Decision-making skills include abilities like weighing options, analyzing information, and finally, making informed choices. Needless to say, this is a highly valuable skill in any workplace.
However, it’s very important to know where and how to mention decision-making skills in your resume. To help you learn that, we created this guide on how to add decision-making skills to your resume, with real-world examples included.
Let’s dive in.
Key Takeaways
- Highlighting decision-making skills on your resume can set you apart from other candidates because it shows your ability to make informed and effective decisions, which are valuable traits in any job.
- When listing decision-making skills on your resume, focus on the ones that are most relevant to the job description.
- Decision-making skills are transferable across different industries and job roles.
- Employers value decision-making skills that show your ability to analyze data, think creatively, and collaborate with others, as these show your ability to make decisions based on sound reasoning and input from others.
What Are Decision Making Skills & Why They’re Important?
Decision-making skills include the ability to analyze information, evaluate options, and choose a course of action that aligns with your goals and objectives. These skills are important because they allow you to make informed decisions that will likely lead to positive outcomes.
These skills are considered transferable, as they can be applied across various industries and professions. Whether you’re working in healthcare, finance, marketing, or education, the ability to make decisions effectively is critical for success.
Many employers look for candidates who possess these skills, as they imply the ability to think critically and solve problems easily. Additionally, decision-making skills can help you in your personal life as well. From choosing what college to attend, deciding on a career path, and deciding whether to go on a date.
Decision Making Skills Synonyms
These are some synonyms and related terms for decision-making skills:
- Judgment
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
- Reasoning
- Insight
- Intuition
- Logical reasoning
- Analytical thinking
- Prudence
- Resourcefulness
- Assessment
- Evaluation
- Time management
- Strategic thinking
- Prioritization
- Risk management
How to Make Decisions
Making decisions can be challenging, but some steps you can take to make the process more manageable are:
#1. Identify The Problem
The first step in making a decision is to identify the problem or issue that needs to be addressed. Clearly defining the problem will help you focus your efforts and make it easier for you to find potentially successful solutions.
Some helpful questions to ask yourself during this step include:
- What is the issue/problem?
- Why is this an issue/problem?
- What are the consequences if I don’t address this issue/problem?
#2. Collect & Analyze the Data
Once you identify the problem, the next step is to collect and analyze the relevant data. This can involve research, gathering feedback from others, or reviewing reports or relevant documents. Analyzing the data can help you get a better understanding of the situation and identify options to address the problem.
Additionally, data analysis can also be helpful for identifying trends and patterns.
#3. Evaluate Options
After you collect and analyze the data, it’s time to evaluate the options available to you. Consider the pros and cons of each option and weigh the potential benefits and risks associated with each one.
It can also be helpful to use a decision-making framework or tool to guide you through the process, such as:
#4. Choose a Solution
The final step is choosing a solution that best addresses the problem at hand. Consider factors like potential impact and even alignment with your goals and values. Be prepared to take action and implement your decision. Be open to making adjustments as needed based on feedback or changing circumstances as well.
5 Types of Decision Making Skills to Put on Your Resume
If you’re a skilled decision-maker, it’s important to showcase those skills on your resume. Here are some key decision-making skills you should include, along with tips on how to demonstrate them to potential employers:
#1. Analysis
Analysis refers to the ability to break down complicated information and data so that you can identify key insights and patterns. Strong analytical skills are important as they can help make informed decisions, especially in industries such as finance, marketing, and data science.
To demonstrate analysis skills on your resume, highlight experiences where you were able to analyze information and use it to make informed decisions.
This can include examples of decision-making skills such as developing and implementing a new marketing strategy based on data analysis or hiring someone based on thorough candidate research.
Similar skills can include critical thinking, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills.
#2. Creativity
Creativity involves thinking outside the box and generating new and innovative solutions to problems. This skill is highly valued in industries such as design, technology, and advertising, where companies strive to be innovative and stand out from competitors.
To showcase creativity on your resume, give examples of when you came up with creative solutions to problems or contributed to innovative projects. This can include developing new products or services or even designing an eye-catching marketing campaign.
Additionally, other skills that are similar to creativity include innovation and adaptability.
#3. Collaboration
Collaboration skills include working effectively with others to achieve a common goal. This skill is especially important in project management, sales, and customer service, where it’s crucial for teams to work together to achieve success.
Employers look for candidates who can collaborate effectively and communicate well with others. To showcase these skills on your resume, include examples such as achieving a company goal or working on a group project.
Skills that are closely linked to collaboration are teamwork and communication. So you should mention them on your resume as well.
#4. Research
Researching includes gathering and analyzing information to make informed decisions. Strong research skills are particularly required in the healthcare, academic research, and legal industries.
Employers will usually look for employees who can conduct thorough research and use the information to make strategic and logical decisions.
Researching skills go hand-in-hand with data analysis and information management. That’s why, to demonstrate them on your resume, you can mention situations where you conducted market research to inform a business strategy or where you performed scientific research to develop a new product.
#5. Leadership
Leadership skills can help you guide and inspire others to achieve a common goal. This skill is required for management, entrepreneurship, and politics, where you’re assigned to lead teams or organizations to success.
Leaders should also be able to make strategic decisions and inspire others to follow their lead. That’s why this skill is closely related to decision-making and strategic thinking.
If you’d like to add leadership skills to your resume to demonstrate decision-making skills in the workplace, mention an example where you helped a team achieve a sales goal or led a community organization to reach a financial objective.
How to Add Decision Making Skills to Your Resume
Adding decision-making skills to your resume is a great way to highlight your ability to make choices and solve problems.
Here’s how you can include them:
- Include them in your summary or objective statement. Your summary or objective statement is the first thing a recruiter will see, so it’s a great place to highlight your decision-making skills. Try adding a sentence or two that emphasize your analytical and evaluation skills.
- Mention them in your experience section. When describing your past work experience, highlight examples of times when you had to make important decisions. Use action verbs to describe the process such as “analyzed”, “evaluated”, or “prioritized”. Be specific about the decision outcome as well.
- List them in your skills section. Lastly, you can also include decision-making skills in your skills section. Use bullet points to describe them in more detail, such as “critical thinking” or “problem-solving”.
How to Improve Decision Making Skills
Here are some quick and easy tips on how to improve your decision-making skills before you add them to your resume:
- Take the time to gather information. To make informed decisions, you need to access accurate information. Take the time to research and gather data before making a decision so that you can identify more potential outcomes.
- Identify and challenge your biases. Take the time to identify your own biases and try to challenge them. Consider what other perspectives can look like, and seek out input from others to give you a different viewpoint.
- Practice critical thinking. This involves evaluating information and using logic to make choices. Practice this skill by asking questions, considering different perspectives, and weighing the pros and cons of all the options.
- Manage your emotions. Strong emotions can cloud your judgment and lead to impulsive decisions. Learn to recognize when emotions are influencing your decisions, and take steps to manage them. You can take a break or seek out support from others.
- Reflect on your decisions. After making a decision, take some time to reflect on the outcome. Think of what worked well and what could be done better next time. This can help you learn from them and improve your skills over time.
Final Thoughts
With so much information at your fingertips, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of which direction to take. Remember that the ability to make sound decisions is a desirable trait in any profession.
So, mastering decision-making skills and incorporating them into your resume can demonstrate that you’re not only capable of making informed decisions but also able to do so quickly and efficiently. Whether you’re a data analyst or a kindergarten teacher, it’s still important to highlight these skills in your resume.
Take a moment to reflect on which decision-making skills you possess and highlight them to show the recruits what you’re made of! Good luck!