5 Ways To Highlight Multitasking Skills on Your Resume

Updated March 20, 2023

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Multitasking skills are traits that many employers look for when hiring new employees. These skills show that you have the potential to complete various tasks at the same time, which can make you a more efficient employee. Learning how to include multitasking skills on your resume can help you stand out from other qualified candidates. In this article, we explain the different types of multitasking skills and how to highlight them on your resume.

What are multitasking skills?

Multitasking skills help an individual balance and keep track of multiple tasks at once. For instance, the ability to handle several projects at once while meeting all assigned deadlines is an example of a multitasking skill. Employers value multitasking skills because it shows that an employee can be efficient in their role. Hiring managers seek efficient candidates because it keeps their businesses running smoothly.

Common traits that show multitasking skills include organization, attention to detail, task delegation and prioritization. It helps to have insight into why these skills are necessary so you can accurately explain them on your resume.

Why are multitasking skills on a resume important?

Adding multitasking skills to your resume helps hiring managers quickly identify that you have the necessary qualities for the role. You can describe your multitasking abilities in several areas on your resume to show you have the skills and explain how you have used them in previous jobs. When hiring managers review your resume, they can clearly see you have the right traits to be a good multitasker and have multitasked in other roles.

Related: Why Is a Resume Important?

Types of multitasking skills

Multitasking skills fit into a few categories, including:

Organization: Organizing tasks makes it easier to outline your goals and execute them accordingly. This simple trait improves all the other multitasking skills and helps make you a more efficient employee.
Prioritization: Prioritization involves analyzing your tasks and arranging them in order of importance. The order of importance or the ease of a specific task can form the deadline. Prioritizing tasks often complements great time-management skills.
Delegation: Delegating tasks is another key aspect of all multitasking skills because it shows you know how to manage your workload. This skill also shows that you can function within limited leadership roles.
Execution: Executing assigned tasks in an efficient manner completes the multitasking skill set. Hiring managers often want to see that you can use multitasking skills to complete various projects and tasks.

Highlighting your multitasking skills on your resume

There are different parts of your resume that allow you to emphasize your multitasking skills. The goal here is to actively show an employer how you can manage and prioritize multiple tasks and assignments. Here are some of the ways you can showcase your multitasking skills on your resume:

1. Use your summary to immediately describe your multitasking skills

Most resume structures include an opening summary or an objective statement that quickly tells a prospective employer about your skills and capabilities. It is usually the first part of your resume that an employer reads, and it sets the tone for the rest of your resume.

It helps to use your summary or objective statement to show employers that you have multitasking skills. A good summary that shows a few multitasking skills could be: "Detail-oriented professional that can efficiently prioritize and execute given tasks. Seeking loan clerk position with Franklin Trust Bank where I can use multitasking skills to improve loan processes."

Related: Elements of a Good Resume

2. Outline multitasking skills in your work experience

Outlining your past work experience on your resume gives prospective employers more insight into what you are capable of within a given role. Describe the responsibilities of your past work experience in a way that shows your multitasking skills in your experience section.

Keep your descriptions concise, and use adjectives that illustrate your multitasking skills. Here's how you can list your work experience in a way that highlights your multitasking skills:

Use action verbs to state your multitasking skills. The use of action verbs, such as manage, prioritize or organize, shows that you took an active role in executing tasks simultaneously. This phrasing gives you more ways of expressing your multitasking skills without solely relying on the phrase “multitasking skills.”
Show how your multitasking skills benefited your last employer. It helps to show an employer that your multitasking skill can help them yield better results. Detail the results you achieved with your last employer by using numbers or specific language. For example, you could write, "Used organization and attention to detail to reduce code line errors by 27%."

3. List relevant multitasking skills in your skills and abilities section

The skills and abilities section of your resume builds upon your work experience by showing your soft and hard skills. Give brief explanations of your skills so hiring managers immediately understand the extent of your multitasking skills. Examples of ways to list your multitasking skills include:

Excellent organizational skills
Ability to manage multiple concurrent deadlines
Exceptional attention to detail
Ability to delegate tasks to manage workload

4. Detail your interests and hobbies

If you have space on your resume, include a "Hobbies and interest" section, and use it as an opportunity to describe more multitasking skills. Many hobbies, like arts and crafts, require attention to detail and organization, so it could be helpful to add them. Sports show you can work in a fast-paced environment with deadlines, which can be very useful for many positions.

5. Craft your resume to the job description

Paying attention to the details in the job description helps you build your resume around what an employer needs. When creating your resume, seek keywords that give you some insight into what an employer wants and craft your resume accordingly.

How to improve your multitasking skills

You can often improve many multitasking skills with practice and experience. Here's how you can improve your multitasking skills:

Create a list of your daily tasks and prioritize them based on importance. Identify which tasks take precedence and begin working on them accordingly. It becomes easier to prioritize your tasks once you follow this step regularly.
Make an active effort to reduce the number of distractions that can interrupt or interfere with your work. By doing this, you make it easier to accomplish tasks on time, and you make it easier to handle multiple tasks all at once.
Consistently check in with yourself and monitor your progress as you complete your workday. This will help you identify how you are managing your time, and it will help you make necessary adjustments to any applicable tasks.
Take advantage of the help around you by delegating tasks when you need to. Delegation helps improve your multitasking skills and also frees up time for you to focus on your priority tasks.
Practice your multitasking skills as much as possible. Start small and gradually increase your workload without sacrificing your efficiency and success at a given task.