Should you put Soft Skills on Your Resume

When you’re on the hunt for a new job, there are a few essential first steps to take. Namely, write or spruce up your resume, search for open positions on online job boards and prepare yourself for potential interviews. But before you can land an interview you’ll need to make sure your resume really highlights your best skills.

Your resume should contain examples where you exhibited hard and soft skills. Hard skills are typically technical and quantifiable abilities, while soft skills are a combination of social and interpersonal skills that can be part of someone’s personality and learned through experience.

Both hard and soft skills are valuable to companies, and something recruiters vet for when reviewing job applications. By weaving examples of soft skills into your resume, you give hiring teams more context into your professional background and a glimpse of your personality.

To further personalize your application, reference the job description and match the soft skills in your resume to the skills listed in the posting. Be prepared to speak to these skills in your interview to provide more context. Here are some in-demand soft skills to include in your resume.

Time management: Time management is a skill worth developing with tight deadlines and quick turnarounds being so common in the business world. When listing time management on your resume, briefly explain a situation where you had to prioritize tasks to meet a deadline. This demonstrates to recruiters how you maximize efficiency and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Communication skills: Communication skills are the ability to share ideas or feelings and understand what is being communicated to you. Even if you’re not a confident speaker, communication can include proficiencies in written communication, active listening, constructive feedback, negotiation, and collaboration.

Adaptability: Fast-paced working environments call for highly adaptable people. Being adaptable means you are a strategic and creative thinker, implying you know how to prepare for the unexpected. Navigating ambiguity is a positive in the eyes of recruiters, and effectively communicating this experience on your resume could land you an interview.

Leadership: Hiring managers place leadership skills at the top of their list—fortunately, leadership experience can come from anywhere. You can still demonstrate leadership skills on a resume even if you’ve never had direct reports or run a team. Think about situations you delegated tasks, led a project, or developed a new process for your company.