6 Soft Skills You Should Put in Your IT Resume

Despite the upsurge of Information Technology or IT jobs in the past years, many applicants still struggle to get work in this field. They contend not only with new graduates, but also with seasoned employees looking for a better position or higher salary. To stand out from the pack, however, career experts advise job hunters to hone and highlight the skills demanded by employers. We, at Resume Professional Writers, just made a comprehensive resume analysis and identified the key soft skills most firms look for in a summary profile. Check out the result of our review.

Professional Resume Review: Must-Have IT Soft Skills
Based on our comprehensive resume analysis, employers hunt the following soft skills on most IT resumes. If you can include these abilities in your document, you will attract their attention and get higher chances of getting an interview.

1. Communication
   With the huge variety of emails, proposals, and design documents a technology expert creates, written and verbal communication is essential. When you become a certified IT employee, you will often explain technical processes in clear, logical terms for employers and clients. You need to explain your ideas in a persuasive manner, too, to coax the others to finance and support your project.

2. Listening
   As an IT expert, you must not only express your own ideas, you must listen to others, too. Pay attention to what your employer or the client needs so you can give them what they want.

3. Teamwork
   Your ability to work well as part of a team is a valuable asset to any company. If you are applying for IT jobs that lists “team player” as a key skill, find ways to highlight your talents to make you stand out from your rivals. You may mention any “team player” award you have received or discuss projects you have delivered together with your team.

4. Leadership
   Do not limit such skills to management experience or position. Even if you were not the manager or boss of your former department, you may still specify experiences you have had managing a project or a team. Being a project leader requires strong communication skills, the ability to delegate tasks, and a constant focus on the end goal. Make sure you underline these involvements in your application.

5. Creativity
   Tech experts must expect and form solutions for potential IT problems and needs. This forward-thinking involves imagination and creative problem-solving. Employers, therefore, search for IT mavens who can come up with unique solutions.

6. Flexibility
   IT specialists often face setbacks or sudden changes, like a last-minute issue with a vendor or a technical problem with their project. So learn to be flexible. Accept these changes and find creative solutions at once. Likewise, accept your client or boss’ feedback and advice. Listen to any comments they give and be open to making changes to meet their needs.

Comprehensive Resume Analysis: How to Show off Soft Skills
Do you need help including soft skills in your IT resume? Check out these tips:

1. Use the soft skills listed on the job post.
   Employers often list the soft skills they look for in a candidate through their job posts. For instance, they may emphasize that a job hunter must be “positive and enthusiastic” or “results-oriented.” When you have identified these skills, put them in your resume. In this way, you tailor your resume for the position in advance. This technique is far more effective than sending every potential employer the same generic resume.

2. Give solid examples.
   Simply listing the top IT soft skills on your resume are not enough; you need to support them with specific examples and proof, too. Do not just say you are “equipped with strong listening skills” or “have effective leadership traits.” Instead, explain how you used these skills and how they helped contribute to your former or existing employers’ success. Do not simply say you are “goal-driven” or “results-oriented.” Prove these competencies by including examples and facts that can support your claim. Think of a situation when your soft skills helped the firm fix a huge problem and yielded great results.

Was there a time you comforted an enraged customer and stopped him/her from canceling a big contract? Did you once save the company from losing a client with your excellent negotiation skills? Make sure you highlight these feats in your document.

1. Use action verbs related to your soft skills.
   Among the resume mistakes job seekers commit is not using powerful verbs in their resumes. Besides helping you get through the applicant tracking system or ATS, action verbs can likewise aid you in expressing actions vividly. Keep in mind, you only have six seconds to impress your recruiter. Hence, using such verbs will help you explain your roles in a concise and impactful way.

2. Try to use quantitative examples.
   Find examples of your soft skills if you want to impress your future employer. To prove that you are “detail-oriented,” for instance, stress a specific time when the company benefited from your skill. You may include, for example, the time you saved the company from losing a huge sum of money when you noticed a numerical error in a report.

3. Highlight your leadership qualities.
   Leadership requires multiple soft skills. You cannot be a leader unless you know how to connect, listen, and deal with other people. Thus, stressing your leadership qualities in your resume can help you bring in essential soft skills into your application.

Answering the “How Can I Fix My Resume?” Question

Your resume will get you the interview. Thus, do your best to sell yourself so that when recruiters see it, they’ll initially consider you as the best candidate for the post. Make sure it’s up-to-date, undergone comprehensive resume analysis, and displays all your qualities and skills.

Soft skills may vary among firms and will depend on your intended job. Thus, do your research and identify what skills the firm needs before you write your application.

Do you need help in fixing your resume? Contact us for a free resume check or inspect our IT resume template to guide you pass a company’s resume scanner! If you can’t do it on your own, seek our resume writing services!