Top Skills to Include on Your Operations Manager Resume

Operations managers may be generalists in the business, but their resumes cannot be. We tested resumes against the ATS and found that these skills are always on the top performing resumes for operations managers positions. 

Operations Managers are often generalists by virtue of what they do - they coordinate the details to keep the business running smoothly. This means that you bring a breadth of skills and experiences to the table for any organization. The trick is making sure that your operations manager resume will stand-out.

First, your resume will need to get past the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). To do that, you need to get the right skills and keywords on your resume. Then, your resume will need to also be persuasive to the people in the hiring process from HR to the hiring manager.  

We tested the resumes against multiple ATS and the ONET database. Here are the top skills that are consistently valued by the ATS and the employers on resumes of operations managers:

Hard and Soft Management Skills

Employers look at every angle when it comes to their prospect talents, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to what you can offer in terms of competence. Point in case: skills. And while a dossier of abilities hints versatility and function, it’s still important to be precise in your inclusions. The last thing you need is a muddled view of what you want as an applicant—especially if you’re after general/operations management roles that can vary dramatically across organizations.

Make no mistake about it: you are being judged the moment a recruiter eyes your paper. To avoid both confusion and disinterest, make sure to hit all critical points while maintaining a good pace. Here’s a list of essential soft skills for leadership suggestion:

Attention to Detail

Being attentive to makes you less prone to errors and good at following instructions to a tee. Rebels are cool and all, but company rules and regulations are to be followed with absolute compliance. With subservience, elaboration, thorough understanding, and near-perfection stringed together in one entry, you’ll be one step closer to landing that managerial post.

Adaptability

Companies have varying business needs and the underlying semantics to show for it. Being flexible is being able to multitask and perform admirably under severe stress. And what’s better than your run-of-the-mill everyman? Why, an Every-superman of course! It’s also important to note that general managers are true to their namesake: your routines will touch all areas of the operation, essentializing this skill further.

Critical Thinking

To think critically is to come up with better ways to approach tasks and handle processes, which means that including it in your skill set lines you up as a catalyst for business growth. There’s no better pitch for operations management than something that promises direct, positive impact in business performance.

Organization

Organization can serve as a stand-in for many other essential skills, including leadership and teamwork. It’s not just about being able to clean up after yourself, but in your overall capability to manage and arrange elements to their best composition. It could even be considered as the general manager’s prime directive.

Emotional Intelligence

Boasting high base intelligence is nothing if you cannot control your emotions. An emotionally intelligent professional always thinks rationally, and at the same time, is capable of deescalating situations that are spinning out of proportion. The best breed of operations manager always has this skill in tow as they are often engaging personalities and people at every level of the organization.

Creativity

Who says creativity is only reserved for artistic fields? As the root discipline of innovation, this skill leads to growth more than anything, and enables a general manager to remain in touch with his passions. Nobody wants an unfeeling robot to be their operations leader for obvious reasons. Being creative also gives you versatility in addressing issues by establishing new methods over what is already present.

Communication

Excellent communication skills may seem cliche, but it is important for an operations manager to do their job effectively.  Selling your competencies as operations lead is a communication feat in and of itself. And you can start marketing it by making your resume as comprehensible and digestible as it could possibly get.

There are plenty others to note like “leadership” and “responsibility”, but if you play your cards right, you won’t have to be redundant about overlapping concepts beyond the bounds of ATS (Applicant Tracking System).

As mentioned before, you can also pitch in some hard skills to back your more fluid management competencies, granted you have the expertise to back them. This is the trickier part of your feats declaration. Here are some of the simpler entries to consider:

Writing

Operations managers communicate with every different department of the business and they need to be able to convey messages via writing and verbally. Start by showing this skill off in your resume with a strong message. Then, make sure you include a bullet about your excellent writing skills to ensure that the ATS catches this critical keyword on your resume. Decent writing skills make you a good communicator by default, and a good communicator makes a great general manager in turn.

Math

The ability to understand the numbers of the business is key to the general and operations managers. This role sits at the heart of the business and they may not be the ones crunching the numbers, but the operations manager is definitely using these numbers to make decisions. Make sure that you articulate your strong math skills on your resume if this is a strong suit of yours.

Data Analysis

Operations managers skilled in data definitely have an edge in the current market. The ability to compile data from multiple sources, analyze it, synthesize it, and present recommendations for the operations based on the data is no easy task. No one expects the operations manager to do the data manipulation or mapping, but they do want a general manager that can bring together these resources to provide cost savings. Make sure to flesh out this experience on your resume if you consider yourself driven by data!

Software/Application Knowledge Matters to the ATS

Some companies still care about your technical knowledge/experience because it means that you can get the ground running as the new Operations Manager. This can be because the company is fueled by its technology or they want a manager to serve as the liasion between the different parts of the business through the technology. Whatever the reason, here are some common software programs that most general managers have experience with:

· Microsoft Office 365 (Excel, Word, Visio, SharePoint, Outlook)

· Account Software (i.e. Quickbooks, Xero, Oracle, etc.)

· Adobe Creative Suite

· JDEdwards

· Jira

· Tableau

· Adobe Creative Suite

There’s plenty more to include but the catch here is to sell your competencies in a way that appeals to the business standard of your employer. Always play to your best elements and utilize your homecourt advantages, which means that no matter how tempting it is to include everything, it’s best to limit yourself to traits you can actually justify as your own.

Let the job hunt begin!

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