Project coordinators play a key part in helping business projects run smoothly. They work closely with team members to keep projects on schedule, under budget, and within a reasonable scope.
Although a project coordinator can perform similar duties to a project manager, coordinators are more involved in carrying out projects, while managers are more likely to oversee them. With time and experience in the field, project coordinators may advance to become project managers.
Project coordination is a burgeoning field filled with opportunities for the right professionals. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the number of project coordinator roles (and other business operations jobs) will increase by 5% between 2019 and 2029.
To become a project coordinator, you need to be highly organized with excellent skills in time management, communication, and teamwork. And when you’re applying for jobs, you’ll need a standout resume to show potential employers that you’re the best fit for the role. Let’s discuss how to create a project coordinator resume that’ll set you apart in 2023.
Project coordinators frequently juggle various tasks such as planning, organizing, scheduling, and keeping records. They track progress on current projects and keep team members updated on the status of ongoing work. When you’re applying to become a project coordinator, your resume should show that you’ve successfully managed a multitude of responsibilities at past jobs.
When listing your accomplishments at previous jobs, always choose strong verbs such as “implemented”, “managed”, and “increased” to show how you played an active part in your successes. Using a variety of these verbs tells recruiters that you have a diverse skill set -- a necessity for a project coordinator role.
As a project coordinator, you’ll help ensure that projects are completed as efficiently and profitably as possible. Potential employers want to see evidence of your skills in areas such as reducing costs, increasing revenue, and streamlining processes. Wherever possible, use specific numbers (e.g. “reduced shipping costs by $35,000 monthly”) to illustrate the impact of your accomplishments.
An IT project coordinator helps manage and plan technical projects. This position is more specialized than a typical project coordinator role, and it generally requires you to have some technical experience or education. On your resume, make sure to highlight your knowledge of computer systems as well as any relevant softwares you know how to use.
If you want to get hired as an IT project coordinator, focus your resume on technical positions you’ve held (as well as roles where you’ve worked with IT departments). Pointing out past experience in jobs such as a computer administrator or systems analyst may help give you an edge over your competition.
Your hard technical skills can be crucial to your success as an IT project coordinator. If you’re proficient with softwares such as NetSuite ERP, and Oracle Hyperion, list these competencies in a skills section to demonstrate your technical expertise.
Construction project coordinators handle logistics and planning for construction projects. For this role, in addition to the organizational and communication skills needed for project coordination, you should have at least a basic understanding of building processes, standards, and codes. You may also need to manage teams of workers, so leadership experience is also a huge plus.
YAs a construction project coordinator, you’ll work closely with construction teams to ensure that projects get completed. You need to be an effective leader -- and what better way to demonstrate leadership on your resume than highlighting your past promotions? When you’ve advanced to greater levels of responsibility at prior jobs, hiring managers can clearly see that you are a strong performer with the ability to lead by example.
In this position, you will be doing many of the same things an experienced project coordinator would do, but you will likely start by assisting a senior project coordinator. Tasks you can expect include administrative tasks like scheduling meetings, compiling relevant lists, handling project logistics, etc. Most recruiters will require you to have a bachelor’s degree in project management or a related field, and will highly value any previous experience you have had coordinating or managing projects. Here is a recruiter-approved resume sample.
Show recruiters that you have in-depth knowledge of project management by listing any project management-related certification you may have. This applicant has 3 strong certifications that are bound to impress recruiters.
Show recruiters that you are experienced in using project management software by ensuring you include at least the most popular project management tools in the industry. Go the extra step and try to find out what software your potential employer uses and make sure you include them in your list. If you are not experienced with the software, do a crash course online before adding it to your resume.
Coordinating projects is a complex job that requires a mix of organizational and interpersonal skills. You’ll need to be organized enough to handle project logistics, track progress, and ensure that necessary tasks are completed. Planning is essential, but so is the ability to solve problems as they arise. In addition, you’ll need strong communication and leadership skills to keep projects moving forward and guide your team towards success.
Ideally, your resume should focus on prior work experiences where you’ve effectively used these skills. Be sure to mention any management or leadership positions you’ve held (or promotions you’ve received). And if you’re seeking a more specialized role (e.g. as an IT or construction project coordinator), use a skills section to highlight your relevant hard skills.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Project Coordinator job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
So you want to become a project coordinator? The first step to getting the job is creating a great resume. Here are two tips to make your resume stand out.
On your resume, you should always lead into your past accomplishments with strong, clear action verbs. The best verbs are the ones that most accurately depict what you accomplished and how you went about doing it.
As an aspiring project coordinator, you should choose specific verbs that speak to the core skills of the job -- namely, your organizational, planning, leadership, and communication skills. Did you execute projects flawlessly in past jobs? Did you facilitate meetings or resolve problems effectively? Choosing strong verbs to talk about your accomplishments can positively influence hiring managers’ professional opinion of you -- and make you more likely to get an interview.
If you need some inspiration, here is a list of project coordination-related verbs to get you started.
For more related action verbs, visit Leadership Action Verbs.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
If you're a senior-level employee, or you're changing careers to become a Project Coordinator, it's useful to add a paragraph at the top of your resume highlighting your most impressive accomplishments. This is called a resume summary.
Here's an example of a summary that can be used on a Project Coordinator resume.
A resume summary is a totally optional section, and in most cases, it's better to leave it out of your resume than include it. For example, if you're a student or mid-level hire, you should not include a summary, and instead use the space to add to your work experience.
To learn how to write an effective resume summary for your Project Coordinator resume, or figure out if you need one, please read Resume Summary Examples for Job Seekers: When To Include One.
You should use bullet points to describe your achievements in your Project Coordinator resume. Here are sample bullet points to help you get started:
Facilitated continuous interaction between users, development and QA teams throughout the SDLC, resulting in a 95% testing success rate.
Created knowledge base of 80 internal resources, improving employee onboarding and reducing time spent per project on administrative tasks by 40%
Led multi-disciplinary 7 person team to design, develop, and launch online e-commerce store; prioritized and resolved 45+ new features and bug fixes
Streamlined internal approval process for transactions by standardizing approval forms, decreasing approval time by 12 hours
Implemented a system upgrade for an American bank just 8 weeks before deadline; resulted in securing additional business worth $5 MM
For more sample bullet points and details on how to write effective bullet points, see our articles on resume bullet points, how to quantify your resume and resume accomplishments.
