Qualities on CV: A Comprehensive Guide with Tips
Adding personal qualities to your CV can transform your applications from a dry, factual account of your career to an insightful window into your personality and working style. Qualities and character traits can elevate your CV above other candidates by showing how you’ll fit into the team and the wider company culture. In this article, we discuss qualities for your CV, including the top traits employers seek in candidates and how to showcase them in your applications.
Qualities: What Are They?
Qualities are fundamental aspects of your personality that describe what you’re like as a person and an employee. Some of them are inherent, but you can also build qualities through experience and personal development.
Adding qualities to your CV helps hiring managers understand how suitable you are for the job, and how you’ll fit in with the wider team. They can show whether you have the profile to complement existing employees, whether you’ll be able to adapt and cope to the new role and whether you’ll be able to offer added value to the company.
Personal qualities differ from the hard skills that you may list on your CV. While hard skills refer to technical expertise that you can apply directly to a job, such as operating a certain software or equipment, personal qualities are a little more abstract. They relate to softer, more intangible aspects of your suitability for a position. Even so, they’re no less important than technical skills, because without the necessary personal qualities, you may fail to adapt to a new job or struggle to work effectively with your colleagues.
Why Qualities Are Relevant
Your personal qualities don’t just have an impact on how you’ll perform in a new position, they also have a strong influence on all aspects of the recruitment process. The first impressions you make on recruiters and hiring managers go a long way to determining your chances of success. As such, personal qualities are extremely relevant to include in your CV and cover letter.
A study published in Labour Economics found a strong relationship between certain personality traits and your chances of being selected for different roles (. The research found that all five of the main personality traits (openness, agreeableness, neuroticism, extroversion and conscientiousness) made an impact on a job applicant’s chances of being hired.
Conscientiousness and agreeableness had the greatest impact on the applicants’ prospects of success overall, with openness also important. The investigation found that different traits increase the applicants’ chances of success for different roles. Open and conscientious applicants are preferred for analytical roles, while open, extrovert and agreeable candidates are favoured for interactive positions.
There is also evidence to suggest which personal qualities lead to the best chance of success in your career, beyond the hiring decision. As reported in Forbes, a psychological study of personality traits found that agreeableness was the most important quality for career success (2). In contrast, employees who are less considerate of others, have trouble listening to different perspectives and don’t get along well with colleagues are far less likely to succeed and can cause problems for employers in the long term.
Expert Tip:
Don’t overdo it with the personal qualities in your CV. Pick out three or four of your strongest personality traits and focus on showing how they’ve contributed towards your career success. Employers will be less likely to believe you if you list too many qualities, and you’ll have a harder time providing evidence of their impact.
Top Qualities Any Employer Looks For
The personal skills employers look for in candidates are all traits that can help you settle into a new role and thrive in the long term. They reflect your ability to get along well with colleagues, work towards collective goals and adapt to new challenges.
As mentioned above, agreeableness is one of the keys to success in both the recruitment process, and your wider career. This trait makes you easy to get along with, cooperative and approachable to fellow employees. It can also help you to be optimistic, less sceptical and less hostile towards other team members. Agreeableness is considered one of the keys to helping people and building positive relationships that can contribute to success for any organisation.
Similarly, conscientiousness is crucial to your job applications, and can help you to settle in with your new employees. Conscientious employees are typically hard-working, organised, thorough, responsible and persevering. As such, it’s easy to see why employers are attracted to conscientious candidates.
Here’s a list of some of the most in-demand qualities employers seek in candidates:
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Interpersonal skills
- Determination
- Adaptability
- Willingness to learn
- Attention to detail
- Teamwork skills
- Leadership skills
- Problem-solving
- Creativity
- Self-motivation
"Your personal qualities don’t just have an impact on how you’ll perform in a new position, they also have a strong influence on all aspects of the recruitment process."
Identifying the Right Qualities to Put on Your CV
Identifying the best qualities and soft skills to add to your CV depends heavily on the role you’re applying for and the skills employers are looking for. While many qualities are universal and apply to almost every job you’ll apply for, some will be more relevant to different types of tasks and activities.
Review the job description closely before deciding which personal qualities to mention on your CV. Most job listings will include a list of skills that the employee considers essential for the role. These often include transferable skills or personality traits as well as hard, technical skills. Make sure the qualities you list on your CV match those referenced in the job description.
Take a look below at some examples of key qualities for different roles:
Managerial roles:
- Leadership
- Adaptability
- Relationship building
- Strategic thinking
- Communication
Sales professionals:
- Self-confidence
- Emotional intelligence
- Motivation
- Optimism
- Persistence
Designers and creatives:
- Creativity
- Attention to detail
- Adaptability
- Patience
- Curiosity
Project managers:
- Organisation
- Communication
- Problem-solving
- Time-management
- Teamwork
Administrative roles:
- Interpersonal skills
- Organisation
- Time-management
- Multitasking
- Adaptability
How to Effectively Showcase Qualities on a CV
The best way to showcase your personal qualities on your CV isn’t to simply list them in your skills section. Make the strongest impression on hiring managers by mentioning them throughout your CV and providing evidence to highlight the impact your qualities have made. This could be the impact they’ve had on your own career success, and the success of organisations you’ve worked for.
You could mention one or two of your strongest personal qualities in your CV summary. This immediately draws attention to what you consider to be your best assets. The sentence below shows a line from a CV example summary for a project management role:
‘Organised and dedicated project manager with a track record of collaborating to deliver to tight deadlines and budgets.’
Another place to highlight your personal qualities is your work experience section. Use the bullet points under each job entry to show how you’ve used your qualities to bring success to different positions and projects. Offer evidence to show how your personal qualities added value for the organisation. For example:
‘Adapted to a new hybrid working environment, developing internal systems to improve efficiency of communication, reducing project delivery times by 12%.’
‘Coordinated a team of 14 HR professionals, using problem-solving and analytical skills to desing a new company recruitment strategy, reducing attrition by 18% and increasing recruitment satisfaction rates from 4.2 to 4.65 out of 5.’
Finally, your cover letter provides a further useful opportunity to showcase your strongest personality traits and qualities. Choose cover letter templates that give you a chance to elaborate on the qualities listed in your CV and show how you’ve put them to good use in previous jobs. Read Jobseeker’s cover letter articles for more tips on crafting the ideal cover letter for different roles.
Avoiding Common Mistakes for Discussing Qualities on your CV
Avoid these common mistakes when listing your personal qualities on your CV:
- Lying or exaggerating: while it’s perfectly acceptable to showcase your qualities confidently and assertively, don’t ever lie about your personal qualities or exaggerate the impact they’ve made on your career. This approach can come back to haunt you at a later date.
- Failing to provide evidence: listing personal qualities on your CV without adding any evidence is rarely an effective tactic. Always provide evidence of the impact your qualities have created, and the added value your personality traits offer to organisations.
- Mentioning irrelevant qualities: be aware of the skills and qualities required for the role, and focus on these in your CV. Listing irrelevant personal qualities, no matter how strong they are, won’t have the desired impact on your chances of success.
Key Takeaways for Adding Qualities to Your CV
Including your personal qualities on your CV can make all the difference to your chances of success. Be aware of the types of qualities employers are looking for, and make sure you always provide evidence of how your qualities contributed to positive outcomes. For the best chance of showcasing your qualities, choose CV templates that provide a clear, professional design and structure, like those offered by Jobseeker. Sign up today and you’ll also find a wealth of CV articles and resources to help you craft a winning job application.
Sources:
(1) Science Direct: Do recruiters select workers with different personality traits for different tasks? A discrete choice experiment
(2) Forbes: One Personality Trait Enhances Job Performance And Success The Most, New Study Finds
