Construction Manager Resume Example and Writing Guide

Below is a full construction manager resume for Rachel Kowalski, a fictional senior Construction Project Manager, Healthcare and Higher Education in Nashville, TN. Keep the section order, then replace each line with your own work and results.

3 construction manager summaries, one each for assistant project manager, experienced construction manager and owner's representative. Pick the closest and rewrite it with your own title, years and one real result.

Use an objective instead of a summary for new graduate and career changer (trades or field) situations: one or two sentences on what you bring and the construction manager job you want.

Bullets grouped by budget and cost control, schedule and coordination, safety and quality and owner, design and contract management. The numbers are illustrations; put in your own.

18 skills employers list in construction manager postings. Include the ones the posting asks for and that your bullets prove.

Projects are the evidence. For each major project, give the building type, contract value, square footage, delivery method (CM-at-risk, design-build, design-bid-build) and dates, then what you owned and how it finished on budget, schedule and safety.

If you have run many jobs, keep the experience bullets to your 3 or 4 strongest results and add a "Selected projects" section with one line per project. Senior managers sometimes attach a separate project list; mention it in the resume if you have one.

• Type and size: "140,000-square-foot outpatient medical building"
• Value and delivery: "$62 million, CM-at-risk"
• Your role: "Senior PM, preconstruction through closeout"
• Result: "3 weeks early, 1.8% under the GMP, zero lost-time incidents"

At general contractors the usual ladder is project engineer, assistant project manager, project manager, senior project manager and project executive. Owners, public agencies and CM firms use "construction manager" or "owner's representative" for the person who oversees contractors on the owner's behalf.

Keep your real title on each job and mirror the posting in your summary. Say clearly whether you worked contractor-side or owner-side, because the daily work (buying out trades versus reviewing pay applications) is different.

The BLS notes that professional certification is not required but demonstrates a particular level of knowledge and experience. The CCM from CMCI, the PMP from PMI and LEED AP from GBCI are the credentials you see most on postings, along with an OSHA 30 card. If you are the license qualifier on a state contractor license, list that too.

For software, name the tools and what you did with them: "built and updated the P6 schedule," "ran RFIs and submittals in Procore," "did takeoffs in Bluebeam." The BLS also notes that construction managers use cost-estimating and planning software, so list estimating and accounting systems such as Sage 300 CRE if you use them.

New graduates should treat internships like jobs: the project, its value, and the RFIs, submittals, daily logs and takeoffs you handled. Aim for project engineer or assistant project manager titles first, and say so in an objective.

Superintendents, foremen and tradespeople moving into management already have the hardest part: running work in the field. Show crew size, schedule ownership, safety leadership, subcontractor coordination and any cost or estimating work, and add PMP or CMIT preparation if you are studying.

One page is right for project engineers and assistant project managers. Two pages is normal for project managers and senior project managers with 8 or more years, as long as page one carries your best projects and credentials.

Use a clean single-column, reverse-chronological layout. Owners and general contractors read project value, size and type first, so keep those details easy to find rather than buried in long paragraphs.

Terms that show up in construction manager job postings. Mirror the exact wording of the posting you apply to, but only for work you have done.

• Construction Manager
• Construction Project Manager
• project management
• preconstruction
• budget management
• cost control
• scheduling
• Primavera P6
• Procore
• subcontractor management
• change orders
• RFIs
• submittals
• OSHA
• safety
• contract administration
• closeout
• general contractor
• design-build
• CM at risk

• No dollar values or sizes. "Managed commercial projects" tells an owner nothing. Give value, square footage and building type for each job.
• Taking credit for the whole team. Say what you owned, such as buyout, schedule or the owner relationship, and what the superintendent ran.
• Listing every project you touched. Pick the 4 to 6 projects most like the job you want and put the rest in a separate list.
• Leaving out safety. Lost-time incident records, safety programs you ran and your OSHA 30 card matter to every contractor.
• Software as a word list. "Procore, P6, Bluebeam" is weaker than one bullet showing how you used each to run a job.

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We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook: Construction Managers (median pay, education, outlook, number of jobs, certification and software)
2. Construction Management Association of America: Certification (CCM and CMIT credentials administered by CMCI)