Top 10 organizational skills you’ll need to land your dream job

When it comes to applying for a job, you’ll need to put more than just your education and professional experience on your resume. It needs that extra zing that’ll make you stand out among other applicants and put your best foot forward. Enter organizational skills.

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at:

• Key organizational skills worth mentioning in your resume

• How to add organizational skills to your resume

• Tips on bringing up organizational skills during a job interview

What are organizational skills?

Organizational skills are a category of soft skills that allow you to manage your workload and expectations, deliver results on time, and successfully manage people and projects. Strong organizational skills allow you to break down large, complex assignments into smaller, manageable tasks and delegate effectively.

Why are organizational skills important?

Organizational skills help you save time by focusing on tasks that really matter, instead of getting distracted by mundane activities. For every organization, every minute and every penny counts. The more organizational skills you have, the more you will contribute to your company’s bottom line.

If you have solid organizational skills, you’ll find it easier to manage your workload, produce high-quality work, communicate effectively with your team members, and become a key individual in your company. These skills also denote professionalism and dedication on your part. 

Finally, organizational skills are crucial if you want to move up the corporate ladder and advance in your career. Typically, for senior management roles, a great emphasis is placed on the ability to effectively communicate and delegate instead of managing day-to-day tasks. 

What are the 10 best organizational skills to have?

While there are plenty of organizational skills out there, here’s a look at some of the most crucial ones that will help you take your career to the next level.

1. Time management

Time management is the ability to effectively manage the eight hours at work to deliver the best possible output per day. Employees with good time management skills can easily focus on important tasks first, effectively delegate tasks, stick to deadlines, and minimize distractions. 

Typically, in a workplace, time management skills come in handy when you’re planning your day before your shift begins, breaking down a large task into a series of smaller tasks, and/or creating systems to improve efficiency across the board.

2. Goal setting

Without a clear vision or goal of what you want to accomplish at work, it’s easy to get distracted and lose focus. Make sure to set SMART goals at work and think up a few strategies to achieve each goal. Some of the goals you can set at the workplace include achieving a certain sales target during a specific period, improving customer satisfaction ratings, launching a new product or service, or designing a new system to improve productivity and efficiency. 

3. Communication

Communication skills include listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Your ability to communicate properly with your team members at work speaks a lot about your overall organizational skills. Ultimately, good communication skills will help you share ideas with your team members, obtain relevant feedback, and generally get along well with everyone. 

4. Physical organization

Whether you’re going to work or working remotely, it’s important for you to keep your files, documents, and workstation neat and organized. Getting rid of physical and digital clutter can also provide you with some mental space to engage in problem-solving, creative tasks, and work planning.

5. Prioritization

Setting priorities at work is all about arranging your daily tasks in their order of importance. This way, you can focus your energy on tasks with a short deadline and set all unimportant work on the side. If you don’t prioritize your work, you’re likely to feel confused and overwhelmed, and this is where procrastination will kick in. 

6. Delegation

Assigning tasks to others, instead of doing them yourself, gives you some time to focus on other assignments, as well as the ‘big picture stuff.’ Effective delegation is one of the key attributes of a successful manager at work. However, delegating is not just assigning tasks to others. It also involves providing clear instructions on how to manage these tasks, along with any deadlines. 

7. Attention to detail

Whenever you apply for a job, you’re most likely to notice ‘attention to detail’ as a key prerequisite in the job description. It’s because this organizational skill means the ability to produce work that is largely free from errors. 

At the workplace, you can develop a strong attention to detail by reviewing your work carefully before submitting, keeping track of all resources utilized for the task, and paying close attention to any instructions given by supervisors. 

8. Multitasking

Contrary to popular belief, multitasking does not necessarily mean managing two completely different tasks at the same time. It typically involves clubbing together a number of similar projects with the same resources and managing them simultaneously. 

Effective multitasking can help you stay productive and get more work done. However, with multitasking, there’s an inherent risk of making mistakes, so you’ll need to carefully review your work before submitting. 

9. Decision making

Effective decision making is all about evaluating different options or solutions to a problem, weighing the pros and cons of each option, and selecting the best possible option. In order to make sound, practical, and profitable decisions at work, you’ll need to stay organized. Good decision making will allow you to save time and take steps that will benefit your organization.

10. Planning

Perhaps the most crucial organizational skill to have is planning because it allows you to handle your workload, finish tasks within their deadlines, delegate effectively, and collaborate with others. Without proper planning skills, you’re likely to miss out on deadlines.

How do you mention organizational skills in your resume?

As mentioned earlier, you should mention your organizational skills in your resume. Here are a few tips on how to do just that.

Use keywords from the job description

Before applying for a job, carefully read the job description and look for specific terminology involving organizational skills. These ‘keywords’ might include terms like these: attention to detail, communication skills, team player, leadership, etc. 

When a hiring manager reviews your resume, they’re specifically looking for these keywords. If your resume does not include these terms, it could get difficult for you to move to the next round of the hiring process. Keywords are also important for applicant tracking systems (ATS). These software solutions are designed to parse through hundreds of resumes to look for keywords. 

Talk about specific results

Remember, the more specific you make your resume, the more likely it is to pique the reader’s interest. If your resume just says that you’re good at multitasking, but it does not provide a specific example that illustrates your multitasking skills, the reader might think you’re bluffing.

Talk about how you leveraged your organizational skills at work to help your company achieve a specific result. Use numbers and statistics to add some credibility to your claims. For example, if you want to focus on your time management skills, you can say, “Successfully designed and deployed a new software patch within a timeframe of 24 hours to reduce system errors from 120 to 0.”

How do you talk about your organizational skills in an interview?

If you’ve made it past the initial screening stage and you’re preparing for a job interview, you can talk about your organizational skills to make a solid first impression. However, make sure to discuss these skills only if the interviewer asks you to do so. Here’s how you can do it.

Present a scenario/situation

If the interviewer asks you about a situation where you had to utilize your organizational skills, you can start the answer by describing a specific scenario or situation at work. The idea is to show to the interviewer that you not only have the necessary organizational skills, but you’re also good at applying and articulating them.

Mention your organizational skills

When talking about your organizational skills, it’s important to connect them to the job description of the job role for which you’re interviewing. For example, if you’re applying for the role of a sales manager, you can talk about your goal-setting skills and how they helped you set an achievable growth target for your team members each quarter.

Similarly, if you’re applying for the role of content creator, you can mention your multitasking skills by talking about the wide variety of clients you’ve worked with and the industries you’ve written for - ranging from IT to fashion.

Discuss the impact on the organization

Just like your resume, your job interview should also involve specific numbers and statistics. After all, what’s the point of talking about your organizational skills if you forget to focus on the end results?

The interviewer wants to know how your organizational skills will help you succeed in your career, make an impact, and allow the company to meet its objectives. For example, if you’re applying for a customer success position, you can talk about how your communication skills helped you increase customer satisfaction ratings by a certain percentage during a specific time period.

Key takeaways

1. Whether you’re applying for a job or getting ready for an interview, it’s important to assess your organizational skills and see which of these skills can be leveraged to help you land that job.

2. Typically, your resume should include an accomplishment section with each job role. This is the ideal place to briefly mention your organizational skills and their impact on the organization.

3. Make sure the organizational skills you mention in your resume relate to the job you’re applying to. Similarly, during a job interview, talk about these skills if your employer asks you to.