How to List and Describe Communication Skills On Resume Effectively

From entry-level to executive, communications skills are integral for all roles. It’s no wonder they are often ranked among the top qualifications for employers across many industries. These skills are vital in a business setting, as they indicate how a potential candidate will handle key aspects of any role, such as teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving.

Yet, properly listing communications skills on your resume can be tricky, as they fall under “soft skills” and are not as tangible as other parts of your work resume.

To help you create the best possible communication skills resume, we will break down communication skills and explain why they matter. But we will also give you concrete examples you can use in your resume right away that emphasize the communication style you bring to the table, ensuring you stand out from the competition, pass the ATS, and impress recruiters.

What Are Communication Skills and Why Employers Value Them

In a professional setting, communication skills encompass the ability to convey information and ideas effectively while listening, understanding, and responding to others.

Because of that, good communicators are exceptionally valuable in any workplace, as their communication skills have a significant positive impact on teamwork, chemistry, and overall work effectiveness.

Communication skills go far beyond talking well and being eloquent. It is not only about what you say, but also about how you communicate in general and how you respond to other people’s communication. Communication skills include clarity, tone, adaptability to tailor messaging to different audiences, and emotional intelligence.

Why Communication Skills Are Core Employability Skills

Employers value communication skills because they directly improve productivity, reduce work-related errors and personal issues, and affect how colleagues will perceive a potential candidate.

Because of that, well-developed soft skills are an incredible asset for any role. Smooth communication will reduce friction and show impact, even in more technical roles and environments, let alone in people-oriented or customer-facing fields.

For those reasons, appropriately highlighting communication skills in your resume might help you stand out amongst the competition, even if they have better experience and credentials than you.

List Of Communication Skills to Mention In Resume

For a resume, communication skills can be divided into these types:

4 Main Communication Skills to Include In a Resume

While nothing is set in stone and there are many ways people communicate, you should pay attention and demonstrate the following four key communication skills for resumes:

Verbal communication skills

Verbal communication skills will define how you speak and articulate ideas in person, or verbally (over the phone, or while video calling, etc.). They also determine how you respond to others in person, including your tone of voice, listening, and comprehension.

Because of their nature, verbal communication skills are more critical in people-oriented fields, such as sales and client support, as well as in leadership roles where you are expected to communicate your ideas and demands assertively.

But, because of their in-person nature, verbal communication skills are also among the hardest to develop, especially for introverted individuals. However, even slight improvements during job interviews and presentations can leave a significant effect.

Although face-to-face and verbal, there are ways you can highlight your verbal communication skills in your resume:

• Explaining complex ideas in a clear way
• Experience leading team meetings and presentations or other forms of public speaking
• Persuading clients and stakeholders
• Verbally collaborating with other team members

Non-verbal communication skills

Non-verbal communication is also a form of face-to-face communication that includes eye contact, facial expressions, body language, and active listening. While this type of communication is tough to demonstrate on a resume, it’s essential in a work setting and will play an integral role during your interview.

But, there are still ways you can highlight non-verbal communication skills in your resume:

• Active listener
• High empathy and emotional intelligence which helps with conflict resolution
• Team oriented

Written communication skills

Your written communication skills reflect your ability to write. That doesn’t only include emails, but also writing reports, documentation, proposals, and other written materials.

But because email and chat are omnipresent nowadays, employers highly value well-developed written communication skills, as they improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance overall decision-making.

Demonstrating good written communication skills in your resume will showcase that you can:

• Write concise and clear emails
• Prepare extensive documentation and reports
• Adapt your written tone to suit different audiences
• Maintain accuracy and attention to detail without overwhelming yourself or the readers

Strong written communication skills are essential in the office, but they shine in remote and hybrid roles where work happens asynchronously.

Digital communication skills

Digital communication skills showcase how well you use modern technologies to communicate. This includes email, chat apps, video conferencing, project management tools, and similar collaboration software.

While digital communication skills are a blend of the aforementioned written and oral  communication (and even non-verbal cues during video calls or when using emojis), they constitute a branch of their own due to their technical nature.

For example, most of the time you should be far less formal and more direct in your chat app than in your emails.

Digital communication skills are also easier to get into along the way. As you use the app more, you will naturally get to know its features and the interaction style of other colleagues. Still, it’s worth watching some tutorials to speed things up on the technical side, since you don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t know how to share your screen or insert a GIF in your Teams chat.

Here are some examples of digital communication skills:

• Leading virtual meetings
• Using communication tools professionally (list them)
• Writing clear messages, collaborating, and delegating tasks in project management tools

Where to put communication skills on a resume

There are several places in your resume where you can showcase your communication skills and also give you communication skills examples for the resume sections:

Professional summary

Your resume summary is a great place to mention your communication strengths briefly. For example:

Detail-oriented project manager with strong written and verbal communication skills, experienced in leading cross-functional teams and delivering clear stakeholder updates.

Of course, it’s always best to match your communication strengths with the job requirements. If the job description mentions a specific communication skill, be sure to highlight it in your summary.

Work experience section

Your previous experience at other companies is another great way to demonstrate your communication skills.

You can use bullet points to describe what you communicated, the audience you were addressing, as well as any tools or measurable results you had. Here’s an example:

• Collaborated with marketing and engineering teams to align messaging and deliver projects on schedule.
• Presented weekly performance reports to senior management.

Skills section

The skills section is a natural place for communication skills, too. But don’t make it cookie-cutter by listing “communication” and “people skills” as the only skills. Instead, be specific:

• Client presentation skills
• Management and stakeholder communication
• Digital collaboration and project management skills

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Listing Communication Skills

Here are some common pitfalls you should try to avoid when listing communication skills in your resume:

Using vague or overused language

Instead of using phrases such as “people person”, “great communicator”, and “strong interpersonal skills”, be more specific:

• Presented weekly project updates to cross-functional teams.
• Translated technical information into clear reports for non-technical stakeholders
• Resolved customer concerns through active listening and follow-up communication

Listing skills without evidence

Another common mistake is listing skills for the sake of it. That is especially problematic when it comes to communication, as anyone can claim anything.

To ensure you look credible, list the skills in the skills section of your resume, but add some examples and evidence in the work section:

• Drafted client proposals and email campaigns, contributing to a 5% increase in response rates.
• Wrote internal documentation used by 50+ employees to standardize processes.
• Led onboarding sessions for new hires.

Ignoring job description keywords

Ignoring job description keywords is a red flag not only for communication skills, but for applying to jobs in general, as it can lead to your resume not passing the ATS parsing.

To ensure that doesn’t happen, carefully analyze the job description and try to match as many keywords in your resume and cover letter as naturally as possible.

For example, if the job description states “seeking a candidate with experience in client presentations and strong negotiation skills”, you can write something like:

“Delivered client presentations to executive audiences and participated in negotiations.”

That will show you have experience and are not just repeating phrases to cheat the ATS.

Using Communication Skills In Resume – Examples

While the exact phrasing should mimic the job description, and will depend on your industry and experience, here are some strong communication skills examples for resume sections that will show your impact and professionalism:

• Led client presentations to explain technical solutions, contributing to a XY% increase in customer retention.
• Wrote clear internal documentation to reduce onboarding time.
• Ran cross-department meetings to resolve workflow issues.
• Managed digital communication across remote teams.
• Led training sessions for new employees.
• Led virtual meetings, maintaining clear agendas and asking for follow-up.
• Responded to customer inquiries with clarity, improving customer service quality.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to align goals.
• Developed in-depth standard operating procedures.

The idea is to use action verbs, show real communication scenarios, and demonstrate your communication, ideally through business outcomes and added value.

Create a Communications Skills Resume That Gets Results

A well-crafted communication skills resume can significantly improve your chances and ensure your technical hard skills and experience stand out even more.

Not only will crafting a resume that lists communication skills the right way help you pass the ATS screening, but it will also ensure recruiters notice your CV, no matter how intense the competition is.

MyResumeStar will help you create an ATS-ready communications skills resume in 15 minutes using pre-built, recruiter-tested templates and expert feedback. So don’t wait, build your resume now and start applying to jobs with confidence today.