How To Develop and Use Collaboration Skills

Updated June 17, 20221.4k

Improve your chances of getting hired by cultivating your collaboration skills. Impress hiring managers and become a more effective part of your team at work.

Collaboration Skills

How To Develop and Use Collaboration Skills

Collaboration skills allow a person to work efficiently in teams or groups. Collaborating with team members often means taking inspiration, ideas, criticism, or styles of work from others to achieve a common goal. Good collaboration will mesh different perspectives, mediate conflicts and arguments between team members, and maximize efficiency. A collaborative environment can help with conflict resolution even in the face of challenging times or differing work styles.

Collaborative work is very important in virtually all career positions and environments. Workplace collaboration skills allow the functions of the job to be completed much easier for the groups responsible for completing them. Every job or employer may not require the use of collaborative skills in their work environment, but learning these skills is a great idea. Knowledge of collaboration tools is something that hiring managers and recruiters will immediately notice on your resume. This guide will show you:

How to present your collaboration skills to hiring managers on your resume
Types of collaborative skills
Three tips for successful collaboration
Frequently asked questions about collaborative work

Advertising Your Collaboration Skills to Hiring Managers

To begin, you should think about the best collaborative skills you have so that you can display them on your resume. You may highlight your collaboration skills within your resume summary or objective, your work experience section, and in your skills section. Focus on the job description to find keywords to describe interpersonal skills. These will be the most valued collaboration skills to add to your resume. Here are a few examples:

Active listening, teamwork, and other skills for relating with others
Problem-solving
Project management
Conflict resolution
Adaptability and overcoming obstacles
Emotional intelligence and self-awareness
Sharing information through spoken or nonverbal communication or body language

Collaboration skills are also a great idea to include in the cover letters you send to prospective employers. A good example of an experience you can write about is a time you partnered with other team members to meet a common goal successfully.

Three Tips To Increase Collaboration

If you’d like to increase your collaboration skills or even use them to get a new job, you need to look for opportunities to continuously improve your skills. Listed below are several reliable and often used methods to become a better team player.

Volunteer for team-building exercises.

A good way to improve your skills at collaborating is to volunteer for team-building exercises. Participate in courses that are geared towards teamwork and personal skills. Taking these classes is a great way to continue building soft skills to include on your resume.
Join collaborative work efforts, such as group projects.

Involve yourself any time there are opportunities to take part in projects such as sports or volunteer work that build on working as part of a team.
Build your collaboration tools.

Learn tools that support collaboration and team building through apps such as Kahoot! or Workplace. These apps support social bonding, team brainstorming, and corporate learning. Becoming familiar with tools like video conferencing, cloud storage, and file sharing can show prospective employers that you’re dedicated to team building and can collaborate successfully with others.

FAQ: Collaboration Skills

Is it easy to learn collaboration skills?

Effective collaboration is easy to learn and apply. If you’re able to volunteer locally in groups or workshops, you’ll find the practice helps collaborative work to become more natural. Devote the time to develop the skills needed. If you put in the effort, it’s almost guaranteed hiring managers will notice your hard work.

Are people skills important skills?

Every associate or fellow employee that works with others well is an indispensable part of a team. Teams that can collaborate effectively on a project often succeed in their task faster and with a higher quality outcome. Collaborative work contributes to a positive company culture, increase employee retention and draw new employees in.

How can I tell future employers about my collaboration skills?

In your cover letter, give examples of any instance where your collaboration with other employees resulted in a better outcome. You can mention times when your individual strengths were essential in a certain part of a project completed. After all, there’s a reason the phrase “Teamwork makes the dream work” exists. You can also list collaboration skills in the skills section of your resume. Soft skills like people skills, adaptability, and teamwork can be great additions. Check the job description for keywords relating to collaboration skills.

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About The Author

Cindi Cervone Carlson

Cindi Cervone Carlson is a Senior Vice President for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Cindi is responsible for developing, delivering, and implementing a dynamic, world-class organization dedicated to delivering outplacement consulting, training, support, and executive coaching. Cindi started her career at Challenger as a client who had lost her job. Over the past nine years, she has risen from an entry-level, part-time professional to Senior Vice President.