What are soft skills and why are they important?
Whether you’re a master carpenter or an award-winning graphic designer, you won’t get very far without soft skills. Soft skills are the personal qualities and attributes that enable someone to work effectively and harmoniously with others.
Employers prize soft skills because they are essential for success in any workplace, and they can’t be taught as easily as hard skills. Well-developed soft skills can help you stand out from other candidates and make a positive impression on hiring managers.
Common soft skills examples include communication, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, leadership, time management, emotional intelligence, creativity, interpersonal skills and conflict resolution.
But there’s a lot more where that came from. If you’re looking for the best soft skills for your resume, you’re in the right place.
This soft skills guide will show you:
If you want a list of soft skills specific to your job, check out our Resume Builder. As you enter previous roles in your resume, you’ll get wording suggestions for every section.
The same goes for your CV. While CVs and resumes differ in length and other factors, our library of CV examples shows that all types of job application documents include soft skills. Our CV Maker will offer suggested skills based on your work history.
Take the first step in building your resume with our professionally designed templates.
Soft skills vs hard skills: What’s the difference?
When it comes to finding success in your career, soft skills and hard skills both play a role.
- Soft skills are the personal attributes and qualities that help you positively contribute to the workplace. These skills are not necessarily tied to a specific industry or job but are qualities you possess naturally or have developed over time through experience and personal growth.
- Hard skills are specific abilities and knowledge that are usually tied to a particular industry or job. These skills are typically acquired through education, on-the-job training or professional development.
Still trying to understand the differences? This graphic will help:
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Soft Skills
- Work ethic
- Attention to detail
- Communication
- Organization
- Creativity
- Empathy
- Friendliness
- Adaptability
-
Hard skills
- Machine operation
- Bookkeeping
- Social media
- Project management
- Video production
- Patient care
- Interviewing
- Software programming
Notice how soft skills are personality traits and characteristics whereas hard skills are technical abilities?
Here are some additional soft skills examples to consider for your resume:
- Conflict resolution
- Leadership
- Storytelling
- Attentiveness
- Work ethic
- Teamwork
- Confidence
- Dependability
Ultimately, employers tend to seek applicants with a balanced mix of technical know-how, hard skills and soft skills because they want well-rounded employees who can perform well in all aspects of work.
Soft skills for a resume – 80+ examples
Brainstorming soft skills to put on a resume is a great way to build out your resume sections. Soft skills fall into many different categories, including communication, leadership and creativity. We’ve gathered over 80 soft skills to consider adding to your resume.
But if you find you need more inspiration, check out our library of resume examples that have been tested in the real world. After you choose examples from your industry, find an appropriate resume template. Each one takes a different stylistic approach to highlight skills. We also point you toward good resume layouts in Google Docs and Microsoft Word if you prefer. Don’t forget to pick a matching template when you write your cover letter.
Communication examples of soft skills
- Verbal communication
- Nonverbal communication
- Written communication
- Active listening
- Assertiveness
- Networking
- Clarity
- Cooperation
- Negotiation
- Persuasiveness
- Empathy
- Conflict management
Problem-solving soft skills examples
- Critical thinking
- Analytical thinking
- Logical reasoning
- Initiative
- Experimentation
- Troubleshooting
Leadership soft skills to list on a resume
- Goal setting
- Strategic planning
- Ability to delegate
- Visionary-thinking
- Integrity
- Motivation
- Accountability
- Conflict resolution
Decision-making soft skills for a resume
- Ethical decision-making
- Strategic decision-making
- Consumer decision-making
- Rational decision-making
- Crisis decision-making
- Tactical decision-making
Creativity soft skills list
- Ideation
- Originality
- Open-mindedness
- Playfulness
- Imagination
- Brainstorming
- Mind mapping
- Divergent thinking
- Innovation
Adaptability soft skills on a resume
- Flexibility
- Versatility
- Resourcefulness
- Resilience
- Responsiveness
- Curiosity
- Openness
- Optimism
Emotional intelligence soft skills examples
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Intuition
- Emotional literacy
- Social awareness
- Positive attitude
- Patience
- Relationship management
- Mindfulness
- Compassion
Work ethic soft skills for a resume
- Self-discipline
- Dedication
- Diligence
- Commitment
- Focus
- Reliability
- Good character
- Responsibility
- Accountability
- Professionalism
Interpersonal skills to add to a resume
- Diplomacy
- Consensus-building
- Cultural awareness
- Active participation
- Mentorship
- Feedback and constructive criticism
- Tactfulness
- Respectfulness
Time management soft skills to list on a resume
- Punctuality
- Prioritization
- Meeting deadlines
- Multitasking
- Concentration
- Self-control
- Self-motivation
- Time-saving strategies
- Stress management
How to add soft skills to your resume: Tips with examples
Now that you understand soft skills and have plenty of examples, you may wonder how to list soft skills on a resume.
Consider these tips to make the most of your soft skills when you create your resume outline.
Sprinkle them throughout your summary
At the top of your resume, you’ll always have a resume profile or objective statement — this is a great place to highlight a few of your key soft skills.
What does that look like? Here’s an example resume objective for a warehouse associate with soft skills in bold:
Add quantifiable metrics
Great candidates use their work experience section to showcase their skills. Instead of simply listing their job duties, they cite numbers that back up their performance.
Here’s an example from a data analyst’s resume, with the soft skill and supporting metrics in bold:
Call out soft skills in their own section
To create a perfect resume, you’ll need to include a skills section. How you display your skills largely depends on your resume formatting. You can mix your soft skills with the rest of your skills, create a separate skills section for them with an appropriate heading or add them to a separate section under the skills’ headings.
For example, a soft skills section for a marketing intern using a functional resume format might look like this:
Notice how breaking the soft skills into headers creates another opportunity to highlight quantifiable achievements.
Keep reading to find out how you can acquire new soft skills or build on the ones you already have.
Improve your soft skills in 4 steps
Soft skills can take years to build, but you can fast-track your development with focus, energy and resources. Here are four steps you should take if you’re trying to grow your soft skills:
- Inventory your skills. You have to know your skills in order to build on them. Ask friends, family and former/current colleagues for help identifying your strengths and weaknesses.
- Set your priorities. Which skills do you want to develop? Taking an intentional approach to soft skills development will help you chart your goals and track your progress.
- Take free online courses through Udemy and Coursera. Searching for terms like “communication” or “leadership” uncovers hundreds of options.
- Ask for feedback. Soft skills are social by nature and benefit from the support of others. Track progress by asking one or two trusted people to offer feedback on a regular basis.
Soft skills FAQ
Employers prefer employees who have a mix of soft and hard skills because they are well-rounded. Such employees can work more effectively than if they didn’t have soft skills.
For example, an auto mechanic who can fix a car engine and communicate well with customers stands a higher chance of achieving customer satisfaction than a mechanic who can fix car engines but struggles to communicate effectively.
Soft skills are important for every job and industry because they complement hard and technical skills, increasing performance and therefore the company’s chance of success.
The seven essential soft skills to develop in 2023 include:
- Emotional intelligence
- Teamwork/collaboration
- Critical thinking
- Adaptability
- Work ethic
- Conflict resolution
- Openness
Developing the skills above will go a long way toward growing your career.
Soft skills and hard skills are two different skill categories — and job seekers need both.
Soft skills are the personal traits and characteristics someone develops throughout their life in and outside of work. They have a direct impact on interpersonal relationships, including those with your colleagues.
Hard skills are the technical abilities someone needs to perform their job, like knowing how to write JavaScript or operate a forklift. They are more easily measured than soft skills.
Again, developing these skill sets in tandem is the best way to further your career. Each set plays off the other, and both are needed to find meaning and success.
Don is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) with more than 10 years’ experience creating digital content, including four years helping job seekers develop their careers. He holds an M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University.
