Soft Skills for Resumes With Examples

Employers value candidates who have a versatile background and a balanced array of both hard and soft skills on their resumes. Although it’s important to highlight the technical aspects of your career, it’s good to also show hiring managers you communicate effectively with clients and team members in fast-paced business environments.

In this guide, we’ll provide you with a list of soft skills for resume writing to enhance your job application and land your next interview opportunity.

What Is a Soft Skill?

In the broadest sense, soft skills usually encapsulate a candidate’s interpersonal, leadership, and communication abilities. These are key characteristics to incorporate into your document to showcase both your emotional intelligence and people management skills.

Employers want to see that you have the technical competencies to succeed in the role. But they also want to determine that you’re the right fit for the organization’s work culture. Providing a balance of hard and soft skills on your resume showcases your versatility as a professional during the initial application phase and makes a positive impression on the hiring manager.

Top 10 Soft Skills To Put on a Resume

Now that you understand what a soft skill is, we’ll examine a list of 10 popular skills that employers highly value in their candidates. While you’re likely to encounter many of these terms during your job search, you’ll still need to tailor your content toward specific job opportunities. Problem solving is an important skill that allows you to address challenges efficiently and with creativity. Time management is vital in meeting deadlines and effectively prioritizing tasks. Attention to detail ensures that you can focus on the finer aspects of tasks and avoid costly errors.

These soft skills for resume writing should be used as a general guide, rather than a mandatory list of skill sets. The most significant aspect of the resume-building process is creating a document that truly resonates with the individual organizations you’re applying to. The top 10 soft skills for a resume that catch the attention of employers are:

1. Adaptability: The ability to quickly adjust to new situations, unexpected challenges, or evolving team dynamics, adaptability is key in today’s fast-paced work environments. Those who are adaptable can seamlessly transition between tasks or shift priorities when unexpected demands arise. They maintain composure under pressure, think critically in the face of obstacles, and pivot strategies without losing focus. Adaptable individuals provide stability during uncertainty, becoming trusted team members who handle change gracefully and help others navigate transitions.

2. Change Management: Change management involves skillfully guiding a team or organization through transitions, such as restructuring, implementing new technology, or shifting strategic direction. Effective change managers articulate the reasons for change, manage resistance, and facilitate open dialogue to help team members understand their role in the new landscape. They provide practical support and emotional encouragement to create a smoother transition, ensuring all team members feel secure and prepared for change.

3. Communication: Communication means conveying ideas clearly and understanding others, both verbally and in writing. Strong communicators listen actively, ask clarifying questions, and are attentive to non-verbal cues, fostering a culture of transparency and reducing misunderstandings. They can adapt their tone and style based on their audience, making them effective in diverse settings, whether leading a team meeting, writing a report, or collaborating cross-functionally. Good communicators create a collaborative environment, helping align team members toward shared goals.

4. Creativity: This encompasses thinking outside the box, whether it’s in creative fields like design or in roles that require innovative problem-solving. Creative individuals approach challenges with open-mindedness and originality, often spotting opportunities others might overlook. They excel in ideation, are willing to take calculated risks, and thrive on brainstorming sessions that encourage fresh perspectives. By proposing alternative approaches and experimenting with new ideas, they contribute to a culture of innovation that drives progress. Critical thinking is an essential component of problem-solving, helping you analyze situations and find effective solutions.

5. Cross-functional Collaboration: Cross-functional collaboration means working effectively with people across different teams, departments, or organizations to achieve shared objectives. It involves respecting diverse perspectives, coordinating efforts, and finding common ground to align goals. Collaborative individuals are skilled at bridging communication gaps, building rapport across functions, and fostering a culture of teamwork. This skill is crucial in complex projects where the input and expertise of multiple teams are required for successful outcomes.

6. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) & Emotional Intelligence: Creating an inclusive work environment that values diversity and provides equal opportunities for everyone. DEI champions use emotional intelligence to foster a culture where everyone feels respected and valued, regardless of background. They are empathetic, self-aware, and responsive to others’ needs, making them adept at building teams that celebrate different perspectives. Their efforts create a workplace where diverse voices are heard, enabling innovation and a sense of belonging among team members.

7. Interpersonal Skills: Interpersonal skills help foster trust, promote open communication, and resolve conflicts diplomatically by building positive, constructive relationships with coworkers, clients, and stakeholders. Individuals with strong interpersonal skills excel at active listening, empathy, and finding common ground, helping create a supportive workplace culture. They inspire collaboration, reduce friction in team settings, and can turn challenging interactions into productive conversations that drive team cohesion and success.

8. Leadership: Leadership involves setting direction, inspiring the team, and leading by example to work toward a common goal. Good leaders motivate others, provide guidance, and take accountability while adapting their style to meet each team member’s needs. They create a vision, empower their team, and encourage personal and professional growth. Effective leaders are decisive yet empathetic, blending ambition with compassion to foster a high-performing, engaged team. These leaders rely on critical thinking to make informed decisions and inspire team members. Leaders with strong problem-solving skills inspire their teams to overcome obstacles and achieve objectives.  Leaders with strong attention to detail can better track project progress and ensure quality outcomes. Strong leaders exemplify time management, ensuring that projects are completed on schedule and within budget.

9. People Management: People management is about empowering others to succeed in their roles through mentorship, constructive feedback, and support. Great people managers hold team members accountable while also investing in their development, creating a work environment where employees feel valued and driven. They establish clear expectations, offer encouragement, and recognize achievements, building a motivated team that is aligned and capable of reaching shared goals.

10. Relationship-building: Relationship-building is the ability to establish and maintain professional connections that support career growth and project success. Skilled relationship-builders are proactive in networking, provide mutual support, and sustain rapport over time, fostering a reliable and far-reaching network. They’re known for their genuine interest in others, active listening, and willingness to help, making them a trusted resource and creating a collaborative, mutually supportive work environment.

Top communication and interpersonal skills

To work effectively in team-based environments, you need to communicate effectively with coworkers and clients daily. When creating communication materials, attention to detail is key to maintaining professionalism and accuracy. Critical thinking also plays a key role in active listening, allowing you to assess conversations and respond thoughtfully. Effective problem solving skills are crucial when navigating conflicts in client relations or team settings. Highlighting your interpersonal strengths can be a helpful tool to show hiring managers that you have the emotional intelligence to build productive working relationships and positively succeed in the position. Here are some resume soft skills to make your resume stand out:

Top team leadership and cross-functional collaboration

Although the term “cross-functional” can be interpreted as a hard skill, the expression speaks primarily to your personal character traits and leadership background. This is one of the most important terms to include on contemporary resumes.

Hiring managers are constantly looking for candidates who excel in collaborating with various types of teams and departments to achieve organizational objectives. Below are some additional soft skills to put on your resume to flesh out your leadership experience:

Top diversity, equity, and inclusion skills

Emphasizing your experience in driving DEI within the workplace will have a positive impact on both a professional and personal level. Hiring managers want candidates who are truly committed to creating inclusive work cultures and safe environments for team members across all backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities.

Below is a list of soft skills to put on your resume that spotlight your background in facilitating diversity and inclusion:

How To List Soft Skills on Your Resume

There are various ways to incorporate soft skills into your resume beyond simply creating a skills section at the bottom. A great way to incorporate soft skills for your resume is by integrating them into your professional summary and bullet points. Showcasing examples of your interpersonal skills in your bullet points and profile section helps hiring managers see specific instances of you putting these skills into practice. Employers highly value candidates with critical thinking as part of their resume skills. Showcasing problem-solving skills in your resume’s bullet points can set you apart from other candidates. If time management is key to the role you’re applying for, highlight it as a soft skill for your resume. Incorporating attention to detail into your resume can help hiring managers see your commitment to quality. Below are some examples to help highlight key aspects of your professional experience, including resume soft skills.

1. Feature soft skills in your professional profile

When building out your professional profile, incorporate four specializations into your opening sentence that align with the job description. Depending on your industry, consider providing a mix of both hard and soft skills.

In the example below, the candidate is pursuing a human resources management position. In addition to showing their industry expertise, they also use this opportunity to promote their organizational leadership and staff development skills. This sends a strong message to hiring managers that they’re the right fit for the company’s work culture.

2. Showcase soft skills in your bullet points

As you illustrate your career achievements, provide insights into individual accomplishments that shine a light on your character traits and communication skills through bullet points. In the example below, the candidate works as a nurse manager within the health care industry.

Although demonstrating knowledge of the medical field is important, this job seeker also needs to showcase their ability to interface effectively with diverse team members and patient populations.

Highlighting their focus on managing personnel and providing emotional support to their nursing teams during COVID-19 shows professionalism much more than listing “leadership” or “team management” in a vacuum.

3. Create a customized resume soft skills section for each job application

Although listing skills on your resume won’t show hiring managers how you used them in daily workflows, it’s still important to feature this section. Hiring managers often have limited bandwidth to read through every resume they receive in-depth.

Incorporating key resume soft skills here will maximize their visibility if the reader is only doing a fast preliminary scan. In the example below, the job seeker’s strong mix of hard and soft skills presents them as a dynamic professional with a diverse background.

Avoid Using Generic Soft Skills on Your Resume

Soft skills often run the risk of coming off as an empty platitude or generic character trait when used incorrectly. For example, solution-finding is commonly listed on resumes. But most employers are already expecting you to have this, and listing this skill does not differentiate you from the field of applicants. Instead of listing vague skills like hardworking, consider highlighting specific abilities such as time management to demonstrate your efficiency.

Although it’s best to create a balanced mix of skills on the resume, be sure to avoid using overly generic soft skills for a resume that don’t add value.

Only incorporate these terms into your resume if they’re repeated multiple times throughout the job posting, which is a strong indicator that this is a keyword in the applicant tracking system (ATS).

When To Include Soft Skills on Your Resume

Avoid compromising the quality of your document by oversaturating it with soft skills, but make a concerted effort to include some of these character traits on your resume. This provides hiring managers with a clearer picture of who you are as a professional.

The most vital aspect of the resume-building process is to show organizations that you’re the most qualified candidate for the position. While your hard skills should almost always take priority, providing these additional details can complement your technical competencies and show prospective employers you’re a well-rounded professional who can fit well into any team environment.

Soft Skills Resume Example

This example shows how effective soft skills for resume writing can be when blended with your technical expertise. In their job description, the candidate highlights how their problem-solving skills led to tangible improvements in team productivity. This project manager’s resume shows a strong track record of time management, enabling them to consistently meet deadlines. Alexandra’s experience highlights how attention to detail has helped her successfully manage large-scale projects with minimal errors. The applicant’s ability to show critical thinking in managing complex projects is emphasized throughout their experience:

Frequently Asked Questions About Resume Soft Skills

Frank Hackett

Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW)

Frank Hackett is a professional resume writer and career consultant with over eight years of experience. As the lead editor at a boutique career consulting firm, Frank developed an innovative approach to resume writing that empowers job seekers to tell their professional stories. His approach involves creating accomplishment-driven documents that balance keyword optimization with personal branding. Frank is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) with the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PAWRCC).