How to Demonstrate Time Management Skills on Your Resume
11 min read
When you stop to consider all of the skills that make you a valuable employee, how much attention do you pay to your ability to manage time? If you are like most people, chances are that your focus is directed more toward technical skills and the most common soft skills. Obviously, those other skills should take priority on any resume, right? As it turns out, the opposite is true. In fact, excellent time management skills on a resume are something that every employer looks for when hiring new talent.
In this post, we will examine 20 key time management skills and why employers consider them so vital to employee success. We will also offer some helpful tips that can enable you to highlight these critical skills more effectively in your resume.
What are time management skills?
Time management skills are actually a combination of different abilities that enable you to effectively manage your workload, meet deadlines, and remain productive. Employees who can use these skills to effectively manage their time can typically get more done in less time, avoid unnecessary problems, and more efficiently reach their goals and objectives. Even under the tightest of deadlines, a true time management expert always seems to find a way to get the job done on time or ahead of schedule.
Time management skills are considered soft skills since they generally do not involve the use of any formally trained abilities. These skills can include those related to your personal attributes, as well as habits developed over time and interpersonal skills that help you to navigate complex personalities and situations. These skills are also transferable, which means that they can help you create value in any job role at any company—and every industry.
Why is time management so important?
These days, most jobs require you to engage in multiple tasks throughout each day. At times, you may even be required to multitask, since your job may come with many competing priorities. If you don’t know how to manage your time efficiently, you will likely struggle to stay on track. However, if you have vital time management skills like the ability to prioritize tasks, organize your workflow, and focus on the details of your work, you will be more likely to remain productive and on schedule with all your work.
That’s of critical importance to employers since time is one of their most precious resources. Every company has to consider the time factor when they are calculating productivity, costs, and potential profit. Hence, employers often ask job candidates about issues related to time management during interviews. They need to know that the people they are hiring not only respect the company’s time but understand how to manage their own time to advance the enterprise’s goals and mission.
Of course, those solid time management skills can benefit you as well—and not just in your role as an employee. If you have well-developed time management abilities, you will have an easier time managing your work and home life schedules, achieving a better balance between the two. That can help to ensure that you are more focused, experience less stress, and live with a greater sense of control. All of that can help you enjoy true success in every area of life.
The one thing you should realize as you consider your own time management skills for your resume is that they are generally considered to be one of the most important attributes any job candidate can possess. No matter how qualified or skilled you are in other areas, an inability to efficiently manage your time will almost always make you a liability for any company that hires you—and employers understand that all too well. That’s why it is so critical to ensure that you can properly convey your time management skills in your resume.
What are the top 20 time management skills for your resume?
There are many different skills that contribute to effective time management, but you don’t have to know them all or list them in your resume. Below, we have listed 20 of the most common time management skills for your resume that employers are often looking for during the hiring process. As you read through them, you will probably notice that many of them are skills that you already possess in abundance. Take note of those abilities since you will likely want to include them in your resume.
Top 20 time management skills on a resume
Expert Tip
Organization
Goal setting
Strategic thinking
Decisiveness
Problem solving
Delegation
Prioritization
Scheduling
Analysis
Strategic planning
Self-awareness
Self-motivated
Adherence to deadlines
Stress management
Communication
Appointment management
Documentation
Detail-oriented
Commitment to teamwork
Project management
How can you develop your own time management skills?
If you read through that list of time management skills for a resume and feel like you need to improve those abilities, you’re not alone. Every employee can benefit from the development of these skills. Fortunately, these are all skills that you can enhance over time, as long as you are willing to put in the effort needed to develop better time management habits. The following tips can help:
Begin by doing an honest self-assessment of your basic time management skills. Go through that list and figure out which ones you need to develop so you have a concrete plan before you start.
Try to identify problem areas that might be holding you back from efficient time management. Are there certain things or people that distract you from your work? For example, how often do you check your email throughout the day? Do you find yourself returning to social media on a regular basis when you should be focused on your daily duties and projects?
Establish schedules for yourself. That could include a commitment to only glancing at your email every two hours or choosing to only check social media during your breaks. Whatever it is, remember that the goal is to eliminate distractions so that you can effectively focus attention on your work.
Establish boundaries and learn to say “no.” In the same vein as establishing schedules, which is a way to establish personal boundaries, you also want to set boundaries with others. If you’re asked to help out a coworker, for example, and it would make you late on a deadline you’re up against, it’s okay to say “no.” Or, at a minimum, if you offer to provide assistance, effectively manage expectations about when you’ll be able to help so you’re not overextending yourself.
How well do you stick to your schedule and any deadlines? If you routinely find yourself altering your schedule, then it is time to change that habit. While being inflexible is often seen as a weakness, it can be an invaluable strength when it comes to adhering to prior commitments.
When you establish your schedule, make sure that you are realistic about when you do what. For instance, if you are one of those people who needs that first hour of work to fully wake up, then try to schedule simpler tasks early in the day. Alternatively, if you tend to tire later in the afternoon, you should probably try to make sure that you tackle the more complex tasks in the morning.
Use task and time management tools. Do a simple online search for time management applications, and you’ll find there are several apps you can download and use to help you stay on task and save time. The Pomodoro technique is also a great time management technique to help you focus and boost productivity. Try some different applications and techniques to figure out what works best for you.
How can you highlight time management skills in your resume?
When it comes to demonstrating your time management skills in a resume, you will need to focus more on showing that talent than declaring that you have it. The way to do that is to include references to the skills that enable good time management, as well as examples of results you have achieved due to your ability to effectively manage your workload, schedule, and deadlines. You can incorporate skills and experiences that demonstrate your ability to manage time in the summary, work experience, and skills sections of your resume.
Showcase time management skills in your resume summary
Your resume summary can be a great place to focus attention on your ability to efficiently manage time, but you need to be concise. Remember that you should only include two or three sentences in this section and that the entire summary is the resume equivalent of an elevator pitch. This is your first opportunity to make a great impression that captures the reader’s attention and inspires them to dig deeper into the narrative you have crafted.
As you think about your time management experiences and achievements, try to find a common theme that you can cite as one of your most positive attributes. For example, if you are skilled at juggling multiple projects within tight deadlines and have used that ability to create value for your previous employers, find a way to include that information in your summary. One way to do that might be to include a sentence like this:
Experienced multitasker, adept at managing multiple projects with short deadlines.
Alternatively, you might want to focus on your organizational skills and how you impact the rest of your team and their productivity. For example:
Dedicated team leader who combines organization, task scheduling, and delegation of team responsibilities to enhance customer experiences and increase company productivity and profitability.
Highlight time management skills in your resume work experience section
Next, you will want to incorporate some of those time management skills into the bullet point responsibility and achievement listings attached to each job in your work experience section. Here, you will want to include the skills used, tasks completed, and quantifiable achievements that brought real value to the company. That value can include anything from reduced costs, increased profits, improved client retention, or even saved time.
Here are some examples to show you what we mean. You can use these as guides to create relevant content that reflects your own job experiences:
Example #1
Developed and implemented new processes that simplified interdepartmental workflow, reducing duplicative documentation requirements and saving 15 hours of reporting costs per week.
Example #2
Organized and oversaw a new onboarding program for ABC Corporation, with emphasis on reducing overall onboarding time by 25%. This resulted in an 18% reduction in trainer costs and a 22% increase in new employee productivity within the first three months of implementation.
Example #3
Led 10-person team during high-priority product launch for New Goodies line of dog food. Implemented innovative flex schedule that improved employee engagement and morale while bringing the project to completion three weeks prior to the anticipated deadline.
As you can see, each of those examples incorporates skills that help to manage time efficiently, without actually saying the words time management. Nevertheless, any hiring manager who reads those bullet point achievements would immediately see that the candidate is an experienced time manager capable of leveraging company resources and human capital to get more done in less time.
Include time management skills in your resume skills section
Finally, be sure to include some of your most powerful time management skills within the skills section of your resume. Chances are that you will already have some soft and hard skills listed in that section, so simply add your top time management abilities as extra bullet points in that list. Feel free to use multiple columns if space is a concern.
Naturally, you will want to try to choose skills that align with the job description wherever possible and use that description’s terminology if you can. Proper usage of job description keywords can help to ensure that your resume makes it past any automated applicant tracking system (ATS) and into the hands of a live human being.
Common time management skills interview questions
Yes, this post is about incorporating time management skills into your resume. However, answering common questions related to time management skills can trigger ideas on achievements to add to your resume. Plus, the goal of your resume is to land you an interview, so consider this some handy interview prep, too!
Here are some common time-management related questions you might hear in an interview:
Tell me about a time you were stressed about the list of tasks and projects you had on your plate. How did you handle it?
How would you handle a last-minute, unexpected high-priority task?
How do you prioritize your tasks at work?
How do you handle conflicting priorities and commitments?
Have you ever missed a deadline? If yes, how did you handle it?
Tell me about a time you delegated a task.
How do you manage work-life balance?
How do you handle getting caught up after you’ve been out for a week’s vacation?
Tell me about a project you managed and how you handled meeting project deadlines.
Share a time when you excelled at time management.
How do you avoid procrastination?
Tell me about a time when you boosted productivity.
How do you estimate project competition time?
Have you ever had to leave a task unfinished? If so, why?
Talk to me about the most challenging aspect of your current job in terms of time management.
Has there ever been a time when your manager assigned too much work for you to do? How did you handle it?
Show, don’t tell
As you create your resume and include information highlighting your well-developed skills in time management, always remember that you need to illustrate those qualities if you want the employer to recognize your value. Anyone can simply say that they are great at time management. The real question is whether you can prove it. That is why you should always provide real examples of times when you managed time to produce superior results. Those examples can provide hiring managers with the confidence they need to move you on to the interview stage of the hiring process.
Showcase your in-demand time management skills
Effective time management skills are always in great demand, so make sure that yours are as developed as possible and take the time to learn how to properly include them in your resume. Those skills could be just the thing you need to ensure that your resume stands out from the crowd and helps you land the interview you need to secure your next great job.
Are you still unsure whether your resume adequately illustrates your time management skills? Get a free resume review from our professional resume experts today!
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Written by
Ronda Suder, Professional Writer
With a drive to foster safety and expand possibilities through writing, performing, and working with others, Ronda brings 25 years of combined experience in HR, recruiting, career advice, communications, mental and behavioral health, and storytelling to her work. She’s a certified career coach and holds a Master’s in Human Resources, a Master’s in Film and Media Production, and a Master’s in Counseling and Development. As a writer, she’s covered topics ranging from finance and rock mining to leadership and internet technology, with a passion for career advice and mental-health-related topics. When she’s not at her computer, Ronda enjoys connecting with others, personal growth and development, spending time with her beloved pooch, and entertainment through movies, television, acting, and other artistic endeavors. You can connect with Ronda on LinkedIn and through her website.
