Quick Overview
Personal skills and qualities on a CV show how you think, work, and collaborate, beyond your technical expertise. In the UK job market, these traits often decide whether you move from application to interview. This guide explains:
✅ Why personal skills and qualities are crucial for employers
✅ The difference between personal skills and personal qualities
✅ Where and how to highlight them effectively on your CV
✅ Best practices for writing about skills with impact
✅ Common mistakes to avoid when showcasing personal traits
The burden of “standing out” in a personal resume or CV can sometimes feel unbearable. Here is an insider tip: it is not only your qualifications or previous positions that get you noticed, but rather, your personal skills and attributes. These are the characteristics that demonstrate to an employer how you work, how you think, and how well you are likely to integrate into the team.
This article will help you understand what personal skills and qualities to write about, how to write them authentically and impressively, and how to “sell” them to the employers you want to work for in the UK.
Why Skills and Personal Qualities are Important for a Personal Resume
The peronal resume is not only a list of previous jobs done; it is also a representation of your potential, which includes your character. Employers want to understand :
- Will you work well with others and contribute thoughtfully to the team’s dynamics?
- Are you proactive, trustworthy, organised, or reliable?
- Will you withstand and successfully adapt to changes, and receive feedback well?
While technical skills get you in the door, being offered an interview and the job are, more often than not, a result of your personal and soft skills.
As per the UK’s Institute of Student Employers (ISE) report, employers require basic personal skills like communication, adaptability, resilience, and team collaboration to accompany hard skills. Thus, missing out on these important personal skills to mention on your personal resume can be a grave mistake.
What Is Considered A Personal Skill Or A Quality?
These are traits that define your persona and interact during your life, both personal and professional, like a personal skill to have during a collaboration, a creative approach, or effective time management. A personal quality or trait mainly explains the insider aspects of an individual, like being caring, patient, the ability to exhibit enthusiasm, or even being confident.
Here are some useful skills and attributes for a CV and are widely accepted:
- Communication
- Team Work
- Problem Solving
- Taking Initiative
- Reliability
- Adapting
- Strong Work Ethic
- Dependable
- Resilient
- Exhibiting Critical Thinking
- Exercising leadership
These are universal traits that can be claimed during an interview. However, the key lies in matching these universal traits to the job you are applying for and presenting these traits alongside evidence.
Where To Indicate Personal Skills And Qualities On A CV?
1. In the personal section or the profile summary (Top of Your CV)
Personal skills are the first attributes employers view, and this section allows you to elaborate on a maximum of 2 to 3 of your personal skills.
Example:
“Driven and flexible recent marketing graduate with strong written communication skills and a great digital eye, looking to join a growing company.”
Again, this is not a list; it has a natural flow and shows how the traits support the candidate’s objectives.
2. Your Work Experience Section
In this section, don’t just list roles and responsibilities. Focus on how your work skills contributed.
Before:
“Managed calls and scheduled appointments.”
After:
“Managed 50 client calls and scheduled appointments daily with strong communication and organisation skills.”
The second variation is more beneficial because it illustrates your identity, not just the actions you performed.
3. A Key Skills Section
When adding a key skills section to your personal resume, ensure you add personal skills relevant to the job description.
Example:
- “Project management”
- “Time management”
- “Strong communication”
- “Attention to detail”
- “Collaborative mindset”
Make sure to support your personal resume claims. Generic phrases such as “hardworking” or “team player” are acceptable, provided there is supporting evidence.
Selecting the Appropriate Skills and Qualities
Not all positions will value the same characteristics. Spend time looking for the repeating keywords in the job description.
Use these steps to tailor your skills to a job ad:
Job ad states:
“We’re looking for a highly organised individual who can work independently and manage time effectively.”
You might write:
“Demonstrated excellent time management and self-direction while balancing part-time work with full-time studies, and sustained a high-achieving performance throughout.”
This strategy ensures your personal resume stands up to both human and AI applicant tracking systems (ATS) that check for keywords.
Best Practices for Writing About Your Skills and Qualities for a CV
✅ 1. Tell Us More
Using the phrase “good at problem solving” is vague. Tell us how you solved a problem.
“Implemented an advanced filing grid that decreased document retrieval time by 30%, enhancing team productivity.”
✅ 2. Action Verbs
Use strong verbs that positively describe your skill to begin sentences:
“Achieved,” “streamlined,” “resolved,” “spearheaded,” “partnered,” “executed,” “led,” “crafted.”
✅ 3. Stay Truthful
It’s perfectly okay to tell the truth. Don’t try to oversell yourself. Authenticity is paramount. “I wish” should not feature anywhere.
✅ 4. Use Numbers
If you can, assign a quantifiable measure to your impact. Everyone loves numbers.
“Helped out on a fundraising campaign that reached £12,000 in three weeks.”
Illustrate Personal Skills by Career Type
Here are some examples of personal skills and qualities for a cv that could be showcased in different fields of work:
✅ For Customer Service:
“Managed over 100 customer queries weekly using exceptional patience and clarity, receiving a 95% customer satisfaction rating.”
✅ For Teaching:
“Fostered active empathy and strong communication to build engagement and participation among students and parents, improving overall classroom engagement.”
✅ For Admin/Office Roles:
“Demonstrated strong record-keeping and meeting all deadlines by prioritising competing tasks with strong organisational skills.”
✅ For Tech/IT Roles:
“Used new software and independent troubleshooting to demonstrate analytical thinking and adaptability, learning new programs by myself.”
What Not to Do
🚫 Not being precise
Using the phrase “great at teamwork” is vague and doesn’t describe what and how your contribution helped the team in a specific manner.
🚫 Overdone phrases
Describing someone as “hardworking” or “a go-getter” is not always the best option, as it lacks empirical justification.
🚫 Too Many
Relevance matters more than quantity, so it is better to focus on a few well-developed salient characteristics that are relevant to the job at hand.
Conclusions
Your unique skills and personal traits define you, and they outline what you can offer above the basics. Employers seek to onboard candidates they can trust to grow, contribute, and thrive.
Reflect on your strengths. Consider what your previous coworkers and managers would say about you and what you have done. Ensure to include all those traits in the personal resume while being straightforward, truthful, and tailored to that specific position.
Looking for additional assistance crafting your skills and attributes for a CV?
We have personal resume templates, practical guides, and career courses that can elevate your job search. Instead of just applying, make sure you stand out.