A "resume summary" gives your resume a professional touch and lets you know in a few words what qualities distinguish you the most. It's the difference between continuing to read your resume and not reading it.

Since most resumes are written to appeal to potential recruiters, they simply recite everything the writer has done, but this approach dilutes the most important data density that makes a resume relatable.

For recruiters to find your resume in the vast databases they search, you need to focus on a specific job, then place relevant keywords where hiring managers or "applicant tracking systems" will spot them. IN THE FIRST FEW LINES OR THE MOST RELEVANT PART OF THE RESUME.

Why your "objective" doesn't matter

No one reads resumes for fun, only when there is a specific job opening. This means that recruiters and hiring managers are obsessed with the skill requirements of the positions they are trying to fill.

Therefore, a resume that starts with "Objective" and focuses on what you want out of your career is useless. After all, no one really cares what you want at that point (except to negotiate an offer), so putting it at the top wastes your primary ad space.

Headlines of any kind, including the one at the top of this article, serve as indicators and tell the reader what's coming next, and that goes for your resume as well. So replace "Objective" with a more relevant and compelling title: "Resume Summary" ("Career Summary" works well too). This immediately tells the reader what you are going to tell them, what you can do or have done, rather than what you want.

In this section, highlight your skills in relation to the requirements of the target job, using the words, phrases and acronyms listed in job postings for the type of position you are seeking. Be sure to also include objective criteria for their client's needs. This will help your resume stand out and grab the reader's attention.

What's on your resume

To write a good performance summary, you need to get into the minds of your employers' potential clients to find out what they collectively want.

Look beyond hiring managers and recruiters for a moment, and think about the organization's ultimate goals: the people you intend to serve.

For current needs, it's simply a matter of thinking about your own capabilities in relation to the client's needs. How does what you do help? The answer to this question is the basis for your performance summary.

Here is an example

Performance Summary:

• 5+ years of experience in a digital marketing and SEO tech company, executing high-impact, low-cost actions for commercial brands, b2b marketing and commercial audiences.
• Expert in crisis communications and corporate reputation maintenance.
• Three years managing internal and external communications teams.
• Experience in developing marketing communications strategy with teams in Spain, Latin America and the United States.

Keep in mind the keywords that can be read automatically or by recruiters: Marketing, Bilingual, Communication, Crisis, Team Management...

And words to quickly underline some important points of the CV.

Use the employer's language to describe your skills as much as possible, create a focused document that makes a clear match between your skills and the employer's needs. Which, after all, is the real purpose of your resume.

Here's a sample resume: summary