A Guide to Understanding and Using Soft Skills in Your Resume [70+ Examples]

Two people with an equal level of experience and expertise sit for a job interview. One gets rejected and the other bags a deal higher than quoted and successfully negotiates joining terms.

What made the difference?

• The first person was not as confident, could not demonstrate his knowledge, and could not lead the communication further.
• The second one was an excellent negotiator, an active listener, and held his words with great confidence.

We can make out why the second person won the deal.

Despite both being experts, the second one succeeds due to his personality traits that we usually call "soft skills"

Here is what employers think about soft skills:

According to a survey conducted by The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), 97% of employers surveyed said that soft skills were either as important or more important than hard skills. However, 46% of new employees fail within 18 months, and of them, 89% is due to a lack of soft skills.

In this blog you will learn:

• What Are Soft Skills?
• Why Are Soft Skills Important?
• Soft Skills v/s Hrad Skills
• Where to use soft skills in your resume?
• Top Jobs That Require Soft Skills
• 70+ Soft Skills That You Can Use In Your Resume
• Other profiles that require soft skills

What are Soft Skills?

Soft skills, also called transferable skills are characteristics that influence how you operate, both independently and together, in a workspace. Many employers, for example, value-effective communication as a critical soft talent. Dependability, successful teamwork, and active listening are some of the others.

• Most soft skills are difficult to develop, they are not like financial analysis, or coding, which can be taught through courses
• Soft skills cannot be standardised, they are different in each individual
• These are universal, no advancement in technology or automation can replace them

Why Are Soft Skills Important?

Your skills like communication, ethics, thought process compassion, and analysis among others make your personality. These make you dynamic and unique.

With resources available readily, online anyone can learn skills, practise them, and call themselves a pro. But everyone with a strong skill set is not suitable for a given job.

But why?

Every job, every company, every setup, needs different kinds of people, despite their expertise.

Soft Skills v/s Hard Skills

Hards skills or soft skills, both are equally important to excel in a career and each serves its own utility.

Here is a table to give you an overview of their differences.  

BASIS FOR COMPARISON	HARD SKILLS	SOFT SKILLS
Meaning	Hard skills imply the technical skills specific to the job, which a person has acquired through proper training and learning.	Soft skills refer to the set of personality traits, which defines an individual's relationships in a work environment, with others.
What is reflects?	How perfect a candidate is, for the job?	How perfectly a candidate adapt or fit into the work environment?
Constitutes	Key occupational requirements for the job.	Widely acceptable skills.
Acquired through	Formal Education and Training Programme.	Informal process, i.e. upbringing, and social surroundings.
About	Techniques, mechanism and professional competence.	Relationships and social competence.
Specific to	Job	People
Orientation	Aptitude oriented	Attitude oriented
Measurability	Measurable	Immeasurable
Provability	Easy to prove using evidence, such as certificate, degree, diploma, awards, etc.	Associated with personal attributes, and so these are difficult to prove because they are intangible.
Transferability	Possible	Yes
Impact on personality	No	Yes

Source: Keydiffernces.com

Where to Use Soft Skills in Your Resume

In the resume summary

Summary plays an important role in conveying your skills and experience to the recruiter. While most of your summary talks about what value you can bring to the company, it is a good idea to summarise your soft skills in a sentence or two.

For instance, this resume of a Store Manager talks about, Vandana’s skills in decision making, her ability to work in high-pressure situations, and her positive approach to her role which requires a lot of public dealing.

Resume of a Store Manager

Check full resume of Store Manager in text format

More samples with soft skills in summary:

• Resume of AWS Architect
• Resume of HR Manager
• Resume of Product Manager - Data & Analytics

In the skills section of your resume

This resume of a Growth Product Manager has two of the soft skills, collaboration, and team leadership, listed in the skills section of the resume. All these skills play a crucial role when you are at the management level. The skills section of the resume is a good place to convey to the reader about them directly

Resume of Growth Product Manager

Check full resume of Growth Product Manager in text format

More samples with Softy skills in the skills/core-competencies section

• Resume of F&B Manager
• Resume of Construction Engineer

Top Jobs That Require Soft Skills

There is no job profile, where you can excel without soft skills. Even in entry-level desk jobs, you need to demonstrate professionalism and a collaborative approach, even if you are an individual contributor.

However, there are some jobs, that are built on your soft skills. These jobs are usually customer-facing and require continuous interaction with stakeholders.

Sales

How well you sell to your customer heavily depends on your ability to understand your ideal customer’s problems, provide them with the solution, and convince them to buy it at your quoted price.

Here is a detailed description of what sales personnel do:

• Source and secure new client relationships to maximize growth opportunities while maintaining and generating new activities
• Drive new and existing sales activity by prospecting by telephone, email, social media, and industry conferences
• Cultivate relationships with decision-makers in client organizations to secure new business, new client accounts and to maximize the value delivered by the organization
• Support all stages of the sales process, maintain sales control and guide internal teams to collaborate and rally around development of innovative solutions to meet or exceed identified sales targets
• Grow the client relationship by ensuring flawless execution, including cross-functional collaboration with specialty teams outside target market
• Act as a trusted advisor to clients and prospects by demonstrating a deep understanding of their business drivers, and offer solutions utilizing persuasive win themes and effective sales strategies
• Negotiate pricing and terms within acceptable guidelines outlined by management
• Work cross-functionally with relevant departments to troubleshoot and resolve issues as needed
• Collaborate with marketing department representatives on lead generation strategies and tactics
• Monitor customer satisfaction regularly through quality metrics and client feedback
• Customer penetration and retention

There is very little technical skill required here. It is totally based on your skills in:

• Communication
• Negotiation
• Relationship Building
• Customer Service
• Problem Solving
• Requirements Analysis

However, it is difficult to find people who have this unique package of skills, and therefore sales professionals are always in demand.

Resume of Channel Sales Manager

Hospitality Jobs

The hospitality industry is largely service-based, and your resume needs to demonstrate your vigour to serve and ability to ensure premium customer experiences.

It is a large industry with a large number of roles, here discuss some of them for you:

Server

• Ensure quality customer service by providing one-on-one attention to detail
• Participates in the preparation and service of food and beverage items in adherence to company food standards for presentation, sanitation and safety, and portion control
• Clean work area and equipment used in food preparation and service
• Follows all safety and sanitation procedures
• Deliver food items to and from the main kitchen
• Promote a clean, safe and neat environment for residents, self and staff
• Cooperates with staff of other departments in performing job duties
• Contribute to the team; exhibit professionalism with customers, fellow employees, and others

The job of a server is a full-time guest-facing role, and requires qualities like:

• Professionalism
• Courteousness
• Attention to detail
• Customer communication
• Service-oriented mindset

Front Desk Management

• Respond to all guest requests problems complaints and/or accidents presented at the Front Desk and follow up to ensure guest satisfaction
• Maximize room revenue and occupancy by reviewing status daily
• Analyze rate efficiency monitor credit report and maintain close observation of daily house count
• Attend all required Rooms Merchandizing meetings with all appropriate reports and documentation necessary to establish select sell guidelines and implement appropriate restrictions
• Prepare employee Schedule according to business forecast payroll budget guidelines and productivity requirement
• Maintain a professional working relationship and promote open lines of communication with managers employees and other departments
• Operate all aspects of the Front Office computer system including software maintenance report generation and analysis and simple programming
• Monitor the process of taking reservations ensuring that courtesy and up-selling techniques are maintained
• Greet and welcome all guests approaching the Front Desk in accordance with Aimbridge Hospitality S.O.P.'s
• Operate radios efficiently and professionally in communicating with hotel staff
• Coordinate all aspects of the ongoing implementation of service
• Ensure that employees are at all times attentive friendly helpful and courteous to all guests managers and other employees
• Maintain an organized and comprehensive filing system with documentation of purchases vouchering schedules forecasts reports and tracking logs

Any guest in a hotel property first interacts with the front desk. A good interaction at the front desk paves way for a good customer experience. Apart from technical and operational knowledge, front desk employees need to have the following skills:

• Problem Solving
• Guest Relations
• Delegation
• Time Management
• Team Leadership
• Written & Verbal Communication
• Professionalism

Check Resume of Front Office Manager in text format

Cabin Crew

• Responsible for the safety and comfort of guests aboard the aircraft while providing exemplary service
• Provide Guests with briefings pre-flight, during flight, and after landing
• Assist Guests by answering any inquiries they may have in addition to aiding Guests with their carry-on items, which may require overhead lifting
• Market, sell and provide snacks and beverages to Guests
• Check emergency equipment and be aware of hazardous situations in the cabin
• Demonstrate the use of emergency equipment as required
• Provides leadership, direction, and assistance during an emergency situation, including aircraft evacuation, administering first aid to ill or incapacitated Guests, and during incidents such as turbulent flights and delayed flights

The role of the flight attendant focuses on ensuring the safety of passengers and ensuring a comfortable journey on-board. Here are the skills that differentiate them:

• Patience
• Active listening
• Decision Making
• Communication
• Compassion
• Amicability
• Customer Service

Journalism

For news and media agencies to function properly, they require vast manpower, from drivers to head of production and senior editors. However, there is not a single profile, that does not require any transferable skills to sustain.

Below is a detailed description of a News Correspondent's profile and the soft skills required:

• Work with the News desk and senior executives to produce exclusive, digital-first content and comprehensive news coverage across all platforms
• Produce and source stories, pictures, video and audio content for the Evening Standard across all platforms
• Deliver content in a timely manner, legally safe and compliant form
• Helping to generate and deliver ideas for special projects, investigations, and in-depth pieces
• Works in a smart, flexible, and focused way, is open to change, and suggests ideas for improvements to the way things are done
• Builds and maintains positive and supportive working relationships with colleagues
• Works to agreed business goals and objectives and deals with challenges in a constructive and responsive way

A news correspondent, who researches and developed technical stories, needs to be thorough with various research methodologies and operating necessary equipment. However, the whole process cannot be completed without the following:

• Deadline driven
• Attention to detail
• Storytelling
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Interviewing
• Adaptability
• Ability to work under high-pressure situations

Resume of News Presenter

Check full Resume of News Presenter in text format

Customer Service

Customer service as the name suggests requires you to deal with customers and provide them with high-quality service.  

• Identify process improvements, training, implementations, projects, and create sustainability in partnerships with Business Unit leaders, such as Sales, Operations, Accounting, and Research & Development
• Enable the organization to achieve its strategic business goals, operational objectives
• Directly manage customer service and inside sales department, including hiring, performance evaluations, coaching, training and development, exercising praise and disciplinary action when necessary
• Conduct periodic departmental meetings and designs communication flows between staff and leadership
• Manage  team's work schedules ensuring customer coverage and recommends appropriate staffing levels to Director, Operations
• Manage the implementation of customer service and inside sales department processes to ensure optimal output of customer satisfaction
• Design blended customer service and inside sales with an emphasis on people and processes to determine readiness for KPIs, CRM system, and new operating model
• Provide customer solutions and attention to detail with emphasis on resolving gray areas
• Design learning and training programs to team in the form of the participant and supporting customer and inside sales functional guides
• Research and conduct detailed impact assessments of customer service and inside sales that include technology, data, people and processes
• Oversee the overall effectiveness of services to distributors, end-user customers, and outside sales team
• Engage in customer relations to establish and maintain a rapport with new and repeat customers
• Manage customer inquiries, research, and provide solutions to the satisfaction of the customer.

The role requires you to lead teams and work across various departments to ensure customers are satisfied and continue their engagement with the organization. Here are the key skills:

• Cross-functional Collaboration
• Cultural competence
• Assessment and evaluation
• Storytelling
• Empathy
• Persuasion
• Planning
• Friendliness

Check resume of Customer Service Manager in text format

70+ Soft skills that you can use in your Resume

It is a real task to select the exact set of soft skills that you have and your employer requires.

We have made the process easier for you by giving more than 70 skills for you:

• Analyzing
• Benchmark development
• Brainstorming
• Drawing conclusions
• Experimenting
• Innovation
• Insight-driven
• Troubleshooting
• Delegation
• Goal setting
• Managing appointments
• Meeting deadlines
• Multitasking
• Prioritizing
• Integrity
• Resource management
• Scheduling
• Delegation
• Team Leadership
• Time management
• Work-life balance
• Patience
• Professionalism

• Brevity
• Confidence
• Cross-cultural communication
• Friendliness
• Negotiating
• Presentation
• Public speaking
• Storytelling
• Empathy
• Persuasion
• Planning
• Rapport-building
• Reliability
• Respectfulness
• Tolerance
• Flexibility
• Ability to work under pressure
• Adaptability
• Communication
• Conflict resolution
• Creativity
• Emotional intelligence
• Patience
• Problem-solving
• Relationship building
• Self-motivation
• Teamwork/Collaboration
• Evaluating
• Inference
• Interpreting
• Open-mindedness
• Self-regulation
• Abstract thinking
• Cognitive skills
• Contextualizing
• Creative thinking
• Critical thinking
• Innovating
• Logical thinking
• Motivating
• Organizational skills
• Presenting
• Problem-solving
• Active listening
• Artistic design
• Open-mindedness
• Storytelling
• Data-driven decision-making
• Ethical decision making

Other Profiles That Require Soft Skills

There are many profiles apart from those mentioned above that require 80% input in terms of transferable skills.

Below list of profiles are on Resumod's samples page for you to check out:

• Resume of Human Rights Lawyer
• Resume of PR Coordinator