Writing a resume is a daunting task in and of itself. But the section “Personal qualities”, or, as it is usually called, “About myself”, confuses applicants. Few people know that their personal characteristics must be described in accordance with the desired position. After all, what is good for a manager will not be equally useful for an accountant. In this material, you will find examples of personal qualities for resumes of different professions, as well as detailed recommendations from specialists on how to fill out this section.
General rules
The only thing that comes to mind is to rewrite what employers write in this section. This is a fairly effective tactic, especially if the employer approaches the resume formally. But “responsibility, sociability, resistance to stress” has long been soreness. So what personal qualities should you include on your resume? The answer is simple: yours, the real ones. If you get to know people easily and find a common language with people, then write in your personal qualities in your resume, for example: “attentive attitude to people, I can communicate with difficult clients / partners, I am successfully negotiating.”
Specialists identify four main types of personal qualities that should be indicated on your resume. We all remember school career guidance tests to determine the area of interest: “man-man”, “man-machine” … The model adapted to the resume includes a person’s attitude to himself, other people, work (work) and things.
Let’s look at each type separately.
Attitude towards yourself
The way a person treats himself largely determines his behavior in the workplace, have you thought about it? And hiring specialists have known this for a long time. For example, if a person is confident in himself, has leadership qualities, and is inclined to defend his point of view, he is most likely not suitable for an ordinary position. Here we come to an important point: attitude towards oneself and self-esteem must correspond to the chosen position. If an employer requires qualities that you do not have, this does not suit you.
Examples of personal qualities in a resume from this section:
- the ability to take criticism constructively,
- striving for self-improvement, learning,
- increased responsibility,
- the habit of planning your time.
Relationship to other people
In addition to sociability and resistance to stress, this section contains other important qualities. To correctly fill out this section, you need to imagine in as much detail as possible the process of future work: with what people will you communicate? In what situations will this happen? What problems can arise? What qualities will help you solve them?
Attitude to work
It is important not to confuse it with professional skills. You learned professional skills at university or while working elsewhere, and the qualities are inherent in you as a person. To determine exactly your qualities of attitude to work, you can use the same technique as in the previous section. What is your future job related to? What qualities will help you do it in the best way? Write them in your resume.
Attitude to things
Standard qualities in this section: neatness, neatness. Any employer wants things and equipment in the workplace to remain intact. Do you like order and cleanliness? Write about it on your resume!
Examples of personal qualities in a resume from this section:
- I am pedantic about the order in the workplace,
- take good care of things,
- easily organize the space around me.
Now, to compile the “About me” section, we collect these qualities together and get a portrait of the dream worker. It’s pretty simple. A well-written resume, even if you were lying a little somewhere, will show the recruiter that you have responsibly approached the description of your qualities and have a good idea of the workflow, since you were able to reflect exactly the qualities that are necessary for it.
Various examples of personal qualities in a resume
An example of personal qualities in a sales assistant’s resume:
- courtesy,
- desire to help other people
- ability to smooth out conflicts;
An example of personal qualities in a lawyer’s resume:
- scrupulousness,
- the ability to work with large amounts of information,
- breadth of mind;
An example of personal qualities in an accountant’s resume:
- pedantic attitude to order in documents,
- attentiveness,
- responsibility;
An example of personal qualities in a manager’s resume:
- striving for leadership,
- being organized,
- the ability to defend one’s point of view in a reasoned manner
- decisiveness.
Weak or bad personal qualities in the resume
What if you have some fundamental qualities or habits that the employer obviously does not like? In most cases, you shouldn’t include them on your resume. In the interview, you will be able to explain everything, but in the resume you will not. Indicate that you smoke, you will not be invited for an interview and will not be found out that you are ready to quit smoking during working hours or are trying to quit. If the employer provides a formal resume form (questionnaire) and there is a direct question, then you will have to write the truth. But here you can also persuade the recruiter in your favor: note that you understand the negativity of this quality and are ready to work on it.