A candidate with strong teamwork qualities has a high chance of standing out throughout the job application process. Teamwork skills are universally valuable for every workplace. This is especially true for jobs that require team collaboration in business operations. That’s why you should not underestimate the importance of highlighting being a team player in your resume.
What is a team player resume?
A team player resume is a strategic approach you implement in resume writing to highlight your teamwork abilities. It aims to demonstrate how effective and efficient you perform in a team setting. Most jobs require their members to thrive in a team; thus, you need to show how good of a team player you are in your resume.
Your resume is the first touch of contact with potential employers. When you miss including the qualities they are looking for, your application is no better than nothing. To avoid this, you must always tailor a team player resume that reflects your collaborative skills. This is especially essential when your niche requires the collective effort of members to produce excellent quality work.
Should you always create a team player resume?
Not necessarily. You will only need to create a team player resume when the job description specifically looks for the said soft skill. However, some jobs don’t explicitly state that they need a team player. That said, you need to do your own research and evaluate if the job actually requires it. Upon finding out that the job occurs in a team environment, it’s best to start modifying your resume.
How Would You Describe Yourself as a Team Player?
You have probably heard the commonly-asked question, “How would you describe yourself as a team player?” in almost every job interview. This is because being a team player is crucial in almost every job position at any level. If you have strong team player skills, then you need to need to highlight this strength on your resume.
How do you know which type of team player you are? There are four main types of team players:
The Contributor
These team players are characterized as detailed-oriented and thorough. They make sure that every aspect of a project is covered and information is shared.
The Collaborator
These team players are goal-driven and will do whatever it will take to accomplish and meet the objective.
The Communicator
These team players are mostly seen as positive and people-persons. They are also process-oriented and make great listeners.
The Challenger
These team players are honest, outspoken, and seen by others as ethical and principled who like to challenge the status quo.
How to modify your team player resume
When writing a team player resume, you basically tweak some areas to appear more efficient in a team setting. It aims to prove to employers your teamwork skills by mentioning them in more than one instance. Here’s how you can modify your resume:
1. Insert in your summary statement or objective.
One way that you can mention your team-playing ability is by mentioning it somewhere in your resume summary or personal statement. The summary or objective statement always appears at the beginning of your resume. And there’s no better initial place to mention your teamwork skills than here. That is because you want to capture their attention right away and inform them how good of a team player you are.
This is the ideal place to introduce your proven team player capabilities, and you can do well with these examples:
- “Experienced IT manager with a passion for working in teams seeking to join (company X).”
- “Accomplished sales representative looking to put my stellar customer service and teamwork skills to good use as a team lead for (company X).”
2. Mention your past responsibilities.
When stating your experience in being a team player, it’s necessary to add your specific role at that time. This shows accountability whether you were the leader or the member. Your potential employers are interested in knowing which part of the responsibility you took. This helps them assess your effectiveness as a team player.
Here are some examples citing how you can write your own statements:
- “As a graphic designer, I worked closely with the creatives and marketing team to ensure content production accuracy.”
- “Worked with the sales department as the senior sales consultant.”
3. Cite examples demonstrating your competency.
Examples are proven to emphasize your ability to work in a team. Employers would very much appreciate it when you have concrete examples displaying your team player skills. These pertain to the accomplishments you’ve earned as the fruit of teamwork. Remember, describing you as a team player should not be enough—you have to prove it with examples.
Take a look at some of these examples:
- “Worked as the team lead in (company X), one of the most recognized fintech companies in the country.”
- “Developed an internal accounting software for (Company X) as a member of a six-person team.”
4. Include teamwork in your skills list.
Soft skills are just as critical as technical skills when writing your resume. And one of the essential soft skills to always include is teamwork. That is because being a good team member reflects your drive to function in a team with a common goal. As a general rule, always include teamwork and other related skills in your list.
Here are some best skills for being a team player at work:
- Active listening
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Community building
- Confidence building
- Conflict management
- Creative thinking
- Critical thinking
- Decision making
- Feedback skills
- Flexibility
- Interpersonal skills
- Language skills
- Leadership
- Management
- Mediation
- Motivation
- Multi-tasking
- Negotiating
- Organizational and planning skills
- Persuasive skills
- Problem-solving
- Project management
- Punctuality
- Relationship building
- Reliability
- Respectfulness
- Task management
- Team management
- Team-oriented
- Team player
- Time management
- Tolerance
5. Amplify with team player phrases.
There are many instances you could insert team player phrases in your resume. And for every opportunity, you can squeeze in team player phrases that subtly highlight your genuine passion for working in teams. These phrases, as opposed to the previously-mentioned related skills, contain more depiction.
To get a clearer idea, here are some sample team player phrases to sprinkle in your resume:
- Thrives in a team environment
- Dedicated team leader/member
- Stellar communication skills
- A team player who can work independently
- With a genuine interest in working with others closely
- Embraces teamwork
- Has experience in leading and managing teams
- Goal-oriented visionary
- Collaborated with a team of (number) in developing a (product)
These are the points you need to remember when tailoring your team player resume. It only requires you a few tweaks here and there to highlight the soft skill. This effort will result in more chances of standing out among a pile of other applicants vying for the position.
To learn more about polishing a resume that captures recruiters’ attention, you could use some help from these online courses that’ll teach you to nurture the skills in effective team collaboration and craft a compelling resume:
Ready to craft an effective team player resume? Click here to get started.
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