Operations Manager
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Build my resume You’re great at optimizing processes. You help new employees get up to speed and quickly execute at a high level. You know the operations of the business inside and out.
You’re a fantastic operations manager. You shouldn’t also have to be a pro at writing a resume to land your next job.
You’re excellent at optimizing processes. You help new employees get up to speed and quickly execute at a high level. You know the operations of the business inside and out.
You’re a fantastic operations manager. You shouldn’t also have to be a pro when it comes to writing a resume or creating a cover letter so that you can land your next job.
That’s where we come in. Our 23 operations manager resume samples have worked to help candidates land interviews at great companies like Stripe and Facebook.
Why this resume works
- Set a timer for six seconds and look over your resume. What do you notice.
- Numbers, or quantitative metrics, catch the eye and slow down the reader, allowing them to absorb more information and engage with the text.
- Hopefully, you noticed your bullet points. Include these on your resume to break up chunks of text, making it more readable and less intimidating or “un-fun” to read.
- Hiring managers, on average, only spend six seconds on a resume, so catching their attention and making a visually appealing resume are two of the most important customizations you can make to improve your operations manager resume.
Why this resume works
- When you don’t have many years of professional work experience, it’s okay for your operations manager trainee resume to include resume-related projects, volunteer work, activities, and hobbies/interests.
- Try to keep projects relevant to the position by focusing on applicable skills for the job. Showcase your leadership, communication, and software skills.
- Activities don’t have to be as directly relevant as projects.
- You never know if the hiring manager is also an avid backpacker! If you have an activity in common, you might have better chances of getting an interview.
- For example, if your resume included “Long-Distance Backpacking” as an activity, though not directly related to operations management, you could explain in an interview how it taught you leadership skills, how to think on your feet, and how to improve situations creatively.
Why this resume works
- If you decide to use one, customize your objective statement to target the specific company (include the name of the company) and the role you’re seeking by listing the skills and traits required for the job.
- A youth program manager is in charge of the different aspects of youth development, including planning, implementation, and evaluation of youth programs and projects in the community.
- Creating an entry-level youth programming operations manager resume should focus on interpersonal and communication skills, supervisory experience, and research.
- Choose skills and activities complementary to the type of job.
- If you’re creating a resume and suffer from limited job experience, you can beef up your content with projects and activities.
- List anything you’ve done that’s relevant or demonstrates your skills, including work-related projects, volunteering, and hobbies that showcase your abilities.
Why this resume works
- Writing a resume with limited job experience or little relevant experience can be frustrating. You don’t have years of professional experience to fall back on, and you’ll have to convince hiring managers to take a chance on you.
- Fortunately, we all start somewhere, and employers are always looking for fresh talent to bring some new perspectives to the table!
- Go ahead and highlight any job experience, even if it doesn’t seem especially relevant.
- You can tailor nearly any job title to showcase the skills required for the job to which you’re applying. You should also tailor your resume objective if you decide to include one.
- A resume objective is best when it mentions the target company name, is kept to two to three sentences, and contains keywords found in the job description.
- Projects, volunteer experience, hobbies, and activities are also great ways to display your passion for the work.
- Your assistant operations manager resume should convey that you’re detail-oriented and data-driven while still a great communicator and collaborator!
Why this resume works
- Your experienced operations manager resume can do a great job of highlighting important aspects of operations management.
- Carefully read each aspect of the role mentioned in the job description and tailor your resume accordingly.
- When you’re applying to a more senior management position, you’ll likely be applying to far fewer job titles than you would for a junior position. That means you can go the extra mile to make your resume highly specialized for every position to which you apply.
- As an experienced professional with a lot of time under your belt, demonstrate increased job duties and responsibilities by using a reverse-chronological resume format.
Why this resume works
- We recommend organizing your resume in reverse-chronological order, but this is especially important for a senior operations manager resume.
- Make sure your most relevant and recent job experience is listed close to the top of the page so hiring managers don’t see an analyst or lower-level job title first and assume you’re not qualified.
- Employers often get 100+ applicants for a single operations management job posting, so they’ll only review resumes for a few seconds before deciding whether your resume is worth a deeper look.
- Ensure you’re updating your resume skills section as you advance through your career to include updated software systems and management skills.
Why this resume works
- It’s completely normal for you to include lengthy bullet points in an operations coordinator resume. What’s not normal is using a design that crowds everything in a small space.
- The solution? Just use the Elegant template from our library. Include a formal color like royal blue and if needed, play around with line spacing to fit everything in one page to visually impress every hiring manager!
Why this resume works
- One of the best ways of proving that you’re a complete pro at handling daily business operations is to include a degree in Operations Management.
- Achieving such education qualifications requires students to master supply chain and project management. Having a degree on display in your operations specialist resume will show potential employers that you’ve professionally learned and practiced how to handle key business tasks.
Why this resume works
- Warehouses handle enormous levels of inventory volume, and operations professionals need to leverage automation to keep up. Cite examples of your technology proficiency on your warehouse operations manager resume to show you have the know-how to make processes more efficient.
Why this resume works
- For an experienced sales operations manager resume, craft a career objective statement to strategically position yourself for ambitious roles. Use this space to call out big industry names you’ve worked with, which will send the message that you’re at the top of your game.
- In this example, the career objective highlights a history with Salesforce, a major player in sales operations.
Why this resume works
- When you’re writing or editing your business operations manager resume, you’ll probably have enough trouble keeping it to three pages, let alone a single page!
- Use more space to elaborate on your most recent job experience, and let older job experience be shorter. We recommend keeping it to five or six bullet points for your current job title and three to four for your older experience.
- You can use your operations manager cover letter to go into a bit more detail.
- Not only will this help keep your resume to a single page, but it also emphasizes job growth, increased responsibility, and development.
- Use quantitative metrics to further reduce the amount of text on your resume, which prevents it from appearing cramped or overwhelming.
Why this resume works
- Take a look at your current portfolio, then feel free to carefully compare, revise, and polish your resume here.
- Do you see how including quantitative metrics (numbers) in each bullet point provides more information on job performance than words alone?
- Now, look back at your old resume. It’s difficult to boast about your job performance, but your resume is not the place to be bashful. Be proud of your accomplishments and take ownership of them! Can you include more action verbs at the start of each bullet point to emphasize responsibility and set your resume apart from the crowd?
- Your marketing operations manager resume should use interesting action verbs that grab attention, like “managed,” “overhauled,” “tracked,” and “monitored.”
Why this resume works
- Heads up if you’re writing or editing your distribution operations manager resume anytime soon.
- Include all the important sections, and pack it with information without overwhelming the reader.
- Most people don’t realize how important it is to include a skills section on your resume. But, it’s the second most important part after work experience.
- To avoid having your hard work thrown out before a human even sees it, include a skills section with relevant abilities!
- Hiring managers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to search for viable job candidates. They program ATS to search for keywords and skills throughout applicant resumes, and if there aren’t enough hits, the resume will be rejected.
- Try to include hard and soft proficiencies like Microsoft and Google Suite, problem-solving, leadership, conflict resolution, communication, supply chain management, operations, and logistics.
Why this resume works
- You’re in luck if you’re writing an e-commerce operations manager resume. Why?
- Because you’ll have lots of great quantitative metrics to pull from and create a resume that hiring managers would be hard-pressed to dismiss.
- Pack your resume with quantitative metrics, including the number of vendor contracts, the size of vendor contracts, efficiency improvements (in hours of work), CRM software, number of collaborating partners, number of departments you worked with, ROI, revenue generated, retention rates, and other KPI’s.
- The point is that you can easily find a lot of numbers to enhance your resume and ensure you’re showing rather than telling employers why you’re the best person for the job.
Why this resume works
- Your branch operations manager resume could contain a career objective towards the top of the page (if you decide it’s necessary).
- We don’t always recommend including one, but if you’re experiencing a career change, transferring to another job title within the same company, or are light on experience and will benefit from providing more information, consider including a career objective as you make a resume.
- However, a career objective needs to be highly specific for each job for which you apply. That means you’ll need to pay attention to the specific operations manager job description, so you can include the company you’re applying to, the job title you’re applying for, and relevant keyword skills and experience that make you the right person for the job.
Why this resume works
- Your senior clinical operations manager resume probably contains a lot of work experience. This hefty amount of expertise can be showcased within a career summary, provided you customize it to each job for which you apply.
- A resume career summary can set you apart from the competition by displaying your hard-earned, time-weathered specializations in your field.
- Always mention the target business by name within the summary to show your interest and attention to detail.
- Order your work experience in reverse-chronological order with your most recent management job listed first.
- This way, when an employer gives your resume a look-over, they’ll quickly see your most recent (and likely most impressive) work experience first.
- It can be tempting to hold on to every job you’ve had since you were a teenager, but you don’t need more than four work experience sections listed on your resume. Stick to your most recent and relevant roles.
- Remember you can always mention older positions and internships during an interview.
Why this resume works
- As an up-and-coming operations project manager (OPM), you have a couple of options for showcasing your available skillset on your operations project manager resume.
- The first option is to demonstrate knowledge and competency by building a projects section that fully demonstrates the real process an OPM would go through.
- The key here is being purposeful and intentional, not vague and unassuming. There are numerous small pieces involved in the OPM process, so do your best to capture and showcase as many as possible without being overwhelming.
- The second option is to participate in an internship to gain on-the-job experience in a lower-stakes environment. Not only does it strengthen your resume, but it truly provides reassurance to an employer that you’ve gained some valuable skills and know-how for the job.
- If you’ve ever been frustrated by the seemingly endless cycle of “you need experience to get experience,” an internship is the best way to break that cycle.
Why this resume works
- Due to the vast range of duties required in a project management role, it’s necessary to “analyze and specialize.”
- Analyze project manager job listings and take note of consistent skill requirements. These can serve as a roadmap of what to include in your creative project manager resume.
- Specialize by taking the list of consistent skills and narrowing them down into a personalized list of 10-or-less skills you possess. Pick the ones you’re most comfortable talking about in an interview to maximize your effectiveness.
- Career summaries exist to support and enhance whatever work experience you list. Instead of opting for a lengthier resume that includes irrelevant experience, use a career objective to give an (albeit short) history of driving value.
Why this resume works
- The number one thing you want to do with your brand operations manager resume? Have clear, tangible, and quantifiable accomplishments.
- Focus on accomplishments that are a direct result of your role; don’t use generic company achievements.
- In your role, you’ll own office administration, financial management, and HR-related activities with a focus on advertising and promotion of the company brand.
- Highlight anything related to marketing and boosting the company’s products and services.
- Add skills on your resume, such as project management or Google Analytics, that show how you’ve developed and continue to develop your knowledge and expertise.
Why this resume works
- Crafting a killer ad operations manager resume can be much easier than acing campaigns. The trick is to capitalize on job-relevant tools to stand out.
- In other words, you shouldn’t just plaster one of your resume’s side columns with the software you’re well-versed in (think Lotame, Google Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager, and Optimizely); highlight instances when you leveraged the tools to get the job done.
Why this resume works
- How do you make a strong first impression and capture the recruiter’s heart, you wonder? It’s easy. Don’t submit your regional operations manager resume before proofreading it—that mistake could cost you big time.
- So, the whole point of going through your sales pitch (at least twice) is to eliminate typos, punctuation errors, run-on sentences, awkward phrases, and any other mistakes that could paint you in a bad light; that’s the last thing you want to do in your quest to impress recruiters.
Why this resume works
- For a FedEx operations manager resume that can stack the deck in your favor, highlight your leadership prowess and capability to improve operational efficiency.
- Adding phrases like “Managed daily warehouse operations for a team of 59, using SAP WM to ensure accurate tracking of 1,042 shipments per day” and “Optimized routing and transportation by implementing OTM, resulting in a reduction of 318 hours in shipping time per year” can work wonders for your job search.
Why this resume works
- The recruiter will have a one-on-one with 20+ candidates to find a fit for the open role. If you really want to steal the show, your people operations manager resume must stand out from the get-go—and a one-column resume can do just that.
- You see, a one-column resume layout sets you apart from other candidates while improving your piece’s readability, helping the recruiter quickly grasp your qualifications.
Related resume guides
Writing Your Operations Manager Resume
The responsibilities of an operations manager can change drastically from company to company. Sometimes operations managers are tasked with employee onboarding; other times, they perform data analysis to identify inefficiencies in processes.
No matter the specific scope of any given operations management role, you need a wide-ranging skillset to be successful.
From strategic planning to effective communication skills to strong analytical skills, you need to cover many disciplines in your resume to convince the hiring manager you’re the right fit for their operations manager role.
We’ve talked to hundreds of hiring managers to distill what works and what doesn’t in an operations manager resume. Here are the three major tips you should keep in mind:
- Demonstrate the impact you had in your previous roles. The best way to do this is to quantify your impact whenever possible.
- Tailor your resume for each job to which you apply. This is easier than it sounds, I promise.
- Keep your resume format simple. Keep your resume to one page. Nine times out of ten, you don’t need to include a resume summary or objective.
Quantify your impact in your previous roles
The tough reality of applying to operations manager roles is that you’re competing against 50-plus other applicants. This means the hiring manager will not spend a lot of time reviewing your resume.
Because of this, you need to convincingly make the case that you will have a huge impact; this way, the hiring manager has no choice but to give you an interview.
How can you do that? By demonstrating you’ve had an equally large impact in your previous positions. Using numbers is the best and most compelling way to prove that impact.
To make that case, let’s look at two sample work experiences. These are the same work experience, but one uses numbers to quantify the impact, and the other speaks in generalities.
Which do you think is more convincing?
WRONG—words are cheap; use metrics to show your value
American Express
August 2016 – May 2018, New York NY
Operations Manager
- Managed a team of experienced outbound sales specialists
- Exceeded sales targets in 2017
- Established monthly goals and coaching for each sales development representative, leading to a sizeable year over year improvement
- Analyzed data to identify potential upsell opportunities for new clients, leading to significant incremental sales
RIGHT—quantify your impact in your past roles
American Express
August 2016 – May 2018, New York NY
Operations Manager
- Managed a team of 12 outbound sales specialists
- Exceeded sales targets by $1.1M in 2017
- Established monthly goals and coaching for each sales development representative, leading to an average yearly improvement in sales of 14% per SDR
- Analyzed data to identify potential upsell opportunities for new clients, leading to $550K in incremental sales
By drawing attention to the metrics in your bullet points, you’re making your case to the hiring manager as clear as day that you will impact their business operations.
You’re in operations, so you know firsthand the importance of setting measurable goals and hitting them. What better way to demonstrate your competence than by showcasing that ability on your resume?
Examples of quantifying your impact as an operations manager
- Improved efficiency of a process
- Example: “Worked with business development representatives to streamline their client onboarding processes, reducing client onboarding by an average of 17 days”
- Reduced manual effort required
- Example: “Identified manually-intensive tasks for the sales team and worked with engineering to automate those tasks, saving 90 hours of manual work each week”
- Increased performance of employees
- Example: “Created monthly goals and coaching for new employees, improving the performance of new hires by 15% in their first year of work”
- Increased sales
- Example: “Coached sales development representatives to better qualify leads, generating an additional $550,000 in new sales”
- Identified revenue expansion opportunities
- Example: “Analyzed customer engagement data to identify potential upsell opportunities, resulting in $175,000 in incremental expansion revenue”
- Reduced costs
- Example: “Successfully reduced headcount by 10% while beating revenue targets by 12% for the year”
Don’t hesitate to use rough estimates when quantifying your past work as an operations manager. Just be logical and thoughtful in how you came up with your calculations if you’re asked during the interview.
And be assured, if you can use metrics to define your previous work experience, you’ll be responding to interview requests hand-over-fist.
Customize your resume for each application
Looking for a new job can seem like it’s a full-time task in and of itself. You’ve read that you should “customize your operations manager resume” for each operations manager role for which you apply.
But what does that mean? Are you supposed to build a resume from scratch for each job? That seems insane (because it is insane).
I want to walk through a practical example of adapting your resume for a given operations manager job. You’ll be able to see firsthand that it doesn’t take that long.
But first, why customize your resume? Because you need to get past the automated keyword filter that companies use to screen applications: the Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
These filters are scoring your resume based on whether it contains certain keywords they’re looking for in an operations manager.
It’s time for an example.
As of this writing, Handy is hiring an operations & strategy manager in their NYC office. Here’s a snippet of the job description:
Sample operations manager job description from Handy
What you’ll do
The scope of this mandate is broad and requires the exceptional capacity to prioritize and focus:
- Run a team of 10-12 highly driven sales & operations associates
- Own operations KPIs and costs for a new service or group of linked services
- Source, onboard, and retain Independent Contractors specialized by service (aka Handy Pros)
- Improve overall platform experience for both customers and Handy Pros
- Drive changes in process, policy, and product to ensure high satisfaction for all users
What we’re looking for
- 6-8 years of professional experience with evidence of managing large teams
- Strong attention to detail
- Strong organizational and task management skills
- Experience in coaching, motivating, and developing team members
- Ability to dig deep into processes and identify areas for improvement
- Prior small company or start-up experience is a plus
- A passion for marketplaces, the sharing economy, and the on-demand services space
Highlighted in yellow are potential keywords you can incorporate into your resume. Follow this process when reading the job description:
- Do any of your past projects come to mind as you read about the roles and responsibilities? Even if they’re only tangentially related to what’s mentioned in the job description, they’re worth mentioning.
- In your resume, talk about your experience the same way they have in the job description.
Following this process should get you past the automated filters and help you stand out to the hiring manager. Only five percent of job applicants are tailoring their resumes for each job. Do this, and automatically get a leg up.
Based on the job description above, I would change this work experience:
Step 1: Work experience before customization
American Express
August 2016 – May 2018, New York NY
Operations Manager
- Managed a team of 12 outbound sales specialists
- Exceeded sales targets by $1.1M in 2017
- Established monthly goals and coaching for each sales development representative, leading to an average yearly improvement in sales of 14% per SDR
- Analyzed data to identify potential upsell opportunities for new clients, leading to $550K in incremental sales
Step 2: Work experience after customization
American Express
August 2016 – May 2018, New York NY
Operations Manager
- Ran a team of 12 sales and operations associates
- Owned operations KPIs and costs to identify areas of improvement which led to exceeding sales targets by $1.1M in 2017
- Established monthly goals for developing and coaching sales development representatives, leading to an average yearly improvement in sales of 14% per SDR
- Dug deep into the sales process to identify areas of improvement for upsell opportunities, leading to $550K in incremental sales
The goal is to organically incorporate the key responsibilities the hiring company is looking for based on the job description. Follow this process, and you’ll be sure to get past the first stage of the resume review process.
Make sure you have the right operations manager resume format
You have to format your operations manager resume to get past the automatic filters companies use and please the hiring manager, who will review your resume. To do that, do the following:
- Keep your formatting simple. No images or graphics, just text.
- Keep it to one page.
- Break your work experience into short bullet points to improve readability.
- Avoid pronouns like “we” or “I.”
- Triple and quadruple-check your spelling and grammar. Send your resume to a friend to review. Don’t let this be the reason you don’t get the job!
- Only include a resume objective or summary if it will meaningfully improve your resume.
All of these tips are in service of one goal: make the life of the person reviewing your operations manager resume as easy as possible.
Make their life easy by quickly and concisely making a case for your candidacy. Long paragraphs of text that span multiple pages are not what a hiring manager likes.
Remember, there will be at least 50 other applicants for the role. Help yourself stand out by making your operations manager resume as easy to consume as possible by following these tips.
Operations manager resume objective
A hotly contested topic in resume creation circles (we’re a really fun group) is whether or not to include a resume objective on your operations manager resume.
No matter which side of the debate someone falls on, however, this is clear: only include a resume objective if it actively makes your resume better!
WRONG—a generic, meaningless resume objective
I’m looking for an operations manager role to utilize my skills to improve processes.
If you’re the hiring manager reviewing this resume, would it convince you to hire this operations manager? Of course not. It does nothing to talk about the candidate’s specific qualifications or interests.
Aim to keep your resume to one page, so don’t waste that valuable real estate with something that won’t help you get an interview.
As a rule of thumb, if you’re not customizing your resume objective for each role you’re applying for, then you should omit it altogether.
We curated over 100 resume objective examples to help you get started writing one.
RIGHT—specific, customized resume objective
When writing your sales resume, you may be tempted to include every job you’ve had since you were 16. Though this may be an appropriate choice if you have limited job experience, we recommend including two to four highly relevant jobs on your sales resume if you have more experience.
How to write an operations manager resume that will get you an interview
There you have it. Use these operations manager resume templates and tips, and you’ll be well on your way to landing interviews for your next job.
I know this was a lot, so in summary, here are the major tips you should follow with your operations manager resume:
- Demonstrate your ability to create and measure performance against goals by discussing your work experience in terms of quantitative impact.
- Customize your resume for each operations manager role you apply to by incorporating the major keywords and responsibilities mentioned in the job description.
- Keep your resume to one page. Only include a resume objective if you’re going to customize it for each job to which you apply.
The first and most annoying step of landing your next operations manager job is complete. You have a great resume. Apply broadly, and before you know it, you’ll be overwhelmed by the number of interviews you have lined up!
