How do you talk about your fantastic teamwork skills on your CV? It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it…
Teamwork shows up on almost every employer’s wish list. We’ve said it before but you are part of many teams in work and life. Even when you are working on your own, you still fit into a bigger team or department working to achieve the same goal.
With teamwork being such an important skill ,it is helpful to make sure your CV shows this off to your potential new boss before you even get through the door. Saying you are a good team player is one thing… but showing some examples is how you get invited to interview stage.
Building your teamwork skills list:
First up you’ll need to make a list of the times you have been part of a team. This might be:
- In sports, arts or music clubs
- Taking part in a team work project at school, college or uni
- Social action (volunteering and fundraising) projects you might have been involved in
- Online community forum leader
- Working with a team in your current job
- Working as a team to reach/beat targets
- Supporting team mates in times of challenge
- Taking on extra tasks to help out the team
You will want to talk about projects and teams you have been part of in your CV in different sections of your CV – in your CV personal statement as well as in your work history and hobbies. Start to think about your role in these teams. Make a note of your role in the team, any time you might have taken the lead, challenges the team or project had to overcome and the successes the team achieved.
I and we… not just me 🙂
Employers want to know what you contributed to the team as a person, where you might have led and how you made a difference. But you don’t want to be so busy talking about you that they start to wonder where the team comes into play!
Good examples of talking about teamwork on your CV
Good examples will include the role you took and the outcome for the project team too. Make sure you keep it short and clear, as your CV should be up to 2 pages long. You can go into more detail about your role in the team when you get to interviews.
- “I supported the marketing of our social action project. The event was sold out and the team raised £xxx/beat our fundraising target”
- “I worked with 5 people in a sustainability project to deliver a project that reduced waste by 10%”
- “I have been working with our coach to explore new training methods after our team haven’t been playing so well.”
- “I offered to take minutes in team meetings to help everyone keep track of ideas and actions”
- “I supported people with a challenging workload by offering to take on some of their tasks”
Teamwork is just one of the skills you will want to be showing off. Build examples of the skills you have and how they relate to the job you are applying for. Simply putting lots of examples in because you can isn’t the right way to tackle it. Think about how that example might relate to what the job is asking for. For example, if the job you are applying for involves working with lots of people, highlight a project where you have worked with new people and show how you helped to build positive communication on that project.
Young Professional Challenge
We want you to think about your CV. Have you got one you already use? Or do you need help creating your first one? Start thinking about how you talk about teamwork on there:
- Create your Teamwork skills list, making sure you think about how you were involved in the project.
- Create sentences to go in your CV which show off your teamwork skills to your next boss.
