Resume soft skills employers want to see
You’re on the hunt for a new job. You’ve updated your LinkedIn and have your references lined up, but you still need to dust off and update your resume.
One of the most important things to remember when updating your resume is to emphasize your soft skills and how you used these skills in your past positions.
Here are the top 10 soft skills you need to include on your resume to stand out to employers.
Resume soft skills to include
Flexibility
Flexibility is a quality that’s beneficial in and out of the office. In the workplace, flexibility means quickly and effectively adjusting to change. This can look like quickly prioritizing urgent projects, keeping an open mind to shifting plans, and easily adapting to change. Practicing flexibility in the workplace can demonstrate your ability to navigate sudden change and being comfortable with the uncomfortable.
When showcasing this skill on your resume, use action verbs such as ‘adapted’, ‘prioritized’, and ‘adopted’. These verbs can convey how flexible you were in the workplace and how swift you were when adapting to change.
Active listening
It’s essential for everyone to feel like others are genuinely listening to them when they are talking. You need to employ active listening skills to show that you’re not just hearing what someone is saying but understanding what they’re trying to say. Active listening is not just understanding what someone is saying, it’s knowing when to give your input and when to be a silent support system for someone. In the workplace, actively listening to others can help you solve problems and increase productivity within your team.
Use action verbs such as ‘engaged’ and ‘interacted’ to demonstrate your active listening skills on your resume. These verbs can help paint the picture of how you effectively used this skill in previous positions.
Teamwork
We’ve all heard the phrase “teamwork makes the dream work,” right? Well, it really does. Teamwork is one of the soft skills employers want to see on your resume since it shows you can work well with others, which is essential in any job. Teamwork ensures you can efficiently handle tasks head-on with your team and build rapport with other teams in your organization.
Some action verbs you should include to show your teamwork skills are ‘collaborated’ and ‘facilitated’. These verbs can illustrate your ability to effectively work on a team and showcase the role you played as well.
Leadership
You don’t need to be in a leadership position to possess leadership skills. Leadership experience can range from supervising a project and running meetings to organizing events and training new team members. Having leadership experience shows that you can motivate others toward a common goal, support them, and achieve success throughout the organization.
To highlight your leadership experience on your resume, include action verbs such as ‘led’, ‘supported’, and ‘organized’. These verbs can set a strong tone for how you’ve led others toward success in previous experiences.
Communication
Communication is the core of any job. It’s one of those skills everyone has experience with and is critical to showcase on your resume. Good communication skills are needed in nearly every facet of your professional life, such as explaining data, presenting new ideas, and discussing essential projects.
Use action verbs like ‘composed’, ‘presented’, and ‘consulted’ when flexing this skill on your resume. These verbs showcase your effective communication skills and illustrate to the hiring manager that you have mastered this soft skill.
Analytical
Analytics are the main way to show how different initiatives and projects are performing. Understanding the proper way to collect data and explaining what certain numbers mean is a lucrative skill to have. Analytical skills are valuable to nearly every employer, and you should know how to properly convey your experience with this skill on your resume.
Use verbs such as ‘analyzed’, ‘researched’, and ‘interpreted’ to show your analytical skills. Including these verbs in your resume can indicate to employers that you have a strong analytical skill set.
Writing
Writing skills are used in nearly every area of our lives. Arguably, one of the most crucial places that we use this skill is at the workplace. Strong writing skills can convey that you can effectively convey ideas and information through written communication. With more digital communication technologies being used at the workplace, it’s more important than ever to emphasize the writing skills you have on your resume.
Use ‘composed’, ‘edited’, and ‘crafted’ to describe your writing skills. These are verbs that can describe various examples of how you have utilized writing skills in past positions.
Influence
Having influence in the workplace means exuding trust and respect that encourages people to do their best work. Influence is an amazing trait at work because it can help build meaningful connections with others that can be mutually beneficial to you and your colleagues. Yielding influence can be beneficial by helping you complete your projects faster, allow for progression in your career, and gain more respect amongst your colleagues.
When showing this skill on a resume, use action verbs like ‘persuaded’, ‘guided’, and ‘pioneered’. These verbs convey your ability to motivate others and show that you can positively impact your organization’s culture.
Updating your resume with soft skills is only the beginning
Tailoring your resume to include these soft skills is a good first step to preparing to enter the job market. Even though this is a good first step, having a talent solutions firm like Addison Group in your corner makes the job search much easier. With more than 20 years of experience, we understand what it takes to find a new role. We know that finding a company that matches your goals and appreciates everything you bring to the table makes all the difference. Visit our jobs page or reach out to us today to find the job that’s right for you.
