It can be quite difficult to separate what should be classified as personal and what should be classified as business qualities in a resume. If you are talking about character traits that relate to work, then they can safely be classified as the latter. Examples of business qualities for a resume will help you figure out what and how best to enter into this column.

Popular options

Most often, the following business traits appear in the requirements of employers and resumes of applicants:

• ability to work independently;
• determination;
• assertiveness, result-oriented;
• communication skills;
• determination;
• organizational skills;
• fast reaction,
• increased performance;
• ability to make decisions;
• love of planning;
• oratory;
• the ability to formulate your thoughts;
• diligence, ability to complete tasks, ability to follow instructions;
• tact, politeness, tolerance.

It is not necessary to list all the business qualities of a person that you know. You only need to include in the resume you provide what suits you best.

Connection with professions

You need to choose business qualities depending on the requirements for the vacancy for which you are applying.
For example, when sending a resume for an open managerial position, you need to carefully select your words. You can indicate the following business qualities:

• desire to work, develop and learn, responsibility, communication skills, stress resistance;
• flexibility, ability to adapt, organizational skills, public speaking skills;
• tolerance, loyalty, ethics, honesty, ability to work in any conditions and in different teams;
• logical thinking, the ability to highlight important things, professional flair, the ability to analyze and see the future.

For technical specialists, analysts, economists, accountants, and office clerks, it is better to focus on other qualities in their resumes:

• pedantry, attention to detail, dedication, accuracy;
• perseverance, ability to retain necessary information in memory, analytical mind;
• foresight, ability to collect and analyze data, accuracy, focus on results;
• scrupulousness, punctuality, ability to plan and organize the work process, analytical skills.

If the position involves active communication with people, then the following qualities will be priority:

• communication skills, the ability to see the client’s problem, collaborate, find an individual approach;
• collectivism, love of teamwork, sociability, efficiency, ability to negotiate;
• easy adaptation, ability to work under stressful conditions, competent speech, energy, organization;
• politeness, tolerance, knowledge of business ethics, decency, honesty, dedication.

But this example is not a ready-made template. It’s better to make a selection from several options so that the given characteristic reflects your qualities in the best possible way.

An employer cares about both the personal and business qualities of an employee. Which abilities are more important? How to deal with negative traits? Each profession has its own characteristics. We will tell you how to make the right choice and how to evaluate a future employee in our article.

Business and personal qualities

An employee’s business qualities are his ability to perform certain job duties. The most important of them are the level of education and work experience. When choosing an employee, focus on the benefits he can bring to your company.

Personal qualities characterize an employee as a person. They become important when applicants for one position have the same level of business qualities. Personal qualities characterize an employee’s attitude towards work. Focus on independence: he should not do your work, but must cope with his own to the fullest.

Choice of qualities

If more than 5 characteristics are included in the resume, this is a signal that the applicant is not able to make an intelligent choice. Moreover, the standard “responsibility” and “punctuality” have become banal, so if possible, ask what these general concepts mean. A striking example: the phrase “high performance” could mean “ability to work with a lot of information”, while you were counting on “willingness to work overtime.”

Such general concepts as “motivation to work”, “professionalism”, “self-control” can be explained by the applicant in other expressions, more specifically and meaningfully. Pay attention to incompatible qualities. To make sure that the applicant is honest, you can ask him to illustrate the characteristics he specified with examples.

Negative qualities of an employee

Sometimes job applicants also include them in their resume. In particular such as:

• Hyperactivity.
• Excessive emotionality.
• Greed.
• Vengefulness.
• Impudence.
• Inability to lie.
• Inability to work in a team.
• Restlessness.
• Touchiness.
• Lack of work experience/education.
• Lack of a sense of humor.
• Bad habits.
• Addiction to gossip.
• Straightforwardness.
• Self-confidence.
• Modesty.
• Poor communication skills.
• The desire to create conflict.

An applicant who includes negative qualities in his resume may be honest, or he may be reckless. Such an action does not justify itself, but if you want to know possible problems with this applicant, ask him to list his negative qualities. Be prepared to give the person the opportunity to rehabilitate himself and present negative qualities in a favorable light. For example, restlessness indicates easy adaptation and quick switching from one task to another, and straightforwardness indicates the benefits that it can bring when concluding a deal.

Be prepared to give the person the opportunity to rehabilitate himself and present negative qualities in a favorable light.

Qualities for different professions

Certain professional qualities are needed in almost all types of activities. You can make it easier for applicants and at the same time narrow their circle by including information about the required characteristics in the job advertisement. For an employee in the field of promotion or entertainment, the main qualities are communication skills, the ability to work in a team, and to win people over. The list of winning qualities will also include: charm, self-confidence, energy. In the field of trade, the list of the best qualities will look like this: flexibility of thinking, skills in interacting with clients, the ability to negotiate, work in a team, as well as quick response, politeness, perseverance, and activity.

A leader in any field must have such professional qualities as organizational skills, the ability to find a common language and work in a team, resourcefulness, lack of conflict, charm and the ability to teach. Equally important are the ability to make quick decisions, self-confidence, attentiveness and balance.

The strengths of an employee working with a large amount of data (accountant or system administrator): attention to detail, accuracy, quick learner, attentiveness, organization and, of course, the ability to work with a large amount of information.

The characteristics of a secretary include a variety of positive qualities: skills in interacting with clients, business communication, literacy, ability to negotiate and conduct business correspondence, and the ability to deal with several things at the same time. Also pay attention to good external characteristics, attentiveness, tact and balance, and diligence. Responsibility, attentiveness and stress resistance are useful in any profession. But the applicant, adding such qualities to his resume, does not always take them seriously.

Responsibility, attentiveness and stress resistance are useful in any profession. But the applicant, adding such qualities to his resume, does not always take them seriously.

Assessment of employee professional qualities

To avoid wasting time and money testing new employees, companies sometimes evaluate them before hiring. There are even special personnel assessment centers created for this purpose. A list of assessment methods for those who prefer to do it themselves:

• Letters of recommendation.
• Tests. These include routine aptitude and aptitude tests, as well as personality and biographical tests.
• An exam on the knowledge and skills of an employee.
• Role play or cases.

Role-playing will help you find out in practice whether the applicant is suitable for you. Simulate an everyday situation for his position and see how he copes. For example, evaluate his customer interaction skills. Let the buyer be your competent employee or yourself, and the applicant will show what he is capable of. You can set a goal for him to achieve during the game, or simply observe his working style. This method will tell you much more about the applicant than the “Personal Qualities” column on a resume.

When deciding on evaluation criteria, you can base your assessment on business qualities: punctuality, potential quantity and quality of work performed, experience and education, skills, etc. For greater efficiency, focus on the qualities required for the position for which the candidate being assessed is applying. To be confident in an employee, consider his personal qualities. You can conduct an assessment yourself in the form of a ranking of candidates, placing + and – according to certain criteria, distributing them by level or awarding points. Avoid assessment pitfalls such as bias or stereotyping, or placing too much weight on one criterion.

One of the most important points in a resume is professional qualities. They are also called business ones. They indicate a person’s ability to perform job duties. The success and productivity of a potential employee depends on professional qualities.

Professional and personal: the difference

Job seekers often confuse professional skills and personal qualities. There is a very fine line between the two concepts. Business qualities characterize a person as a workforce. The most important are the level of education and work experience. Both factors will help the employer assess possible labor productivity, competence, and professional skills.

When considering business qualities, it is important for the recruiter to understand whether the applicant will be suitable for the vacant position. He analyzes whether the candidate will help achieve the desired goals, what value he brings to the company and what his salary may be.

Features of personal qualities indicated in the resume:

• characterize a person as a person;
• taken into account when several candidates have business skills at the same level;
• help in forming an opinion about the candidate’s attitude towards work, colleagues, superiors, etc.

Personal characteristics are secondary and are not always taken into account, but they still need to be written about carefully.

Selection of characteristics

HR specialists advise writing no more than 5-7 personal and professional qualities. This number is enough to evaluate the applicant.

If there are 5 qualities, this will demonstrate that the candidate knows how to set priorities, choose the main thing and is able to make an intelligent choice.

It is imperative to select qualities that characterize a person’s strengths and weaknesses.

You need to evaluate yourself adequately, without the influence of low or high self-esteem. You can write down all your strengths and weaknesses on a sheet and choose those that not only successfully characterize the person, but also directly relate to the vacancy.

It's better not to use standard descriptions. Banal characteristics that are written on every resume will not attract an employer. A great solution is to describe the qualities in a few words.

At the interview, you may be asked to provide examples that confirm the presence of the specified personal and professional abilities.

Assessment of negative qualities

There are several ways to present your negative sides. You can talk about a weakness that you managed to correct. This will demonstrate the applicant as a purposeful person with willpower. This will show that the person is ready to develop and change if necessary. In this context, you can write about the following skills:

• unpunctual, but after appropriate courses he acquired time management skills;
• has a fear of speaking in public, but is now learning the basics of public speaking;
• slow, but does the work efficiently and on time;
• poorly versed in technical innovations, but if necessary, monitors relevant resources with up-to-date information, etc.

You can write about personal or professional qualities that do not relate to the chosen type of activity. They will not in any way affect the quality of work or productivity of a potential employee.

The third popular option is to present your skills and qualities in a favorable light. With their help, you need to convince the employer that the applicant is an ideal candidate for the vacant position. Show that they will not interfere with work. For someone applying for a leadership position, this may be a desire to control all processes in the company.

List of other negative qualities that you can write about:

• hyperactivity;
• excessive emotionality;
• inability to lie;
• healthy selfishness;
• self-confidence;
• straightforwardness;
• modesty;
• poor communication skills;
• touchiness;
• greed, etc.

Newcomers should immediately warn their employer about their lack of experience. This will be their key negative business characteristic. They can indicate as negative qualities hard work, straightforwardness, restlessness, excessive activity, etc.

Assessment of positive qualities

Positive professional qualities for a resume are also an important criterion when selecting employees. There are skills and traits that will suit any job. Their examples:

• honesty;
• simplicity and ease of learning;
• the ability to concentrate on what is important;
• stress resistance;
• absence of bad habits;
• initiative, etc.

Such qualities are valued in an employee in any position, because... characterize him from the best side. If an applicant is submitting a resume for a management position, it is better to indicate other personal characteristics.

HR managers and experts identify 3 categories of strengths:

1. Mobile skills. Abilities inherent in related professions or those that were used by the candidate at his previous place of work and will be relevant for the vacant position. These could be the skills to establish contact with people of different temperaments, work with basic office programs, quickly resolve urgent issues, or remain calm in stressful situations.
2. Skills that are based on knowledge. A person acquired such abilities through additional training or during work at his previous place of work. This is the ability to use a computer, keep records, conduct business correspondence with foreign partners, communicate fluently in a foreign language, etc.
3. Personal qualities. Unique human properties. They allow you to understand what a potential employee is like in everyday life.

Often, applicants first write positive qualities that are directly related to work activities. But there is no need to praise yourself too much. A little self-criticism won't hurt.

A potential employee can confirm the presence of the listed characteristics using arguments. You can give examples of the manifestation of such abilities in the motivation sheet in the form of a structured and logical text.

When creating a business aptitude shortlist, consider what personality traits or professional skills the ideal candidate would have.

Important characteristics for different types of professions

A professionally written resume is immediately noticeable. It describes only those qualities that relate to the vacant position. Meeting the recruiter's expectations and needs increases the chance that a person will be considered.

Comparison of business qualities, personality traits and professions:

1. Leadership positions. Such employees value their ability to work in a team, correctly distribute responsibilities, quickly adapt to new conditions, and bear responsibility for the work of subordinates. Tolerance, loyalty, logical thinking, planning and analytical abilities, ethics, and honesty are also important.
2. Technical specialists, lawyers, economists. They must be able to work with documentation, notice details, collect and analyze data. They must be pedantic, attentive, assiduous, far-sighted, and careful.
3. Professions that involve communicating with people. The main thing is communication skills and the ability to find an approach to different categories of people. Other professionally significant characteristics: politeness, ethics, collectivism, efficiency, sociability, easy adaptation, decency.

The candidate's professional abilities are assessed in several ways. These are letters of recommendation, testing, an exam on knowledge of the specifics of the chosen type of activity, role-playing games, and cases. But the first stage is an interview, at which they may ask:

• what are your strengths;
• how would you characterize your weaknesses;
• why we should consider your candidacy;
• what do you want to achieve in our company, etc.

During the interview, the employer wants to check the applicant for honesty and compare the described qualities with the real ones. Role-playing games will help show how a person reacts to stressful situations.

The qualities of most specialists are divided into three groups: professional, personal and business.

Professional ones include those that characterize any competent specialist and the possession of which is only a necessary prerequisite for him to fulfill the duties of a manager. They are:

• - high level of education, production experience, competence in the relevant profession;
• - breadth of views, erudition, deep knowledge of not only one’s own, but also related areas of activity;
• - the desire for constant self-improvement, critical perception and rethinking of the surrounding reality;
• - search for new forms and methods of work, helping others, training them;
• - ability to plan your work, etc.

There are three groups of skills that form the basis of a manager’s professional activity: conceptual (at the highest level its share reaches 50%), interpersonal and special (technical). At lower levels of management, its share is also about 50%.

The personal qualities of a manager should also not differ much from the qualities of other employees who want to be respected and taken into account. Here you can mention:

• - high moral standards; - physical and psychological health; - internal and external culture;
• - justice, honesty; - responsiveness, caring, goodwill towards people; - optimism, self-confidence.

However, what makes a person a leader is not professional or personal qualities, but business qualities, which include:

• - knowledge of the organization, the ability to provide its activities with everything necessary, set and distribute tasks among performers, coordinate and control their implementation, encourage them to work;
• - energy, dominance, ambition, desire for power, personal independence, leadership in any circumstances, and sometimes at any cost, inflated level of claims, courage, determination, assertiveness, will, demandingness, uncompromisingness in defending one’s rights;
• - contact, sociability, ability to win people over, convince people of the correctness of your point of view, and lead;
• - purposefulness, initiative, efficiency in solving problems, the ability to quickly select the main thing and concentrate on it, but if necessary it is easy to adapt;
• - responsibility, the ability to manage oneself, one’s behavior, working time, relationships with others, and educate them;
• - desire for transformations, innovations, willingness to take risks oneself and involve subordinates with oneself, etc.

The requirements for managers in relation to these qualities are not the same at different levels of management.

At the grassroots, for example, decisiveness, sociability, and some aggressiveness are valued; on average - mostly communication skills, partly conceptual skills; At the highest levels, the ability to think strategically, assess the situation, set new goals, carry out transformations, and organize the creative process of subordinates comes first.

According to management experts, the rarest quality of a leader at all levels is objectivity.

Since a manager at any level not only organizes and directs the work of employees, but, if necessary, influences their behavior, including off-duty behavior, he must be well prepared pedagogically.

There are a number of national characteristics that complicate the development of leadership qualities in Russian managers. Some of them are explained by the cultural specifics of the country, others are due to the recent past of Russian organizations and enterprises, and others are associated with the youth of Russian business. Key features include the following:

• - dominance of personal relationships over professional ones. This situation can be considered normal only at the stage when companies are just being formed and loyalty is more important than professionalism. But in established firms they serve as an obstacle to making optimal decisions. In many Russian organizations, an alternative hierarchy has actually developed, built on personal connections and often contradicting the requirements of the case;
• - inability to work in a team, which today is becoming an obstacle especially in organizations such as legal and consulting firms, research and production companies;
• - excessive control and unclear distribution of responsibilities, giving rise to theft and corruption at different levels;
• - lack of experience and culture of personnel, emphasis on financial methods of stimulating employees and insufficient attention to other, no less effective factors of motivation - involvement in a common cause, emotional attachment to work or team, etc.

The graphic profile technique allows you to study the personal and business qualities of a manager, which consists of having experts (superior managers, colleagues, subordinates) use a 5-point scale to evaluate the frequency of manifestation of the qualities listed or formulated independently.

Then a graph is built on which the assessment factors are plotted horizontally, and its upper and lower boundaries are plotted vertically. Within their framework, there are: superzone, promising, potential and nominal zones.

To determine the upper and lower boundaries, the maximum and minimum quality assessments for a given set of managers being studied can be used, and for the internal boundaries of the zones, averaged ones can be used (calculations are carried out with an accuracy of 0.1 points). The individual profiles of the managers being assessed are superimposed on the overall chart, making it easier to compare them.

It is necessary to say separately about the specifics of the manifestation of business qualities in women. They, as a rule, adapt worse than men to leadership positions due to the need to combine difficult working conditions, long working hours and household chores.

In addition, women in general are less mentally stable, independent, proactive, courageous, able to control themselves, overcome difficulties, and retire earlier.

Often, a professionally well-prepared woman cannot adapt to the stereotype of management, tailored according to the male model and presupposing as a positive example the presence of purely masculine qualities - rigidity, assertiveness, authoritarianism, a tendency to impersonal management, and moral asceticism. In this situation, a woman must break herself and accept a model of behavior that is contrary to her nature (this is what the first female leaders did), which affects her usual way of life, or make enormous efforts to establish a female management style. The modern generation of women leaders is already developing their own approaches based on their experience.

Therefore, women are more often content with average positions or manage small organizations (divisions) with a simple structure.

But in any case, women in management positions are significantly different from women in general (male managers are more typical than women of their gender). They must have more advantages and fewer disadvantages, be able to manage subordinates, and be more demanding than men in order to be successful.

Main characteristics of strong managers of Russian companies:

• - conscious search for contacts with employees in the workplace; - desire to increase your authority;
• - maintaining independence in judgments and actions; - the desire to create an efficient team and rely on it in work; - the ability to block the interference of senior management; - the inexorability of demands for the implementation of one’s own recommendations; - the desire to develop one’s own position; - the ability to correctly distribute responsibilities; - the desire to have clear goals for work and development; - no attempts to evade decision-making; - the ability to achieve a unified way of thinking and acting.

Signs of a weak leader include:

• - inability to assess problems and predict the development of the situation; set goals; - use of stereotypical approaches; - inflated self-esteem, the desire for self-affirmation at any cost; - an attempt to do everything yourself: participate in everything, do several things at the same time, which is why you always don’t have time;
• - working late, 10–14 hours, often seven days a week; - being overwhelmed with papers, many of which are unread and haphazardly scattered on the table; - postponing decisions until tomorrow or making hasty decisions; - endless search for better solutions instead of correct ones; - representation of reality in black and white; the tendency to make mountains out of molehills, to pay a lot of attention to secondary issues; - the desire to get rid of responsibility and blame others; searching for a scapegoat; - manifestation of excessive emotional reactions, etc.

The keys to a manager's success are:

Interest and creative position; - ability to cooperate, motivate subordinates; - ability to see the main thing; - readiness for changes and managing them; - broad outlook; - ability to manage oneself and one’s time; - willingness to maintain contacts with subordinates; - independence in judgments and actions ;- demanding;- having one’s own position regarding the goals of work and development;- ability to correctly distribute responsibilities;- willingness to take responsibility for decision-making, risk;- ability to create a team, etc.

In conclusion, it is necessary to say about the image of the leader. It is formed by the furnishings of the office, clothing, appearance, behavior, neatness, taste, etc. All of them, in a certain way, represent symbols that must correspond to the affairs and position of the company.

In office premises, it is better to emphasize equality: for example, in the reception area, place chairs in a row, and not opposite each other, do not hang the office with photographs of superiors and awards, because this creates an idea of ​​​​the hierarchical nature of the organization and the ideology of its internal life.

Subordinates are impressed by a leader who admits mistakes, does not try to evade responsibility, and boldly makes decisions.

Today, to get a job, you just need to send your resume by email. The part where the professional qualities of the individual will be specified is one of the most important for the employer; thanks to the list of characteristics, you can learn a lot about a person without communicating with him.

An employer will understand a lot about a person by reading a list of his professional qualities

How to present yourself correctly

When compiling a list of qualities of an employee of an organization, it is necessary to list and explain:

• Personal qualities of a person. These are the characteristics that appeared during his socialization.
• Business qualities of the employee. These are the characteristics that describe a person as a potential specialist.
• Key skills. You need to point out the skills acquired at school, university or while working in another company that will help you cope with tasks in a new place.

When compiling this list, there is no need to deviate from the main goal of the resume - further employment in a prestigious organization. You should not list those personal qualities that you do not possess. The deception will be revealed quickly, but the feeling of shame will remain for a long time.

What to write about in your resume

Many people think that a cheerful person will join the team faster. A good sense of humor can help with informal communication with colleagues, but such a characteristic will not give the desired result unless you are applying for a job as a toastmaster or animator. What professionally important personality qualities should be indicated in a resume:

• If you want to emphasize that you are ready to work hard, then it is worth pointing out the desire to develop, the presence of increased efficiency, the desire for career growth, and resistance to stress.
• If you want to indicate the presence of leadership potential, then the following phrases will help: the ability to distribute powers and responsibilities, responsible, have negotiation skills, have the ability to quickly navigate a situation and get out of it.
• If you are attracted to a position where deep knowledge and good mental abilities are required, then you need to write about entrepreneurship, the ability to quickly solve problems, accuracy, organization, and analytical thinking.
• If the vacancy requires frequent public speaking, then it is necessary to declare such useful qualities as emotional balance, the ability to control oneself even in front of a large crowd of people, the ability to find a common language with people, self-confidence, and oratorical abilities.
• If in the process of work you need to show creative abilities, then it won’t hurt to talk about the presence of creative thinking, a non-standard approach to standard things.

Creativity is essential for creative work

• In addition to the typical useful qualities of a real professional, it is worth pointing out characteristics that could replace the lack of something in a potential specialist. If you have no experience in a certain area, then you should point out the ability to grasp everything on the fly and learn quickly.
• Before including this or that characteristic, you should think and soberly evaluate yourself. To confirm or refute the presence of a particular personal quality, you need to give an example of a life situation.
• When writing a resume, you need to rely on those characteristics that are necessary when working in this position. If an employee will be entrusted with managing a team or a project, and he has managerial skills, then you need to focus on this.

Personal qualities

What other qualities should a specialist have, personal qualities in a resume:

• Knowledge and experience in using technologies used during work.
• Clear and prompt resolution of complex issues and tasks. Ability to quickly move on to another task after completing the first.
• Be careful when working with important documents.
• Responsiveness when receiving requests and suggestions.
• Ability to independently motivate and control yourself.
• Focus on qualitative rather than quantitative results.
• Good speech and presentable appearance. Punctuality.
• Communication skills, ability to work in a group and distribute assigned tasks among a number of people.
• Quick adaptation to various changes. Rational use of provided resources.
• Self-criticism and the ability to listen to criticism and the opinions of others.

You should not write your resume using templates. There are many letters filled with similar texts.

Unusual works, filled not only with typical professional qualities for a resume, but also with interesting nuances, will be worthy of attention.