Tricks to Writing a Resume Headline with Examples

A resume headline, or a resume title, is a short statement at the top of your resume that serves to catch a hiring manager’s attention by emphasizing your strongest attributes and skills showing you to be a desirable hire. It is a summation of your professional career intended to creatively highlight your abilities and experiences. Different than a resume objective which details your professional goals, a headline emphasizes your skills. It is often one of the primary pieces a hiring manager notices because of its location at the top and center of the paper.

A resume headline gives you the opportunity to focus on the key attributes that make you a good candidate and choice for the position. Writing an effective resume headline can be central to getting noticed and landing an interview because it helps the reader understand your expertise. It is a quick glance at your most marketable and skills. Here are some steps to help you personalize your resume headline and provide a strong statement of your skills:

1. Identify your strongest attributes. Keep in mind your own skills, abilities, and experience. Look at your work history, trainings, certifications, and soft and hard skills. Analyze and identify the ones that you feel best represent you.
2. Focus on the job description. Read the job posting often found on the website. The job description typically has some keywords or phrases that detail the qualifications for the position. Focus on the description provided to see how your own unique capabilities exemplify the role you seek.
3. Connect your skills to job responsibilities. Draw connections between what the job responsibilities detail and how your skills relate to what the prospective employer is seeking. Explain how your abilities fill the need and can help you be a successful candidate for the position.
4. Use quantifiable information. When possible, use brief but quantifiable data to show your qualifications. Detail your years of experience, note your number of certifications, and when possible, use percentages to show growth or progress you were responsible for with your current or previous employer. Any data in the form of numbers that can be provided to showcase your skills should be included here. If you don’t have experience in the field yet, focus on the transferable skills that are required for the position.
5. Proofread your statement or phrase. With such a brief snippet to represent your body of qualifications and experience, you want to be sure that each word and mark is correctly placed. Having a well-stated and strong headline indicates an attention to detail and reveals good written communication skills.
6. Keep it unique. Just as each job posting and description is unique, you should consider tailoring each resume headline you submit for the specific job you’re applying to. It shows you have considered your application carefully and taken the time to submit a unique document that truly is representative of yourself. Hiring managers may note your specificity and reach out because of it.

When polishing your resume headline, it’s important to spend time working to make your submission as concise and accurate as possible.. Consider these tips to help your headline best represent the qualified candidate you are:

• Make it stand out. It is a headline and should stand out amongst the rest of the information on your resume. Capitalize the words within the headline and use descriptive language to communicate your strengths. Just as in a regular headline, capitalize nouns, verbs, and longer words. If you’re unsure which words to capitalize, you can consult an online title capitalization checker.
• Focus on keywords. Choose your diction carefully and try to avoid over-used or cliche phrases because you want to show your unique skills. This statement or phrase is intended to be a quick synopsis and each word must add specifics.
• Be brief. A short headline is most effective and should grab the reader’s attention to make them review the entire resume. It should not detract from the resume.
• Be clear. Use specific language and avoid using modifiers that don’t provide information. Words like very, extremely, or best don’t add information and only stress already listed qualities.

You can use these resume headline examples to help you create your own unique headline highlighting your individual abilities and skills:

• Goal-oriented Marketing Manager with 10 Years’ Experience
• Master Chef with Six Years of Experience at a Five Star Establishment
• Bilingual English Teacher with Lead-Teacher Experience and Curriculum Development Focus
• Veteran Police Sergeant with 20 Years of Experience and Sniper Certified
• Organized and Detail-Oriented Art Student with Museum Reception Experience
• Experienced Sales Associate and Recruit Trainer with High-Sales
• Curriculum Specialist in Zoological Education with 10 Years’ Experience
• Certified Public Accountant and Financial Advisor
• Experienced Pediatric Nurse with Specialization in Premature Cases and Nurse Educator
• Lead Software Engineer excels at JavaScript
• Focused Architecture Graduate with Two Internships and Three Years Volunteer Service
• Expertise in Educational Leadership and Literature
• Highly Qualified Administrative Assistant Offering 20 Years of Experience with Attention to Detail and Proven Organizational Strategies