Manager and General Manager Resume Example and Writing Guide

Below is a full manager resume for Rachel Donnelly, a fictional general Manager, Equipment Rental and Distribution in Kansas City, MO. Keep the section order, then replace each line with your own work and results.

3 manager summaries, one each for first-time manager, experienced general manager and multi-unit or senior manager. Pick the closest and rewrite it with your own title, years and one real result.

Use an objective instead of a summary for first management role and military to civilian situations: one or two sentences on what you bring and the manager job you want.

Bullets grouped by revenue and P&L, people and team leadership, operations and process improvement and customers, safety and compliance. The numbers are illustrations; put in your own.

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

Start each job with a one-line scope statement before the bullets: what you ran, how big it was and who you reported to. "Run a $14.2M equipment rental branch with 38 employees across sales, delivery, service and yard; report to the regional VP." That line tells a hiring manager right away whether you have run something their size.

Then use 3 to 5 bullets for results you owned. General managers are judged on the business, so each bullet should name the result, the number and what you did to get it.

• Scope: P&L or budget size, headcount, locations, departments
• Financial results: revenue growth, margin, cost reductions, inventory turns
• People results: turnover, internal promotions, time to hire
• Operating results: safety incidents, accuracy, speed of service, audit scores
• Customer results: satisfaction scores, retention, new accounts

O*NET describes general and operations managers as reviewing financial statements and performance data, directing budgets, preparing staff schedules and assigning duties, handling selection, training and evaluation, and setting departmental policies and goals. Those tasks map to the hard skills to list: P&L management, budgeting and forecasting, scheduling and labor control, hiring and performance management, and KPI reporting.

Leadership and communication matter as much, but a list of adjectives proves nothing. Show them through results such as "promoted 5 hourly employees to supervisor" or "cut turnover from 68% to 41%." Add the systems you run the business on, such as your ERP, POS, scheduling or CRM tool.

If you are a supervisor, assistant manager or team lead moving up, describe the management work you already do: opening and closing, building schedules, ordering, coaching, handling escalations and running the operation when the manager is away. "Acting general manager for 10 weeks" is a strong line when it is true.

Use an objective or summary that names the role you want and the scope you have handled. If you come from the military, translate rank and unit into team size, budget or equipment value, and describe the mission in business terms.

Use reverse-chronological order with a short summary, an optional line of core skills, then experience. Hiring managers want to see progression, such as crew member to supervisor to assistant manager to general manager, and a functional format hides it.

One page works for most managers with under 10 years of experience. Two pages are fine for senior and multi-unit managers, as long as page one carries the summary and your current role.

The structure stays the same, but the metrics change. Use the numbers your industry runs on, because those are what a hiring manager in that industry looks for first.

• Retail: comparable sales, conversion, shrink, payroll as a share of sales, store audit scores
• Restaurants: food and labor cost percentages, ticket times, health inspections, guest scores
• Hotels: occupancy, average daily rate, RevPAR, guest satisfaction
• Distribution and manufacturing: units per hour, order accuracy, on-time shipping, safety incidents
• Service and sales businesses: revenue per employee, customer retention, new accounts, collections

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

• General Manager
• P&L
• budget management
• operations management
• team leadership
• hiring and training
• performance management
• KPIs
• revenue growth
• cost control
• inventory management
• customer satisfaction
• process improvement
• scheduling
• vendor management
• safety compliance
• strategic planning
• forecasting

• No scope. "Managed a team" could mean 3 people or 300. Give headcount, budget and locations.
• Results without a baseline. "Improved sales" is weak; "raised sales from $10.8M to $14.2M in three years" is clear.
• Taking credit for company-wide results. Claim what your location or team delivered, not what the whole company did.
• A functional format. Grouping skills without dates hides your progression and makes hiring managers wonder why.
• Leadership buzzwords. "Results-driven, visionary leader" says nothing a bullet with a number cannot say better.

• Operations manager resume
• Director Resume Example and Writing Guide (Including Creative Director)
• How to Write an Executive Resume
• Operations Manager Resume Keywords

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

1. O*NET OnLine: 11-1021.00: General and Operations Managers (median wages, employment, projected growth, core tasks and software)
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook: Top Executives (median annual wage and 2025-35 projections for general and operations managers)