Modern employers seek potential hires with multiple peopleskills especially when hiring for positions in management, customer service, and many more roles.
Communication is a key interpersonal skill that you’ll need to show off on your resume if you want to be successful in any of these roles.
Below, we’ll go over:
- What communication skills are
- Examples of communication skills
- How to describe communication and interpersonal skills on your resume
With our skills generator, you can easily add communication and personal skills that match the job you are applying for.
What are Communication Skills?
Communication skills go beyond mere verbal abilities, involving speaking, listening, empathizing, and observing.
These factors combine to facilitate the effective transfer of information at a workplace, ensuring tasks are done and problems tackled adequately.
Being proficient in conveying your thoughts and receiving suggestions places you as a valuable businessperson.
Our AI resume builder and skills generator can help you effectively include communication skills on your resume.
Communication Skills Examples to Include on Your Resume
There are a number of interpersonal skills you can include that show you’re an effective communicator who can convey ideas and listen to coworkers, which is key for management roles.
Below are examples of the most common types of communication and people skills on a resume.
Communication
Emails, Slack pings, voice calls, and video meetings all require communication. The clearer you can say what you mean, and mean what you say, the better the progress. Communication skills typically top the list of people skills that employers look for.
- Delivered weekly project updates to 5 cross-functional teams, ensuring 100% alignment on project goals and timelines through clear communication via email and video calls.
- Presented actionable data insights from analyzing datasets of 100,000+ entries, leading to a 15% improvement in operational efficiency as discussed in bi-weekly team meetings.
Active listening
Having active listening skills is crucial for understanding your team’s needs, resolving conflicts, and fostering collaboration. By fully engaging with others, asking clarifying questions, and providing and receiving feedback, you create stronger relationships and better outcomes.
- Resolved 5+ team conflicts by actively listening to concerns, identifying root causes, and facilitating open discussions, improving team collaboration by 25%.
- Conducted one-on-one meetings with 7 team members, using active listening techniques, to gather feedback and implement changes that raised team satisfaction scores by 20%.
Negotiation
Negotiating is not just for sales and contracts. Most roles will require this skill.
Negotiating the details of a project with your team is just as important as sales negotiations. It’s essential to actively listen and appreciate different perspectives, incorporating valuable ideas into the plan.
- Collaborated with 5 departments to negotiate and implement budget adjustments, achieving a 10% cost reduction while maintaining project scope and quality.
- Facilitated negotiations with a team of 10, aligning to revised project deadlines that balanced team capacity and business priorities, resulting in the on-time delivery of 95% of key milestones.
Leadership
There’s more to leadership than just management. In fact, reverse mentoring, where leaders learn from their coworkers, has skyrocketed during the past decade. Every person has leadership potential, which can be powerful with self-awareness of their personality.
The servant leadership style, for example, has become more popularized. This involves leading by serving, not commanding. In short, you support your team’s success by listening to their needs and helping them thrive.
- Led a team of 5 to successfully launch a product within a 3-month timeline, conducting daily stand-up meetings to address roadblocks and ensuring 100% adherence to the project schedule.
- Mentored 3 junior team members, resulting in a 20% improvement in their performance metrics within 6 months, while fostering a collaborative team environment that boosted overall productivity by 15%.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions and those of others. When you have high emotional intelligence, you can communicate better and work well with other people from all sorts of backgrounds and ages.
- Resolved 5+ team conflicts by identifying root causes and facilitating open communication, leading to a 25% improvement in team collaboration and a more positive work environment.
- Tailored communication strategies to fit the needs of 7 team members, resulting in a 20% increase in team efficiency and a noticeable improvement in morale and collaboration.
Collaboration
Collaboration is a key communication skill that involves working effectively with others to achieve a common goal, showing teamwork.
It’s about listening to different perspectives, sharing ideas openly, building on each other’s strengths, and sharing the workload in the best way that works for everyone.
- Collaborated with the sales team to align on 3 key marketing campaigns, increasing lead generation by 25% and contributing to a 15% boost in quarterly revenue.
- Worked with HR to plan and execute a company-wide training event for 200+ employees, achieving a 95% participation rate and a 30% increase in employee engagement scores.
How to Describe Communication Skills on a Resume
There’s a clear difference between simply listing skills or achievements and proactively highlighting them.
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💡 Our expert says:
“Anyone can say they’re a great communicator, but having to state it explicitly on a resume may seem a little redundant. It’s like insisting you can cook by showing a restaurant a photo of your signature dish or claiming you can deliver a talk to an audience by sending a PowerPoint presentation.”
Let’s break down a couple of things you need to do to properly incorporate these skills by looking at some people skills examples you can adapt for your resume:
Demonstrate your people skills by using metrics
Quantify your accomplishments whenever possible to showcase the impact of your people skills.
Think numbers, percentages, and statistics. Include specific examples from your work experience where you used these skills effectively. This might seem tricky with people skills.
The trick is to measure the outcome of the work you did that involved using your interpersonal skills. Let’s see some examples for inspiration across various industries:
Healthcare
Implemented electronic health record (EHR) system enhancements that increased patient data accessibility and communication frequency by 37%.
Project Management
Led a cross-functional team of 10 to complete a project ahead of time and within budget.
Marketing
Expanded customer base by 25% within six months by collaborating with the sales team to develop and execute a new lead generation strategy.
Align your resume with the people skills in the job description
Let’s see an example of how examining the job description can help you pick out the people skills you need to include in your resume.
Product Manager
Job description:
- Foster a positive and inclusive community environment, actively addressing user concerns and promoting constructive conversations.
- Partner with marketing and engineering teams to bring your product vision to life.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders across the organization.
Here’s how somebody can tailor their summary and work experience section. The underlined phrases and words match the people skills outlined in the job ad.
Summary
Innovative and results-driven product manager with 5+ years of experience in leading cross-functional teams. Achieved a record 20% increase in product adoption and 35% improvement in customer satisfaction during Q2. Expert at building and growing strong stakeholder relationships to foster inclusive community environments.
Experience
Product Manager
Bloop.io | San Francisco, CA | 2021 – Present
- Championed customer feedback initiatives, conducted user surveys, and analyzed data to inform product roadmap decisions, contributing to a 10% increase in customer retention.
- Enthusiastically led product development efforts from conception to launch for multiple software products, collaborating closely with engineering and marketing teams to ensure alignment with strategic goals.
- Spearheaded a product revamp initiative that led to a 25% increase in revenue within the first year of launch.
- Established and maintained relationships with key stakeholders, including executives, engineering teams, and external partners, resulting in a 30% improvement in cross-functional collaboration.
According to the 2024 Talent Trends report published by SHRM, 30% of the organizations surveyed were experiencing recruitment challenges due to candidates lacking the right soft skills.
By effectively demonstrating your communication skills, you can show hiring managers you can lead, listen, and be ready for the role you are applying to.
FAQs
Show people skills on your resume by using clear examples rather than just stating the term or simply listing all your communication and interpersonal skills.
Mention achievements that involve teamwork, collaboration, leadership, or customer interaction.
For example, phrases like “collaborated with cross-functional teams,” “resolved client concerns,” or “led team meetings” demonstrate strong interpersonal skills.
Yes, you can include people skills on a resume, but they work best when supported by evidence. Instead of listing your communication and interpersonal skills by themselves, connect them to real experiences and achievements.
Highlight roles where you managed relationships or communicated effectively. This approach makes your skills more convincing and relevant to employers.
The most used communication skill in professional settings is typically active listening. It supports clear understanding, reduces mistakes, and improves collaboration.
Active listening involves paying attention and responding thoughtfully. It is essential in meetings, teamwork, customer interactions, and leadership.
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