Top 10 Management Skills for a Resume (Examples & List)

Most C-Level executives don’t believe "managerial skills" is good enough on resumes. Anyone can say, “I’m skilled in leadership, communication, and collaboration”. 

Are theretopmanagement skills that convince employers you’ve got what they need? 

What are manager skills that make recruiters say “If I met a person like that in an interview, I would not let them go”? 

I asked the executives who hire managers, “What skills can you not live without?” And, here’s a golden list of management skills, the top 10 skills managers want—plus 5 hidden skills executives fight for.

This guide will show you:

1. The 10 most common management skills.
2. Five lesser-known but potent managerial skills execs can’t resist.
3. How to know what skills a targeted company wants most.
4. How to prove your manager skills to employers so they’ll hire you.

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Just need a quick list of managerial skills to peg your resume to the job?

We’ve got you covered. The manager skills list below shows the best hard skills and soft skills of a manager.

They make great resume keywords for managers too.

Management Skills List 

• Analytical Thinking
• People Management
• Business Knowledge
• Leadership
• Budgeting
• Communication
• Hiring
• Interpersonal
• Collaboration & Teamwork
• Conceptual Thinking
• Finance
• Time Management
• Conflict Resolution
• Office Management
• Collaboration skills
• Logistics
• Delegation
• Coaching
• Problem Solving
• Business Development
• Critical Thinking
• Negotiating
• Organization
• Planning
• Project Management
• Presenting
• Technical Skills
• Administrative Skills

Here’s the shocker:

Listing manager skills on a resume won’t get the interview.

You need the specific few skills the employer thirsts for.

Then prove you’ve got them.

I’ll show how next.

Pro Tip: Do you need help developing management skills? Online leadership training programs like eCornell and AMA courses can fast-track your talents. They’re no substitute for achievement, but they’ll help an entry-level manager stand out.

Looking for more good management skills to put on a resume? Look at job offers online. Also, see our guide: 99 Key Skills for a Resume (Best List of Examples for All Types of Jobs)

To laser-in on hard managerial skills, see: Resume Hard Skills: Best Definition & Examples

For a list of transferable skills, see: Resume Soft Skills: Definition & Examples

Queasy-stomach time:

You put 10 common management skills on your resume.

But so did everybody else!

You’re as generic as an off-the-rack suit. Don't list meaningless Microsoft Office skills or computer skills from the '80s.

You need to show you’re different and worth hiring.

I posed that question to Lucjan Samulowski.

His successful startup operates in seven countries and employs a team of 500.

He frequently hires managers. Yet he skips past thousands of “qualified” applicants.

His advice?

“The ‘management skills’ term is popular,” Lucjan says. “The right way to think about it is ‘management behaviors and abilities.’”

It all comes down to proving you know how to be a good manager.

These top five managerial skills fly under the radar:

1. Past Success

Got managerial achievements? Show them.

Past success means you can do it again in. That’s a green light for executives to hire you.

Can’t point to past success? Take heart. The other management qualities below can shine a spotlight on your hireability.

 Success is universal. Savvy employers look for it in their leaders.

Lucjan Samulowski

Co-founder, docplanner.com

2. People Follow You

What’s the most valuable of all manager skills?

People management skills or interpersonal skills.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman calls interpersonal skills the strongest predictor of leadership success.

The best evidence? People follow you. Not on Facebook or LinkedIn, but in real life.

It could mean they stick around in your team a long time. Or they follow you to other teams or companies when you switch jobs.

Lucjan Samulowski

Co-founder, docplanner.com

Pro Tip: What if you have no management experience but you want to prove potential? Demonstrate the three key manager skills below. “If I met a person like that in an interview,” Lucjan says, “I would not let her go.”

3. Have High Empathy

Next on our list of hidden but effective management skills is empathy.

Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”

That’s the secret sauce that makes employees want to succeed for you.

Empathy lets you see and provide for your employees’ needs––a one in ten-million motivator. Having high empathy means you understand your team’s work at ground-level. It means you possess a strong set of active listening skills.

“I worked with a director once who couldn’t gain the respect or command of his staff,” says Elle Torres, Senior Process Consultant at Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “He didn’t feel like he needed to know the details of their jobs. He just needed them to ‘do it better.’”

The director humbled himself and took a week to work alongside his frontline staff. This seemed like a waste of time. But the real waste was sitting in his office and remaining ineffective.

“You must acknowledge you don’t share the same expertise as your subordinates, regardless of your work title,” says Torres. Admit your team knows more than you, then allow them to teach you.

Show you’ve done that, and employers will fight over you.

4. Learn Fast

Today’s business world turns on a dime. Companies that seem rock-solid today may vanish tomorrow, while billion-dollar firms pop up overnight.

Executives prize the manager skills of quickly spotting and exploiting shifting tides.

Learning fast lets you pick up and apply lessons about others. It also lets you master the behaviors of great leaders around you.

Lucjan Samulowski

Co-founder, docplanner.com

5. Be Results-Driven

Does “results-oriented” belong on a managerial skills list?

We can debate that, but C-Suite leaders crave it like air.

Execs don’t have to tell a goal-oriented manager what to do. They can aim her at the target and walk.

Employees like results-driven managers because they understand the goal.

“Everyone wants to be part of a winning team,” says Lucjan.

Being results-driven means being accountable, too. “You shouldn’t be caught by surprise by anything your team delivers,” Torres says.

Pro Tip: Can you just say, “I’m a results-driven fast learner with high empathy” and get hired? Maybe in cartoons. In the real world, you must prove your business management skills. I’ll show how next.

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Anyone can show a long list of management skills.

The problem?

Executives can see through that like a corner office window.

They’re mobbed by long lists of managerial skills.

You must cut through the noise.

The good news? It’s not hard.

Pick the Few Right Manager Skills

First, forget about generic manager skills lists as long as the company directory.

Focus on the few skills the employer wants.

Of course show the key managerial skills that fit you best.

Share your past success, connections, empathy, fast-learning, and results-driven mindset.

Find other skills in the job offer, or by talking to executives or team members.

Pro Tip: Not sure what skills the employer needs? Conduct informational interviews. Employees and executives are often happy to share their challenges.

Show How You’ve Used the Skills

Here’s a big mistake.

You tell the C-Level exec you have these important management skills:

Well, you’re hired.

No.

You might as well say, “I’m the best manager in the universe.”

They’ll toss you on the pile with all the other unqualified applicants.

Instead, prove your managerial skills.

On a resume, list past achievements that show you’ve used those skills.

In an interview, tell stories that get at the same thing.

Here are a few managerial skills examples:

Pro Tip: According to Robert Katz, the three basic types of management skills are conceptual skills (big-picture leadership skills for top managers), people management skills (for all managers), and technical skills (for front-line types of managers).

Coming into management from another career? See our guide: Career Change Resume: Sample and Complete Guide

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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Here’s a recap of the best management skills and how to prove them:

• Don’t list all the managerial skills in the book. Pick the ones the employer craves. Find them through online digging and informational interviews.
• Show a few key, hidden management skills and abilities. Those are past success, high empathy, results-driven, fast learner, and having people follow you.
• Add some common, valuable manager skills. Communication, collaboration, organization, and interpersonal skills are crucial.
• Don’t just say you’ve got the skills––prove them. Do that with past accomplishments you couldn’t have achieved without those skills.

Do you have questions about listing management skills on a resume? Not sure how to prove yours in an interview? Give us a shout in the comments! Let's get the conversation rolling.