Post Job
zippia ai icon

Automatically Apply For Jobs With Zippi

Upload your resume to get started.

Project Manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted Experts
Elisa Chan,
David Rockwood
Project Manager Example Skills

Project managers must possess a mix of both hard and soft skills, with the specifics of these skills coming down to the industry and position itself. The following skills, however, will increase your chances across the board.


The most highly sought-after hard skill for a project manager is, unsurprisingly, project management and all of the skills that fall under that umbrella. Project managers should use their resumes to demonstrate a strong command of project planning, project initiation, and project control. Project managers must also demonstrate the hard skill of customer service, and a focus on customer satisfaction.


Some of the most important soft skills for a project manager include leadership and critical thinking abilities. Leadership abilities can be demonstrated through skills such as ensuring compliance and managing risk, while critical thinking may involve skills such as ensuring quality standards and improving business processes.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical project manager skills. We ranked the top skills for project managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 22.5% of project manager resumes contained project management as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a project manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 project manager skills for your resume and career

1. Project Management

Here's how project managers use project management:
  • Provided project management on browser project to use vendor's database to provide customers with cardholder information when evaluating cardholder applications.
  • Implemented project management methodologies to effectively deliver new pathogen inactivation integrated system for donated fresh frozen plasma for European market.

2. Project Scope

Here's how project managers use project scope:
  • Managed project scope and creation of product requirements and their conversion into specifications amended to the corporate development agreement.
  • Negotiated regularly across technical domains to successfully work across teams to mitigate risks and deliver within approved project scope.

3. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how project managers use customer service:
  • Provided various business operations and helped the organization to achieve cost-effective production with increased quality, efficiency and satisfied customer service.
  • Coordinated and provided technical assistance to IBM Customer Service Engineers servicing the State Farm Agency Computer Systems and data communications.

4. Infrastructure

Infrastructure includes the organizational and physical structures needed to run an area or a society smoothly. It is a group of basic facilities required for any society or firm to run sustainably and efficiently. The infrastructural system is a high investing area and helps majorly in flourishing the economy and prosperity of a country. It is an underlying system needed for ensuring the safety and comfort of the public and to run a country smoothly. All the tasks needed to be performed for a flourishing economy and a happy and healthy public are included in infrastructure.

Here's how project managers use infrastructure:
  • Project Manager supporting quality management project efforts for infrastructure, application integration, and software deployments at the Transportation Security Administration.
  • Consulted with customer security and IT departments on implementing new technology into existing infrastructure and hosted training programs for screening teams.

5. Status Reports

Here's how project managers use status reports:
  • Prepared regular status reports and facilitating status meetings and other communication with internal customers, Business clients and steering committee.
  • Conducted portfolio analysis and created, updated and maintained the overall technology portfolio dashboard and project status reports.

6. Risk Management

Risk management is the method of recognizing, evaluating, and managing risks to an organization's resources and profits. Financial insecurity, regulatory liability, strategic management mistakes, incidents, and natural hazards are just some of the challenges or dangers that could arise. For digitalized businesses, IT security vulnerabilities and data-related threats, as well as risk management techniques to mitigate them, have become top priorities.

Here's how project managers use risk management:
  • Project Management -Scope Management -Schedule Management -Budget Management -Risk Management -Communication -Customer Relationship Management -Process Management
  • Maintained Risk Management/Change Management Repository.

Choose from 10+ customizable project manager resume templates

Build a professional project manager resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your project manager resume.

7. Construction Management

Here's how project managers use construction management:
  • Project engineering/management and/or construction management experience.
  • Direct involvement with risk assessments, engineering development, construction management, budget oversight, project status reporting and procurement.

8. Customer Satisfaction

Here's how project managers use customer satisfaction:
  • Conflict Resolution Responsible for handling customer account inquiries, accurately providing information to ensure resolution of product/service complaints and customer satisfaction.
  • Customized projects with integrity to fit unique customer needs, while maintaining excellent customer satisfaction, delivering on-time and accurate solutions.

9. Project Documentation

Here's how project managers use project documentation:
  • Maintained project documentation, coordinated internal resources and external vendors, and provided customer service support to district and school personnel.
  • Managed project documentation and website content on Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 and provided expertise in consolidating and migrating information.

10. Quality Standards

Quality standards are a specific level of standards of products that are set by the companies for the customers that have to be met and maintained throughout the process until the time of delivery. Quality standards are information that includes the customer's requirements, guidelines, and characteristics for the needed final product or service.

Here's how project managers use quality standards:
  • Worked with supervisors and upper level management in India and Laos to improve operational efficiency and ensure adherence to quality standards.
  • Adopted quality control measures and continuous monitoring at all program stages to ensure achievement of overall quality standards and design expectations.

11. Construction Projects

A construction project is an organized process of constructing, redeveloping, renovating, or otherwise improving a building, or structure. The project phase begins usually as a broad criterion that is then made with the help of a brief, feasibility analysis, funding, and planning. The majority of construction projects are one-time jobs.

Here's how project managers use construction projects:
  • Key Responsibilities: Provided senior level guidance and technical assistance on private and municipal construction projects within Miami-Dade County.
  • Managed administrative and support functions for assigned construction projects to include: scheduling meetings and maintaining calendars and contacts.

12. Process Improvement

Here's how project managers use process improvement:
  • Boosted user performance, reduced illegal server configurations, and improved order shipping times, further illustrating exceptional process improvement talents.
  • Created and implemented process improvement in the way projects were tracked internally, dramatically helping project managers handle increasing workload.

13. Business Development

Business development is the ideas or initiatives that work to make business work better. Selling, advertising, product development, supply chain management, and vendor management are only a few of the divisions involved with it. There is still a lot of networking, negotiating, forming alliances, and trying to save money. The goals set for business development guide and coordinate with all of these various operations and sectors.

Here's how project managers use business development:
  • Managed the business development process by working with organizational staff to identify and respond to bidding opportunities for professional consulting services.
  • Support initiative delivery through a developed streamline process by working extensively with marketing, operations, business development and account management.

14. Scrum

Scrum is a lean structure for communicating, designing, and promoting complex products, with a focus on programming development. It has been applied to a variety of areas, including manufacturing, testing, new technology, and marketing techniques. Scrum is a simple framework that helps people, organizations, and teams generate value by providing many solutions to complicated problems.

Here's how project managers use scrum:
  • Charged with project managing web-based software implementation; additional responsibilities as Product Owner and Scrum Master across multiple projects.
  • Managed multiple custom software development projects from requirement through deployment utilizing Agile methodology including Extreme Programming and Scrum.

15. Project Budget

A project budget is a tool used by project heads and project managers to estimate the total cost of a project. It can be defined as the financial and personnel disposal limits that are needed to be imposed before the execution of the project.

Here's how project managers use project budget:
  • Project manager-Market segmentation for potential property exposures, project budgeting, furnishings and design, company quotas, and contractor communications.
  • Managed and reconciled completed project budgets, determined final costs, and provided reporting information, ensuring budget compliance.
top-skills

What skills help Project Managers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on Project Manager resumes?

Elisa Chan

Assistant Professor of Marketing, New York Institute of Technology

In my opinion, the fundamental skills required for marketing jobs haven't really changed. What changed is where or how these skills are applied. So my response to this question might sound cliche, but I strongly believe that it is true. Strong statistics and marketing analytics ability to show that you are able to make data-driven decisions. Interpersonal skills to show that you can respectfully and effectively interact with others, which are indicative of how you will manage work relationship as well as that with clients and customers.

What soft skills should all Project Managers possess?

David Rockwood

Architect, Professor, DArch Program Director, University of Hawaii at Manoa

-communication
-team building
-accuracy
-responsibility

What hard/technical skills are most important for Project Managers?

David Rockwood

Architect, Professor, DArch Program Director, University of Hawaii at Manoa

-construction process/sequencing
-structural and MEP systems knowledge
-scheduling and workflow

What Project Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Nicole Jones Young Ph.D.Nicole Jones Young Ph.D. LinkedIn Profile

Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, Franklin and Marshall College

Gap years are interesting to me. There is a difference between someone who has ample monetary resources and voluntarily decides to take a "gap" year to travel the world, as opposed to someone who involuntarily takes a "gap" year because they legitimately cannot find a job.
For students who opt not enter the workforce immediately upon graduation, I would recommend that they utilize this time in a strategic fashion, primarily expanding their network, increasing their skills related to data analytics/analysis, and reading or researching within the broader business field as well as their particular field of interest. Expanding your network is always beneficial because of the value employers place on referrals. If students do not know where to start, I would recommend they join their applicable professional organization and begin attending events (virtual events can still help build relationships).
While specific job duties may differ, the ability to understand and utilize data is in high demand in virtually every job role. Having comfort with data-both quantitative and qualitative--can be a highly beneficial skill that many in the job market may not have to offer.
I also recommend continued reading and researching, as whenever you do enter the workforce you want to know what is going on. I am never surprised, but always disappointed when I ask my students if they heard the latest job numbers or if they saw a recent news article. It is hard to articulate your value to an organization's problems if you are unaware of what they are. Stay current.
Interestingly, I would not recommend that someone enroll in a graduate program simply to take up time. If you just love school, have a clear focus, or had already planned to enroll in graduate school prior to COVID, then proceed. However, if you are unsure about your interests or future career goals, enrolling in a graduate program may be a large investment of time and money that may not result in securing a job of interest upon completion.

What type of skills will young Project Managers need?

Jennifer TockmanJennifer Tockman LinkedIn Profile

Director of Career Development and BOLD Women's Leadership Network, Colby-Sawyer College

Flexibility, ability to adapt to whatever style work style, and the environment we are using given the world around us, working as a team (even if remote), can be a self-learner, especially in a private fashion. Excellent communication skills are also essential for success.

What technical skills for a Project Manager stand out to employers?

Keith HassellKeith Hassell LinkedIn Profile

Executive Director of Career & Professional Development, Sacred Heart University

Employers are increasingly looking for applied skillsets and additional certifications to set a candidate apart. Sacred Heart University has recently launched a remote work certification, which houses three modules - focusing on the remote worker, the remote team and the remote leader, providing the tools and resources to comfortably leverage and utilize virtual platforms at various organizations. Additional specialized training, certifications and more are great selling tools pending on the specific area of interest. Certifications are common in areas such as project management, sales, IT/network/software, Google application and more. The candidate needs to think, "What can I do that is beyond my coursework to show I am passionate about my field? How do I make myself stand out?" Certifications is an attainable way to do this.
In addition, soft skills continue to be equally important in today's job market. NACE (the National Association of Colleges and Employers) identified seven core competencies that employers seek from entry level candidates which include critical thinking/problem solving, oral/written communication, teamwork/collaboration, digital technology, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, career management and global/intercultural fluency.

List of project manager skills to add to your resume

Project Manager Skills

The most important skills for a project manager resume and required skills for a project manager to have include:

  • Project Management
  • Project Scope
  • Customer Service
  • Infrastructure
  • Status Reports
  • Risk Management
  • Construction Management
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Project Documentation
  • Quality Standards
  • Construction Projects
  • Process Improvement
  • Business Development
  • Scrum
  • Project Budget
  • Microsoft Project
  • SharePoint
  • PMO
  • General Contractors
  • HR
  • Visio
  • QA
  • Management System
  • Project Completion
  • Windows
  • SDLC
  • Cost Estimates
  • HVAC
  • CAD
  • Client Expectations
  • Sigma
  • R
  • Agile Project Management
  • Business Processes
  • SQL
  • ERP
  • Resource Allocation
  • RFP
  • Shop Drawings
  • ISO
  • Work Breakdown Structure
  • RFI
  • Smartsheet
  • Executive Management
  • Ms Teams
  • Manage Project Scope
  • ROI
  • Manage Cross
  • Proven Project Management
  • Business Analysts

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Search for project manager jobs

Browse executive management jobs