101+ Soft Skills Employers Look For [To Put in Your Resume]

Showcasing in-demand soft skills on your resume is essential as you search for jobs.

According to a recent survey, 97% of employers said soft skills were as important or even more important than hard skills. Moreover, it’s the attitude that causes 89% of hiring failures rather than a lack of certain technical skills.

Analytical thinking, time management, adaptability, and creativity—all of these skills are in high demand by employers. And these are only a few examples of soft skills!

If you’re wondering which soft skills you should put on your resume to impress potential employers, you’ve come to the right place. 

Let’s jump right in!

What Are Soft Skills? 

Soft skills, also known as people’s skills or social and interpersonal skills, are more about a person's character than their technical knowledge. Soft skills can be defined as personal habits and traits that influence how you work both independently and with others. 

Some examples of soft skills that many employers look for are:

Critical-thinkingHiring managers frequently look for applicants who possess soft skills because they increase one's chances of success at work. Even if a person has exceptional technical, job-specific skills, they may struggle at work if they are unable to manage their time or collaborate with others effectively.

For all the reasons mentioned above, there is a much higher demand for employees with a good mix of soft and hard skills. Some employers may even prefer individuals with a stronger set of soft skills than those with hard skills, because soft skills are more difficult to develop.

Also, according to Forbes, 94% of recruiters think that excellent soft skills are more important than experience when it comes to internal promotions to leadership positions. Simply put, they're crucial for advancing your career and landing the job you want.

What’s the Difference Between Soft Skills and Hard Skills?

Soft and hard skills differ primarily in how they are acquired and used in the workplace. 

Hard skills are gained through hands-on experience, formal education, or training. Unlike soft skills, they are easy to measure and define, which is why hiring managers often test these before hiring.

Some examples of the most in-demand hard skills are technical, writing, computer, analytical, and project management skills, among others.

You can learn or master hard skills over time, which is not exactly the case with soft skills. 

Soft skills are abilities that are typically innate to each person and naturally develop throughout your life. However, you can also develop or improve them with interactive training and mentoring.

Some of the most common soft skills examples would be personality traits such as communication, leadership, or proactivity. 

As you might have guessed by now, having both types of skills is essential for being successful in most jobs.

Why Do Employers Value Soft Skills? 

Today’s business landscape is all about communication, teamwork, and presenting your organization in a positive way to the public and prospective employees. This is why soft skills are becoming equally as important as hard skills.

Especially in today’s workplace landscape, where most companies are going remote, people with strong soft skills are becoming more and more important. 

Communication and collaboration are difficult enough when you are all working in the same location. Now imagine if most tasks were to be carried out through video calls, or worse, via chat. That’s where people with strong soft skills truly come to the spotlight. 

Soft skills help employers distinguish between ideal and adequate candidates—especially when they choose between individuals with comparable work and educational experience.

Soft skills in the workplace enable companies to efficiently use their technical knowledge without being constrained by interpersonal conflicts. Employees who get along tend to be more productive and concentrate on common priorities more easily.

Although hard skills demonstrate your experience and expertise on a specific matter, soft skills will enable you to grow within a company. 

15 Most Valuable Soft Skills Across All Industries in 2024

Your soft skills can tell a lot about you, including how you behave in the workplace or react in stressful situations. 

Not sure which soft skills employers find the most valuable? Well, here they are:

#1. Communication

Communication skills refer to the ability to effectively express yourselfin writing or speaking. This is one of the most important skills an employee can have, and every single employer out there will require it, regardless of the industry. 

Especially when you are working remotely. 

Some examples of communication skills are:

#2. Teamwork

Employers are always on the lookout for candidates that excel at teamwork. Teamwork skills are extremely important to employers, as teams are a fundamental organizational unit within most companies. 

Teamwork essentially means working together and combining individual skills to accomplish common goals.

The best teamwork-related skills include:

#3. Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills refer to your capacity to effectively communicate and engage with others, build and maintain relationships, and make a good impression.

Interpersonal skills are used every day in most industries as you interact and communicate with coworkers and management. However, they’re especially vital for people who work in industries like customer service, real estate, or financial planning.

Here are several examples of prominent interpersonal skills:

#4. Time Management

Time management skills describe your ability to work efficiently and productively by using your time wisely. Such an ability is vital if you’re working as a project manager, loss prevention manager, teacher, or lawyer.

Here are some examples of time management skills:

#5. Leadership/Management Skills

Leadership skills refer to your capacity to manage teams and mentor your colleagues and employees. Having strong leadership skills is a crucial factor for taking on more responsibility and getting promoted. 

Most employers are constantly on the lookout for dependable candidates with such a skill set to help them grow their businesses.

Some skills related to leadership/management include:

#6. Creativity

Creativity is considered to be the most important soft skill of the future. Employers value it because it can help you come up with innovative solutions no matter where you work.

While creativity is necessary in any industry, it’s absolutely essential for artists, designers, and architects.

Here are some examples of creative skills:

#7. Analytical Thinking

To find an effective solution to any problem, you’ll need to use your analytical thinking skills. Besides helping you recognize, gather, and evaluate data, these skills also help you identify opportunities for improvement or predict and prevent possible disasters.

Analytical thinking skills are critical in business, and every employee needs to develop and polish them to advance in their career.

Analytical thinking is related to the following soft skills:

#8. Problem-solving

Your capacity to use both analytical and creative thinking to come up with solutions is what makes up your problem-solving skills. 

Any company you work for will have issues that need to be solved. Therefore, employers will always seek applicants who can tackle these problems in a simple, logical way.

Problem-solving skills include:

#9. Attention to Detail

Attention to detail is the ability to be thorough in your work and identify even the tiniest issues as they occur. Accounting, engineering, and many other professions always need workers possessing this soft skill.

Attention to detail is closely related to the following skills:

#10. Adaptability/Flexibility

The ability to adapt is one of the soft skills employers value the most. An adaptable person will be able to work with different teams, easily adjust to the changing needs of the industry, and react well to feedback from superiors.

Adaptability and flexibility are among the best skills to possess when working in fast-paced and ever-changing industries like public relations, advertising, IT, or event management. 

Here are some adaptability-related skills:

#11. Organizational Skills

Being able to stay focused on different tasks requires strong organizational skills. These skills allow you to use your time, energy, and physical space efficiently to achieve the desired results.

Regardless of the type of work you do, organizational skills typically involve maintaining a tidy workspace and meeting deadlines.

Here are a few more abilities that belong to the organizational skill set:

#12. Work Ethic

Work ethic is one of the most fundamental and widely applicable soft skills out there. By highlighting your work ethic, you can show employers that you appreciate hard work and value putting forth your best effort. 

Work ethic is valuable in every career but is particularly important for high-stress and highly responsible occupations (e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers…).

Examples of soft talents connected to work ethics include:

#13. Positive Attitude

A positive attitude boosts your productivity and increases your energy levels, helping you stay alert and capable of handling your responsibilities. Moreover, it reduces your stress.

Although having a positive attitude at work won't necessarily boost your performance, it will change how other people perceive you as a person. Therefore, they’ll probably be more willing to support and encourage your ideas.

Soft skills examples related to a positive attitude include:

#14. Proactivity

Seizing the initiative before a situation takes a bad turn is an example of being proactive. To put it another way, proactivity is a skill that helps prevent crises. By acting proactively, companies can deal with issues immediately when they arise and on their own terms.

A proactive individual assumes responsibility and takes action rather than looking for excuses. Such a person will possess the following skills:

#15. Decision-making

Decision-making skills demonstrate your ability to choose the best solution from the options presented. It includes using the knowledge you have to evaluate the opportunities and potential risks of the choices you make.

Soft skills examples connected to decision-making are:

How to List Your Soft Skills on a Resume?

A resume that features a strong set of soft skills will help you stand out from the crowd. However, you need to be able to properly showcase your skills to make a good impression on the recruiters.

You can achieve that by following these three simple steps:

#1. Identify Relevant Skills

Even if you possess a number of different skills, only list the ones that are specific to the position you’re interested in. By tailoring your skills section to the job you’re applying for, you’ll make a good impression on recruiters, showing them you’re a good fit for the role.

Reading the job description can help you identify the relevant skills because job ads typically include a list of qualifications or skills an ideal applicant must have. Write those skills down and mark the ones that match your own skills.

For example, a job description for an Office Assistant may require exceptional communication and collaboration skills. A person in this position may also be required to greet clients and maintain documents, among other things. In this case, you should consider adding the following soft skills to your resume:

#2. List Relevant Soft Skills in a Dedicated Section 

A well-organized resume matters because hiring managers typically won’t have a lot of time to review long and unorganized ones. To make yours neater, you should separate soft skills from hard skills. 

Don’t list your skills like this:

Instead, list your soft skills under your hard skills or side by side to save space. Use bullet points to grab the attention of the reader.

Here’s what your skills section should look like:

#3. Show Your Soft Skills in Your Resume 

Besides highlighting your soft skills in a separate section of your resume, it's also important to include them in the summary and work experience sections to back them up. 

By including specific examples, you have the opportunity to differentiate yourself from other applicants.

For example, if you showcase soft skills such as organization, time management, and multitasking, your resume summary should look something like this:

Dedicated administrative assistant with over 5 years of professional experience. Organized trip itineraries and schedules of 3 senior executives while performing general administrative work at the office.

The same goes for your work experience section. For example, if you highlight skills such as teamwork, creativity, and initiative, your work experience should look something like this:

• Worked with a team of 10+ social media managers, SEO specialists, and content writers

• Increased annual sales by 35% by launching a creative marketing campaign in a new market

101+ Best Soft Skills for Different Career Paths

Even if you are the best at what you do, your chances of career success are limited if you lack the soft skills necessary for the position you are applying for. Continue reading to find out which soft skills are essential for different career paths.

14 Management Soft Skills

A successful manager should possess the right mix of hard and soft skills. The soft skills mentioned below will assist you in securing a managerial role and gradually increasing business productivity.

11 Sales Soft Skills

Soft sales skills are crucial when it comes to convincing clients to buy specific goods or services. The following soft skills are necessary for any successful sales representative:

9 Customer Service Soft Skills

Great customer service can positively impact a company's business performance. Here are some valuable soft skills any customer service agent should possess:

11 IT Soft Skills

In contrast to popular belief, soft skills are very important in IT careers. As an IT professional, you must be able to effectively communicate with your coworkers and supervisors to help them resolve technology-related issues.

Consider adding the following skills to your resume if you work in IT:

13 Marketing Soft Skills

Besides technical skills, marketing employees need to possess certain soft skills to be successful at what they do. These include:

10 Design Soft Skills

The technical know-how is not enough for a designer to be successful at their job. Their ability to effectively communicate with clients and other team members is one of the many soft skills a good designer should possess.

Here are a few soft skills designers should include in their resumes:

8 Web Development Soft Skills

Finding a job is usually easy for web developers. However, getting a job at a prestigious corporation is not simple because you’re competing against hundreds of experienced developers. 

One way you can stand out from your competitors is by listing the right soft skills on your resume. Some of them are:

11 Finance & Accounting Soft Skills

Soft skills become more important as finance and accounting professionals progress in their careers. In this digital, computerized, and automated age, soft skills can be the deciding factor for hiring one accountant over the other.

Check out the top 5 soft skills for financiers and accountants:

12 Business Soft Skills

Successful business people have expert technical knowledge and practical industry experience. However, soft skills are equally important to their success. Developing and displaying these early in your career can lead to quicker career advancement.

Here are some in-demand soft skills a business professional should have:

11 Healthcare Soft Skills

It takes more than a top-notch graduate certificate or practical knowledge to succeed in the healthcare industry. Being able to empathize with patients is crucial, as is having the following soft skills:

8 Engineering Soft Skills

Engineers often focus only on their technical skills, completely ignoring their soft skills. The latter, however, is essential in almost all roles and industries.

By paying attention to the following soft skills, you can make yourself more attractive to recruiters:

FAQs About Soft Skills

#1. What Are The Top 5 Soft Skills?

Soft skills can tell a lot about a candidate’s professional potential as well as how they interact in the workplace. Therefore, many employers prioritize the following top soft skills:

#2. Can Soft Skills Be Learned?

Even though most people think that soft skills can’t be taught or learned, that’s not the case.

Despite not often being acquired through formal training, soft skills can be improved with interactive training and mentoring/coaching. Still, they are more difficult to adopt than hard skills.

#3. Why Are Soft Skills Important?

Your career success greatly depends on how you behave and interact with others. Positive interactions and relationships foster the growth of trust, and productivity grows in environments where soft skills are cultivated.

#4. How Do I Identify My Soft Skills?

Determining what soft skills you thrive at starts with looking within. However, if you don’t feel confident enough to identify them on your own, don’t worry. 

Ask your friends, coworkers, or even former employers what soft skills they associate with you. Additionally, you can ask them to provide actual examples of when you successfully applied the soft skills in question.