As a branch operations manager, you’re a pro at running the business like a well-oiled machine. You’re used to handling many tasks at once, and you’re often the first point of contact for both your employees and your associates.
Running the show at your branch may feel like second nature at this point, but it’s not easy to squeeze all the things you’re good at onto a single page.
Good news—our free cover letter builder and resume templates have helped branch operations managers like you land interviews. Follow these tips to make your skills and experience shine.
What Matters Most: Your Management Skills & Experience
You may have done some recruiting and training yourself, so you probably know that the two most important parts of any resume are the ones that list your industry-specific skills and your work experience.
You already possess a good mix of soft and technical skills that are relevant to your field. Put them front and center and leave things like “creative” and “perfectionist” out, even if those words match your personality.
Highlight skills that directly speak of your ability to manage people, such as coaching and performance appraisals, as well as those that are more on the technical side, such as reporting and financial analysis.
9 most popular branch operations manager skills
- MS Excel
- Financial Analysis
- Reporting
- Performance Appraisals
- Customer Service
- Process Improvement
- OSHA Compliance
- Recruiting
- Sales Strategy
Sample branch operations manager work experience bullet points
When it comes to branch operations management positions, recruiters want to see prior experience a lot of the time—it’s the easiest way to prove that you know what you’re signing up for.
The best way to make your work experience pop is by adding identifiable metrics.
Numbers, percentages, and tangible achievements are eye-catching and make it easier for a hiring manager to visualize the kind of improvements your experience can bring to their company.
Here are a few examples:
- Created and implemented a new hire training program that reduced employee onboarding time by 33%
- Empowered the team to drive sales by 6% through greater personalization of the customer experience
- Held monthly coaching sessions for a team of 30+ employees, increasing engagement and boosting retention by 15%
- Maintained meticulous financial records and prepared thorough financial reports for the CEO 8 to 12 times per year, improving budget allocation and optimization
Top 5 Tips for Your Branch Operations Manager Resume
- Get a little technical
- If you’re applying for a role that requires you to use specific software or tools, such as SAP or Salesforce, mention it in your resume. Don’t just say, “used SAP to manage employee data,” though. A better way to spin it is to say, “Utilized SAP to input and manage employee data for a team of 130 people, including benefits administration and payroll.”
- Show off your management skills
- Discuss how you were able to build high-performing teams. Were you providing feedback to your employees, overseeing their daily work, or perhaps recruiting new hires? How did your company gain from it?
- Talk about money
- You’ll be more likely to see a job offer come your way if you can show how you’ve saved prior companies a little money, so talk about the specific ways you demonstrated financial management skills in the past. As an example, “reduced branch expenses by 14%” is more effective than “oversaw financial operations.”
- Save something for the cover letter
- Your operations manager cover letter can be a nuisance to prepare, but it’s actually your best friend. This is where you can talk about your management skills in more detail, such as the extent of your trademark training program or the way your implementation of the Lean methodology improved branch efficiency.
- Find similarities
- If you’re resigning from a job different from the one you’re pursuing, find a common ground between the two. Switching from hospitality to insurance sales is fine if you draw attention to the fact that you know the foundations of management, such as inventing new strategies to help improve sales numbers.
Your entire resume should fit onto a single page, so the more you develop your career, the more you’ll have to omit. Include jobs closely tied to management, like logistics coordinator or administrative manager. Be sure to also mention relevant education, such as a degree in business administration or finance.
Entry-level branch operations manager jobs may not require a lot in the way of education, so in those cases, focus fully on your skills (such as leadership and financial management) and experience in leading projects or people. If the operations manager job description calls for a degree, mention yours in a visible way or lean into hands-on work experience if you don’t meet that requirement.
Being a manager is all about soft skills, but it’s easier to stand out with technical skills because they’re simpler to prove. Emphasize quantifiable skills and follow up with proof, such as ways you used strategic thinking to improve customer service.
