Key Takeaways
- With hiring increasingly filtered by AI, resumes need clear keywords and strong examples to show management skills, not just claim them.
- Management skills that stand out include leadership, time management, problem solving, conflict resolution, communication and delegation.
- Showing impact through projects, teamwork, and tailored language helps candidates get past screening, especially when about 88% of companies use AI in initial screening.
Companies around the world are increasingly relying on AI to handle the hiring process, which can make it challenging to showcase the essential management skills you learned in class and boost your resume.
A recent study from the World Economic Forum found that about 88% of companies use some form of AI for initial candidate screening. Even the most highly qualified candidates can be filtered out if their profiles don’t match the job criteria.
This means that organizing your experience on your resume and using keywords are more important than ever before. You must take what you learned in the classroom and at work and translate it to your resume.
Alison McCarty, senior director of Career Services at the Daniels College of Business, and Kerry Mitchell, associate teaching professor in the Department of Management, have some tips and tricks to help you stand out among a heavily filtered hiring field.
The Top Management Skills to Include on Your Resume
What should you be sharing on your resume? Management skills are an important part of the equation, as they show your ability to work within a team and your potential to lead one. In an ideal scenario, college will have provided you with ample opportunity to lead and follow, problem solve, communicate effectively and collaborate with groups.
These are some of the most important things Mitchell looks to impart on her students.
Kerry Mitchell
“What we look for is to help students understand what professionalism is,” she said. “We want them to know how to communicate and how to adapt to different audiences. That’s why they must work in teams. And part of that is really learning how to collaborate with each other and how to effectively communicate.”
Daniels experts agree that these skills should be included on your resume:
- Leadership
- Time management
- Problem-solving
- Conflict resolution
- Communication
- Delegation
- Industry-specific technical skills
They don’t need to be organized in a bulleted list, but should be shown and highlighted in your experiences.
Why Management Skills Matter on Your Resume
With the increased use of AI in the hiring process, standing out is challenging. McCarty said including hands-on learning experiences on a resume helps connect students to the job they’re applying for. This means that they’re more likely to get past AI screening and be seen by recruiters. This is especially true for students without a lot of internship or job experience.
“It’s important to integrate keywords and skills into a resume through extracurriculars and classwork,” she said.
Most students won’t be traditional managers during their first job, but that doesn’t mean they should ignore the skills. Mitchell says college experience can help set you up for early promotions and increased responsibilities.
“Even if you’re not a manager, people can see you communicating well on your team. And if there is conflict, you’re the one who can talk through it and manage it. If that’s the case, you’re more likely to be promoted,” Mitchell said. “We want to create that baseline [in class]. But we also want it to be a skill you can build on.”
How to Showcase Your Management Skills Effectively
McCarty recommends that students add a “Relevant Projects” section to their resume and advises them to use that space to highlight final projects, capstones and group work they’re proud of.
Alison McCarty
“Recruiters want to see how students actually utilize the skills they’ve developed and a project section on a resume can really help,” she said. This can help make up for a potential lack of work experience.
Mitchell agrees that student projects serve as an ideal way to gain management skills for your resume. She challenges her students to think about the skills they learned along the way and how that might look on a resume or in an interview.
“For many, leadership skills are going to come from the group projects in class,” she said. “I want them to think about their role and how they approached things during the project.”
She also encourages her students to attend networking events and job fairs to further hone their skills and improve their communication abilities. This can also help on building a strong foundation for pursuing an MBA program. Student organizations and case competitions also provide ample opportunity to improve management skills.
Should You Tailor Your Resume for Each Role?
In an ideal world, students should be adjusting their resume for each role they apply to. This means that they may change some keywords or shift experiences around. McCarty said, at a minimum, “students should make sure the language they are using is in alignment with the job description and that the requirements for the role are being highlighted when possible.”
This is where AI can be used to the candidate’s advantage.
“We do promote using AI to help with this task, but don’t prompt it to write new bullet points for you,” she said. “Instead, feed it the job description and your resume, and then ask it where the gaps are. That will help you determine what you need to include or develop further.”
Things to Avoid on Your Resume
McCarty steers students away from using any “I, me or my” statements within their bullet points, instead advising them to maintain a consistent, professional tone.
“Don’t focus too much on the task of a job when writing bullet points. Try to demonstrate what you’ve accomplished or achieved, and skills you’ve developed along the way,” she said. “Definitely don’t lie or embellish on your resume, don’t include a picture and don’t forget to check it for errors multiple times before submitting.”
Resume Templates and Resources
The Career Services team at Daniels has a variety of tools and services to help current students improve their resumes and their chances to get hired after graduation.
Check out their resume templates to see exactly how you can maximize the impact of your classroom management experiences.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which management skills are worth highlighting on a resume?
Focus on skills that show how you work with people and move work forward. Communication, problem solving, delegation, conflict resolution and leadership are all valuable, especially when they are tied to real examples or outcomes.
How can I show leadership experience without a manager title?
Leadership can show up in projects, student work, volunteer roles or times when you helped a team solve a problem. Use examples that show initiative, responsibility and impact, even if your official title was not “manager.”
Why should I tailor my resume for each role?
A tailored resume helps employers quickly see how your experience connects to the role. It also gives you a chance to highlight the skills, projects and results that are most relevant for that specific opportunity.
What’s a simple way to make business skills feel more concrete on a resume?
Add context. Instead of only listing a skill, show where you used it and what changed because of your work. A project, result, team outcome or measurable improvement can make a skill feel much more credible.