Teamwork skills for your CV

Contents

Essential teamwork skills

No matter the business or organisation you work for, there are certain teamwork skills that are essential for any employee. Here’s how to add them to your CV:

• Verbal communication – e.g. “5 years’ experience working at the HR desk of [company], dealing with employee complaints, scheduling interviews, and responding to vacancy requests.”
• Written communication – e.g. “Was responsible for the day-to-day management of our company’s communications: writing to clients and customers, while also responding to social media posts and emails.”
• Flexibility– e.g. “Worked across 3 of the company’s departments on a day-to-day basis, supervising various teams while dealing with client meetings at short notice.”
• Reliability – e.g., “Voted employee of the month 7 times by my colleagues during my 3 years working as a customer service advisor.”
• Leadership – e.g. “Headed our project management team, supervising a 12 employees as they created successful marketing campaigns for clients across the UK.”
• Negotiation – e.g. “Collaborated with various departments in implementing an enhanced workflow strategy, with our department achieving 3 out of our 4 key aims.”
• Time Management – e.g. “Worked with our creative team to organise our online business launch, generating media hype and successfully launching our online store before given deadline.”
• Diplomacy – e.g. “Worked with logistics team to effectively implement new strategy to solve problems in our shipping process, leading to increased customer satisfaction.”
• Collaboration – e.g. “Collaborated with supervisors and team leaders as two of our company departments merged, creating a more optimised and communicative workspace.”

Leading a team

Leadership is a crucial function of any team, so building your leadership skills will make you valuable to any employer.

• People management– e.g. “Led a team of 15 employees to winning Small Business of the Year Award [2019] under my management.”
• Problem-solving – e.g. “Fixed shipping issues in our supply chain that had resulted in longer hours for our employees, establishing a happier work-life balance for our staff and higher employee retention.”
• Accountability – e.g. “Refused budget cut from corporate office, managed costs to ensure zero redundancies during profit slump.”
• Empathy – e.g. “Increased our employee holiday allowance to account for personal circumstances and disruptions, resulting in increased employee retention.”
• Open Communication – e.g. “Maintained an open-door office policy with all employees, allowing constructive feedback and suggestions to optimise our workflow and better achieve company goals.”
• Delegation – e.g. “Assigned daily tasks, set monthly departmental goals, and implemented bonus initiatives to high-performing employees to encourage productivity.”
• Strategic Thinking – e.g. “Listened to employees’ concerns about expanding our business into new locations, instead successfully took our business online.”
• Innovation – e.g. “Headed a successful campaign to incentivise eco-friendly office policies, resulting in the company obtaining a substantial government subsidy and a healthier work environment for colleagues.”
• Calculated Risk-Taking – e.g. “Took the successful decision to expand our business abroad, with our company now operating in 3 European countries and our whole team able to travel abroad for work.”
• Team Building – e.g. “Oversaw a team of 15 employees, arranged monthly team building activities to boost morale and maintain high employee retention.”

Supporting a team

Employers and recruiters are looking for candidates that can offer all-round support to their team: here are some key skills that you might use while in a supportive team role, and how to demonstrate them on your CV:

• Assistance – e.g. “Aided management in training colleagues in new office software; trained 13 employees to use Microsoft Office and PLM.”
• Adaptability – e.g. “Worked at all levels of the company, helping colleagues document financial records, assisting audits, and implementing optimisation strategies.”
• Diplomacy – e.g. “Successfully suggested a U-turn on proposed workflow optimisation policy, which would have resulted in a more complicated customer service experience.”
• Initiative – e.g. “Headed campaign to revisit our customer service strategy, resulting in a 17% increase in customer satisfaction and a simplified process.”
• Collaboration – e.g. “Worked with team leaders across the company to establish our new advertising campaign, taking on board suggestions and implementing them into the successful final product.”
• Resourcefulness – e.g. “Optimised our customer service strategy by implementing an automated online form for simple customer service requests, helping colleagues while leading to shorter call waiting times for customers.”
• Responsibility – e.g. “Was tasked with heading our marketing campaign for a client in the education sector, resulting in a positive media campaign and securing a long-term collaboration.”
• Documentation – e.g. “On-boarded over 100 new employees and trained them to work according to company policies and guidelines.”
• Detail Orientated – e.g. “Used office task software to ensure all written communication adhered to company policy, standards, and writing guidelines.”
• Creative Thinking – e.g. “Successfully proposed moving our inventory onto a new office management system, freeing up time during the workday and enhancing workflow efficiency.”

Communicating in a team

Employers want to know that you’re able to work efficiently within a diverse team: here’s how to show off your communication teamwork skills:

• Public speaking – e.g. “Presented the quarterly results to the leadership team”
• Reporting – e.g. “Creates a monthly dashboard to update CEO on sales and conversion figures”
• Writing – e.g. “Communicating with clients via email to gather updates and collect product requirements”
• Communication Skills – e.g. “Coordinated with teams across company’s 8 departments in order to implement company’s new media strategy.”
• Critical Thinking – e.g. “Was responsible for evaluating company productivity, establishing strengths and weaknesses, as well as implementing strategies for improvement.”
• Technology – e.g. “Trained all new employees in our office software, including 2 office task management systems and Microsoft Office.”
• Conflict Resolution – e.g. “Successfully negotiated a higher budget for a long-term client’s marketing campaigns, resulting in the continuation of the partnership while cutting overheads.”
• Confidence – e.g. “Successfully proposed suggestions to our corporate office on how to maximise our social media campaign, resulting in a successful strategy overhaul.”
• Influence – e.g. “Successfully encouraged team to adopt alternative online strategy to compete with rival businesses, resulting in increased organic traffic and media exposure.”
• Persuasion – e.g. “Persuaded high-profile client to switch from their supplier to our services, resulting in a 5-year, £3 million deal for our growing company.”
• Giving and Receiving Feedback – e.g. “Was responsible for the hiring process from start to finish; selecting candidates, writing interview feedback forms, and hiring new employees.”
• Brainstorming – e.g. “Suggested and implemented new strategies for our monthly team building activities, leading to increased employee satisfaction and higher office productivity.”
• Planning Skills – e.g. “Organised company meetings, scheduled team building activities, implemented monthly employee bonus initiatives.”