The summary is the three or four lines under your name, and it’s the first thing a recruiter reads. Most of them are wasted on phrases like “results-driven professional with a passion for excellence”. Below is a formula that avoids that, followed by 25 examples you can adapt.
The formula
A good summary answers four questions in two to four sentences:
- What are you? (job title or field, years of experience)
- What are you best at? (one or two specific strengths)
- What’s your proof? (a number, a result, a recognisable employer or qualification)
- What do you want next? (optional, useful when changing direction)
So: “Registered nurse with 7 years in emergency care. Strong in triage and calm under pressure; trained 12 new nurses on the hospital’s triage protocol. Looking to move into a charge nurse role.”
That’s it. No adjectives that anyone could claim. Every sentence carries information.
Write it last, after the rest of the resume, so you can pick your best material. (Our step-by-step resume guide covers the other sections.) And rewrite the final sentence for each application if the jobs differ.
Examples for experienced professionals
Software developer
Full-stack developer with 6 years of experience building web applications in TypeScript, React and PHP. Led the rebuild of a customer portal used by 40,000 people a month and cut page load times by 45%. Enjoys mentoring and code review.
Sales representative
B2B sales representative with 5 years in industrial distribution. Above target three years running, including 124% in 2025. Grew a regional portfolio from 60 to 95 accounts through long-term relationships rather than discounting.
Accountant
Accountant with 8 years in financial reporting and VAT for mid-sized groups. Shortened the monthly close from 8 to 5 days and supported three external audits with no major findings. Fluent in SAP and advanced Excel.
Marketing manager
Marketing manager with 8 years in performance and brand marketing for consumer goods. Leads a team of six across paid media, SEO and email; grew online revenue 38% year over year while cutting acquisition cost by 22%.
Project manager
PMP-certified project manager with 10 years delivering ERP and infrastructure projects up to €3M. Known for realistic plans and early escalation; 14 of the last 15 projects delivered on budget.
Nurse
Registered nurse with 7 years in emergency and internal medicine. Experienced in triage, medication administration and patient education. Part of the team that reduced average ER waiting time by 18%.
Teacher
English teacher with 9 years in secondary education. 92% of my students passed the national exam last year, above the school average. Coordinate the debate club, national finalist in 2025.
Customer service representative
Customer service representative with 4 years of phone, email and chat support in telecoms. Keeps a 96% satisfaction score and resolves 85% of issues at first contact. Speaks English, Spanish and Romanian.
Graphic designer
Graphic designer with 5 years in branding and digital campaigns. Created identities for 20+ clients, from logo to full guidelines. Strong in Illustrator, Figma and print production.
Warehouse operative
Warehouse operative with 6 years in e-commerce fulfilment. Picks 180+ orders per shift at 99.7% accuracy. Forklift licence, zero safety incidents, and trusted to train new starters.
HR specialist
HR generalist with 7 years in companies of 200–800 employees. Recruits around 60 people a year and cut time-to-hire from 45 to 28 days. Experienced with Workday and Romanian labour law.
Chef
Sous chef with 8 years in high-volume Italian and Mediterranean kitchens, up to 250 covers a night. Manages a brigade of 7, controls food costs at 28% and has run HACCP compliance for two restaurants.
Data analyst
Data analyst with 4 years in retail. Builds dashboards in Power BI and SQL used weekly by 40 store managers; a pricing analysis I led added €400k in annual margin.
Examples for students and people with no experience
For the rest of a first resume, see how to write a resume with no experience.
Recent graduate, business
Business graduate with an Erasmus semester in Valencia and hands-on experience running social media for a 300-member student society, where engagement grew 4x. Looking for a junior marketing or sales role.
Student, part-time job
Second-year computer science student available 20 hours a week. Built and published two Android apps with 5,000+ downloads combined. Comfortable with Java, Kotlin and Git.
School leaver, retail
Friendly and reliable school leaver with weekend café experience serving up to 120 customers a shift. Handles cash accurately and is available full time, including weekends.
Internship applicant, engineering
Final-year mechanical engineering student with a 9.3 average and a thesis on heat exchanger efficiency. Team lead on the university Formula Student car. Seeking a 6-month internship in automotive.
Examples for career changers
Teacher to corporate trainer
Former secondary school teacher with 8 years designing and delivering lessons to groups of 30. Built e-learning courses in Moodle used by 600 students. Moving into corporate learning and development.
Hospitality to customer success
Hotel front-desk supervisor with 5 years handling guest complaints, upsells and a team of 6. Consistently top-rated on TripAdvisor reviews by name. Bringing that service mindset to a SaaS customer success role.
Military to logistics
Logistics NCO with 9 years managing supply, transport and inventory for units of up to 400 people. Responsible for equipment worth €2M with zero losses at audit. Transitioning to civilian supply chain management.
Retail to recruitment
Retail store manager with 6 years hiring, training and scheduling teams of 15. Recruited over 80 people and reduced staff turnover by a third. Now pursuing an in-house recruiter role.
Examples for returning to work
After parental leave
Payroll specialist with 6 years’ experience, returning after a two-year career break raising my children. Kept skills current with a 2025 certificate in Romanian payroll legislation. Available full time from September.
After a health break
Office manager with 10 years running administration for professional services firms of up to 50 staff. Returning to work after a period of recovery, fully available and keen to take ownership of a busy office again.
Senior and executive
Operations director
Operations director with 15 years in manufacturing, the last 5 running a 450-person plant. Raised OEE from 61% to 78% and took the site through ISO 45001 certification.
Finance manager
Finance manager with 12 years, including 4 as head of finance for a €60M distribution business. Led the move to IFRS reporting and a new ERP, and manages a team of 8.
Phrases to drop
These appear in so many resumes that recruiters’ eyes slide straight past them: “hard-working”, “team player”, “results-driven”, “passionate”, “detail-oriented”, “go-getter”, “thinks outside the box”, “excellent communication skills”. If a phrase would be equally true on every applicant’s resume, it isn’t helping you. Replace it with the fact that made you want to write it.
Also skip the old-style objective (“Seeking a challenging position where I can grow”). It tells the employer what you want from them, not what you bring. If you want to explain your motivation, do it in a cover letter instead.
Use them in the builder
Our editor has a “Pre-written phrases” button on the profile section with summary starters for 13 job fields. Pick one, replace the [X] placeholders with your own numbers, and the resume score will tell you when your summary is long enough. Start with a template, or copy a full resume example for your job.
