Construction Project Manager resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 18 skills, tools and credentials that come up in construction project manager job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 12
- Construction management (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Project management (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Preconstruction (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Budget management (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Cost control (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- CPM scheduling (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Change orders (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- RFIs (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Submittals (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Subcontractor management (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Contract administration (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Safety management (used in Daniel's sample resume)
Tools & software · 3
- Procore (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Primavera P6 (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- Bluebeam Revu (used in Daniel's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 3
- PMP (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- LEED AP (used in Daniel's sample resume)
- OSHA 30 (used in Daniel's sample resume)
18 of 18 appear in Daniel's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Preconstruction
Weak: Skills: Preconstruction
Strong: Manage commercial projects from preconstruction to closeout, including a $28M medical office building and a $14M school addition
Change orders, RFIs, Submittals, Procore
Weak: Skills: Change orders, RFIs, Submittals, Procore
Strong: Track budgets, RFIs, submittals and change orders in Procore, keeping owner-approved change orders under 3% of contract value
Primavera P6
Weak: Skills: Primavera P6
Strong: Built and updated CPM schedules in Primavera P6 with the superintendent, catching slips early in 3-week lookaheads
Bluebeam Revu
Weak: Skills: Bluebeam Revu
Strong: Prepared quantity takeoffs and bid leveling for 12 subcontract packages in Bluebeam Revu
Strong bullets come from Daniel's sample resume and our construction project manager bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If a construction project manager post asks for Construction management and you've used it, say Construction management, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a construction project manager post says "Project management", write "Project management", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on Construction management — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Change orders. A bullet like the one under Project Manager in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
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/ Questions
Construction Project Manager keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a construction project manager resume have?
There's no magic number. Daniel's sample resume uses all 18 terms on this page, because each one fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If a construction project manager post says "Construction management", write "Construction management" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Daniel's sample, Preconstruction and Cost control are in the summary and Change orders shows up in a bullet under Project Manager. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
Which tools should I list on a construction project manager resume?
The ones you've used and the post mentions. Common ones in construction project manager posts include Procore, Primavera P6 and Bluebeam Revu. Name the tool in the bullet where you used it, not only in the skills list.
How should I list PMP and LEED AP on my resume?
Spell them the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
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