Account Manager

As an account manager, you fill a crucial role in your organization. By liaising between key clients and your company’s departments, you provide clients with a one-stop service and increase efficiency all round.

Because working with clients is the primary role of an account manager, hiring managers are looking for skilled, top-tier candidates with the right background and personality to work closely with all types of people.

Your resume—along with your account manager cover letter—are the main ways to prove that you’re a suitable candidate who can handle such work, so it’s essential that these documents are both high quality.

This guide provides three tips to help you supercharge your account manager resume and fast-track your way to an interview.

Tip #1. Highlight Hard & Soft Skills

As an account manager, you liaise between clients and different departments to manage accounts, so a balance of hard and soft skills should be showcased on your resume.

Providing specific examples of your hard and soft skills will prove that you have the interpersonal skills needed to satisfy clients and collaborate with colleagues.

Also, it will show that you have the technical skills needed for account management.

Hard skills concern things you’ve learned, like driving, how to use Intuit QuickBooks, and  how to use Microsoft PowerPoint. Soft skills, by contrast, relate to your personality and include things like adaptability, calmness, and confidence.

Let’s take a look at our hypothetical candidate’s skills sections. (The hard skills are marked with green, and the soft skills are marked with blue):

He shows that he’s aware of the need to balance hard and soft skills, since he features three of each.

His three hard skills all concern pieces of software he knows he’ll have to use in the role: Microsoft Dynamics, the Oracle E-Business Suite, and Intuit QuickBooks.

By contrast, his soft skills prove he can get along well with clients and represent their needs to his colleagues. Active listening is vital for understanding the needs of customers, and critical thinking is essential to come up with the best results for them. Additionally, negotiation helps him to deliver win–win solutions for both his clients and his firm.

Another effective strategy for writing a winning account manager resume is to check the job posting and take note of which particular skills are mentioned.

Check out this job posting from Microsoft for an account manager. The skills they’re looking for are highlighted in pink:

If you were applying for this job, you’d want to include some of the highlighted skills in your resume’s skills section, because doing so will help you meet the criteria of Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software.

Tip #2. Pick The Right Resume Introduction For You

There are four types of resume introductions.

1. the classic resume objective
2. the achievements-focused qualifications summary
3. the expertise-driven professional profile
4. the results-oriented resume summary

Which introduction you use depends on many factors. For example, if you lack relevant experience, a targeted resume objective is the best way to convey your value to a specific company. Or if you’re simply uploading your resume to a job bank and trying to cast the widest net, you’d want to choose something more snappy like the professional profile.

Our candidate opted for a qualifications summary because he knows it’s particularly suited to getting past ATS software.

A qualifications summary is comprised of four to six bullets that exemplify your biggest achievements.

Because variety makes your resume stronger by showing you’re a well-rounded individual, you should pick achievements that fall under different umbrellas—professional areas such as management, communication, and even creativity.

For example, one achievement might highlight how you’ve used your creative side to save a previous employer money. Another might showcase your leadership skills and how you’ve successfully led a team.

Let’s see our candidate’s qualifications summary:

• Attracted an average of 17 new clients per quarter in 2018
• Met all quarterly quotas, exceeding them by 22.5% on average
• Handled up to 27 projects at once, while maintaining a 99.5% satisfaction rate among my clients
• Recognized with “Outstanding Achievement Award” in a companyof 500+ people, indicating my innate desire to excel

In four short bullet points, the candidate highlights how many clients he’s brought on board, how often he meets his sales targets, his high customer satisfaction rate, and the awards he’s won.

Tip #3. Quantify Your Work Experience

The professional experience section is typically a resume’s longest section. Thus, optimizing it is pivotal to convince the hiring manager that you’re the person for the job.

Quantifying your work experience means providing statistics to back up your claims. Employing quantification is a great way to optimize your resume, since it gives your future boss some insight into the concrete value you will bring to your new company.

Let’s check out an example:

This example (drawn from our account manager resume sample) is effective because it clarifies the dollar amount the candidate manages right now. The hiring manager, after seeing this, can rest assured that the applicant can hit the ground running in his new position.

Let’s see another example:

In contrast to the last example, this one instead focuses on how the candidate outperformed expectations – specifically by exceeding the sales targets set by his firm. The hiring manager learns not only that the candidate will perform his job competently but that he can help the business grow.

Shine The Spotlight On Your Resume

In sum, if you want your account manager resume to pack a punch and land you more job interviews, simply:

1. Highlight Your Skills
2. Pick a Resume Introduction That Delivers
3. Quantify Your Professional Experience

Ready to write? Check out our full library of resume templates and find the one that suits you.

If you’re in a hurry, you can instead use our new-and-improved resume creator to build a resume in just a few minutes.