The Best Way To Showcase Collaboration Skills on Your Resume

What are collaboration skills?

Collaborative skills are soft skills that enable a person to work well in a group or team. Also known as teamwork skills, these are the skills that make it easier to see different perspectives, negotiate with people and work as a part of a group. In short, they enable people to work well with others, even in challenging situations. Good collaboration skills make it easier to deal with people who have different communication styles and maximize efficiency even when there may be clashing personalities.

For these reasons, collaboration skills are incredibly important in almost all work environments because they make it easier for teams to reach their common goals. While not every job title requires working in a collaborative environment, these are still important skills that will make a job seeker very attractive to hiring managers and recruiters. So if you have collaborative skills and competencies, you should absolutely showcase them on your resume.

How to showcase collaboration skills on a resume

First and foremost, you need to know what collaborative skills you have in order to know how to best showcase them on your resume. Consider the job description so you can highlight abilities that are most relevant to the job. Some of the most popular collaboration skills include:

• Active listening
• Verbal and written communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Adaptability
• Conflict resolution
• Interpersonal skills
• Team player
• People skills
• Problem-solving
• Project management

If you have any of these skills, you should include them in your resume. You should also provide examples of times when you’ve used these skills. In your work history, include responsibilities and accomplishments you’ve had that demonstrate your collaborative work capabilities. This will show hiring managers that you are able to apply your skills practically. Collaborative skills are also good to feature in cover letters that you send to employers. As with your resume work history section, give examples of how you’ve successfully worked with others to achieve results.

It is also likely that there will be opportunities to discuss collaboration skills during job interviews. Prepare for questions centered around these abilities as well as other common interview questions and sample answers.

Ways to improve your collaboration skills

If you want to better your chances of getting a new job, improving your collaboration skills is one good way to do it. While it is hard to quantify the strength of collaborative skills, improving them is a matter of simply using them. You can do this in a number of ways, but the most common and reliable are:

Participate in teamwork courses or team-building exercises

The most direct way to prove your abilities at collaboration is to gain certifications. There are workshops and courses aimed at soft skills like team working and interpersonal skills. Taking such workshops and classes is a concrete way to support your skills on your resume.

Make use of project management tools with collaborative features

There are many project management tools that emphasize and support collaboration. Making use of these tools in your work is a quick and easy way to show potential employers that you are capable of successful collaboration.

Take part in collaborative projects

Taking part in activities such as team sports, extracurricular projects or volunteer work that relies on working with others is a good way to improve your team working skills. Listing these activities on your resume will also help prove your collaborative skills.

Use these tips to emphasize your collaborative skills in your resume and provide proof of your ability to work in a group.. For even more guidance on creating a resume that features these skills as well as other important qualifications, use our resume-building tool to create an effective, attractive resume.