How to write a strong summary
Starting a resume with a summary allows you to encapsulate your career into a few lines and provide readers with a helpful, quick overview. Unlike objectives, which I think are often unnecessary, I do believe executive summaries have a place in a good resume, even though expert resume readers can scan a well written resume and sum up the background as well as any summary.
The most common problem
The biggest problem with most summaries is that they attempt to do too much. Instead of merely providing an overview of a person’s career, people try to use it as an additional sales tool, filling summaries with all sorts of subjective assertions that are not even in evidence in the resume. For example: exceptional leadership and change management skills, or being an innovative problem solver and strategic visionary.
You may think it’s fine to pile assertions into a summary without any supporting details. Wrong! Whenever you write anything that may raise questions or doubt, that’s the place where supporting details need to be presented. Allowing questions to develop without an immediate response weakens your resume. (See the article Lost in the land of make believe.) A summary is often too short to provide sufficient evidence, which is why it’s best to use assertions sparingly.
When a summary is crucial
There are a few instances when the use of a summary is crucial. One case is when a person has a diverse background and a reader may wonder, “What is your expertise?” What are your true strengths? Are you a marketing executive with strong exposure to finance or visa-versa? In such cases, a summary can provide a frame of reference that allows a reader to more easily follow your resume and assess your suitability.
Vinny Stabile, the SVP, People at JetBlue cites an example when he was considering candidates for a staffing role and received numerous resumes from human resource generalists. In many cases, it was difficult to gauge the strength and relevance of their staffing experience.
An HR generalist may have gained significant staffing experience over time, but it may be reflected in only a few scattered lines throughout a resume. A well written summary can pull such experiences together and convey two or three core competencies that might otherwise get lost in the body of the resume.
In this particular case, the proper use of a summary would have made it easier to determine if any of them had sufficient staffing experience to be invited to an interview.
How long is too long?
Summaries should be brief. Ideally one mid-sized paragraph, but definitely no longer than 2 or 3 short paragraphs. In a resume, anything longer is no longer a summary.
Facts are always stronger than assertions
The best summaries are fact based so use details that are not subject to personal interpretation. For example:
Financial executive with an MBA/CPA and 22 years in the hotel and restaurant industry, including experience in mergers & acquisitions, IPOs, and corporate strategic planning. Also includes five years of intense start-up experience.
This is a brief example of a fact based summary. You either have an MBA and CPA or you do not. You either have direct experience in mergers & acquisitions or you do not. You’ve either worked in a start-up or you have not. Fact based statements don’t rely on the subjective judgment of the individual making the claim, unlike communication, leadership, or change management skills.
Unique aspects
Finally, look for any unique aspects in your background that deserve to be pointed out in the summary. For instance, experience with start-ups, highly creative businesses, or fast growing companies are all examples of unique experiences that should be brought front and center. In particular, think of items that make you unique and are also relevant to the kinds of positions and companies you are going after.
Some people might consider these unique aspects to be subjective assertions themselves, but they are much less so than the examples cited earlier. For instance, anyone can claim excellent communication skills, but it would be impossible for an executive with the US Postal Service to claim to be working for a start-up, just as it would be difficult for a coal company executive to claim to be working in a highly creative and innovative business.
Adding these unique aspects puts a spotlight on them and ensures they’re not overlooked during the review of your resume.
