Managers can make or break a company’s performance — that’s why recruiters and HR managers are very specific about the skills they want to see on a candidate’s resume.
Whatever your managerial experience, the management skills in this guide can help you prove your ability to handle responsibility, as well as give you a competitive edge over other candidates.
What Are Management Skills?
Good management skills are abilities that help you supervise and lead teams. Such skills are crucial for managers of any level, because they help them make sure their team’s work contributes to the company’s overall objectives.
They vary across industries, but always involve a mix of soft and hard skills.
“Soft” management skills are the personality traits of a good manager – things like time management, organization, and communication.
“Hard” management skills are generally more technical, learned through training or practice. Public speaking and industry-specific knowledge of tools are two good examples.
One step toward writing a flawless managerial resume is to showcase your relevant soft skills, and then reinforce them with industry-specific knowledge.
The Difference between Leadership and Management Skills
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
In other words, leaders have a vision, and managers put it into action.
There is often overlap because managers must be good leaders. However, not all great leaders make effective managers when it comes to daily duties.
Leadership sounds more glamorous — and it’s a vital skill to include on your resume. But don’t forget the nitty gritty of competent administration too.
Management Skills List
Most modern theories of management are based on the ideas of Henri Fayol – a French engineer in the 19th Century. He devised five functions of management that describe efficient relationships between employees and their supervisors.
We’ve used these principles to categorize five overarching examples of management skills for your resume, with a focus on the latest workplace trends and dynamics. Each of these examples is then followed by a list of managerial skills we recommend manager-level job seekers can draw from and use in their application.
1. Planning
This is the foundation of all business management skills. A manager’s core role is to plan ahead while taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of their team, the resources available, and the market.
The following skills demonstrate that you can set objectives, and then devise and implement strategies to meet them.
What to write in your skills section:
Initiative / Entrepreneurialism / Goal setting / Mind-mapping / Research / Forecasting / Strategic thinking / Making schedules
2. Organizing
Poor organization at the management level can cause all sorts of problems. However, such an issue opens the door for highly-organized employees – giving them extra opportunities to climb up the career ladder.
Describing your organizational skills involves demonstrating that you can efficiently delegate tasks to get results. You need to prove to hiring managers that not only can you juggle multiple responsibilities at once – but this is how you work best.
What to write in your skills section:
Organization / Prioritizing / Time management / Multi-tasking / Negotiating / Networking / Streamlining processes / Delegating
3. Communicating
The best managers are skilled communicators. Not just because they can clearly give instructions to their staff, but because they can persuade and influence others.
Manager-level applicants should emphasize interpersonal skills on their resume, because these traits are key to managing well.
What to write in your skills section:
Public speaking / Collaboration / Non-verbal communication / Active listening / Diplomacy / Flexibility / Scheduling / Constructive feedback
4. Giving Direction
Your resume must differentiate you from other candidates who simply bark orders and assume things will get done.
Be aware of the importance of empathy in your people management skills. Illustrate how you’ve encouraged, guided, and empowered your team.
You should also focus on the conflict management skills you’ve used to diffuse difficult situations in the workplace.
What to write in your skills section:
Motivating / Coping / Empathy / Giving feedback / Making presentations / Dividing workloads / Conflict resolution / Leadership / Mediation
5. Responding to Feedback
This doesn’t just mean receiving feedback from senior executives. Instead, it’s about responding to unforeseen events and making adjustments to your strategy.
Advanced management skills like these require astute commercial awareness and demonstrable proof of your big wins.
What to write in your skills section:
Problem solving / Mentoring / Troubleshooting / Performance appraisal / Creating reports / Recruitment / Performance evaluation / Project management
How to Put Managerial Skills In Your Resume
Adding the right keywords to your skills section is the first step, but alone won’t be enough to set your resume apart from other candidates.
Use these HR-approved tips for managerial resume writing to effectively display your acumen for management, so you can land your next job.
Quantify Your Experience Bullets
Here’s a hard truth: writing management skills and abilities on your resume without stating what you achieved means just about nothing.
Don’t slip up here like many candidates, and actually prove your abilities. Describing your work history by refocusing your experience bullets to highlight accomplishments will make you look like a true pro.
This is an advanced technique called quantification, and is one of several ways to write an achievement oriented resume.
To do this, think about an issue or process at work, describe how you improved it, and state the outcome of your action using percentages, dollars, and timeframes.
Here’s an example from a project manager resume:
Once you start viewing your experience through the lens of quantification, you’ll be able to write a more dynamic resume.
And hiring managers will take notice.
Highlight Manager Skills in Your Introduction
There are several resume introduction formats that work well for resume writing. For a manager who has several years of experience paired with a variety of notable career achievements, we recommend using a resume summary.
Resume Summaries
A professional resume summary replaces a traditional career objective paragraph with four clear and concise bullet points.
Each bullet includes a key skill as a subheading, a sentence explaining it, and quantifiable data.
Here’s a resume summary for a property manager:
Let’s take one of those bullet points and break down the formula:
Organization: Oversaw portfolio of 85 luxury properties
Skill: Explanation of duty + quantifiable data
Resume summaries allow you to include management skills examples alongside quantifiable data at the top of your resume, where the hiring manager will see them first.
Think of it like a confident handshake at an interview – it helps leave a positive first impression.
Create an Effective Management Skills Section
Another way to improve your resume layout and draw the hiring manager’s attention is to visually emphasize your skills section.
As well as putting it where it can be clearly seen on your resume, you can even grade your abilities.
This is definitely not a requirement but it can be a useful trick to make your application stand out in a sea of equally qualified candidates. Not only does it look good, but it’s another way of demonstrating you’re self aware and focused on results.
If you want a template that includes such a section, check out our library of free downloadable resume templates and pick the one that most suits you. You can then pair it with a matching cover letter if you’re looking to make your application consistent.
Developing Management Skills
By now you should have all the managerial skills you need to write a compelling, persuasive resume. However, if you feel there are any gaps in your manager skill set, there are plenty of online courses you can take to bolster your application.
Check out these resources – all of which are free (or at least affordable) and can help you develop the skills needed to be a manager.
Management Skills in Action
Before you start crafting your application, check out our ready-made examples of common managerial resumes for inspiration.
Operations Manager
Property Manager
Project Manager
Retail Manager
Restaurant Manager
Product Manager
Marketing Manager
Sales Manager
Also, don’t forget to try our easy-to-use resume builder if you’d like us to do the hard work for you – it’s free and will help you create a flawless managerial resume in minutes.
Good luck on the job hunt!
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