What strengths can you include in your resume? Personal qualities in a resume

As you know, a valuable employee not only knows how to perform work duties, but is also a good man. He manages everything, listens to others, takes initiative, has a sense of humor, is loyal to the company, loves his clients, and so on.

Therefore, in addition to experience, education and skills, your resume needs to indicate personal qualities. However, if you do this in moderation and do not describe all character traits in detail, you will make your resume more attractive.

What personal qualities to write in a resume

Of course, your resume should indicate your positive and strongest qualities. If you do it beautifully, you will stand out from the crowd of resumes.

Common error

Often, when counseling clients on career issues, they send me a resume describing the abilities of a superman:

  • Determination.
  • Communication skills.
  • Stress resistance.
  • Initiative.
  • Focus on results.
  • High learning ability.
  • Systems thinking.
  • And so on and so forth.

This is a bad and banal way to increase your importance. According to statistics, a similar list of abilities is found in 9 out of 10 resumes. Let's get rid of this and learn to attractively indicate personal qualities in a resume. There are two ways to present yourself more effectively:

  • Just delete all such list. Leave only your professional skills.
  • The second method is stronger and more effective. Choose one of your abilities (the strongest) and write about it in detail. You can choose two abilities, but this is the maximum.

Examples of personal qualities in a resume

To write beautifully about your qualities, be more specific and try to be concise. Here are some examples:

  • (instead of leadership) Presentable, energetic, able to speak in public and inspire people.
  • (instead of sociability) Sociable, open (I know how to not just go to conferences, but make useful connections there; I know how to effectively use social networks for business and sales).
  • (instead of stress resistance) I can act quickly in time pressure situations.
  • (instead of initiative) I am open in communication with management, I am able to propose new ideas, as well as think through and implement them.

Look for the necessary wording and criteria and write about personal qualities in your resume in a tasty way. It will work!

When writing your resume, you should pay special attention to your professional qualities. It is by them that the employer will judge whether you are suitable for the company or not. Accordingly, professional qualities for a resume need to be selected and listed very carefully in order to attract the recruiter who will communicate with you at the interview.

Professional qualities for a resume

Professional qualities - this is how one can characterize the totality of personal qualities, as well as all the skills that a person managed to acquire throughout his career. professional activity. They can help you improve in the future and bring tangible benefits to your company.

Sometimes there are qualities that can be called professional only conditionally. For example, if an applicant describes a “developed sense of humor” as one of them, they are unlikely to attract the recruiter’s attention. Unless a person is looking for a job as a party host - then the sense of humor can still be called professional.

How to get an effective resume with a favorable description of your professional qualities?

We offer professional assistance to job seekers who want to take their job search seriously and get quality results.

Strong professional qualities for a resume

  • desire for professional growth;
  • ability to persuade;
  • increased performance;
  • analytical thinking.

All this will allow the recruiter to get his bearings and understand how to communicate with you and what qualities of yours to best try to reveal during an interview.

For example, the same lack of experience can be supplemented by such qualities as result orientation and fast learner. Thus, the employer, realizing that one cannot expect instant results from a new employee, still gets the opportunity to create from him exactly the kind of specialist that is required. If your future employer is forward-thinking, you have a good chance.

Examples of professional qualities in a resume

It must be remembered that when listing any of the professional qualities, you need to coordinate this list with the requirements for the position. For example, accuracy can hardly be considered a professional quality and defining criteria for a candidate applying for a top manager position. But it can turn out to be a very tangible advantage for the position of secretary. Therefore, choosing professional quality for a resume, consider how relevant one or another of them will be for you in a future position.

Here are a few situations related to certain professions that require certain specific qualities.

Example of professional qualities for a manager's resume

  • responsibility;
  • performance;
  • ability to negotiate;
  • enterprise;
  • ability to make quick decisions.

Example of professional qualities for an accountant resume

  • diligence;
  • accuracy;
  • punctuality;
  • organization.

Example of professional qualities for a sales manager resume

  • the ability to find a common language with people;
  • public speaking skills;
  • ability to quickly navigate a situation;
  • creativity.

As you can see, the difference in professional qualities is obvious. It all depends on what vacancy you intend to apply for. But do not forget that the list of qualities should not be too long. If it contains about 10 points (or even more), then there is a high probability that your resume will be put aside: after all, the recruiter will get the feeling that you are simply praising yourself. Show moderation and the recruiter will appreciate your professional qualities in your resume.

Making a competent self-presentation is a kind of art that opens doors to desired positions. What not to write in your resume so as not to irritate the HR employee and not provoke an unfavorable impression of yourself.

Information about place of birth, information about absence bad habits, divorce and incomplete education - all this should not be present in our self-presentation, say HR agency experts. What topics should not be touched upon in a resume so as not to “blurt out too much”?

What not to write on your resume: single/married, divorced

Marital status is not directly related to the employment process, so this information should not be included in the submitted description. What else you don't need to write on your resume is information about your religious beliefs, age, and sexual orientation. It happens that a candidate includes the date of wedding or divorce in his biography, but this is also not necessary.

What not to write on your resume: I don't drink or smoke

When thinking about how to write a resume for a job correctly, many consider it necessary to emphasize the absence of bad habits. But this information is not essential for assessing your competence and skill level, so it has no place in the description. It is much better to write instead, for example, information about courses taken or additional skills. Manual workers are often noted to have no bad habits. They explain this by saying that they wanted to warn employers, who often ask about such things. But let's remember that the manager has the right to be interested in skills and qualifications. A doctor evaluates the state of health, and his findings are recorded in the appropriate conclusion.

What not to write on your resume: do not attach unprofessional photos

Photographs placed on a resume are an additional element involved in creating our image. Therefore, you need to not only know what not to write on your resume, but also make sure that the photographs are of high quality and create an image of us as professionals who know their business well. Amateur, as long as the photograph taken often compromises the candidate. It happens that applicants take the trouble to create a competent resume, but send it with a photo of themselves, for example, in front of a kitchen table or a rose bush. They give the recruiter a lot of food for thought. He may consider the person funny or pretentious, and his hand will probably reach for another document, with another photograph.

What not to write on your resume: unfinished training

This is a delicate question. To make a correct self-presentation, it is still worth reporting that some steps were taken in the field of education, even if it was not completed. This especially needs to be done if the training is related to the job or position for which you are applying. However, what not to write on your resume are the words “unfinished”, “incomplete”, because they cause negative associations and create the impression of you as a person who cannot cope with problems and challenges taken on.

What not to write on your resume: detailed description of the company

The main thing is to describe in the document the responsibilities performed at a specific workplace. In addition to the name of the company, you can indicate in a few words what it does, what industry it operates in - for example, that it is a manufacturer of auto parts. But only. There is no need to write in detail about the company's activities in your resume by copying the description from its website. Such official wording is very poorly perceived by recruiters. When submitting a resume, we are concerned about our position, and not describing our previous employer.

What not to write on your resume: unprofessional phone mail address

The resume should be business card you as a future employee, and therefore the contact address indicated in it Email should be associated more with the professional sphere than the personal. When inventing it, use, for example, your first and last name or initials, etc., avoid familiarity.
It happens that candidates designate their resumes in some special way on their computer so that they can quickly find the document. Sometimes they simply forget to rename it before sending it, but doing so is very reckless. It is not recommended to assign a resume serial number, for example, “resume no. 100”. The recruiter will immediately think that the person has previously unsuccessfully sent a huge number of resumes and was turned away everywhere. Is it worth getting involved with this?

What not to write on your resume: foreign language – in the process of learning

It is not clear from this phrase what level of proficiency foreign language you can brag. Therefore, if you want to create a good and correct resume, describing the level, you should use in professional terms, used in language certificates, or give specific information, characterizing your knowledge of the phrases “fluent reading”, “good oral and written communication”, etc.

What not to write on your resume: Place of Birth

When compiling a self-presentation for future work, in the vast majority of cases, information about your place of birth does not matter at all. At the same time, sometimes it is important to indicate your current place of residence, for example, in a situation where you are contacting a company whose branches are scattered throughout the country. In this case, you need to tell the HR employee exactly where you could work.

What do you think: Does the employer pay attention to the qualities indicated in the resume?

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Sociable, responsible, blah blah blah... Who said you are like that? Former employer or mother?

You need to prove who you are! Nobody will take your word for it. To do this, indicate specific examples of your qualities from the past, life or relationships.

Managers always value employees who, in addition to their official duties, also know how to listen to others, are endowed with a sense of humor, are the soul of the company, are interesting in communication, are on time everywhere, and are also proactive.

Good people are needed everywhere! Therefore, in addition to professional experience, education and additional information employers are interested in personal qualities for a resume. Your profile will become much more attractive if you approach this issue from the right angle and observe moderation. You shouldn’t delve too deeply into the details of your character.

What qualities of a person should be written in a resume?

Your resume should include only your greatest strengths. If the qualities in your job resume are described correctly, the employer will be able to highlight your candidacy among other applications.

In fact, there are no good or unsuitable candidates for a certain position - so prove that the company needs you!

How to reflect personal qualities in a resume when applying for a job

The search for a job can drag on for a long time: some cannot find a suitable job for months, others survive on labor-intensive and unstable earnings. You can even out the situation with the help of a resume. It must, first of all, be competently composed, adequate, memorable and extremely informative.

How to reflect personal and professional qualities on a resume so that the employer notices you and gives you an open vacancy? What do experts and psychologists think about this?

In their opinion, it is necessary to informatively describe their personal qualities in such a way that they look in the best light:

  • follow the structure of the document;
  • do not use templates;
  • be creative.

Expert opinion

Natalya Molchanova

HR manager

Before you start work, read the requirements of the vacant position you are interested in. Tailor your application as much as possible to the conditions imposed by the employer for this position.

Some applicants thoughtlessly enter data in the “ business qualities" for resume. There is no need to hope that the future boss will not even pay attention to her, although this can happen. We strongly recommend that you take this point as seriously as those that you consider important.

Sensible managers not only pay attention to your personal qualities, but also carefully study them. Based on the data provided, the recruiter decides whether to include the applicant as a priority candidate or leave his request on the reserve bench.

What to write in the personal qualities section of a resume

So that the list of qualities for a resume has presentable appearance, you need to learn to present yourself beautifully. There is simply no standard selection of parameters. We are all different and choose accordingly various areas activities.

Psychologists advise writing only about those personal qualities of a person that are inherent specifically to you. You shouldn’t be disingenuous, because once you’re at an interview, the employer will certainly ask you to demonstrate them using some specific example. Think about what character traits can be considered winning.

The number of your strengths should be limited to five points - this will increase your chances of getting a vacant position.

What qualities of an employee are important when hiring?

When submitting a resume, the applicant needs to scrupulously evaluate his professional abilities, analyze and sort out all aspects of his character.

A template set of personal qualities in a resume, an example might look like this:

  • Balance, self-control, perseverance, hard work, discipline;
  • persuasiveness, ambition, good diction, determination;
  • self-confidence, ability to adapt to change, ability to work in a team;
  • accuracy, quick learner, good diction, perseverance;
  • oratory skills, decency, presentable appearance;
  • desire for development, result orientation, punctuality;
  • honesty, fairness, sense of humor, energy, organization.

Many people ask the question: is it necessary to list? In cases where the employer does not ask you to dwell on your negative qualities, it is better to omit this paragraph and limit yourself only to strong features character. But what if the recruiter still insists on indicating your disadvantages?

What negative qualities should you include in your resume?

This is one of those points where frankness will not benefit you. Describe only the neutral aspects of your character, which cannot in any way be reflected in the desired position or in this field of activity will be interpreted as advantages.

The description of personal qualities in a resume for a sales manager may sound, for example, like this: excessive sociability, workaholism, restlessness, distrust.

Here are some versions of qualities that you can safely present to an employer as negative:

  • simplicity, straightforwardness, intolerance of rudeness, inability to lie;
  • pedantry, selfishness, self-demandingness, excessive scrupulousness;
  • excessive emotionality, increased sense of responsibility.

What qualities should you write in your resume according to your profession?

A good manager must have organizational skills, be pleasant in communication, interest and find contact with people. Knowing this, you need to be able to determine which of these characteristics you possess.

Remember, indicate only those qualities that will best suit the position for which you are applying. Each field of activity has its own set of requirements.

Manager qualities

can indicate the following personal and business qualities in a resume, examples:

  • perseverance,
  • persuasion skills,
  • activity,
  • enterprise,
  • communication skills
  • creative approach to solving problems,
  • good diction,
  • ability to interest.

Qualities for a leadership position

When installing on leadership positions personal qualities of character are considered much more scrupulously than ordinary employees. The applicant will be asked to confirm all information included in the resume at the interview.

The following examples can describe the qualities of a leader:

  • ability to guide,
  • to lead
  • to lead,
  • loyalty.

The leader must have:

  • analytical skills,
  • strong character and be fair.
  • This position requires flexibility of thinking,
  • consistency,
  • observation,
  • objectivity.

The recruiter will require from you:

  • ability to work in a team,
  • stress resistance,
  • perseverance,
  • decency,
  • energy.

Secretary qualities

This right hand leader. He must not only serve the boss coffee, but also have:

  • organizational skills,
  • competent speech,
  • control the manager's schedule,
  • plan business meetings.

In addition, this position requires the following qualities:

  • presentable appearance,
  • accuracy,
  • contact,
  • creativity.

A secretary girl is characterized by:

  • punctuality,
  • grammatically correct speech,
  • ability to perform assigned tasks.

The position of secretary requires:

  • stable psychological state,
  • non-conflict,
  • patience.
  • The secretary must have good diction,
  • ability to work in a team,
  • have creative abilities.
  • The profession is characterized by agility,
  • self-control
  • ability to conduct dialogue,
  • honesty,
  • flexibility of thinking.

A secretary girl should be:

  • conscientious,
  • creative,
  • attentive to nuances,
  • strives for self-development,
  • be able to organize the work process.

Qualities of a lawyer

The position requires communication with ordinary people. Specialists in this profession must be endowed with the following qualities:

Alexander Yurievich

Director of a recruitment agency

The current situation in the labor market has led to the fact that the number of resumes significantly exceeds the number of vacancies. As a result, when filling a vacancy, a competition begins, and the applicant must make his application form something like a business card.

Below are examples of what personal qualities can be indicated so that the questionnaire does not go unnoticed by the employer. This technique will attract the attention of a potential employer and allow you to get into a personal meeting.

Hundreds of applicants applying for one vacant position in the company invite HR officers to evaluate their candidacy. Therefore, you need to stand out from other applicants by pointing out not only the relevance of the experience gained in your previous job, but also the unique characteristics this candidate personal characteristics.

It is the combination of “business qualities plus personal characteristics” that are assessed by personnel officers and influence the decision to enroll a person on the staff.

The personal qualities of the applicant play the same role as his professionalism!

Brevity and completeness of information

The first is the application form. The resume should be short, concise, and succinct. It is worth indicating only those personal and professional qualities that correspond to the proposed position. Listing all previously held positions is appropriate only if each previous position is relevant to the position for which the applicant is applying.

  • Moreover, employers are increasingly less likely to hire a person with a long track record; experience can be gained. Much more valuable properties have become:
  • competence;
  • compliance of the candidate’s knowledge with the employer’s requirements;
  • livability;

personal interest in the work (implies the profile of the organization in general and the current project in particular).

It is these personal qualities that personnel officers pay attention to in a resume. For an experienced employer, a young man who recently graduated from college may seem a more interesting candidate than a specialist with N years of experience who has not changed jobs in all these years (and, perhaps, because of this is incompetent in some new areas).

Emphasis on personality Second important point – personal, more precisely, their correspondence to the position for which the person is applying. Take, for example, such a popular property as organizational skills.

This quality is undoubtedly positive. But is it worth adding it to your resume if a person gets a job as a salesperson or cashier?

A resume for such a position should focus on the following characteristics of the applicant:

  • perseverance;
  • contact;
  • stress resistance;
  • punctuality.

These personal characteristics will no doubt be appreciated by employers who are interested in hiring a competent employee who can quickly integrate into the team and do an excellent job.

A system administrator may not have communication skills, but not a middle manager, for whom this personal characteristic develops into part of professional skills.

A universal set of personal characteristics of a candidate that will appeal to the employer


In the event that an applicant is applying for a position for which the candidate has not yet developed experience, it is worth emphasizing his own prospects.

Those. List in your resume, first of all, not valuable professional skills (which do not yet exist), but positive personal qualities that will indicate the potential of the applicant.

Completely universal kit personal characteristics there is no such thing as an ideal resume - you can only provide an average set of properties, which in most cases are considered positive when applying for a job. Which personal characteristics to choose depends on the specific vacant position.

Personal characteristics – sample list:

  1. The ability to be objective. It depends on the employee’s ability to sensibly assess the situation and those around him whether the subjective perception of what is happening will become the cause of conflicts.
  2. The ability to remain attentive. It is impossible, as they say, to take such a person by surprise - he is always collected, is not surprised by anything, and is difficult to bring him into confusion.
  3. It is worth mentioning observation skills. Sometimes the climb career ladder depends precisely on this personal trait.
  4. The candidate must have the following mental qualities - they will be appreciated by the vast majority of employers:
    • availability of analytical skills;
    • the presence of consistency and flexibility of thinking;
    • ability to find optimal solution in any situation, including non-standard ones.
  5. Communication skills - as mentioned above, it is advisable to indicate them depending on the vacancy for which the applicant is applying. For a number of positions, the success of the project depends on the employee’s ability to conduct business negotiations. In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to focus on features such as:
    • non-conflict;
    • the ability to build a constructive dialogue with any opponent;
    • , i.e. ability to lead a team;
    • the desire to defend a personal opinion, a personal point of view.
  6. and peace. The already mentioned competence attracts precisely the potential employee’s ability to independent work. Such a person does not require constant control from his superiors - the employee clearly understands the circle of his job responsibilities and is ready to cope with his tasks.

Attention! These positive qualities must correspond to reality - during the interview, the candidate will have to prove that he fully possesses all the personal qualities that the applicant wished to indicate in the application form.

In addition, it is worth showing sincere interest in getting a position - prepare counter questions for the interview, prepare answers to possible questions from the employer in advance, ask about the history of the company, etc.