The Most Important Teamwork Skills for Your Resume

Updated June 17, 20221.6k

Teamwork skills can be an important part of getting a job where you need to work as a team. How can you show the fact that you’re a team player on your resume?

Teamwork Skills

There are a wide array of skills that you need to master if you want to do your job more effectively. One of the most important skills for any position is teamwork skills. Whether you’re an entry-level or executive-level worker, whether you’re a team leader or just a team member, teamwork skills are one of the most important types of skills you can have. Here’s what you need to know about understanding and implementing teamwork skills in your daily life.

What Makes Teamwork Skills So Important?

So, why are teamwork skills so helpful in the first place? Effective teamwork is a crucial component of getting work, period. Recruiters are always looking for people who have strong teamwork skills because, as surprising as it may sound, they show you have the ability to do work on your own and with a team.

Even if you’re doing work on your own, the fact that you’re employed by a company means that you’ll need to work as part of a team anyway. Being a great team player means you have the ability to provide honest feedback on other members’ work and pull together a successful team on group projects, including the benefits that come from having multiple points of view on a project.

Top Teamwork Skills To Develop for Your Resume

Teamwork skills are really a broad term that refers to a specific skill set. If you want strong team-building skills, you really need to be good at a number of different interconnected skills. Here are a few of the most important teamwork skills.

Problem-solving
Communication
Decision-making
Active listening
Conflict resolution
Interpersonal skills
Organizational skills
Critical thinking
Time management
Constructive feedback
Presentation skills
Leadership

These are all soft skills. Feature them in your resume along with hard skills that can have an impact on your teamwork skills in many industries. For example, if you’re in computer science, your ability to navigate quickly through a programming language may help you achieve your team goals more effectively, leading to overall team success. Start with these individual skills, then branch out into other skills that you find you need in order to improve your ability to work with teams effectively.

Tips for Highlighting Teamwork Skills Throughout Your Resume

Showcasing teamwork skills on a resume definitely isn’t as easy as stating those skills in the skill section. Anyone can say that they’re good at effective communication, but what happens when an evaluator is in the room? You need to function as both the job seeker and the evaluator so you can find a way to express your teamwork skills to your hiring manager.

The best option is to include examples of teamwork skills throughout your resume and cover letter. For example, when going through your work experience section, use the job descriptions for each past employer to discuss team roles you took and successes you were part of. You can also highlight jobs where you did more group work, which can show that you know how to build rapport and work towards common goals.

Remember that your cover letter can also be a huge part of proving your skills. Talk about specific experiences you’ve had where you were able to show off your teamwork skills. This is especially important if you want to claim that teamwork is one of your absolute best skills.

FAQ: Teamwork Skills

How can I improve my teamwork skills?

Building good communication skills and managing all of these other skills at the same time isn’t always easy. If you’re looking to improve your teamwork skills, consider taking a class on some of the skills that go along with teamwork skills. Classes that help with project management and general teamwork can be extremely helpful, especially if you don’t currently have great team skills and you want to get better.

What should I do to demonstrate teamwork skills in an interview?

What should I do to demonstrate teamwork skills in an interview?
When it comes to an interview, one of your best tools will always be the STAR method of answering interview questions. With this method, you go through the Situation, Task, Action, and Result in order to showcase how you’ve used your skills in previous jobs. The STAR method is a great way to explain how you’ve used certain skills in your experience.

What should I avoid doing so I can improve my teamwork skills?

Some of the most important actions to avoid doing are behaviors that tear down rapport between you and your team members. Avoid lying, talking about people behind their back, offering harsh criticism, and assuming you understand what other people in your group are talking about before they say it. Generally being more open-minded and receptive to what other members of your group are saying will go a long way.

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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.