Top Analytical Skills to Include On Your Resume (With Examples)

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Virtually every job out there uses analytical skills in some way, so giving them the space they deserve on your resume can do a lot–it may even help you get an interview!

To understand analytical skills and how to use them, this article of ResumeGiants will:

• Explain what analytical skills are
• List of common examples of analytical skills
• Break down why these abilities matter
• Provide a list of top skills to include on a resume
• Discuss how to best include them, so you can land your dream job

Let’s begin!

What Are Analytical Skills?

When we talk about analytical skills, we’re referring to soft skills, which are skills that allow an individual to synthesize, collect, analyze, and interpret data. 

These skills also help you find solutions to problems, improve processes, and find ways to innovate.

Analytical thinking is an important, if not crucial, part of all sorts of jobs; as a result, lots of employers seek out candidates who demonstrate these skills.  What is the best way to show them on your resume?

Remember that this analytical skills definition includes a set of skills. The term analytical skills serves as a sort of blanket term for various abilities and activities. 

Examples of Analytical Skills

There are potentially hundreds of skills that may be classified as analytical, but most of them fall within five main categories and that are highly valuable.

1. Observing and understanding: Being able to notice trends and changes, identify problems, and understand the reason behind all of these is a vital part of analysis. You should be sharp enough to notice when things are missing or lacking.
2. Planning; These skills can include capabilities like brainstorming and exploring your options before beginning a project. You need to be able to consider all information, know how to use your resources, and think critically.
3. Problem-solving and decision-making: Sometimes the data or project you’re working with begins to head south. Skills that help you address problems as they arise, prevent them in the future, or work to find alternative solutions are all included here.
4. Research: Expertise in data analysis, research practices, patience, and attention to detail are all important parts of the research process.
5. Collaboration Your hard work won’t do much good if you don’t have the skill set to share it with others! You need to be able to communicate your findings accurately and clearly, but also in a way that’s engaging and invites others to continue the conversation.

We’ll go over some more specific examples a bit later. As long as you’re ticking most of or all of these main themes, you can portray yourself as a candidate who is a step above the rest.

Why Are Analytical Skills Important?

Aside from the obvious value that these skills add to the workplace, why do analytical skills matter? Why does it stand to benefit you to show an employer you already have and use them?

Just about anyone can learn skills on the job, but things like analytical skills can’t easily be taught. Remember that they’re soft skills, meaning they’re not specific to any given field or position.

So, showing your employer that you have the smarts and ability to learn isn’t enough. You also want them to see that you’re coming in with a strong background that can be adapted to suit the needs of their business.

Even though analytical skills are valuable abilities to have in general, not all fields utilize them often. 

A few examples of professions that require workers who show strong analytic thinking abilities include:

• Economists
• Accountants
• Research Analysts
• Chemists
• Material Scientists
• Urban Planners
• Lawyers
• Financial Managers
• Software Developers
• Programmers

Top Analytical Skills to Add To Your Resume

Because there are so many different individual analytical skills out there, narrow your focus to just a few significant ones on your resume.

Choose skills that you think best reflect your experiences and goals for future positions.

Below are some of our recommendations for key skills to include, but feel free to branch out and choose some that are more specific and personal to you.

1. Research & Analysis

Research as a whole may be a skill you want to list, but it can also be beneficial to break things down. What’s your experience with research like and what do you think you’ve taken away from it?

Research-related skills can include working with chemicals or other materials, monitoring reactions, collecting data, using the scientific process, and more.

These are skills that demonstrate that you know how to do research and do it well, which is extremely important for many of the jobs discussed above.

2. Critical Thinking

This doesn’t just mean thinking clearly or thoroughly. Critically thinking requires you to consider alternative options, question your findings, troubleshoot, and more.

3. Problem-Solving

When things go wrong, an employee who is prepared to handle the situation, even if they can’t fix everything, is far more likely to be successful. 

Problem-solving skill doesn’t mean you have to instantly solve or perfectly eradicate problems, though this may be the case for some. 

It may simply mean that you’re able to detect when things aren’t working out or that you’re able to come up with quick workarounds that still get the job done. 

4. Communication

Communicating your work with others isn’t just a nice bonus, it’s a necessary part of many jobs that require these sorts of skills. Very few jobs will allow you to work completely independently, and effective collaboration requires good communication.

If you participate in research, for example, you’ll need to be able to share your results with peers and the community at large.

You’ll also probably need to work alongside others, so showing that you have a firm grasp on how to talk to, listen to, and collaborate with others can help set you up for success. 

5. Brainstorming

This talent shows that you can plan well, but also that you’re creative and innovative enough to come up with new ideas. 

How to put Analytical Skills on your Resume

Even once you’ve decided which skills to highlight, the question remains: how do you describe analytical skills on a resume?

There are a few main ways you might do so:

1. Create a skills section for your resume: If you don’t already have one, create a section on your resume dedicated to listing your professional skills. This allows those abilities to really pop. You can also create an “other” section of your resume that just lists your analytical skills (separate from your other skills, even).
2. Look for and take advantage of keywords: Take a look at the job description you’re applying for and identify some keywords related to its responsibilities. Incorporating these keywords and skills related to them into the different sections of your resume paints a picture of a candidate who ticks all the boxes without even trying!
3. Tweak your resume and skills to fit each job: Change up the skills you’re including based on the job you’re applying for. This means you’ll always hit the mark in terms of showing you’re fit for the job.

If you’re still struggling to understand how to write a resume and find natural ways to incorporate your analytical skills into your application materials, take advantage of our free online resume builder tools.

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