Key Strengths to Put on Your Resume (List + Examples)

Imagine this: you’ve just applied for a job. You know you have all the right skills and qualifications for the position, but in the end you still don’t land the job.

What happened? The problem is, many of the candidates applying for the same position have the all the job-relevant skills you do. So how do you stand out? You need to showcase the personal strengths that set you apart from the rest.

We’ll give you an extensive list of strengths you can include on your resume, and provide helpful resume tips that guide you through how to decide which ones are relevant to you. Let’s get started.

What are resume strengths?

Resume strengths are the job-specific abilities, skills, and qualifications that make you a particularly compelling candidate for a position.

Your strengths are any areas where you particularly excel – for example, maybe you have excellent negotiation skills or are highly experienced with JavaScript.

However, not all strengths will be relevant to the position and should be listed on your resume. For example, if you’re applying for a position as a bank teller, your JavaScript skills are probably best left off your resume.

The strengths you choose to include when you write a resume can be any of your hard skills or soft skills that bring value to the position. To figure out which ones to add, identify the needs of the company and consider your own unique strengths. Where the two overlap is where you’ll find the best job-specific strengths to highlight on your resume.

Examples of professional strengths to list on a resume

Here’s a list of key strengths for your resume:

• Public speaking
• Problem solving
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Attention to detail
• Critical thinking
• Analytical skills
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Stress management
• Active listening
• Interpersonal skills
• Work ethics
• Loyalty
• Collaboration
• Leadership
• Management
• Empathy
• Curiosity
• Good memory
• Follow instructions
• Project management
• Organizational skills
• Presentation skills
• Adaptability
• Time management
• People skills
• Computer skills
• Language skills
• Customer service skills
• Sales skills
• Conceptual skills

How to include strengths on your resume

A great way to improve your resume is by adding your positive strengths throughout each part of your resume. Here’s how:

1. Highlight them in your resume objective

Having an impressive resume introduction catches a hiring manager’s interest. Use a resume objective to summarize your overall experience, strengths, and relevant skills. Your resume objective should highlight your core strengths in 3–5 sentences.

Here’s an example of a resume objective that highlights a candidate’s strong communication skills:

Highly motivated and results-driven individual seeking an entry-level marketing position to utilize my strong communication, analytical and creative skills to drive brand awareness and increase sales. Recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, and have gained hands-on experience through internships in market research and social media management, with proven ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with cross-functional teams.

To show hiring managers that you’re the right fit for the position, go through the job description carefully and tailor your resume objective to closely match each role you apply for. By showing your most relevant strengths you can position yourself as a more compelling candidate for the position.

2. Demonstrate them in your work experience

Your work experience is what shows off your industry know-how. For your more technical strengths, make sure to quantify your accomplishments to show employers exactly what you’re capable of.

Results speak for themselves, and a thoughtful work experience section that showcases your professional accomplishments and strengths indicates to employers that you’ll be an asset to their company.

For example, if you’re applying for a programming job and want to highlight Java as a key strength on your resume, write your work experience section to focus on your experience using Java and the positive results you achieved. Use metrics like traffic volume and sales to prove your key strengths. Here’s an example:

Software Developer
InnovTech Solutions (2019–Present)

• Developed and implemented a Java-based inventory management system for the e-commerce platform, resulting in a 50% reduction in errors and improved efficiency
• Utilized Java technologies such as Spring Framework, Hibernate, and JPA to build and maintain the e-commerce platform, which led to a 20% increase in sales and a 30% increase in website traffic
• Led a team of developers in the successful launch of a mobile application using Java for the Android platform, increasing customer engagement by 25%
• Developed and maintained RESTful web services using Spring Boot, which enabled smooth data flow between the website and backend systems

By using hard numbers to demonstrate your abilities, you show hiring managers where your strengths lie and the benefits they can expect if they hire you.

3. Showcase them along with your education

The education section of your resume can also be a great opportunity to highlight your key strengths, especially if you lack professional experience.

Here’s an example of an education section for an entry-level candidate that uses academic accomplishments to highlight their key research strengths and target a career in sustainability:

Education

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies
Syracuse University (2016-2020)
GPA: 3.8/4.0

• Conducted research on the impact of urbanization on local ecosystems, resulting in a published paper in the Journal of Environmental Studies
• Received the “Outstanding Research Award” for the project on “Air Pollution Mitigation in Urban Areas”
• Completed an internship with the National Park Service, gaining hands-on experience in environmental fieldwork and data analysis
• Completed a thesis on “Sustainability in Building Design”
• Member of the Environmental Club, actively participated in organizing events and campaigns to raise environmental awareness on campus

Including academic achievements such as your GPA, scholarships, and awards shows hiring managers your commitment to excellence in your field of study. Using relevant coursework and class projects in your education section can also help demonstrate your strengths as a candidate.

4. List them in your skills sections

Use your skills section to target the job ad and highlight your relevant skills and personal strengths.

Your skills section provides an opportunity to get specific about some of your technical skills. If you want hiring managers to look at your resume and take away the fact that your core strength is digital marketing, you can use your skills section to highlight the specific skills that make you a great digital marketer.

Here’s an example:

Skills

• Google Analytics, Adwords, GSC
• SEMrush, Ahrefs
• Hootsuite, MailChimp
• PPC
• Social Media Marketing
• Email Marketing
• HTML/CSS
• Strong communication skills
• Cross-functional team leadership
• Analytical skills

By making your skills section precise and targeted to the role you want, you show employers that you’re a good match and have the ability to step into the position successfully.

Strengths-focused resume example

Create your own strengths-focused resume with inspiration from this SEO copywriter resume example.