How To Show Your Leadership Skills In A Resume
Publié le 24 April 2024
Knowing how to show your leadership skills in a resume can be the key to getting a hiring manager to see that you’re the right person for the job.
Enhancing the right leadership skills in your resume can be a game-changer for your career.
In fact, over 72% of employers look for organizational and analytical skills among potential employees.
This means that if you have these essential skills, you must highlight them to stand out from other candidates.
Unfortunately, including these abilities in your resume skills section is not the bestway to showcase them to hiring managers and recruiters.
If you know how to show your leadership skills in a resume clearly and effectively, you will put yourself in a much better position to get hired.
In this article, you’ll learn how to show your leadership skills in a resume and increase your chances of getting your dream job.
What are leadership skills?
Leadership skills are the traits and abilities that enable you to guide a workplace team, make strategic decisions, and inspire others toward achieving common goals.
It’s not just about issuing orders but inspiring and motivating people to embrace a project or vision that will benefit the entire organization.
These traits range from effective communication to strategic thinking and conflict resolution and can be divided into two main categories: hard skills and soft skills.
Hard skills are more technical abilities, like strategic planning or project management, as well as knowledge of specific programs and industry techniques.
Soft skills, on the other hand, are more about interpersonal qualities, such as communication, emotional intelligence, and leadership accountability. These are skills that are easily transferable between workplaces.
You must include both these types of leadership skills in a resume to prove you have the proper ability to handle tough situations.
Key Leadership Skills to Include on Your Resume
It’s not just about your work experience.
You must demonstrate your leadership experience and management skills when you aim for a specific job.
It tells potential employers you’re ready to take charge and make things happen.
Here are some essential traits to demonstrate leadership on a resume.
Communication
How can you manage others if you can’t communicate as a leader?
Effective communication tops the list of key leadership skills for your resume.
It’s crucial to show hiring managers you can convey ideas clearly to the members of your team, while also listening carefully to their ideas and concerns as well.
Make sure to include in your leadership experience specific keywords that ATS scan for, like “effective communicator” or “strong listening skills.”
This way, you’ll prove your ability to talk and use strategic thinking to get past initial screenings. Be sure to review the job description for specific terms, as their ATS program will be looking for these in applications and resumes they receive.
Include them on your resume along with concrete examples of their use, such as how you led a project team through a challenging period with weekly briefings while prioritizing open feedback sessions.
Example:
Developed a new communication strategy for the customer service team, focusing on active listening and empathy.
This resulted in a 15% increase in customer satisfaction ratings within 4 months.
This approach shows tangible evidence of your communication prowess, proving you can move projects forward with your team.
Delegation
A good leader knows that micromanaging will decrease productivity and employee morale.
You must show on your resume that you’re confident in delegating because you can develop a culture of trust and respect in the workplace.
Highlight times you’ve assigned responsibilities and used the opportunity to bring out the best in others, pushing them to achieve beyond what they thought was possible.
For example, if you are a digital marketing specialist and want to show this skill, you can include a section like:
“Developed and implemented a social media content calendar for the company’s three main platforms (Instagram, Linkedin, X).
Delegated daily content creation tasks to a junior colleague, providing ongoing mentorship and guidance.
This strategy freed up 20% of my time to focus on higher-level marketing initiatives, such as SEO optimization and influencer outreach.”
Specify how this approach increased productivity or helped achieve goals faster.
Good leaders understand the importance of focusing on the most important tasks.
These real-life scenarios make it clear to recruiters that you understand the value of delegation in leadership positions.
Adaptability
Bruce Lee used to say, ” Be water, my friend.”
Of course, it is a metaphor, but the core message is to be flexible and adjust your approach based on the circumstances.
This is one of the most important leadership traits you can have.
Adaptability shines as a leadership skill in fast-paced environments and unexpected situations.
Leaders who adapt quickly can steer their teams through challenges and changes without losing momentum.
On your resume, show how you embraced change and made decisions that benefited your team or project.
Let’s say you are a sales account manager.
An effective example of leadership skills in a resume could be:
“Led a sales team of 10 representatives in successfully adapting to a remote work environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spearheaded the development and implementation of a new virtual sales strategy, including video conferencing techniques, online presentations, and targeted email campaigns.
This resulted in a 10% increase in qualified leads within the first quarter of remote operations.”
Problem-Solving
Managers are constantly faced with obstacles and unexpected situations.
That’s why problem-solving is one of the most important leadership skills to include in your resume.
It shows you can solve problems and inspires trust and confidence in your team.
This key component may not be industry-specific, but be sure to make some concrete examples, like this one:
“Led a team of developers in troubleshooting and resolving a critical bug that emerged during the development phase of a new software application. Implemented a new testing methodology to prevent similar issues in the future. The project was delivered on time and within budget”
This method paints a clear picture of your capabilities as a great leader who identifies problems and crafts impactful solutions.
Teamworking and People Management
The most important resource a leader can have is a motivated team.
Team-building and team leadership skills involve creating an environment where everyone is ready to help each other and work toward common goals.
You can highlight these leadership skills on a resume with an example like:
Led a cross-functional team of marketing, sales, and design professionals in the successful launch of a new product.
“Empowered team members to leverage their strengths by delegating tasks based on individual strength points and experience.
This resulted in a 20% increase in pre-orders compared to previous product launches”
By focusing on these aspects, you present yourself as more than just a manager.
You emerge as an inspirational leader who drives positive change and fosters an empowering work culture.
How to showcase your leadership skills in your resume
Showcasing your leadership skills on a resume goes beyond just listing them, especially when you want to stand out from other applicants for the same job role.
Here are the key points to focus on to bring out these qualities in the right way.
Choose skills that are relevant to the job description
As we’ve seen before, adaptability is one of the key leadership qualities for a resume.
You can show this skill to recruiters by analyzing the specific job description and demonstrating that you have what they seek.
Let’s say you’re applying for a project manager role.
First, carefully read the job description and look for keywords or phrases related to leadership like:
- team leadership
- project oversight
- delegation
- conflict resolution
- communication skills
Your goal is to find situations where you demonstrated leadership qualities that align with the keywords you found.
Pick a specific example where you used that skill and achieved a positive outcome.
An effective example to show your leadership skills in a resume could be like:
“Increased team productivity by 20% through effective delegation and task management during a software development project.”
This way, you highlight your delegation, communication, and team leadership abilities and how you sued them to achieve beneficial outcomes for the organization.
Make sure you always analyze the job description to show that you have what they need and you’re the best choice.
Show concrete examples using powerful language
If you use powerful language, you can demonstrate that you have strong leadership skills even before providing metrics and numbers which support your achievements.
Let’s analyze this example:
- Weak: Led a team of developers to create a new mobile app.
- Strong: Spearheaded the development of a new mobile app, resulting in a 30% increase in user engagement.
See the difference?
“Spearheaded” implies taking the initiative and driving the project forward rather than simply “leading.”
It wasn’t just leading a team but the development itself.
The second example shows initiative and highlights a measurable achievement through your leadership.
Make sure to include metrics and power verbs to enhance the leadership qualities in a resume.
Demonstrate your leadership skills in your cover letter
What happens when you can prove your leadership skills in your resume and in your cover letter?
You will boost your chances of success and get hired for that position!
According to a recent poll, 83% of hiring managers said that even if your resume isn’t perfect, a well-written cover letter can help you get an interview for a job offer.
Start with an engaging introduction and show enthusiasm for the role.
You can use a simple cover letter template and adapt it to a specific job description.
Ensure to apply the same principles seen for your resume: look for keywords matching your leadership skills and show concrete examples with metrics and numbers.
Another bonus tip is to add a call to action in your cover letter.
You will demonstrate a proactive attitude, an essential quality for a leader.
It could be something like this:
“I’m confident this experience translates well to the needs of this position.
I’m available for an interview at your earliest convenience to discuss how I can help your company achieve its objectives”
Conclusion
Crafting the perfect resume is your chance to stand out, and showcasing your leadership skills effectively and clearly is key.
Highlight roles where you steered projects or led teams, using vibrant language that clearly demonstrates your capabilities.
Remember, actions have a greater impact than words.
You can prove your abilities like true leaders by taking inspiration from the leadership skills resume examples in this article.
Read the job description carefully and adapt your leadership skills to your resume based on what they’re looking for, providing numbers and detailed insights.
And then, see the magic happen: your resume will emerge among all the others, and you will get one step closer to the job of your dreams!
