- Featured in:
Most jobs require teamwork and collaboration. Soft skills for resumes are the interpersonal and behavioral skills that help you partner with others and self-manage your responsibilities. This article breaks these skills into categories and shares persuasive resume examples.
Want a stronger resume? Use our extensive library of professional resume examples as practical starting guides. You’ll also find ready-made content with our helpful Resume Builder — simple click, customize and download.
What Are Soft Skills?
Soft skills are also known as interpersonal, social, communication, people, or life skills.
These resume soft skills illustrate how you achieve work goals, contribute to the workplace and collaborate. Soft skills can vary from leadership to work ethics to collaboration.
The 4 Best Soft Skills for Resumes
You might ask yourself, “What are some examples of soft skills for a resume?” Career-friendly examples of soft skills include communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, time management, leadership, creativity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and conflict resolution.
These top requested soft skills showcase your ability to work well with others and handle workplace challenges.
1. Critical-thinking skills
Critical thinking is a soft skill sub-type that refers to how you absorb, interpret and use the information to determine your actions. These soft skills are valuable in the workplace because they help you analyze information collaboratively or make quick decisions during independent projects.
Here’s how to share critical thinking skills under a job description:
- “Analyzed production data to identify process inefficiencies, reducing defects by 15%.”
- “Investigated product inconsistencies, identifying root causes, and applying corrective actions.”
Additional soft skills include:
- Analysis
- Bias identification
- Data forecasting
- Data interpretation
- Data selection
- Observational skills
- Reasoning
- Research
- Problem-solving
- Trend recognition
2. Teamwork skills
Most workplaces are not solo gigs. Even remote jobs require collaboration over email, video chat or shared documents. Showcasing interpersonal skills on resumes can help hiring managers decide if you’re a potential fit for an existing team.
Here’s how to describe teamwork under a job description:
- “Collaborated with a team of 15 associates to improve customer satisfaction ratings by 25%.”
- “Contributed to team training sessions, helping new employees adapt quickly.”
Additional soft skills include:
- Accountability
- Active listening
- Collaboration
- Conflict management
- Diplomatic feedback
- Goal-oriented
- Group motivation
- Social awareness
- Teamwork
3. Communication skills
Strong communication skills are essential for the previously mentioned skills. Effective workers need to demonstrate examples of these soft skills on their resumes.
Here’s how to share communication skills under a resume job description:
- “Presented campaign strategies to executives, securing approval for new initiatives.”
- “Managed social media interactions, ensuring positive customer relationships.”
Additional soft skills include:
- Verbal communication
- Negotiation
- Non-verbal communication
- Presentation skills
- Rapport building
- Respectfulness
- Written communication
4. Leadership skills
Strong leadership skills can be helpful in and out of a managerial role. Practicing these soft skills in collaborative environments can help you practice skills for future promotions and help you maintain effective workplaces.
Here’s how to share leadership skills under a resume job description:
- “Led a team of 20+ staff members, increasing operational efficiency by 35%.”
- “Trained and mentored new employees, reducing turnover by 20%.”
Additional soft skills include:
- Delegation
- Oversight
- Organization
130+ Examples of Soft Skills For Resumes
Employers look for candidates with industry-specific soft skills when filling an open position. In 2025, resumes will become more skilled-focused.
Here is a list of the 130 most in-demand soft skills examples:
Time management
Time management is organizing and balancing our time between activities to achieve goals. Hiring managers prefer candidates with personal time management skills to maximize on-site productivity and minimize work delays.
Here’s how to share time management skills under a resume job description:
“Prioritized daily tasks to meet tight deadlines and improve office productivity.”
Examples of solid time management skills include:
- Prioritization
- Meet deadlines
- Calendar management
- Self-motivation
- Focus
- On-time delivery
- Project length estimation
- Goal setting
- Scheduling
- Delegation
- Planning
- Short-term goals
- Long-term goals
Organization
Organizational skills involve managing time, tasks, and resources efficiently to improve productivity, maintain structure, and meet deadlines in personal or professional settings.
Here’s how to describe organizational skills under a resume job description:
“Developed a structured filing system that improved document retrieval efficiency.”
Consider this list of soft decision-making skills:
- Decluttering
- Goal setting
- Multitasking
- Record keeping
- Scheduling
- Strategic planning
- Task prioritization
Decision-making
Decision-making in the workplace helps determine what can make or break a business opportunity. Featuring these soft skills on your resume can help hiring managers that you can gather information, identify goals and weigh the business consequences in an independent or collaborative setting.
Here’s how to share decision-making skills under a resume job description:
“Assessed supply chain performance and made data-driven decisions to optimize delivery speed.”
Consider this list of soft decision-making skills:
- Alternative considerations
- Analysis
- Assessment
- Business forecasting
- Data-driven decisions
- Emotional intelligence
- Inclusiveness
- Intuition
- Judgment
- Leadership
- Predictive modeling
- Thoughtfulness
- Weighing calculated risks
Work ethic
Employers look for candidates with solid work ethics because they are trustworthy and reliable. Employees with excellent work ethics stay focused on tasks for as long as necessary to get them done. They also bring honesty and integrity to the workplace.
Here’s how to share work ethic skills under a resume job description:
“Maintained a spotless safety record through diligent adherence to workplace protocols.”
Related work ethic skills include:
- Detail-oriented
- Discipline
- Exceeding expectations
- Hardworking
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Motivation
- On-time
- Positive attitude
- Quality craftsmanship
- Responsibility
- Task completion
- Trustworthiness
Creativity and marketing skills
Some hiring managers prefer creative candidates because they encourage innovation and help drive the business forward. The following creative marketing soft skills might convince hiring managers that you can help unlock new ideas.
Here’s how to share creative skills under a resume job description:
“Designed engaging marketing materials, increasing brand visibility by 40%.”
Creativity soft skills for resumes include:
- Brainstorming
- Creative collaborations
- Creative problem-solving
- Creative solutions
- Experimentation
- Idea generation
- Imagination
- Innovation
- Meeting contribution
- Lateral thinking
- Open-minded
- Outside-the-box thinking
- Unique approaches
- Visionary
Conflict-resolution
Intuitive conflict-resolution skills help improve work harmony and productivity. This skill cultivates stronger work relationships, makes teams function better, and enhances work happiness, making you a highly valuable job candidate for most openings.
Here’s how to share conflict-resolution skills under a resume job description:
“Mediated workplace disputes, fostering a more positive and collaborative environment.”
Related conflict-resolution skills include:
- Agreeableness
- Constructive solutions
- Cross-functional improvement
- De-escalation strategies
- Diplomacy
- Dispute mitigation
- Emotional awareness
- Impartiality
- Interpersonal communication
- Listening
- Mediation
- Objectiveness
- Stress reduction
- Two-sided solutions
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is managing your emotions to relieve stress, communicate effectively and defuse conflict. These skills enable you to effectively combine all your resume soft skills in the workplace.
Here’s how to share emotional intelligence skills under a resume job description:
“Resolved customer concerns with empathy, increasing repeat business by 20%.”
Emotional intelligence skills include:
- Communication
- Compassion
- Customer service
- Deep listening
- Emotional support
- Empathy
- Identifying tension
- Interpersonal skills
- Mindfulness
- Reading clients
- Sensitivity
- Social awareness
- Social justice
Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills help you cultivate effective workplace communication with individuals and groups. These soft skills allow us to interact and work better with others. Whether you use them in the workplace or personal life, these skills are essential for success and human connection.
Here’s how to share interpersonal skills under a resume job description:
“Coordinated with housekeeping and maintenance teams for seamless guest experiences.”
Job-relevant interpersonal skills include:
- Active listening
- Collaborative spirit
- Dispute resolution
- Expressing appreciation
- Friendly personality
- Oral communication
- Positive attitude
- Team building
- Teamwork
- Tension reduction
- Written communication
Empathy
Empathy helps you understand different perspectives, making you more patient, predictive and pleasant to the people you work with! Employees value this skill because empathic skills can help build meaningful workplace relationships and genuine connections when working with clients or stakeholders.
Here’s how to describe empathy skills under a resume job description:
“Provided compassionate support to clients facing financial and emotional hardships.”
Job-relevant empathy skills include:
- Body language interpretation
- Colleague relationships
- Cultural sensitivity
- Deep listening
- Expressing gratitude
- Generosity
- Interpersonal relations
- Mindfulness
- Rapport creation
- Respect building
- Thoughtfulness
Key Takeaways
Soft Skills FAQ
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are social abilities that enable you to work independently or collaboratively across multiple work settings. This subsection of skills can prove your reliability, quick thinking, and culture fit when hiring managers.
There’s a wide range of soft skills. Still, most fall into the following categories:
- Communication
- Emotional intelligence
- Leadership
- Creativity
- Time management
- Teamwork
- Critical thinking
- Management
- Work ethic
What are soft skills vs. hard skills?
The most effective resumes include soft and hard skills, which are learned skills related to workplace tasks. You’ll consist of both skill sets across multiple resume sections, including your professional summary, work history and skills sections.
Examples of interpersonal or ‘people-centric’ traits include:
- Empathy
- Active listening
- Attention to detail
- Collaboration
- Organization
- Problem-solving
- Teamwork
- Decision-making
- Critical thinking
- Time management
Hard skills are teachable, technical abilities that are easy to quantify. Examples of these technical skills include:
- Presentation and public speaking
- Marketing skills
- Computer skills
- Technical skills
- Language skills
- Software knowledge
- Coding language
- Design
- Statistics
- Data collection
Why are soft skills necessary for specific jobs?
Choosing the right soft skills for specific jobs can help set you apart from other candidates in this competitive job market.
- Culture fit: Prepare in advance by researching the company’s culture. What qualities do the business value? The information you find will define which soft skills you will include in your resume.
- Communication: Strong communication is essential in any role. Recruiters value candidates who can get their points across clearly and concisely. This paves the way to building successful relationships with stakeholders and senior leaders.
- Problem-solving: Interviewers will ask for examples of when you’ve been able to work independently or with the team to solve challenging situations. Prepare examples of your best problem-solving experiences. You can frame these experiences in a problem-action-solution phrase and add them to your summary statement or work history section.
How can I develop soft skills?
Develop your intuitive soft skills inside and outside the workplace. These soft skills impact your success by boosting your productivity and creating a path toward career advancement.
- Take every job or task seriously: No matter how small a responsibility seems, performing it with attention, intention and focus can help you develop and practice critical thinking, attention to detail and work ethic skills.
- Get organized: Organization demonstrates your attention to detail. It also cultivates time management and shows that you are a reliable resource. Avoid clutter and stick to deadlines and timelines. Start using a calendar and set up a daily routine. These habits can help you develop traditional organizational skills.
- Volunteer for projects: Take on personal volunteer projects to practice additional skills on your own time. Working on these community volunteer projects can help you develop communication, teamwork, collaboration and time management skills.
- Ask for advice: Don’t be afraid to ask your manager or teammates. Your unique work experience enables you to develop unique soft skills and perspectives — these insights can help you look and work outside your comfort zone.