Many communication manager resume drafts fail because they list channels and tasks without proving influence or leadership. That makes your communication manager resume easy to screen out by an ATS and fast recruiter scans in a crowded field.
A strong resume shows outcomes, not tools. Knowing how to make your resume stand out starts with highlighting measurable impact: improved employee engagement rates, faster crisis response times, higher campaign conversion, clearer executive messaging, reduced support tickets, and on-time launches across regions.
Key takeaways
- Quantify every experience bullet with metrics like engagement rates, media placements, or cycle time reductions.
- Use reverse-chronological format for senior roles and hybrid format for career switchers.
- Tailor resume language to mirror the exact tools, KPIs, and terminology in each job posting.
- Anchor every listed skill to a specific project, campaign, or measurable outcome in your experience section.
- Lead your summary with years of experience, industry focus, and one standout achievement.
- Include a cover letter when the role is competitive or your background needs additional context.
- Use Enhancv to turn vague duties into concise, results-driven bullets that pass ATS and recruiter scans.
Job market snapshot for communication managers
We analyzed 1,449 recent communication manager job ads across major US job boards. These numbers help you understand career growth patterns, regional hotspots, skills in demand at a glance.
What level of experience employers are looking for communication managers
| Years of Experience | Percentage found in job ads |
|---|---|
| 1–2 years | 13.4% (194) |
| 3–4 years | 9.0% (130) |
| 5–6 years | 5.7% (83) |
| 7–8 years | 3.9% (56) |
| 9–10 years | 1.5% (22) |
| 10+ years | 2.8% (40) |
| Not specified | 64.9% (940) |
Communication manager ads by area of specialization (industry)
| Industry (Area) | Percentage found in job ads |
|---|---|
| Finance & Banking | 52.8% (765) |
| Education | 26.7% (387) |
| Healthcare | 9.2% (134) |
| Real Estate & Construction | 7.8% (113) |
| Government | 1.2% (18) |
| Retail & E-commerce | 0.8% (11) |
| Media & Entertainment | 0.7% (10) |
Top companies hiring communication managers
| Company | Percentage found in job ads |
|---|---|
| Education Realty Trust Inc. | 21.0% (304) |
| RPM Living | 8.8% (127) |
| Walgreens | 3.9% (57) |
| FirstService Corporation | 3.5% (50) |
| RHP Properties | 2.1% (30) |
| Cardinal Group Companies | 1.9% (28) |
| The Michaels Organization | 1.8% (26) |
| BH Management | 1.7% (24) |
| Google LLC | 1.5% (22) |
| Ledic Management Group | 1.5% (22) |
Role overview stats
These tables show the most common responsibilities and employment types for communication manager roles. Use them to align your resume with what employers expect and to understand how the role is structured across the market.
Day-to-day activities and top responsibilities for a communication manager
| Responsibility | Percentage found in job ads |
|---|---|
| Yardi | 15.7% (227) |
| Property management software | 13.3% (192) |
| Microsoft office | 11.9% (173) |
| Excel | 11.8% (171) |
| Accounting | 9.9% (144) |
| Financial reporting | 9.5% (137) |
| Bookkeeping | 8.7% (126) |
| Outlook | 8.2% (119) |
| Project management | 8.0% (116) |
| Word | 7.7% (112) |
| Microsoft office suite | 7.5% (108) |
| Yardi/onesite | 7.1% (103) |
Type of employment (remote vs on-site vs hybrid)
| Employment type | Percentage found in job ads |
|---|---|
| On-site | 89.0% (1290) |
| Hybrid | 7.9% (115) |
| Remote | 3.0% (44) |
How to format a communication manager resume
Recruiters evaluating communication manager resumes prioritize evidence of strategic messaging ownership, cross-functional collaboration, and measurable brand or audience impact. Choosing the right resume format ensures these signals surface quickly during both ATS parsing and the initial human scan.
I have significant experience in this role—which format should I use?
Use a reverse-chronological format to showcase your progression through increasingly complex communication responsibilities. Do:
- Lead with your most recent role and clearly define scope—team size, budget authority, channels managed, and stakeholder level.
- Highlight domain expertise in areas such as crisis communications, media relations, internal communications strategy, executive messaging, and content governance.
- Quantify outcomes tied to business objectives, including earned media value, audience growth, sentiment shifts, engagement rates, or campaign ROI.
I'm junior or switching into this role—what format works best?
A hybrid format works best because it lets you lead with relevant communication skills while still showing a concise work history. Do:
- Place a skills section near the top that highlights core competencies such as media relations, content strategy, stakeholder engagement, and analytics platforms like Meltwater or Cision.
- Include freelance projects, agency work, volunteer communications roles, or relevant coursework that demonstrates hands-on experience with messaging, campaigns, or audience development.
- Connect every action to a result—show recruiters you understand how communication efforts translate to organizational goals.
Why not use a functional resume?
A functional format strips away the timeline and context recruiters need to evaluate how your communication skills were applied in real roles, making it harder to assess your readiness for a communication manager position. A functional resume may be acceptable if you're pivoting from a related field such as journalism, public relations, or marketing and lack direct communication management titles—but only if every listed skill is anchored to a specific project, campaign, or measurable outcome rather than presented in isolation.
Once you've established a clean, readable format, the next step is deciding which sections to include and how to organize them for maximum impact.
What sections should go on a communication manager resume
Recruiters expect a communication manager resume to show clear messaging impact, cross-functional leadership, and measurable results across channels. Understanding which resume sections to include helps you present your qualifications with maximum clarity.
Use this structure for maximum clarity:
- Header
- Summary
- Experience
- Skills
- Projects
- Education
- Certifications
- Optional sections: Awards, Publications, Languages
Strong experience bullets should emphasize campaign outcomes, audience reach, stakeholder alignment, and quantified business impact.
Is your resume good enough?
Drop your resume here or choose a file. PDF & DOCX only. Max 2MB file size.
Now that you’ve organized the essential parts of your resume, the next step is learning how to write your communication manager resume experience so each role supports the overall structure.
How to write your communication manager resume experience
Your work experience section is where you prove you've shipped real communication strategies, campaigns, and programs—not just participated in them. Hiring managers prioritize demonstrated impact over descriptive task lists, so every bullet should connect a role-relevant method or tool to a measurable outcome.
Each entry should include:
- Job title
- Company and location (or remote)
- Dates of employment (month and year)
Three to five concise bullet points showing what you owned, how you executed, and what outcomes you delivered:
- Ownership scope: the communication channels, brand narratives, messaging platforms, crisis protocols, or internal communication programs you were directly accountable for as a communication manager.
- Execution approach: the tools, frameworks, and methods you used to plan and deliver work—such as media monitoring platforms, content management systems, editorial calendars, or stakeholder engagement models.
- Value improved: the specific changes you drove in brand awareness, message consistency, audience engagement, sentiment, employee alignment, or reputational risk reduction.
- Collaboration context: how you partnered with cross-functional teams like marketing, HR, legal, product, or executive leadership—and coordinated with external stakeholders such as media contacts, agencies, or community partners.
- Impact delivered: the outcomes your communication work produced, framed through results, reach, or business impact rather than a list of daily activities.
Experience bullet formula
A communication manager experience example
✅ Right example - modern, quantified, specific.
Communications Manager
BrightPath Health | Austin, TX
2021–Present
High-growth digital health company supporting two million members across employer and payer clients.
- Led executive and product communications for three major launches using Asana, Slack, and Google Workspace, increasing feature adoption by 18% and reducing support ticket volume by 12% within sixty days.
- Built a message architecture and editorial calendar in Confluence and Airtable, cutting content production cycle time by 30% and improving on-time delivery from 76% to 95% across cross-functional stakeholders.
- Partnered with product managers, designers, and engineers to ship in-app, email, and help center communications using Braze, Zendesk, and Figma, lifting email click-through rate by 22% and lowering onboarding drop-off by 9%.
- Implemented measurement and reporting in Google Analytics, Looker, and UTM governance, standardizing campaign attribution and improving quarterly stakeholder reporting turnaround from five days to two.
- Managed crisis and issue response for eight high-severity incidents, coordinating legal, security, and customer success in a single incident channel and reducing external response time by 40% while maintaining zero compliance breaches.
Now that you've seen how a strong experience section comes together, let's look at how to adjust those details to match the specific role you're targeting.
How to tailor your communication manager resume experience
Recruiters evaluate your communication manager resume through both human review and applicant tracking systems (ATS). Tailoring your resume to the job description ensures you pass both screenings.
Ways to tailor your communication manager experience:
- Match communication platforms and tools named in the job description.
- Mirror the exact terminology used for messaging frameworks or strategies.
- Reflect KPIs like media impressions or engagement rates the posting prioritizes.
- Highlight crisis communication experience when the role requires it.
- Incorporate industry or sector experience that aligns with the organization.
- Use the same language for stakeholder engagement or collaboration models referenced.
- Emphasize brand consistency or editorial standards if the posting mentions them.
- Include internal communications expertise when the role spans employee engagement.
Tailoring means aligning your real accomplishments with what the employer values—not forcing disconnected keywords into your experience.
Resume tailoring examples for communication manager
| Job description excerpt | Untailored | Tailored |
|---|---|---|
| Develop and execute integrated communication strategies across earned, owned, and paid channels to increase brand visibility and stakeholder engagement. | Managed communications and helped improve brand awareness. | Developed and executed integrated communication strategies across earned, owned, and paid channels, increasing brand visibility by 35% and growing stakeholder engagement rates by 20% over 12 months. |
| Lead crisis communication planning and rapid-response messaging in coordination with legal, PR, and executive leadership teams. | Handled crisis situations and wrote messaging for the company. | Led crisis communication planning and authored rapid-response messaging in coordination with legal, PR, and executive leadership, reducing average response time from 48 hours to six hours across four high-profile incidents. |
| Manage editorial calendars and content production using project management tools such as Asana, ensuring alignment with quarterly campaign goals and brand voice guidelines. | Created content and kept track of deadlines for various projects. | Managed editorial calendars and end-to-end content production in Asana for a team of eight writers, aligning all deliverables with quarterly campaign goals and maintaining 100% adherence to brand voice guidelines. |
Once you’ve aligned your experience with the role’s priorities, quantify your communication manager achievements to show the impact behind those contributions.
How to quantify your communication manager achievements
Quantifying your achievements proves business impact beyond great writing. Focus on cycle time, accuracy, compliance, stakeholder approval speed, and engagement outcomes tied to launches, change communications, and executive messaging.
Quantifying examples for communication manager
| Metric | Example |
|---|---|
| Cycle time | "Cut press release turnaround from seven days to three by standardizing briefs and using Asana templates across eight stakeholders." |
| Accuracy rate | "Reduced published copy corrections by 42% by introducing an AP-style checklist and Grammarly Business reviews for a 12-person team." |
| Compliance | "Achieved 100% on quarterly legal and brand audits for fifty-plus assets by adding a prepublish approval workflow in SharePoint." |
| Engagement lift | "Increased employee newsletter click-through rate from 4.8% to 7.1% in six months by segmenting audiences and A/B testing subject lines in Mailchimp." |
| Risk reduction | "Prevented two high-risk miscommunications during a product recall by running a 24-hour war room and delivering approved statements within 90 minutes." |
Turn vague job duties into measurable, recruiter-ready resume bullets in seconds with Enhancv's Bullet Point Generator.
With strong bullet points in place, the next step is ensuring your skills section highlights the right mix of hard and soft skills that align with the communication manager role.
How to list your hard and soft skills on a communication manager resume
Your skills section shows you can plan, write, and measure communications outcomes, and recruiters and an ATS (applicant tracking system) scan this section to confirm job-match keywords; aim for a balanced mix of role-specific hard skills and execution-focused soft skills. communication manager roles require a blend of:
- Product strategy and discovery skills.
- Data, analytics, and experimentation skills.
- Delivery, execution, and go-to-market discipline.
- Soft skills.
Your skills section should be:
- Scannable (bullet-style grouping).
- Relevant to the job post.
- Backed by proof in experience bullets.
- Updated with current tools.
Place your skills section:
- Above experience if you're junior or switching careers.
- Below experience if you're mid/senior with strong achievements.
Hard skills
- Media relations strategy
- Press release writing
- Crisis communications planning
- Executive communications, speeches
- Messaging frameworks, positioning
- Editorial calendar management
- Content strategy, brand voice
- Social media management tools
- Google Analytics, UTM tracking
- Email marketing, segmentation
- Stakeholder communications plans
- SharePoint, intranet publishing
Soft skills
- Translate strategy into messaging
- Lead cross-functional alignment
- Manage up with clear updates
- Prioritize competing requests
- Drive approvals and deadlines
- Handle sensitive information
- Ask incisive stakeholder questions
- Resolve feedback conflicts fast
- Build trust with executives
- Keep teams on-message
- Make decisions with constraints
- Own outcomes end-to-end
How to show your communication manager skills in context
Skills shouldn't live only in a bulleted list on your resume. Browse examples of resume skills to see how other professionals present their competencies effectively.
They should be demonstrated in:
- Your summary (high-level professional identity)
- Your experience (proof through outcomes)
Here's what strong, skill-rich resume entries look like in practice.
Summary example
Communication manager with 10+ years leading corporate messaging strategy across healthcare and life sciences. Skilled in crisis communication, Meltwater, and cross-functional storytelling. Boosted earned media placements by 45% year over year through integrated campaign planning and stakeholder alignment.
- Signals senior-level expertise immediately
- Names industry-relevant tools directly
- Anchors credibility with a clear metric
- Highlights collaboration as a soft skill
Experience example
Senior Communication Manager
Vantage Health Group | Remote
March 2019–August 2024
- Developed and executed a multichannel internal communication strategy using Poppulo, increasing employee engagement scores by 32% across 12 regional offices.
- Partnered with product and legal teams to craft crisis response messaging, reducing average media response time from 48 hours to six hours.
- Led a rebrand communication rollout tracked in Asana, generating 1.2 million organic impressions within the first quarter post-launch.
- Every bullet ties skills to measurable results.
- Tools and collaboration appear naturally in context.
Once you’ve tied your communication manager strengths to real outcomes and situations, the next step is applying that same approach to writing a communication manager resume with no experience.
How do I write a communication manager resume with no experience
Even without full-time experience, you can demonstrate readiness for the role. Our guide on writing a resume without work experience shows how to leverage alternative qualifications, such as:
- Campus or nonprofit communications campaigns
- Student newspaper or magazine leadership
- Internship in PR or marketing
- Social media content calendar ownership
- Event promotion and press outreach
- Internal newsletter or intranet updates
- Volunteer crisis communications support
- Brand guidelines and messaging projects
Focus on:
- Metrics from campaigns and content
- Writing samples across key channels
- Stakeholder coordination with clear outputs
- Tools: Google Analytics, Hootsuite, Canva
Resume format tip for entry-level communication manager
Use a combination resume format to lead with relevant projects and skills, then list roles and volunteering that support communication manager work. Do:
- Add a "Projects" section above experience.
- Quantify results: opens, clicks, reach, sign-ups.
- Name tools used in each bullet.
- Include links to a portfolio or clips.
- Tailor keywords to each job post.
- Built a four-week Hootsuite content calendar for a campus nonprofit, tested two message themes, and increased Instagram engagement by 28% and event sign-ups by 19%.
Even without direct experience, your educational background can serve as the foundation of your resume—here's how to present it effectively.
How to list your education on a communication manager resume
Your education section helps hiring teams confirm you have the foundational knowledge needed for a communication manager role. It validates your academic background quickly.
Include:
- Degree name
- Institution
- Location
- Graduation year
- Relevant coursework (for juniors or entry-level candidates)
- Honors & GPA (if 3.5 or higher)
Skip month and day details—list the graduation year only.
Here's a strong education entry tailored for a communication manager resume.
Example education entry
Bachelor of Arts in Communications
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Graduated 2019
GPA: 3.7/4.0
- Relevant Coursework: Strategic Communication, Media Relations, Crisis Communication, Digital Marketing Analytics
- Honors: Magna Cum Laude, Dean's List (six consecutive semesters)
How to list your certifications on a communication manager resume
Certifications on your resume show a communication manager's commitment to continuous learning, tool proficiency, and industry relevance. They also signal you can apply proven frameworks to messaging, media, and stakeholder communication.
Include:
- Certificate name
- Issuing organization
- Year
- Optional: credential ID or URL
- Place certifications below education when your degree is recent and more relevant than your credentials.
- Place certifications above education when they are recent and directly relevant to the communication manager role you target.
Best certifications for your communication manager resume
- Accredited in Public Relations (APR)
- Certificate in Principles of Public Relations
- Google Analytics Certification
- Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification
- HubSpot Content Marketing Certification
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Prosci Change Management Certification
Once you’ve positioned your credentials where recruiters can spot them, you can write your communication manager resume summary to tie those qualifications to the role’s key requirements.
How to write your communication manager resume summary
Your resume summary is the first thing a recruiter reads, so it needs to earn their attention fast. A strong summary positions you as a qualified communication manager before they scan the rest of your resume.
Keep it to three to four lines, with:
- Your title and total years of communication management experience.
- The industry or domain you specialize in, such as corporate communications, healthcare, or tech.
- Core skills like media relations, crisis communication, content strategy, or stakeholder engagement.
- One or two measurable achievements, such as media coverage growth or campaign reach.
- Soft skills tied to outcomes, like cross-functional collaboration that improved message alignment.
PRO TIP
At the mid-level communication manager stage, emphasize hands-on strategy and measurable campaign results. Highlight specific channels, tools, and stakeholder groups you've managed. Avoid vague phrases like "passionate communicator" or "team player" with no supporting evidence.
Example summary for a communication manager
Communication manager with six years of experience leading corporate messaging strategy in the SaaS industry. Increased earned media placements by 45% year over year through targeted press outreach and cross-team collaboration.
Optimize your resume summary and objective for ATS
Drop your resume here or choose a file.
PDF & DOCX only. Max 2MB file size.
Now that your summary is crafted to highlight your strategic communication expertise, let's turn to your resume header—the first thing recruiters see before they even reach that summary.
What to include in a communication manager resume header
A resume header lists your key identity and contact details, helping communication manager candidates boost visibility, build credibility, and pass recruiter screening faster.
Essential resume header elements
- Full name
- Tailored job title and headline
- Location
- Phone number
- Professional email
- GitHub link
- Portfolio link
A LinkedIn link helps recruiters verify your experience quickly and supports screening.
Don't include a photo on a communication manager resume unless the role is explicitly front-facing or appearance-dependent.
Keep your header consistent with your application profiles, and mirror the job title language used in the posting.
Example
Communication manager resume header
Jordan Taylor
Communication manager | Internal communications, media relations, and executive messaging
Austin, TX
(512) 555-01XX
your.name@enhancv.com github.com/yourname yourwebsite.com linkedin.com/in/yourname
Once your contact details and role identifiers are in place at the top, you can strengthen the rest of the resume with additional sections that add relevant context and support your candidacy.
Additional sections for communication manager resumes
Extra resume sections help you stand out when your core qualifications match other candidates—showcasing unique strengths that reinforce your communication expertise. For example, listing language skills on your resume can be a differentiator for roles that span multiple markets or regions.
- Languages
- Publications
- Speaking engagements
- Professional affiliations
- Awards and honors
- Certifications
- Volunteer work in media or communications
With your resume's additional sections rounding out your professional profile, pairing it with a well-crafted cover letter ensures your application makes the strongest possible impression.
Do communication manager resumes need a cover letter
A cover letter isn't required for a communication manager, but it often helps. If you're unsure what a cover letter is or when to use one, it matters most for competitive roles or teams that expect writing samples upfront. It can also sway decisions when your resume needs context.
Use a cover letter to add clarity and proof:
- Explain why you fit the communication manager role, the team's needs, and the stakeholder mix you'll support.
- Highlight one or two projects with outcomes, such as improved engagement, reduced support tickets, or faster launches.
- Show you understand the product, users, and business context, and how you'll tailor messaging across channels.
- Address career transitions or non-obvious experience by connecting past work to the communication manager responsibilities.
Drop your resume here or choose a file.
PDF & DOCX only. Max 2MB file size.
Even if you skip a cover letter and let your resume carry the narrative, using AI to improve your communication manager resume helps you sharpen its impact and alignment faster.
Using AI to improve your communication manager resume
AI can sharpen your resume's clarity, structure, and impact. It helps tighten language and highlight results. But overuse strips authenticity. If you're wondering which AI is best for writing resumes, start with tools that refine rather than replace your voice. Once your content is clear and role-aligned, step away from AI.
Here are 10 practical prompts to strengthen specific sections of your communication manager resume:
- Sharpen your summary: "Rewrite my communication manager resume summary to highlight leadership, strategic messaging, and measurable brand outcomes in three concise sentences."
- Quantify experience bullets: "Add specific metrics to these communication manager experience bullets, focusing on audience reach, engagement growth, and campaign performance."
- Align skills section: "Review my skills section and recommend the most relevant hard and soft skills for a communication manager role in a mid-size organization."
- Strengthen action verbs: "Replace weak or passive verbs in my communication manager experience bullets with strong, results-driven alternatives."
- Tailor to job posting: "Compare my communication manager resume to this job description and flag missing keywords, skills, or qualifications I should address."
- Refine project descriptions: "Rewrite my communication manager project descriptions to emphasize strategy, cross-functional collaboration, and stakeholder impact."
- Improve education relevance: "Suggest how to frame my education section to better support a communication manager career path, including relevant coursework."
- Highlight certifications: "Prioritize and reformat my certifications section to feature credentials most valued for a communication manager position."
- Eliminate redundancy: "Identify and remove repetitive language across my communication manager resume without losing key accomplishments or context."
- Tighten bullet length: "Shorten each communication manager experience bullet to one line while preserving measurable results and core responsibilities."
Stop using AI once your resume sounds accurate, specific, and aligned with real experience. AI should never invent experience or inflate claims—if it didn't happen, it doesn't belong here.
Conclusion
A strong communication manager resume proves impact with measurable outcomes, highlights role-specific skills, and follows a clear structure that’s easy to scan. Use concise bullets, strong action verbs, and metrics that show results across channels, stakeholders, and timelines.
This approach signals readiness for today’s hiring market and the next hiring cycle. When your resume stays focused, consistent, and results-driven, employers can quickly see how you’ll plan, write, and lead communication that delivers.
