5 Soft Skills To Instantly Improve Your Resume
Looking for a quick and easy way to instantly improve your resume?
Soft skills are the way to do it.
A soft skill is an interpersonal or behavioral trait that affects how you work or interact with coworkers, like initiative or creativity. For example, a soft skill that would be a great addition to an engineer’s resumé might be teamwork, whereas a teacher’s might be leadership. They are talents you possess that improve job performance, and lucky for you, they can add a little meat to your resumé without requiring ten years of on-the-job experience or a doctorate.
So, what are some of the top soft skills employers are looking for? And how can you incorporate them naturally into your resume? According to the Job Outlook 2021 Spring Update survey published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the top five soft skills employees are looking for:
The ability to work in a team
Teamwork is a vital skill for anyone to have in the workplace. It speeds up the time it tasks to complete tasks, lets people combine their know-how to find solutions, and fosters a sense of community. Almost every position involves working alongside others, so teamwork should be on your résumé.
Problem-solving skills
Problem-solving skills show employers that you can think on your feet and find solutions. It tells them that you are resilient and insightful enough to work things out for yourself, and can help deal with difficult situations when they arise.
Analytical/quantitative skills
Analytical/quantitative skills means you can analyze and interpret numbers and data. In the modern world, one of a company’s most important traits is efficiency. Skills like these are critical to improving efficiency, maximizing what works, and identifying and removing what doesn’t.
Verbal communication skills
Verbal communication skills enable you to interact with your peers, and with customers, in a clear and concise manner. They save time, foster a healthy social environment, and could very well place you above your peers when promotion time rolls around. Effective verbal communication is a great all-around trait that can build up other traits like teamwork and leadership.
Written communication skills
Written communication skills are similar to verbal communication skills, except these allow you to write effective emails, press releases, and other documents. So much written communication is now needed for companies to share content across the Internet. Whatever kind of writing your workplace requires, these skills will serve you well and set you apart from the crowd.
Over 70% of employers will seek these attributes on resumés received from students. Also included lower in the survey are traits like initiative, leadership, and creativity. For exact numbers and more information on the survey, click here.
Now that you have some soft skills to add to your resumé, let’s talk about how to incorporate them! You should have a section dedicated entirely to soft skills in your resumé, including between six and eight traits. Place this “skills” section at the top of your resumé, and make sure you are tailoring the ones you select to the job you are applying for. Lastly, make sure you are not including subjective terms like “excellent” to describe your skills. These types of words can be misleading to an employer.
If you have any further questions about your resumé, consider having it critiqued by a professional career coach! Or, attend a Career Services resumé workshop in person or online here.
Written by Benjamin Dean Mears
Edited by Lindsey Erickson 
