Showcase Leadership Skills on Your Resume

Step up the career ladder by highlighting your leadership skills

Whether you’re looking for your first step into leadership or chasing the top job at a multinational corporation, you’ll need to prove you’re up to the demands of the role.

What makes you a good leader?

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into showcasing leadership skills on your resume. We’ll investigate some of the most in-demand leadership skills and find out how to include them on your resume for maximum impact.

What are leadership skills?

Leadership skills are a group of soft skills that enable an individual to support and guide a team to achieve a goal. The skills needed to do this are broad and fall into groups such as interpersonal expertise, business acumen, and creative thinking. We’ll look at some of these in detail below.

What is a leadership style?

Leadership skills aren’t to be confused with a leadership style. A leadership style is all about the way you lead. There are various ways to work with your team to achieve that common goal, from the democratic style favored by Tim Cook at Apple to the transactional style of Donald Trump. You can find out more and identify your own style in our blog about leadership styles.

Who needs leadership skills?

It’s not just CEOs that need leadership skills – they’re a skillset that can be honed and used by anyone at any level of an organization. While the first step into management is usually a team leader role, it’s worth developing leadership skills before you take this step - that way, when you apply for your first leadership role, you’ll already have examples and knowledge that prove you’re up to the task. With that in mind, let’s explore some leadership skills that will help your resume to have the impact you need.

What are some of the basic skills needed by leaders?

Every leader needs a strong foundation of soft skills to succeed. Most people will have some of these skills, but a leader can bring them all together to ensure their team ticks along nicely. Basic skills include:

Communication
Teamwork
Reliability
Organization
IT literacy
Interpersonal skills

Examples of top leadership skills for your resume

Of course, ticking along nicely isn’t really enough! A truly effective leader takes these basic skills and ladles a whole lot of higher-level soft skills on top. These are some of the best examples of leadership skills to showcase on your resume:

Relationship building

This is a vital skill for leaders, as they need to win buy-in from others and bring them on board to ensure projects are completed and goals are achieved. Leaders also need to build relationships not just with their own team but with colleagues across the business and with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders.

Innovation

Things change; it’s a fact of life. Innovation and creativity are required to keep driving a business forward and achieve growth and progress. If you can come up with new ideas and forge new paths to success, you have one of the skills needed to be a good leader.

Conflict management

Sadly, conflict is a fact of life. Whether resolving conflict between members of your team or smoothing over a misunderstanding with a customer, the ability to navigate conflict is vital. Conflict harms morale and productivity, which in turn can impact the bottom line. A swift resolution can get the business back on track, which is why conflict management is such a valuable leadership skill.

Decision-making

Big or small, leaders need to be comfortable making decisions. That means they’ll also need sound judgment and the ability to think critically because the decisions they make will impact the company’s success. And remember, not all decisions will be popular. Sometimes, the right decision for the business won’t be positively received by staff - for example, layoffs or restructuring - so having confidence in the decision and the strength to implement it is also required.

Negotiation

When we’re looking at the desired skills of a leader, negotiation can’t be overlooked. It’s not just about getting the best deal and terms from a supplier (although that can be part of it) – great negotiation is about avoiding disputes, finding the best outcomes in interpersonal relationships and creating win-win situations both within the business and externally.

Adaptability

Change is necessary, and while many people can be resistant to change, a good leader embraces it and adapts accordingly. Whether making improvements to an internal process or navigating a major change such as Covid-19, the ability to pivot and move forward is a key leadership skill.

Delegation

Control freaks can struggle with this one! While it’s easy to think that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Delegation is a top leadership skill. To be fully comfortable delegating work, a leader needs to trust and empower their team. That way, they can free their time to work on higher-level management tasks.

Employee engagement

A happy team is a productive team. In fact, statistics show that highly engaged business units are 23% more profitable. The most successful leaders can engage and motivate their teams, which can only be positive for the staff, the business, and the leader!

Financial acumen

As you progress up the career ladder, the budgets get bigger. You’ll need to have the financial acumen to use your budget in the most beneficial way for the company. And not just that; with so many businesses now looking to cut costs, you’ll need to be able to identify waste and find ways of reducing expenditure without compromising quality or results. This can certainly be one of the trickier leadership skills to master if your background isn’t in finance!

Risk management

They say slow and steady wins the race… but sometimes risks pay off, too. You’ll need to understand where the risk lies within your team or business, take measures to mitigate unacceptable risk, and know when a risk becomes tolerable. It’s a balancing act that leaders need to embrace.

Problem-solving

This skill is handy even for those not in leadership roles, but once you start making progress in your career, you’ll sometimes find that it falls to you to sort out unexpected hurdles. The ability to see clearly what the problem is and to chart a path through to resolution is a skill that every leader needs to master.

Strategic approach

While we’re on the subject of problem-solving, we should discuss strategy. A strategic approach is an in-demand leadership skill that requires thinking ahead and developing a plan to achieve the desired outcome rather than simply steaming ahead with all guns blazing. The higher you rise up the chain of leadership, the more you’ll be required to formulate strategies that steer the business toward its goals.

Collaboration

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others. So says the old proverb - and it’s true. Achieving common goals is a collaborative task, so the best leaders will have a natural aptitude for working with others. Top-notch communication is necessary here.

Taking accountability

When you’re a leader, you have to accept that the buck stops with you. It takes strength of character to accept accountability, especially if you see the problem being caused by someone else. But you’re responsible for your team’s performance, so it’s up to you to put it right – however frustrating that may be.

Developing others

Well done - you’ve made it into a leadership role! But what about the others that haven’t quite got there yet? Part of your responsibility as a leader is to develop your subordinates. If you can spot – and fill – skills gaps or act as a mentor to a colleague, that can only reflect well on you.

How to include leadership skills on your resume – with examples

We’ve examined some leadership skills examples, but of course, you can have all these skills in bucket-loads and still not land your next leadership role. You also need to showcase them well on your resume.

Your resume is your foot in the door – if it doesn’t make a great first impression or adequately show what you can do for a business, you won’t receive that interview invitation. Let’s look at how you can convey your leadership skills on your resume in a compelling way.

Write a punchy profile

The profile, positioned at the very top of your resume below the contact details, is your elevator pitch. It’s much more than a summary of your career to date; it’s your introduction to your new employer. You need to cover what you do, what you specialize in, and the positive impact you can have on a business. If you’re aiming for a leadership position, you also need to describe your strong leadership skills. It’s a tall order to fit all that into a few lines!

Here’s an example that you can use as inspiration to create your own:

A commercially astute business leader able to steer organizational change on a global scale. Possess in-depth experience in strategic business partnering, conflict resolution, and project management. Combine vision and insight with a proactive approach to delivery, execution, and risk management. Confident in engaging with everyone up to C-level, successfully influencing senior stakeholders whilst leading and developing the wider team.

Show, don’t tell

One of the best ways to show off your leadership skills is to give examples. If you can provide a strong example of when you’ve used a particular skill, it has much more impact than simply stating you can do something.

Consider the difference between:

I have strong negotiation skills

and

Negotiated with multiple suppliers to drive down raw material costs by 38% in just 6 months

The second version is not only more believable but also proves that you can deliver results for the company. Use real-life examples wherever you can in order to effectively highlight your leadership skills on your resume.

Include keywords

Are you applying for a role you’ve seen advertised? Good news – you can find some of the wording for your resume in the job posting! Highlight the required skills as requested in the advert, then reflect these keywords back in your resume.

For example, if the advert says:

Experienced managing budgets for editorial projects

Your resume can use the keyword “managing budgets”:

Monitored daily activities to avoid overspending, managing budgets of up to $50,000

By using the keywords in the advert, you’ll not only confirm to the company that you have the skills they need but also ensure that your resume can be found in database searches.

Shout about your successes

Your resume isn’t the place for modesty. Businesses want leaders who can deliver results, so it’s important to include examples of your successes. It need not sound boastful if it’s done in the right way.

Many resumes list responsibilities, for example:

Responsible for leading a team of Analysts

But focusing on achievements and outcomes is much stronger:

Led a team of Analysts through a significant restructure, retaining 100% of staff at a time of great change and disruption

Quantify achievements

Numbers can make your value more concrete, so it helps to quantify as much as you can on your resume. You could quantify the number of direct and indirect reports you manage, for example, or the number of sites or countries you oversee. If you can add metrics to show off your leadership skills, too, you’ll be miles ahead of other applicants.

Consider the difference between:

Engaged and motivated a team

and

Engaged a previously underperforming team of 8, resulting in a 10% increase in productivity and a 40% improvement in employee satisfaction scores

Use power verbs

As you can see from the examples above, the bullet points start with strong verbs. Verbs are “doing words” and are vital tot he success of your resume. They show how you’ve contributed to a business and had an impact.

Many resumes don’t include specific actions, for example:

Operations support – Budget planning and management

By starting with a verb, you’re immediately cutting out the fluff and getting straight to the heart of what you do:

Planned and managed an operations budget of $20M

It’s a small change, but a list of dynamic verbs running down the page can make all the difference to your reader’s perception of you. Take inspiration from this list of power verbs – there are plenty more you could use too!

Launched
Spearheaded
Created
Revitalized
Championed
Increased
Improved
Drove
Reduced
Delivered

Include your professional development

If you’ve taken any courses or have qualifications relating to leadership, make sure you include them in a Professional Development section on your resume. You could add them to the Education section instead if it’s looking a bit thin. Both internal and external training is valid to include here. If you haven’t done formal training, you can add a Professional Interests section, including such things as podcasts, subscriptions, or reading you’ve engaged with on the topic of leadership.

Tailor your resume

You know you should do it… but it’s time-consuming. If you’re in the habit of firing off the same old resume for every application, it’s time to take your job search up a gear. We’re not talking about a full rewrite of your resume every time you apply for a role, just a little tweak here and there. A few minutes spent on aligning your phrasing with what the company is actually looking for can pay dividends.

Expert Tip

At the very least, review the profile section to ensure it shows you as a good fit for the role at hand.

How to develop leadership skills

Whether you already have years of leadership experience under your belt or are ready to dip your toes into a leadership role for the first time, it’s always possible to improve your leadership skills. Here are some suggestions for steps you can take to support your career aspirations:

Volunteer

There are two ways you can volunteer. The traditional way is to take on an unpaid role within the community. This can be a great way to develop new skills in a different context. Take a look at organizations near you that combine the opportunity to develop leadership skills with the chance to give back to your community.

The second way of volunteering is more likely to enable you to develop the skills you need to step up to leadership in your existing organization. We’re talking about volunteering at work. It’s worth speaking to your manager about volunteering to help with upcoming projects or in different areas of the business. They’ll be impressed that you’re taking the initiative to upskill, and when a leadership role becomes available, you’ll be near the top of the queue.

Take a course

If you work for a large business, there’s every chance you may be able to take an internal course to develop your leadership skills. If so, that’s a great result, as you’ll be able to upskill for free, and they’ll know you’re ready for a leadership position.

If that’s not an option where you work, however, all is not lost. It’s still worth a chat with your line manager, as the company may see your potential and invest in an external course for you. If not, there are yet more options. There are many training courses you can take in your own time, ranging from free online courses to university-level qualifications.

Do some work shadowing

If you have a manager who is supportive of your career aspirations, they may be able to arrange a period of work shadowing for you. This is a short period of observation where you will be able to watch and learn from someone in a position you’re interested in pursuing. As it’s unpaid and takes you away from your day job, this option may not be available to everyone, but it’s worth considering before investing in any longer-term training.

Mentoring

With a mentor by your side, anything is possible. Is there someone you admire professionally? Does your current employer run a mentoring scheme? However you choose your mentor, it can make your future a whole lot easier to navigate.

Seek feedback

You can only develop your skills if you’re willing to listen to constructive feedback on what you’re doing well and what areas you need to develop further. Feedback can come from anyone - managers, peers, and even subordinates. Being open to learning is also a valuable leadership skill and one that will help you go further!

Add leadership skills for resume success!

Now you’ve got the low-down on leadership skills, you’re in the perfect position to move on in your career. By conveying these skills effectively on your resume, you’ll lift yourself head and shoulders above the other applicants and get a head start on your next leadership position.

Want to check that your leadership skills are coming across strongly? Send your resume for a free resume review by the experts at ZipJob to iron out the creases. Your next leadership role awaits!

This article was originally written by Leo Bastone. It’s been updated by Jen David.