How To List Soft Skills on Resume: Examples & Guide for 2024

Soft skills are at the heart of an interview-winning application. In fact, 84% of professionals believe that candidates must possess and demonstrate soft skills during the hiring process. These transferable skills are not industry-specific, but instead allow you to do your job seamlessly.

Of course, before applying for jobs, you need to identify the best soft skills to put on your resume. While there are many to choose from, it’s vital that you tailor your application to meet the needs of the job. Listing the right resume soft skills for your role is the answer.

Top 10 soft skills for your resume in 2024 (plus examples)

First things first, let’s take a look at the most popular soft skills for your resume. Regardless of whether you’re a computer engineer or a salesperson, there are skills you’ll need, as follows.  

Problem-solving skills

Problem-solving skills are exactly what they say. If you have this skill set, you’re adept at pinpointing problems, looking for smart solutions, and overcoming them. In a workplace setting, this ability to continuously conquer challenges is highly valuable.

Let’s take a look at the top professions where you need problem-solving skills:

• Medical professionals must use their critical thinking and problem-solving skills to diagnose illnesses and look for the cause of symptoms.
• Engineers need keen problem-solving skills to create robust templates, frameworks, and designs while also adhering to strict guidelines and regulations.
• Researchers place problem-solving at the core of their profession, creating hypotheses and theories and then using this skill set to find answers.

Teamwork skills

Few professionals work in complete isolation. Teamwork skills allow you to collaborate with other people in your workplace while working towards a common goal. Involving both clear communication and interpersonal skills, this skill set is the foundation of a healthy work environment.  

Here are the top professions where you need teamwork skills:

• Teachers must collaborate with teaching assistants, the wider department, and the headteacher to create a collaborative environment.
• Creatives often have to work as part of a multidisciplinary team to produce projects.
• Hospitality workers need excellent teamwork skills to ensure that every department works in sync and offers the best service to customers.

Time-management skills

If you have the ability to manage your time, organize your calendar, and prioritize your tasks, chances are you have good time management skills. This resume soft skill is often overlooked. However, regardless of the job you have, being punctual and meeting deadlines will always be valuable traits.

Here are the top professions where you need teamwork skills:

• Lawyers need excellent time management skills, especially when they charge by the hour.
• Project managers have to organize and plan the operational processes, and so need to use high-level time management skills.
• Journalists often work to exceedingly tight deadlines and need great time management skills.

Communication skills

Communication skills are all about clearly conveying messages and ideas to others, while also understanding their perspective. These include listening, comprehension, and both writing and speaking well. As you might imagine, the ability to communicate well is vital in all modern careers.

Here are the top professions where you need communication skills:

• Teachers and lecturers need to share information clearly and succinctly with their students.
• Salespeople have to persuade potential buyers that their products or services are what they need. They do this using clear communication and negotiation.
• PR executives must share clear messaging about their clients with the public.

Critical thinking skills

Critical thinkers have the ability to look at situations from a logical standpoint and come up with functional solutions to problems. This often involves the ability to analyze problems and determine the best solution.

Here are the top professions where you need critical thinking skills:

• Scientists must use their critical thinking skills when analyzing data sets and drawing conclusions.
• Accountants have to apply logic and critical thinking when managing clients’ finances.
• IT professionals often have to solve complex tech issues and use critical thinking to do so.

Creative thinking skills

Do you think outside of the box? While it’s a cliche, the truth is that creative thinking skills are highly sought-after. Creative thinking is all about your imagination, originality, and ability to see things from a new perspective. Harnessing these resume soft skills could win you your next interview.

Here are the top professions where you need creative thinking skills:

• Designers have to create original concepts and artwork based on their creative thinking skills.
• Writers must find new and interesting ways of conveying information using this skill set.
• Similarly, advertisers have to use creative thinking to hook their audience’s attention.

Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills include both teamwork and communication. However, there is much more to this skill set. Professionals use these skills to build lasting relationships, negotiate with stakeholders, and generally get along with the people around them.

Here are the top professions where you need interpersonal skills:

• Managers need to have tact and excellent interpersonal skills when motivating and leading.
• Therapists require interpersonal skills to create a lasting bond with their service users.
• Account managers have to create connections with potential clients and use interpersonal skills to gain their trust in the business.

Work ethic

Your work ethic refers to your professional values and how you prioritize your career. Hiring managers will always seek candidates with a strong work ethic first and foremost. You can demonstrate this skill set by delivering consistent results, being a valued team member, and striving for excellence.

Here are the top professions where you need a strong work ethic:

• Nurses work long hours in a high-pressure environment and need a strong work ethic to do so.
• Salespeople often work on commission and need to dedicate themselves to their work to make regular sales and boost their income.
• Legal professionals need a real work ethic to uphold the high standards that are required to work within this competitive industry.

Attention to detail

Sometimes, it’s the finer details that matter the most. Having a high level of attention to detail means that you’re thorough and don’t make needless errors. This skill set is often about not rushing jobs but taking your time to make sure that you’re ticking all of the right boxes along the way.

Here are the top professions where you need attention to detail:

• Proofreaders’ sole job is to pick up on inconsistencies, errors, and mistakes.
• Regulatory writers cannot make any mistakes when creating systems and guidelines.
• Solicitors have to draw up contracts that are 100% legally binding for their clients.

Emotional intelligence

Hiring managers are increasingly seeking candidates with high levels of emotional intelligence. This soft skill has two prongs. First, it’s about understanding and identifying your own emotions so that you can manage them. It’s also about the ability to identify emotions in others and navigate them.

Here are the top professions where you need emotional intelligence:

• Therapists use emotional intelligence to better understand their service users.
• Doctors need to have emotional intelligence when delivering life-changing news to their patients.
• Actors can benefit from emotional intelligence by understanding the various feelings and conveying them in a dramatic manner.

Now that we have covered the soft skills to put on a resume, let’s take a look at why they matter.

Why are soft skills important in the workplace?

Since the demand for soft skills spans industries, we cannot overstate their value. Moreover, while many fields now use AI and machine intelligence, these are the skills that differentiate humans from robots. To best illustrate this point, let’s take a deeper dive and look at why soft skills matter in the workplace.

What’s the difference between hard and soft skills?

Hard skills are industry and often job-specific. These are the technical or knowledge-based skills that you need to do your job. For example, if you’re a software developer, your hard skills would include programming languages, such as Javascript or Python.

Soft skills, on the other hand, prove useful in a range of, if not most fields. Also known as transferable skills, these are talents that allow you to do your job well, collaborate with others, and excel. As we have covered, examples include communication, time management, and attention to detail.

Well-rounded candidates possess both hard and soft skills. While you need technical abilities that align with the duties of your role, you should also have soft skills that make you a good worker.

Soft skills in virtual and remote work

We’re seeing a dramatic shift in the modern working world. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and numerous lockdowns, many businesses are adopting hybrid and remote work. By 2030, remote digital jobs will have grown by 25% equating to more than 90 million roles, according to theWorld Economic Forum. The approach has transformed the way we work bolstering the demand for soft skills.

Working remotely can be challenging. For one thing, professionals must bridge the geographical gap with effective communication. They can do this by using technological tools, such as Slack, Teams, and Zoom. Furthermore, remote professionals have greater autonomy over their schedules but still have to meet clear deadlines. For that reason, they must possess high-level time management and organization skills.

As the popularity of virtual and remote work surges, so will the demand for transferable skills. When applying for these jobs, ensure you illustrate your top soft skills on your resume.

Why do managers care about soft skills when hiring for a technical job?

One common misconception is that soft skills don’t matter in technical fields. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whatever career path you’re following, you’ll have to be productive and work well as part of a team. Your ability to manage your time, prioritize tasks, and adhere to a work ethic will boost your productivity. Similarly, you can use your communication and interpersonal skills to collaborate with others.

It doesn’t end there. In most technical roles, you’ll need to use both critical thinking and creative thinking skills. The ability to pinpoint logical solutions to technological problems is extremely valuable. However, some of the world’s most complicated problems require a creative and innovative solution. By showcasing soft skills on your resume, you let the hiring manager know that you can excel in any position.  

How to develop soft skills

Chances are, you already have a wealth of soft skills under your belt. However, if you want to develop this skill set, here are some simple approaches you can use:

• Ask for constructive feedback: Start by asking your manager for advice. This approach can help you identify any areas of weakness in your resume soft skills.
• Learn about soft skills: Since you’re reading this guide, you’re already ahead of the game. Read blogs, articles, guides, and books based on the soft skills you want to develop.
• Find yourself a mentor: Working with a professional mentor is a speedy way to learn soft skills. Mirror the transferable skills they have and learn how to master them.
• Push out of your comfort zone: One of the best ways to expand your skill set is to get out of your comfort zone. Try something new, whether it’s a project or some online training.
• Boost your speaking and listening skills: Whenever you’re communicating with a colleague, take the time to fully understand their point before you start speaking.  
• Practice your soft skills: Look for tangible scenarios in which you can practice your soft skills in a workplace setting. The more practice you gain, the better you’ll be.

The good news is that there are plenty of ways you can develop your resume soft skills. Now that you’re aware of the most valuable talents, consider how you can work towards mastering each of them.

When to use transferable skills on your resume

While your resume will always benefit from transferable skills, there are some cases when they’re essential, as follows:

• You’re changing careers: If you’re starting out in a new industry, you need to highlight soft skills on your resume. These transferable skills will help to make the move seamless.
• You’ve had a career break: Perhaps it’s been a while since you held a full-time position. If that’s the case, you can bolster your resume with a selection of transferable skills.
• You’re a recent graduate: Are you new to the working world? If so, include the transferable skills you honed during your school or college career.

Don’t fit into one of the above categories? No matter what stage you’re at in your career, you still need to include soft skills on your resume. Next up, we’ll take a look at the right way to do this.

How to include soft skills in a resume

Illustrating your soft skills on your resume is an art form. It’s not about simply listing them in your skills section. Instead, we recommend weaving them throughout the content of your document.

Here’s how:

Determine the resume format you will use

Before you do anything else, you need to determine the right resume format. Choose between reverse-chronological, functional, and combination formats.

Here’s a brief breakdown:

• Reverse-chronological: The standard American resume format featuring your work experience, education, and skills. Start with your most recent accomplishments and work backward.
• Functional: This format groups your skills first and foremost, allowing you to include experience as bullet points beneath each one.
• Combination: As the name suggests, a combination format is a hybrid of the above two. It allows you to find the balance between showcasing your skills and the rest of your experience.

At Resume Mentor, we generally advise using the reverse-chronological format for your resume. This approach works for most traditional, linear careers. Adopt this format and then hint at the soft skills you have throughout your resume, particularly in the work experience section.

Use the professional experience section to display your soft skills

To write an effective work experience section, list your relevant positions in reverse-chronological order.

Here’s how you can pepper this section with your soft skills:

• Descriptive bullet points: Start with the basic details about a position. Beneath that, include bullet points that show off your soft skills and what they helped you achieve.
• Contextualize your skills: Explain how you used each transferable skill to gain results. Show the hiring manager how you used this specific skill as part of an accomplishment.
• Quantify your achievements: Wherever possible, use statistics, numbers, and other facts to quantify the results you gained. Relate these results back to your soft skills.

To help you get this right, take a quick look at our expert-backed example:

Soft skills in your resume summary

You can also showcase your soft skills in your resume summary. This short bio is around three sentences long and highlights your unique selling proposition (USP). You can hint at the soft skills you have within this bio. You don’t have to go into detail but remember to give context to any talent you include here.

To give you an idea of what we mean, check out the following example:

Soft skills in a separate skills section: pros and cons

You may be tempted to feature your resume soft skills in a separate skills section. There are pros and cons to this approach.

Let’s break down both the advantages and disadvantages:

Pros:

• Listing soft skills as bullet points is an easy option.
• You can quickly include the skills the hiring manager is seeking.

Cons:

• Soft skills are meaningless if you don’t provide context.
• They take up vital space in your skills section (which you should reserve for hard skills).

Integrating your skills throughout your resume instead of in an isolated grouping means that you provide valuable context and evidence of your skill set to the hiring manager.

Back-up soft skills with other sections

As we have already mentioned, you can illustrate your soft skills in your work experience and summary section. However, it doesn’t have to start and end there. If you’ve received any training that pertains to these skills, don’t be afraid to include that on your resume. Always consider how you can strengthen your application and look for ways to back up the soft skills that you bring to the table.

Highlight your soft skills in a cover letter

Since you’ve already covered soft skills on your resume, you can add more evidence of these talents in your cover letter.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can do that:

• Share meaningful anecdotes: Don’t be afraid to share short career stories in your cover letter. Choose asides that highlight how your soft skills have helped you to excel.
• Show don’t tell: Simply saying you have a “great work ethic” doesn’t mean much. Share evidence of when your work ethic helped you succeed.
• Perfect your writing style: Your cover letter is evidence of your communication skills. Make sure that you write it well and convey a clear message to the hiring manager.

Remember, your cover letter and resume need to tell the same story. Ensure that these two documents are in sync before applying for your next job.

100 Soft Skills Examples for 10 Careers

Looking for some creative inspiration? We have you covered. In the following section, we’ll take a look at some of the best soft skills for your resume, depending on your career.

Accounting and finance top 10 soft skills on resumes

When working in finance, hard skills such as accountancy, math, and using software are essential. However, employers will also be looking for the following resume soft skills.

1. Communication skills
2. Attention to detail
3. Ethical judgment
4. Critical thinking
5. Problem-solving
6. Time management
7. Analytical thinking
8. Management
9. Interpersonal skills
10. Work ethic

Example of how to share critical thinking skills on your accounting or finance resume:

• Conducted financial analyses to pinpoint discrepancies in Q2 statements, leading to a 10% improvement in account accuracy.

Creative and cultural fields top 10 soft skills on resumes

Working in a creative field can be highly demanding and often requires a wealth of teamwork. As such, hiring managers may expect you to have the following soft skills.

1. Innovation
2. Interpersonal skills
3. Creative problem-solving
4. Communication skills
5. Attention to detail
6. Emotional intelligence
7. Collaboration
8. Cultural awareness
9. Networking
10. Flexibility

Example of how to share innovation skills on your creative and cultural resume:

• Developed and designed a new social media marketing campaign to increase brand awareness by 30% over three months.

Management and C-Level top 10 soft skills on resumes

Aiming for the top job? Before you can land a managerial or C-level role, you need to prove your worth. Having the following soft skills on your resume could increase your chances.

1. Leadership
2. Motivational speaking
3. Time management
4. Confidence
5. Empathy
6. Communication skills
7. Conflict resolution
8. Enthusiasm
9. Networking
10. Accountability

Example of how to share motivational speaking skills on your manager or C-level resume:

• Collaborated with business leaders to deliver motivational talks increasing event attendance by 20% year on year.

Information technology and software engineering top 10 soft skills on resumes

Working in IT and software engineering may be highly technical. However, you need a selection of soft skills to ensure every part of your role goes without a hitch.

1. Creativity
2. Collaboration
3. Motivation
4. Patience
5. Organization
6. Prioritization
7. Time management
8. Communication
9. Analytical thinking
10. Work ethic

Example of how to share time management skills on your IT or software engineer resume:

• Completed new software rollout two months ahead of schedule, reducing overall project cost by 10% below budget.

Marketing top 10 soft skills on resumes

Marketing is all about communications. However, that’s not the only soft skill you need to master to work in this sector.

1. Excellent communication
2. Collaboration
3. Curiosity
4. Innovation
5. Emotional intelligence
6. Leadership
7. Storytelling
8. Organization
9. Active listening
10. Creative thinking

Example of how to share storytelling skills on your marketing resume:

• Published success stories across multiple channels leading to a 25% boost in customer retention.

Sales top 10 soft skills on resumes

Salespeople are expert relationship builders. To excel in this competitive field, you need a wide selection of soft skills.

1. Excellent communication
2. Persuasion
3. Relationship-building
4. Conflict resolution
5. Reflective listening
6. Empathy
7. Flexibility
8. Resilience
9. Time management
10. Organization

Example of how to share relationship-building skills on your sales resume:

• Fostered sustainable client relationships leading to a 14% repeat customer rate.

Nursing and healthcare top 10 soft skills on resumes

Nurses work long hours in a high-pressure environment. While medical training and knowledge are the foundation of this role, they can also benefit from having the following soft skills on their resume.

1. Compassion
2. Collaboration
3. Communication
4. Physical resilience
5. Stress management
6. Critical thinking
7. Professionalism
8. Attention to detail
9. Confidence
10. Quick thinking

Example of how to share physical resilience on your nursing or healthcare resume:

• Provided high-quality care to 50+ patients on the ward while maintaining physical stamina during 12-hour shifts.

Office and administration top 10 soft skills on resumes

When you’re applying for admin roles, you need to set yourself apart from the sea of candidates. One way to do that is to include a decent balance of soft skills on your resume.

1. Clear decision-making
2. Customer service skills
3. Analytical thinking
4. Attention to detail
5. Adaptability
6. Multitasking
7. Interpersonal skills
8. Communication
9. Problem-solving
10. Confidentiality

Example of how to share confidentiality skills on your office or admin resume:

• Organized sensitive employee records and confidential information while complying with data protection regulations.

Teaching and education top 10 soft skills on resumes

Education isn’t all about having subject knowledge. If you want to inspire and motivate young minds, you need to boast a wealth of soft skills.

1. Patience
2. Excellent communication
3. Empathy
4. Resilience
5. Creativity
6. Teamwork
7. Emotional intelligence
8. Presenting
9. Time management
10. Organization

Example of how to share creative skills on your teacher or education resume:

• Created multimedia lesson plans catering to various learning styles resulting in a 20% increase in overall student grades.

Travel and transportation top 10 soft skills on resumes

Travel and transportation rely heavily on logistics. For that reason, it takes a unique professional to excel in this career path.

1. Customer service
2. Empathy
3. Compliance
4. Adaptability
5. Critical thinking
6. Problem-solving
7. Time management
8. Organization
9. Teamwork
10. Stress management

Example of how to share teamwork skills on your travel or transportation resume:

• Liaised with a team of 10 logistics professionals to streamline the supply chain process improving delivery times by almost 20%.

Conclusion

Including soft skills on your resume humanizes you to the hiring manager. If you want to increase your chances of landing an interview, be sure to pick these skills wisely. Use our examples as inspiration and choose the ideal talents for your resume. Ready to get started? Use our free resume templates now!