-15.png)
Whether you are seeking a new job, dealing with a layoff, or making a strategic career pivot, it’s more important than ever to ensure you stand out to hiring managers. These days, the job market is highly competitive, and experience alone won’t cut it.
Whether you are seeking a new job, dealing with a layoff, or making a strategic career pivot, it’s more important than ever to ensure you stand out to hiring managers. These days, the job market is highly competitive, and experience alone won’t cut it.
The key to success? Highlight what hiring teams want to see most in candidates like you!
In today’s AI-fluent, remote-hybrid workplace culture, these 9 career-elevating skills are greatly in demand. Show that you have proven results in these areas, and hiring teams will take notice. How many of them can you emphasize on your resume, LinkedIn profile, and personal brand portfolio to ensure you catch a recruiter’s eye?
1. Strategic Communication
Communication often gets overlooked by candidates because it’s easy to assume everyone has it. But take a look at several job descriptions in your field right now, and you’ll notice phrases like “able to communicate with cross-functional teams” and “skilled in sharing metrics with key stakeholders.” Why? Because effective communication isn’t as common as you might think.
How to show it:
Clear, concise, and context-focused communication skills—both verbal and written—will set you apart. Employers want people who excel at explaining and selling ideas in appealing, understandable ways. Showcase this ability with a well-crafted resume, cover letter, and meaningful interview answers.
2. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Seasoned professionals bring more than answers to their workplace — they bring analytical frameworks, flexible thinking, and creative approaches that lead to results-driven decision-making. Your ability to objectively assess a situation, identify biases, question assumptions, and make evidence-based decisions is crucial to an organization’s success.
How to show it:
To highlight this ability to hiring teams, emphasize situations where you gained success through analytical reasoning and evaluating information from various viewpoints. In interviews, be ready to discuss past challenges that you successfully navigated. Talk about how you converted an intricate problem into manageable steps, and focus on how your skills benefitted your team, empowered your coworkers, and contributed to your organization’s success.
3. Project Management
The ability to accomplish complex cross-functional projects is a crucial element in countless jobs across all types of industries. Project management involves not only mastering processes, but delivering clear results too. It means grasping the full scope of a project and thoroughly overseeing the many moving parts and people that will bring things to completion. Doing this well can indicate to some employers that you’re promotion material.
How to show it:
Whether you’re applying for a project management position or not, you’ll stand out to recruiters by emphasizing complex projects that you shepherded to a successful finish. Mention how well you work with cross-functional teams and key stakeholders. Note your mastery of tools like Asana, Notion, and Trello, and give concrete evidence of results you’ve achieved.
4. Data Literacy
Companies today are highly dependent on gathering and making sense of data—the more, the better. Businesses continually amass information about clients, customers, and competitors to help them make strategic decisions. People who can work with tech systems to interpret that information and turn it into actionable information are in great demand.
How to show it:
If you aren’t well-versed in handling data and metrics for your field, take a course to learn the basics. As you market yourself to employers, convey your appreciation for how data analytics helps companies thrive. Share stories that illustrate how you have spotted hidden patterns, communicated evidence-based insights, and acted on key trends in your field.
5. Tech Fluency and AI Literacy
It’s no surprise that mastering technology is a must across industries and job titles. The more comfortable you are with digital tools, the better off you’ll be. Being digitally fluent means you appreciate how technology and AI tools influence business decisions and processes all across the playing field—and therefore, you’re positioning yourself to be part of the solution.
How to show it:
Show off your tech proficiency by communicating and demonstrating your comfort with digital collaboration tools. This means attending to even the little things like quick online responses to hiring teams and easily navigating your Zoom interview with the proper etiquette and skills. Also, share examples of how you use tech to boost productivity and collaborate effectively. Highlight your AI literacy, including an example of how you use AI to streamline your processes.
6. Change Agility and Adaptability
Today’s work environment can change so rapidly. With the introduction of new technologies, financial shifts, and more, businesses and their employees must be able to respond quickly and wisely. Adaptable people have an open mind and are flexible, so they can be productive in new situations and adjust well to new processes, technologies, systems and strategies.
How to show it:
As you connect with hiring teams, emphasize experiences where you successfully adapted to changes. Showcase your ability to thrive under pressure, especially if adjusting your priorities at the last minute resulted in measurable results. Or, concentrate on stories that prove you are resilient, handle setbacks well, and come out stronger.
7. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
EQ encompasses many skills and abilities that you’ll see in job descriptions—such as the ability to work in a high-pressure environment, be a team player, interact with customers, and more. All these job tasks involve being self-aware, empathetic, gracious, and in control of your emotions. EQ makes collaboration easier and company culture more pleasant, which means employers highly value it.
How to show it:
To reveal emotional intelligence, you should convey examples of your success in navigating team dynamics and resolving conflicts. Share examples of times you helped a team achieve consensus. Have a story handy that shows how you calmly handle challenges, even under pressure. Listen actively during the interview and build rapport to show this skill in action.
8. Leadership and Influence
Whether you aspire to being in management or not, leadership on the job is a highly coveted ability that hiring managers will notice. It means more than being able to supervise others. Leadership and executive presence are about taking initiative, helping others to excel, elevating teammates, and setting a positive example that inspires others to do the same.
How to show it:
Leadership and influence can appear on your resume and portfolio in many ways. Highlight times you’ve led training sessions, engaged in public speaking, or spearheaded projects (even on a volunteer basis). Reveal situations in which you showed up and made a difference, especially in high-stakes settings. Describe how you delegate tasks, offer input, or manage teams, and mention any measurable results.
9. Commitment to Continual Growth
Continuous learning is more important than ever for career success. Hiring teams are attracted to candidates who find ways to expand their horizons and will adapt well in today’s ever-changing employment ecosystem. Showing a desire to keep learning also indicates you want to bring more to your role than what is listed in the job description—a plus to any employer.
How to show it:
Emphasize your commitment to learning by providing examples of how you’ve done so in the past. Stay current in your field by taking new courses, pursuing additional certifications, and keep updated on the latest industry news. Mention the industry-related professional organizations you participate in. Have a clear plan for where you’d like to be in the next 1-3 years, with specific achievements you’re aiming for.
Summing It Up
In today’s demanding, ever-changing, competitive work environment, essential skills like these will make you irresistible to hiring teams. The good news is, you can begin developing these skills right now. Identify 2-3 areas to work on, and practice them in volunteer settings as well as professional environments so you can then showcase them on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
And remember, when you’re ready to search for your next career role, inTulsa is here to help.
Join our Talent Network and sign up for custom job alerts to see current open positions in Tulsa. And check out our ongoing Elevate Your Career events for webinars, networking events, and resources to help you find your next role.
