can’t just list your years of experience; you need to have a great-looking professional resume to back it up. Here’s what you need to do for a better-looking resume.

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What to Highlight in a General Manager Resume

Most of the time, a general manager needs overall management skills and specific skills relating to the position they’re applying to be. A store manager and an operations manager might both be listed as a “general manager” but require different skills. Your resume should highlight skills and experience, as well as any formal education that you might have.

Structure of a General Manager Resume

The exact structure of your resume will typically depend on what resume format you end up using. In general manager resumes, you’ll want to use the chronological resume format, which puts your work history front and center. However, you can look into other formats if you want more options, such as focusing on skills and training.

Header

The resume header goes at the very top of your resume and includes your full name, your basic contact information, and professional portfolio links, such as your LinkedIn.

Resume summary or objective

Next is your resume summary. This is a short paragraph at the top of your resume that goes over your past experience and your top skills. A resume summary typically is best for people who have lots of work experience, while a resume objective, which focuses on skills and career goals, is best for people with less experience.

Skills

A great skills section is an important part of any resume, and a manager resume is no different. In a general manager job, you need both hard skills and soft skills that help you in strategic planning and managing team members. Here are a few related skills that you should consider for your manager resume:

Communication
Decision-making
Forecasting business changes
Problem-solving
Cost control
Knowledge of daily operations
Inventory management
Leadership
Customer retention
Maintaining customer satisfaction
Managing business operations
Time management

Work history

Your work experience section should include up to your last ten years of jobs. Remember to include all relevant positions, which may include work as an assistant manager, work in project management, and general work in the field you’re planning to manage for. For example, if you’re planning to work in store management, you can list positions you’ve held in a retail store.

Education

The last section on most resumes is the education section. Many general managers have at least a bachelor’s degree in an area relevant to management, such as business administration. You may also be able to include certifications (e.g., a project management professional (PMP) certification) in this section.

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Do’s and Don’ts for a General Manager Resume

Do:

Tailor your general manager resume directly to the job description. Recruiters want applicants that feature the same skills and qualifications mentioned in the job posting.
Use the ResumeHelp resume builder to write your resume more effectively. You can find general manager resume templates to build a great resume, along with job-specific suggestions.
Include all of the sections mentioned above in your resume, along with the right titles for each section. This helps avoid confusion when employers read your resume.

Don’t:

List irrelevant jobs you’ve held in the past. Include these jobs on your LinkedIn instead, so they’re available without taking up space on a resume.
Use hard-to-read fonts. Choose a great resume font for your entire resume for the best results.
Claim skills without backing them up. Add metrics to show how you’ve been able to turn your skills into successes (e.g., “Headed team that exceeded sales targets by 10%”).

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FAQ: General Manager Resumes

Q: Do I need to include a cover letter for a general manager application?

Yes. If you’re looking for a way to express your knowledge, experience, and qualifications more effectively, then you can do so with a cover letter, which can be one of the most important ways to highlight things that you can’t highlight effectively in your resume. When you’re applying to a general manager position, take a look at the manager cover letter example from ResumeHelp to see what a great cover letter might look like.

Q: How can I write a general manager resume without a lot of experience in management?

Becoming a general manager isn’t an entry-level position, which means that a hiring manager is going to expect that you’ll have some amount of professional experience before you apply. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need experience as a manager, just that you have a track record of management-style duties and that you’ve been in the industry you’re hoping to manage for some time. Point out places where you’ve done management work, even if your job title wasn’t “General Manager,” and emphasize your experience in the field.

Q: How do I change my general manager resume to apply to different jobs?

One of the best ways to apply to different jobs with a single general manager resume is to use resume keywords. These are phrases in the actual job application that emphasize key requirements for the job (e.g., skills, experiences). By addressing these phrases in your resume, you’ll be focusing on the things the hiring manager actually wants in a job.

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