INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Contracts Manager positions are at a 9% growth rate, which is as fast as average. With that said, there are currently 161,700 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 14,800 to 176,500 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Contracts Manager jobs was $121,220 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $71,180, and the highest 10% more than $208,000.
Our conclusion? The Contracts Manager job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Contracts Manager sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Contracts Manager resume experience section
Contracts Manager Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Contracts Manager resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Ended legal bottleneck by developing contract workflow that has halved the average deal closure time from opportunity to onboarding
- Integrated SalesForce w/ DocuSign for admin staff to seamlessly populate new templates for eSignature reducing admin cost by 30%
- Created collections / account deactivation process for non-payment
- Review of all client contracts including preparation of departure schedules if required prior to execution
- Ensure all QA documentation as required under the contract is submitted by the project manager prior to lodging the claim
- Ensure payment claims are lodged in accordance with Security of Payments legislation in the relevant state
- Ensure all scope changes under the contract are identified as variations to be included in payment claims
- Validate and approve subcontractor claims
- Pre-qualification and approval of subcontractors to meet HSE and QA requirements
- Responsible for safety statistics and recording workplace injuries. Applying corrective actions to close out
- Full functions of payroll including processing, HR, employee contracts, super remittance
- ISO accreditation and internal auditing for 9001, 14001 & 4801
- Tender submissions
- Manage and support three major contracts under the Raytheon F-15 AESA Radar product line, to include the first international APG82(V)1 Radar program, which paves the way for future FMS business for F-15
- Oversee various development and production contracts, to include proposal effort, negotiations, execution, and contract closure
- Supervised direct commercial sales contracts and efforts for Japan Legacy programs
- Review customer contract proposal terms and conditions to ensure favorable negotiations positions for Raytheon and program interests
- Engage in discussions with management regarding contractual issues to ensure the program is operating sufficiently in order to provide on-time work product to the customer
- Partner with internal functions, such as Finance, Operations, Engineering, and Software, to foster cohesive interdependency
- Spearheaded an initiative to collect terms and conditions from various F-15 AESA Radar programs to create a centralized workplace to identify overlapping and divergent positions to ensure overall product line cohesiveness
- Received RI&S President's Award, S3 recognition, & F-15 Challenge Coin for work on the APG82(V)1 Qatar Development Program
- 99% client retention with a turnover of £2 million in 2014.
- Daily management of 45 staff (data entry and imaging specialists) across 5 teams in London, including the prestigious Lloyd’s of London Market, and Essex.
- Managing client relationships and conducting regular client meetings for service continuity and business development.
- Liaising with external third party suppliers (Iron Mountain, Ricoh) and managing relationships.
- Recruiting and selecting for the teams across the facilities managed contracts.
- Designing and implementing appraisal process and training plans for the teams.
- Designing of client management information reporting (monthly): KPIs, productivity volumetrics, executive summary presentation.
- 10 Residential buildings in Meydan District 1, Dubai for Azizi Developments
- Akoya Oxygen Community Recreation and Leisure Facility Center, Dubai for Damac
- Residential building at Jabel Ali Downtown Zone 1, Dubai for Reportage Prime Properties
- 3 Residential Buildings in Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai for Azizi Developments
- Amtech certificate and Pro design software for Cable calculations for submission to consultant and engineer installation
- Risk and Method statement production specific to site installations
- Lux lighting calculations using Relux and specification of luminaries
- Fire alarm and Emergency lighting design
- Production of scaled layout drawings and design of electrical installations and control circuits using
- a prime contract delivering a central government SI/applications outsourcing programme
- a central government business change subcontract within a high-profile consortium programme
- a prime IT infrastructure outsourcing engagement with a major utility company
- a prime contract delivering a central government SI/applications outsourcing programme
- a central government business change subcontract within a high-profile consortium programme
- a prime IT infrastructure outsourcing engagement with a major utility company
PRO TIP
Check the Contracts Manager job description for inspiration. Look for similarities between your employer’s values and your experience.
Action Verbs for your Contracts Manager Resume
Recommended reads:
Contracts Manager Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Contracts Manager resume
- Microsoft Office
- Project Management
- Jira
- Slack
- Taleo
- Workday
- Organisation
- Communication
- confidentiality
- Time management
- Team work
- Adaptability
PRO TIP
Add a Talent Section to your resume, where you can pick your top 3 soft skills and describe how you used them to complete a project or balance departmental communication.
Contracts Manager Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Contracts Manager Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have non-discrimination policies about what kind of information can be included on your Contracts Manager resume. This might include a photo (which is often included in a resume header and might be on personal web pages you link to). You can always email the company’s HR department to ask about their policies before you apply.
Contracts Manager Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Contracts Manager resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary section should act as a brief but informative introduction to your experience section. In this section you should go into more depth about what you have done, and how you did it.
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Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Contracts Manager resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Contracts Manager Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Contracts Manager Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
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PRO TIP
Test your draft Contracts Manager resume by sending it out to peers and mentors in your circles. Ask them to review it as if they are hiring you for a project and implement the feedback afterwards.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Contracts Manager resume:
Contracts Manager Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Contracts Manager resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Contracts Manager Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
