Game-Changing Resume Soft Skills: How to Highlight Yours Effectively (200+ Examples)

Your technical abilities might get you noticed, but it’s your soft skills that’ll help you succeed and grow professionally. In fact, employers are increasingly looking for candidates who not only have the required hard skills in tech and tools but also demonstrate the ability to collaborate, communicate, and adapt.

Resume soft skills can make you a more versatile candidate by showing you have the qualities needed to thrive in any workplace and work with others.

But how do you highlight those soft skills on a resume? In this article, you'll learn which resume soft skills are most in demand, how to list them effectively, and tips for tailoring them to specific job descriptions.

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Find the right resume soft skills for every application. Try Teal's AI Resume Maker for free.

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What are soft skills?

Soft skills are personal attributes that shape how you interact with others and approach tasks. 

They include qualities like communication, adaptability, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence. 

Unlike technical abilities, soft skills are more about how you engage with people and manage situations. These skills are valuable in a wide range of contexts, helping you connect, collaborate, and navigate challenges effectively.

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What are resume soft skills?

Resume soft skills are the personal traits and abilities you showcase on your resume to demonstrate how you work with others, solve problems, and adapt to different situations. 

These skills—sometimes called transferable skills—such as teamwork, communication, and leadership, complement your technical qualifications and help employers understand how you perform in collaborative and dynamic environments. Including soft skills on your resume highlights the value you bring beyond just your technical expertise.

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Soft skills vs. hard skills 

In contrast to resume soft skills, hard skills are more specific abilities that can be defined and measured. 

Sometimes called technical skills, hard skills often refer to technical knowledge or training necessary to perform particular jobs in specific industries. (For example, Google Suite, Salesforce, Python, data analysis, or accounting.) 

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Why are soft skills important?

Soft skills are important because they help you navigate relationships, lead teams, and contribute to your overall impact—no matter your field or industry.

While technical skills show how you accomplish tasks, soft skills—like communication, work ethic, and emotional intelligence—are what really drive your success. These personal skills shape how you interact, solve problems, and adapt to different situations.

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For example:

Leadership skills can help you move software development projects forward, while problem-solving sparks innovation in science.

Strong communication skills enable collaboration in education, and adaptability helps administrative professionals handle shifting tasks.

Time management improves productivity, and integrity fosters trust across teams.

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Types of soft skills

Understanding how soft skills break down into different groups can help you identify the types of skills you already have and where you have opportunities for growth. 

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Communication soft skills

Communication skills are integral in nearly every professional setting. They facilitate a clear and effective exchange of information, ideas, and emotions. 

• Verbal communication is used to relay information or share your point of view.
• Non-verbal communication involves body language, facial expressions, and other forms of physical presentation to complement verbal communication. 
• Written communication is how you craft words to deliver information—crucial for persuasive copy, effective emails, reports, proposals, and more.

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Problem-solving soft skills

Problem-solving skills refer to approaching difficulties or complications and finding effective solutions. 

These core skills involve critical thinking, analysis, creativity, resilience, and decision-making. And they're valuable because they allow you to successfully tackle obstacles and find solutions to complete projects and tasks.

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Leadership soft skills

Leadership and management skills involve guiding, directing, and influencing others toward a common goal. 

Leaders need a mix of soft skills to inspire trust, motivate teams, delegate tasks, and make strategic decisions. Key leadership skills include emotional intelligence (EQ), conflict resolution, coaching, and strong communication skills. 

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Teamwork soft skills

Can you work effectively and peacefully with others? If so, your strong teamwork and collaboration skills can bring people together to achieve shared goals. In fact, there are few professional settings that don't require some semblance of cooperative dynamics. 

So what does that look like?

Teamwork and collaboration skills involve active listening, communicating clearly, cooperation, being open to feedback, and successfully managing conflicts. 

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Creativity soft skills

Creativity and innovation skills involve the ability to think outside the box, come up with new ideas, and approach problems from different angles.

And while these skills are valuable for traditionally 'creative' roles, such as graphic designers or copywriters—they're also becoming increasingly important in many roles and industries as companies strive to differentiate themselves from the competition.

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Where to put soft skills on a resume

Soft skills can be incorporated into multiple sections of your resume to highlight your strengths effectively. These skills help to round out your qualifications and show how you work with others and handle different situations.

You can mention them in your professional summary, work experience, and Skills section to ensure they’re easily visible to recruiters. That said, the skills you list—regardless of where—should always be relevant to the job you’re applying for.

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Here’s where you can place relevant soft skills in your resume:

• Professional summary
• Work experience
• Skills section

Below, you’ll learn how to list them in each of these areas.

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How to list soft skills on a resume

Listing soft skills on your resume throughout sections offers a more holistic view of your capabilities and strengths. 

But as soft skills aren’t measurable, weaving them in with hard skills and impact adds depth and shows how you used them. This approach helps demonstrate your well-rounded qualifications while still addressing how you’ve achieved success and delivered results. 

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Professional Summary 

Incorporate soft skills in your professional summary or short professional bio seamlessly with your technical skills and achievements. This gives hiring managers an immediate sense of how you approach your work and interact with others. 

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Here's a simple template to guide you:

[Job title] with [# of years] of experience in [industry or field], skilled in [hard skill], [hard skill], and [soft skill]. Known for using [soft skill] and [hard skill] to [key achievement with impact], with a focus on [result or goal relevant to the job].

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Work experience

In your Work Experience section, you can blend soft skills on a resume with your accomplishments to show how they’ve contributed to tangible results. 

Instead of listing tasks, highlight how your soft skills—like leadership, problem-solving, or communication—played a role in achieving outcomes. This gives context to your contributions and demonstrates your ability to apply both technical expertise and interpersonal skills in real-world scenarios.

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Try this formula for one work experience bullet:

[Action verb] + [Hard skill] + [Soft skill] + [Strategy] to [ measurable result or outcome] with [specific impact or success metric].

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Skills Section

While a dedicated Skills section can effectively highlight hard and soft skills, it’s important to make sure these skills are woven throughout the rest of your resume so they come to life beyond a soft skills list.

Using bullet points or separating skills by commas in this section can call attention to your diverse range of abilities.

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However, good soft skills for a resume don't just sit on the page. Incorporating these skills in your Work Experience, Professional Summary, and other sections shows how you apply them in real-world scenarios. A dedicated Skills section provides a snapshot of your technical expertise and interpersonal abilities, but the rest of your resume should back it up with context and achievements.

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Resume soft skills examples

Below, you'll find examples of soft skills tailored to specific sections of your resume. These examples will guide you on how to effectively integrate them into your Professional Summary, Work Experience, and Skills sections.

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Soft skills in a professional summary

If a job description lists “detail-oriented,” an example of how to incorporate that into your professional summary could look like: 

Detail-oriented and highly organized Project Manager with 15+ years of experience orchestrating successful projects and delivering them within strict timelines and budgets, resulting in an average cost savings of 10% per project.

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Soft skills in a Work Experience section

Using the template above, soft skills in your resume bullet points can look like:

• Led project management and cross-functional collaboration to complete a major initiative 2 weeks ahead of schedule, resulting in a 20% increase in productivity.

• Utilized data analysis and problem-solving to identify inefficiencies in the supply chain, reducing operational costs by 15% and improving overall workflow.

• Managed customer relations and implemented CRM tools, increasing customer retention by 30% and driving a 10% revenue growth.

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Soft skills in a Skills section

Keeping in mind the rest of these skills are sprinkled throughout the other sections of a resume, a Skills section that incorporates soft skills could look like this:

• Cross-functional collaboration
• Data analysis
• Editing
• Google Analytics
• Miro
• Relational leadership
• SEO

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Soft skills examples by profession

Ultimately, soft skills are vital in just about every job and in every sector. And much like resume strengths, they can complement your biggest career wins.

So let’s take a look at some top soft skills examples from across professions and industries that impact relationships, work ethic, productivity, performance, and success.

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Customer service soft skills

• Active listening
• Adaptability
• Composure
• Conflict resolution
• Cultural sensitivity
• Dependability
• Diplomacy
• Emotional intelligence (EQ)
• Empathy
• Enthusiasm
• Flexibility
• Interpersonal skills
• Multitasking
• Optimism
• Patience
• Persuasiveness
• Positivity
• Respect
• Responsiveness
• Stress management

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Healthcare soft skills

• Analytical skills 
• Assertiveness
• Attention to detail
• Compassion
• Dedication
• Decision making
• Dexterity
• Endurance
• Focus
• Hygiene
• Medical ethics
• Physical stamina
• Precision
• Problem sensitivity
• Quick thinking 
• Reliability
• Resilience
• Sympathy
• Tact
• Vigilance
• Wellness

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Marketing soft skills

• Adaptability to Change
• Audience understanding (specific to your industry or target audience)
• Branding expertise
• Conceptual thinking
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Consumer behavior understanding
• Data-driven decision making
• Digital media
• Experimentation
• Flexibility
• Initiative
• Market knowledge (specific to your market)
• Networking
• Organizational skills
• Project management
• Risk-taking
• Storytelling
• Strategic thinking
• Trend awareness
• Vision

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Management soft skills

• Active listening skills
• Budgeting
• Business acumen
• Change management
• Coaching
• Delegating
• Evaluation
• Financial literacy
• Goal-setting or goal-oriented 
• Innovation
• Inspiring
• Leadership skills
• Mentoring
• Motivation
• Organization
• Performance management
• Resource management
• Risk identification
• Strategic planning
• Talent management
• Team building

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Education soft skills

• Assessment skills (educational and personal)
• Classroom management
• Conflict resolution
• Counseling skills
• Creativity
• Cultural sensitivity
• Curriculum development
• Effective knowledge sharing
• Instructional design
• Lifelong learning
• Motivation
• Patience
• Presentation skills
• Public speaking
• Record keeping
• Research skills
• Student engagement
• Time management
• Tolerance
• Writing skills

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Sales soft skills

• Closing skills
• Cold calling
• Customer retention
• Direct sales
• Follow-up
• Lead generation
• Negotiation
• Objection handling
• Outreach 
• Persuasion
• Problem-solving
• Relationship building
• Resilience
• Sales cycle management
• Self-motivated 
• Social selling 
• Strategic market insight
• Strategic prospecting
• Territory management
• Upselling

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Design soft skills

• Aesthetic sense
• Artistic expression
• Brand identity
• Collaborative product development
• Color theory application
• Concept development
• Creative skills
• Graphic design
• Industrial design
• Innovation
• Intuitive user interface design
• Spatial reasoning
• Typography
• User-centric design thinking
• User-centric web design
• User-centered problem solving
• User-centered prototyping
• Visualization
• Visual communication
• Visual ideation

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Accounting soft skills

• Confidentiality
• Critical analysis
• Ethical conduct
• Financial leadership
• Forecasting
• Insightful data interpretation
• Numeracy
• Organizational proficiency
• Regulation awareness
• Resource optimization
• Spreadsheet proficiency
• Strategic tax guidance
• Transparent financial reporting
• Treasury knowledge
• Trust building

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Business soft skills

• Attention to detail
• Cognitive flexibility
• Communication
• Conceptualization
• Critical thinking
• Documentation
• Entrepreneurial mindset
• Forecasting
• Influence and persuasion
• Intuition
• Pattern recognition
• Quantitative research
• Regression analysis
• Stakeholder management
• Statistical analysis
• Storytelling
• Strategic thinking
• Systems analysis
• Systems thinking

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Web development soft skills

• Adaptive design thinking
• Aesthetic harmony
• Collaboration
• Curiosity
• Cybersecurity awareness
• Design gamification
• Digital story weaving
• Empathy
• Ethical user persuasion
• Experimentation
• Flow state attainment
• Growth mindset
• Intuitive design sensibility
• Open-mindedness
• Resilience
• Stakeholder management
• Technological intuition
• User empowerment
• Web performance artistry

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How to highlight resume soft skills with Teal

The best practice for adding soft skills to your resume is to incorporate them in each section. Here’s how to do with the Teal AI Resume Builder. 

Step 1: Sign up for a free Teal account if you haven't yet. This will help you test the software to see if it's right for your needs. (If you already have a Teal account, log in here.) .

Step 2: Click the "Resume Builder" icon in the left navigation panel. Then, from here, you can choose an existing resume or click the "New Resume" button at the top right.

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Step 3: To add soft skills to your professional summary, scroll to Professional Summaries, click the drop-down button, then click "Add Professional Summary." Create one from scratch, or click the "Generate With AI" Button. 

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Pro Tip: Teal's AI pulls keywords for your resume (like technical skills, soft skills, and other important language) from the JD of any role you've saved in your Job Tracker.

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Step 4:  To add soft skills to your work experience bullet points, scroll to Work Experience. Then, click the drop-down button. Click "Add Work Experience" to create a new section or "Add Bullet" in an existing resume.

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Step 5: To add soft skills to your Skills section, scroll to Skills, click the drop-down button, then "Add Skills." Here you can list your skills individually or group them by type—in addition to incorporating them into a paragraph or bullet points. 

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How to tailor soft skills to specific jobs

Tailoring your soft skills to a specific job is about aligning what you offer with what the hiring manager or recruiter needs. The goal is to present your soft skills in a way that speaks directly to the role you're applying for. Here’s how:

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Review the job description: Read the JD carefully. Look for keywords or phrases that highlight the soft skills or traits they want. Words like "team player," "strong communicator," "self-starter," and "problem-solver" provide insight into what’s expected.

Research the company culture: A company’s values and culture can clue you in on the soft skills they prioritize. For example, a company that values innovation might appreciate creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability.

Match your skills honestly: Once you’ve identified the key soft skills for the job, align them with your own experience. (But make sure to only include skills that reflect what you bring to the table.)

Quantify your impact when possible: It’s not always easy to quantify soft skills, but if you can, provide examples of how those skills delivered results. For instance, “Improved team productivity by 20% through effective communication… etc.” shows exactly how your soft skills made a difference.

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Pro Tip: Use Teal’s Job Matching to find good soft skills for resumes and incorporate them into your content for every unique job—without the manual work.

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Resume soft skills to highlight in 2024

As industries evolve, certain soft skills can boost your qualifications and demonstrate your fit for a role. So, what are the top in-demand soft skills employers are looking for in 2024?

1. Adaptability: With the rapid pace of change, being able to adjust to new situations and shift directions efficiently is highly valued in many roles.
2. Communication: Clear communication helps you express ideas and collaborate effectively with others, which is essential for teamwork and understanding diverse perspectives.
3. Creativity: As automation grows, creativity has become a key differentiator. It’s crucial for problem-solving and developing innovative ideas or strategies.
4. Emotional intelligence (EQ): EQ is about recognizing and managing emotions (yours and others). It helps build strong relationships and navigate complex workplace dynamics.
5. Critical thinking: Analyzing situations, considering different approaches, and making informed decisions are important skills, especially when facing increasingly complex challenges.
6. Leadership: Even in non-management roles, the ability to motivate, guide, and take initiative is valued by employers seeking proactive, team-oriented individuals.
7. Collaboration: Working well with others, especially in cross-functional teams, is vital in today’s interconnected work environments.
8. Problem-solving: Identifying challenges and coming up with effective solutions is a key skill that demonstrates your ability to contribute value in any situation.
9. Resilience: The ability to recover from setbacks and stay focused under pressure is important in fast-paced or high-stress workplaces.
10. Time management skills: Prioritizing tasks, staying organized, and meeting deadlines are fundamental skills that apply to nearly every job—especially if you’re in a remote position.

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Pro Tip: To learn more about personal skills that can help you land a job and grow your career, read up on interpersonal skills for a resume. 

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Strengthen your resume with soft skills

Soft skills highlight your adaptability, emotional intelligence, and collaboration abilities—offering qualities that go beyond what technology can replicate. These skills bring unique value to your resume and help demonstrate your potential as a well-rounded candidate.

With Teal's Resume Maker, you can seamlessly integrate these skills into your resume. With Teal's tools, like the Job Description Keyword Finder, you can highlight your strengths in a clear, professional way that aligns with each unique role—ensuring your resume reflects the full range of your capabilities.

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Sign up for Teal today and start building a standout resume that showcases your best skills in a way that resonates with employers and positions you for success.

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And remember, your development doesn't stop once your resume is finished. Like any other skills, your soft skills need to be continually honed and developed as your professional journey continues. Take every opportunity to nurture your skills to unlock your full potential.