What Are Analytical Skills? Examples + List for Your Resume
Analytical skills can be a huge boon to your resume. How can you feature analytical skills on your resume for your next job application? Read our expert tips!
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Analytical skills
Analytical skills may sound specialist in nature, but they are widely applicable to many different roles and can be useful in almost any job. For this reason, having even analytical soft skills on your resume can be incredibly helpful to your job search. Hiring managers want analytical thinkers on their teams.
Build my resumeWhat are analytical skills?
The best analytical skills to list on a resume
When listing your own analytical skills in your resume, you should feature them in your skills section. Here are some examples of analytical skills that you could list on your resume:
- Research skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Troubleshooting and diagnostics
- Creative thinking
- Data analytics
- Critical thinking skills
- Data optimization
When combined with appropriate hard skills and any other important skills listed in the job description, as well as standard soft skills like time management and communication skills, analytical skills are an attractive addition to any skill set as far as recruiters are considered.
You should also make sure you back up your analytical skills with examples in your work history, education section and/or resume summary. For example, in your work history, you could state, “Wrote weekly reports summarizing new client information.” This shows that you were able to take information, analyze it, and create a readable report based on it. By giving strong examples of your critical thinking and analytical skills in action, you will strengthen your resume.
What employers are looking for in analytical skills
When employers consider resumes and look at the analytical skills they contain, they are trying to learn more about the person who is applying for the role, and that includes soft skills as well as technical abilities. Qualities such as intelligence, patience, the ability to think critically and without bias, and good organization play into analytical skills. That’s why many hiring managers will ask interview questions intended to assess a job seeker’s ability to analyze problems and seek effective solutions.
When recruiters ask you questions about your analytical skills or present you with complex problems to consider, they need to know if you can:
- Think on your feet
- Gather and analyze large volumes of data effectively
- Analyze the data you have gathered
- Compare differing opinions without bias
- Draw conclusions and find solutions to problems
As you get ready to make your next job application, think about whether you can class yourself as a critical thinker or analytical person and bring these elements of yourself to the fore. These are the kinds of skills that can really help to distinguish you from other candidates. Furthermore, think about the different types of analytical skills you have and identify those that are most relevant to the jobs you are applying for. For example, if you want to work in project management, focus on displaying analytical skills centered around problem-solving, team management, delegation and schedule organization.
FAQ: Analytical Skills
Have questions? We’re here to help.
How do I prove my analytical skills to an employer?
Whether your strengths lie in data analysis or analytical thinking, there are a number of things you can do to prove your analytical skills to potential employers. One of the easiest ways to do this is to include any formal certifications and qualifications that you may have. If you don’t have any formal qualifications, you can take pre-employment tests or generalized assessments such as LinkedIn learning. You can also prove your analytical thinking skills by giving specific examples of work duties and achievements where you utilized such skills. In a job interview, you prepare yourself for opportunities to explain your skills through behavioral questions such as “Why do you want to work here?”
How can I add more analytical skills to my resume?
Take the time to build strong analytical skills that are relevant to your industry and take tests to make sure you can pass pre-assessment skill checks. If you run out of space in your resume, you can also include these skills as supplementary information in your cover letter. Just make sure you don’t repeat the exact same information from your resume in your cover letter.
How can I prepare for an interview where I’ll discuss my analytical skills?
Take some time to prepare stories that show times when you have utilized analytical thinking and analysis to overcome an obstacle or challenge with good results. You can increase the effectiveness of your example by utilizing the STAR method to answer the questions effectively.
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