How To Highlight Organizational Skills on a Resume (With Examples)

Updated March 10, 2023

Sharing key skills on a resume can help you stand apart from other job candidates. It's important to share soft skills like organization as much as other specific learned abilities. Organizational skills can show employers your effectiveness in contributing to the success of the business. In this article, we explain what skills qualify as organizational abilities and show you how to use these in a resume.

What are organizational skills?

Organizational skills are techniques that help maintain and create order both internally and externally and structure tasks and spaces to increase productivity in the workplace. Organizational skills are abilities that prove you can:

Manage time and deadlines
Prioritize tasks
Structure data
Maintain a clean physical space at work
File documents, paperwork and other materials
Keep track of steps in processes
Lead projects to completion

These abilities also prove that you are self-motivated and aware of how your actions contribute to the success of your team and the company as a whole. Employers value organizational skills because employees who possess strong organizational abilities contribute to an efficient and productive work environment.

Examples of organizational skills for your resume

Here are important organizational skills you can list on a resume:

Attention to detail
Project management
Strategic planning
Task analysis
Workflow analysis
Budgeting
Scheduling
Meeting deadlines
Coordinating events
Planning and meeting goals
Tracking inventory
Productivity
Time management
Multitasking

Why is it important to include organizational skills in your resume?

Including organizational skills on a resume shows employers that you:

Understand the importance of structure and productivity in the workplace
Are capable of being organized and promoting organization on the job
Have a professional attitude
Recognize these important skills as part of your own talents

Organizational skills can be just as important to a job as abilities like computer proficiency or industry knowledge. Job descriptions often list organizational skills as part of the requirements for many positions in today's workplace. Complex job assignments require increasing amounts of multitasking, so it's important to show prospective employers that you have the skills to meet these challenges.

How to describe organizational skills on a resume

Follow these steps to showcase your organizational skills in your resume:

1. Identify your organizational skills.

Decide which skills you embody most based on your experience and personality. Maybe you are good at time management or strong in multitasking. Think about how you live out these skills in the workplace so you are ready to describe these talents to prospective employers on a resume.

Example: "I can finish work before a deadline and turn it in on time. I keep my desk organized with a paper-filing system I created in college."

2. Match skills to the job description.

Carefully read the description of the job you are applying for. Match your organizational skills to what employers identify as important functions of the position. For example, if the job involves working with a team to complete projects, you can describe your project management skills.

Example: "I am experienced in leading teams by assigning tasks based on team member skill sets. In my previous job, I worked to analyze each incoming project and choose the team member whose skills best met the client's requests."

3. Use organizational skills to describe yourself in your summary statement.

Once you've identified key organizational skills that are important to your prospective job, use some of these skills to describe yourself in a summary statement at the beginning of your resume.

Example: "Strategic planner skilled in multitasking and prioritizing work tasks to better meet client needs."

4. Emphasize experiences where you used your organizational skills.

Describe how you used organizational skills to accomplish tasks in your previous jobs. Use the bullet points under your job listings in the experience section.

Example: "In my last position, I was able to reorganize our office inventory system to better track the use of supplies by different departments. I helped the office manager save over $500 from the previous year's budget."

5. Include organizational skill keywords in your skills list.

After you summarize your organizational skills, you can simply list them in the next section of your resume with your other abilities.

Example: "Budgeting, Time-management, Calendar management"

Tips for including organizational skills in your resume

Here are some additional tips to help you best showcase your organizational skills:

Use active verbs. Describe your organizational skills using strong verbs that link your abilities to a specific action. Use words like "organized," "managed," "produced" and "facilitated."
Share specific data. Link your skills to actionable outcomes. For example, if you were in charge of calling clients to set up meetings, you can share that you scheduled appointments with potential clients that led to a certain percentage increase in sales.
Show your value. Explain how your organizational skills benefited a former employer by explaining a situation where your organization helped solve a problem or created a solution.

Examples of organizational skills in a resume

Here is an example of how to add organizational skills to your resume:

Phil Raymond
19 Sycamore Lane
Buffalo, NY 14202
philraymond@email.com

SUMMARY: Experienced project manager with strong organizational skills and attention to detail. Able to lead a team to meet deadlines and increase productivity.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration
Columbia University, 2009-2013

EXPERIENCE

Project Manager
Spark Marketing Solutions - Buffalo, NY
June 2018-present

Manage content team tasks and deadlines to meet client needs
Communicate with team members to prioritize content tasks
Administrate online content inventory system
Create content team quarterly and annual budgets
Conduct monthly team member project reviews

Project Coordinator
Content Inc. - Syracuse, NY
January 2015-May 2018

Schedule client project reviews
Coordinate project administration with project manager
Organize client project needs to delegate to content team
Analyze project workflow for productivity assessments

Office Assistant
Market Solutions - Syracuse, NY
June 2013-January 2015

Facilitate customer service through phone and digital interactions
Coordinate office events
Organize office inventory
Schedule staff and client meetings

SKILLS

Project management
Strategic analysis
Time management
Meeting deadlines
Setting and meeting goals
Scheduling

AWARDS

National Business Scholars inductee, 2012
Workflow Analysis Project: School of Business Academic Award semifinalist, 2011