Organizational Skills for Your Resume (With Examples)

Organizational skills are one of the most common types of skills that employers look for in candidates for a job. Whether you want to be a software engineer or a digital marketer, staying organized and maintaining order in your work is crucial.

If you are applying for a job that involves organizational abilities, you may decide that you want to mention them on your resume. But how should you go about listing these skills effectively?

We’re going to discuss what these skills are, why they are important, and walk through a few that you can list on your resume.

What Are Organizational Skills?

Organizational skills are those skills that involve the brain’s executive function. That is, these skills depend on the cognitive abilities to monitor and control one’s own behavior that most people develop as adolescents. Executive functions include things like self-control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.

Certain disorders and other circumstances can lead to significant difficulties with executive function, which has an effect on how organized one can be.

Employees with strong skills in organization are almost always on top of their work and maintain a clear structure in their tasks.

If you are skilled at organization, you will use time management skills to keep track of what you are doing. You’ll also manage deadlines by the urgency of each task, and make schedules to ensure you meet goals within a given time frame.

Why Are Organizational Skills Important?

These skills are the requirements for a wide range of jobs, especially those which are fast-paced or involve a high degree of self-motivation.

Employers look for organized employees because they are more likely to complete their work on time and maintain consistent productivity. If you keep a schedule and evaluate how you are going to meet your deadlines, you are likely to deliver your work on time. You’ll be able to stay on track and avoid unforeseen delays.

In addition, employees who are organized are more likely to complete their work to a high quality. This is because they don’t have to rush at the last moment to complete a project. They are more likely to be deliberate in planning out when to complete work.

On the other hand, an employee who is not organized may hand in work on an inconsistent basis, and to varying degrees of quality. If work is not delivered on time or to a certain quality, it may have an impact on other projects within the business. This might lead to missed deadlines, as mistakes will need to be fixed.

Most importantly, strong organizational abilities will prevent disorder in your daily life. You’ll run into fewer difficulties in your work and home life when you work to develop these skills.

What Are Some Examples of Organizational Skills?

Listing such skills on your resume is a great way to show that you are reliable, meet deadlines, and stay on top of tasks. But, you may be asking yourself, “How do I list my organizational abilities properly on a resume?”

Here are a few core skills you may want to list on your resume:

#1: Time Management

In order to be organized, you need to be good at managing your own time.

Time management skills involve understanding how long tasks will take and using that information to plan how you are going to approach a task.

For instance, suppose you are working on a website redesign. If you have good time management skills, you can break down the requirements of the project and estimate how long certain tasks will take. Then, you will make changes to your work schedule to ensure you can accomplish those tasks by the dates you set.

People with good time management skills are able to adjust to new challenges as they come in. They can balance their schedules even if they have varying commitments to manage.

If you want to list your time management skills on your resume, you could use the following keywords:

• Decision making
• Delegation
• Managing deadlines
• Productivity
• Tracking multiple projects
• Attention to detail

#2: Planning

Planning is another core part of being organized. Without a plan, a project cannot go ahead on schedule—nobody would know what to work on, and when tasks are due.

Being able to plan involves understanding the scope of a project, and breaking it down into smaller, more addressable components. 

Suppose you are an administrative assistant anticipating a call. If you are good at planning, you may talk with your boss in advance about how you should handle a specific call. You can ask whether your boss has any special instructions. Then, you may reschedule any meetings that you had at the time the call is scheduled to ensure you can pick up the phone.

There are a few different ways you can showcase your planning skills on a resume. Here are a few keywords you can use to illustrate your planning skills:

• Ability to plan projects
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Information gathering
• Analysis
• Problem-solving
• Research
• Strategic planning

#3: Physical Organization

Physical organization skills are just as important as mental ones, such as planning and being able to manage your time effectively.

Being able to keep your workspace clean and tidy is an important part of working in an office environment, especially in fast-paced work cultures.

Suppose you are an accounts manager. If you are good at physical organization, you can keep track of all the documents coming in and out of your workspace. You would keep track of all the items that you have used, and return them to the place you found them once you’re done.

Here are a few keywords you can use to communicate these physical skills on your resume:

"Career Karma entered my life when I needed it most and quickly helped me match with a bootcamp. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life!"

Venus, Software Engineer at Rockbot

Find Your Bootcamp Match

How to Improve Organizational Skills

Like any other, organizational skills are built with practice. As you start to make adjustments to your work routine, you’ll notice that, over time, you will become more organized.

Here are four ways in which you can develop these crucial skills:

Think about Your Goals

The first step to becoming more organized is to evaluate what goals matter most to you. Which projects are you currently working on? Which of those projects are the most important, given the deadlines in place?

You can use this information to decide how you want to spend your time, and what tasks need your attention. Make a list of all the goals you have, and consider how each of them relates to your long-term plans.

Write a To-Do List

When you know what goals you want to meet, you should start writing a to-do list. To-do lists are a great way to keep track of all the tasks you have to complete. They also encourage you to break down bold goals into smaller, more actionable tasks.

Once you have established the tasks to work on, think about the timeline for each and assign deadlines to hold yourself accountable.

Keep a Clean Workspace

Having a tidy workspace is a great way to refine your physical organization skills.

If your desk is untidy, take some time to clean it, as well as any surrounding work areas over which you have control. Does your table need dusting? Dust it. If you have documents lying around that need to be organized, come up with a system to arrange them. This way, if you need to find one, you’ll be able to do so easily.

In addition, if you find anything on your desk that is no longer relevant to the work you are doing, move them into storage. The only things that should be on your desk are those which are related to your current work.

Maintain a Schedule

Maintaining a schedule keeps you accountable for your goals. You can plan out the times during which you are going to work on a particular task.

If you want to be more organized, take some time each day to write your schedule for the next day. What are you going to work on? When are you going to work on those tasks? How long will those tasks take?

Your schedule does not need to be elaborate, nor does it need to cover every minute of the day. Instead, your schedule should give you a rough outline of how you want to spend your time each day. This will help you stay more focused as you go throughout your workday. If you ever have a spare moment, you can check your schedule to see what you have planned to work on that day.

Conclusion

Organizational skills are highly valued by employers. People who are highly organized are more likely to follow through on tasks, and deliver high-quality work on schedule.

If you are applying for a job that involves using these skills, you may want to mention a few of them on your resume. 

Adding a few of the keywords we discussed will demonstrate your value to an employer. They will exemplify the organizational skills you have built up in your career.