Tthe first part (here) looked at when you would use, and what makes a good objective statement, this post will look at summary statements.
The summary statement is three to five lines to give the reader a quick and accurate understanding of you and what you can do. Think of this like your mini bio, sound-bite or commercial. It’s going to be in prime real estate at the top of the resume and so it needs to grab the readers’ attention.
If objective statements were best used when the audience was large, then the summary statement is better suited to when you’re applying for a specific position. This means tailoring each summary statement to the specific position. While this will mean tweaking your resume somewhat, you’ll end up with a better resume more closely matching what the employer needs.
When you construct a summary statement there is a lot of information that you can include such as who you are, what you can achieve, where you’ve worked previously, people or technical skills, areas of expertise, achievements, traits or characteristics. Knowing what to leave out becomes as much of a decision as what to include.
The most effective summary statements are “in-tune” with the remainder of the resume. The accomplishments, skills and experience, you detail in the resume, should match your summary statement. Expanding on some areas and introducing other skills that support your credentials
Like the objective statement avoid fluffy cliché or overused phrases such as “team player’ “people person”, “detail-oriented”, and “dedicated”. While they may sound great they don’t really add any value to the statement and are qualities the employer is going to expect you to have anyway.
Some other great articles about objective and summary statements
College Recruiter via Resume to Referral
Monster Blog
