Create a stunning managerial CV by incorporating the top manager skills

Managers are everywhere. Managers are vital to the running of a business. Managers are revered… well, some anyway! If you're a manager, or hoping to make that next step up the career ladder to becoming one, you need to be fully aware of how to showcase your unique manager skills on a CV.

You've certainly come to the right place to achieve that.

This article will:

  • Detail the top 11 manager skills for your CV

  • Offer up examples for each of these skills that you can tailor to your own situation

  • Spell out the differences between hard and soft skills for clarification when listing skills on your CV

  • Provide yet more examples to give you extra added value and guidance on how to include manager skills in your Professional Profile 

  • Advise on how to improve your manager skills

So let's dive in with TopCV's guide to the 11 best manager skills for your CV.

Showcase these 11 skills on your manager CV

1. Leadership

If you're a manager, you've got to possess outstanding leadership qualities. It's a given. Your subordinates require a manager who's confident at delegating, steers the team towards meeting end objectives of the company, and is proficient in making the right, and often difficult, decisions. Managers guide, train, support, and oversee team members, with leadership skills that result in a cohesive and smoothly run operation.

Examples of leadership skills on a manager CV:

  • Assessed and restructured the commercial team to develop a sustainable model that improved service delivery and cost

  • Reduced debt to less than 1% of the annual contract value by leading on the delivery of services, ensuring they aligned with client specifications and requests

  • Exceeded expectations by delivering 340 operational projects, as opposed to 150, in 12 months due to advanced leadership skills

2. Motivation

The end game to motivating a team is about increasing productivity and staff morale. You need to apply effective communication skills in order to do this. This includes providing constructive feedback that will encourage employees to up their game, offering incentives to keep them going, and being relatable. Leading a team with a positive approach and reinforcement is the way to go. Whatever your management style is, you'll want to bring the team along with you.

By drawing attention to your motivational skills, you could very well catch the eye of an employer where low morale is currently an issue.

Examples of motivational skills on a manager CV:

  • Remotivated and engaged 12 learners on the programme beyond the expected completion date which improved business success rates

  • Motivated a team of 70 to deliver the project on time by creating trust, delivering value for money, and bringing all parties together despite a challenging environment

  • Oversaw the communication stream between the Ukraine factory and 15 suppliers, galvanising them to monitor inventory health and numbers 

3. Delegation

While some might view this skill as a cop-out, it can be an extremely useful ability to have, especially when you're able to identify each employee's skill set and assign duties accordingly. It requires deep-thought organisation, with delegation increasing the amount of work that a manager can accomplish, while simultaneously developing the team's skills and confidence.

Examples of delegation skills on a manager CV:

  • Increased leads generated by 400% by delegating staff and presenters efficiently to perform to their potential

  • Advanced the commercial strategy by advocating on global policy issues, such as the delegation of portfolio management, with significant impact on the firm and stakeholders

  • Demonstrated acute delegation qualities while managing all areas of risk to staff and the business

4. Problem resolution

No project in the history of projects has ever gone from start to finish without coming across some problem or another. It's the nature of the beast. As a manager, you'll be faced with problems every day, whether that's system, people, or workflow issues. Allow your critical thinking strengths to come to the fore here, as these will help to address problems quickly, and provide viable solutions.

Examples of problem-solving skills on a manager CV:

  • Solved server installation issues to allow remote session access by running test cases to ensure element viability

  • Resolved 96% of problems that arose with design, project execution, stakeholders, agents, and contractors

  • Re-configured the innovative technology by working with clients and the research department, troubleshooting all issues to a satisfactory conclusion 

5. Strategic planning

Looking ahead and seeing the bigger picture, by using strategic planning, is an important aspect of the manager's role. This culminates in setting those priorities that align with company objectives, while still being able to get on with daily tasks.

Examples of strategic planning skills on a manager CV:

  • Provided strategic business development plans and expertise for a large FMCG business which supported growth objectives

  • Coached the workforce to be more productive, while providing strategic advice on the project direction

  • Versatile Project Manager with the ability to see the bigger picture and the vision to make it work

6. Mentoring

Supporting your people and offering advice to them will reward you with a team that performs well, is motivated, and reaches high levels of productivity. After all, a happy team is a productive team. If members see that you have their best interests at heart, then they'll want to do their utmost to succeed for you and the company.

Examples of mentoring skills on a manager CV:

  • Achieved the best results every time by mentoring team members to extract the optimum commitment

  • Pioneered an undergraduate recruitment programme which sharpened the mentoring skills of senior engineers and reduced the average cost of resources by 20% over a three-year period

  • Mentored process improvement staff to support and adopt the Lean Sigma methodology and drive improvements that met the needs of the business and the customer

7. Commercial awareness

Put simply, this is about having an in-depth understanding of how business and industries work – a fundamental requirement of being a manager. You can then use this information to analyse the ways in which it can impact the particular sector you work in, and apply this knowledge to extract the best way to move forward.

Examples of commercial awareness skills on a manager CV:

  • Committed to delivering the highest standard of patient care while remaining commercially aware of the business aspect of running quality residential and nursing homes

  • Steered a cultural change so staff embraced the new approach to working in order to become more commercially aware and more competitive in pricing

  • Operated effectively across different areas of the business due to an advanced understanding of the retail sector

 8. Team management

This had to be in here, didn't it? An absolute classic of a skill, it can be easily dismissed as cliché. But it's vital to show your team management capabilities within your CV. If you can demonstrate how you've built cooperative teams, and then manage them effectively, you're onto a good thing as far as prospective employers are concerned. That's because this illustrates you have the skills required to allow team members to harmoniously work alongside each other .

Examples of team management skills on a manager CV:

  • Overhauled the billing programme by managing the overall delivery from a 3rd party and engaging teams on both sides to pull together to achieve the same business objectives

  • Managed the southern region facilities team, overseeing a portfolio of 450 properties across four regions with the focus on enhancing professional partnerships between different teams

  • Created clarity for all staff by developing a specific way of operating that supported valued communication

9. Prioritisation

Being aware of every project and company initiative at any one time, and consequently which bits to prioritise, should come easily to a manager. You've also got to take into account future plans and projects, while being able to adjust concurrent schedules accordingly. Showcase this manager skill on your CV to show a prospective employer that you've got what it takes to manage even complex requirements.

Examples of prioritising skills on a manager CV:

  • Kept channels of communication open and transparent when motivating six team members and prioritising tasks with innovative time management techniques

  • Undertook a thorough review of the current operating model which administered £450m of student grants per annum and business models / processes to identify and prioritise improvements

  • Pinpointed industrial verticals that focused and prioritised on existing pain points within each vertical

10. Conflict resolution

Not the same as problem resolution, resolving disagreements at work is vital if you want to avoid reducing productivity and hindering open communication. Successful managers take the time to resolve the initial conflict, and then strengthen the team in its entirety, by understanding all points of view and coming up with either a compromise or a solution that works for everyone.

Examples of conflict resolution skills on a manager CV:

  • Transformed disparate teams into a cooperative international unit with common practices and improved business effectiveness

  • Drew upon excellent interpersonal skills to bring together conflicting personalities to work together as a cohesive team

  • Increased staff morale by 36% by overcoming long-running staff disputes

11. Public speaking

Chairing meetings, conversing with stakeholders, and standing up in front of large audiences are often part of a manager's role. With this in mind, you need to be fully comfortable with speaking to others in a public space – without deviation, hesitation, or repetition! It also ticks the communication box.

Examples of public speaking skills on a manager CV:

  • Competently addressed stakeholders at annual events, capitalising on superior communication abilities

  • Undertook a widening participation presentation delivered to 30 GPs interested in community development projects at the British Medical Association

  • Presented to Visit Wales and other public bodies on improving marketing and communications campaigns

Hard vs soft manager skills

As managers are critical to maintaining an effective team, recruiters screen manager CVs against high standards, encompassing key hard and soft skills. Make sure to include both types of manager skills on your CV.

Key hard skills for a manager's CV

Hard skills are the technical skills you've either learned on the job or gained through extra training. They directly relate to the sector you work in, alongside the daily tasks of your role, including the methodologies used to complete specific tasks. Below are some of the hard skills you might add to your CV:

  • Project management

  • Digital communication

  • Languages you speak

  • Point-of-sale systems

  • Programming languages

Key soft skills for a manager's CV

Quite a few of the top 11 manager skills mentioned are classed as soft skills. Seen as transferable, soft skills can be applied to any job, and are interpersonal traits that lay out the strength of the relationship you build with colleagues. Add the below to your CV if appropriate:

  • Teamwork

  • Time management

  • Empathy

  • Communication

  • Creativity

Professional summary examples for a manager

Now that you've discovered how to incorporate manager skills onto a CV, how about reading on for examples of Professional Profiles for a manager's CV? 

The Professional Profile section, just underneath your contact details, is the first area of the CV that a recruiting manager will read, so it's got to impress and engage.

Here are four best-practice CV summary examples, with aforementioned manager skills in bold:  

Example 1 – Store Manager

An astute, motivated, and approachable Store Manager who thrives under the demands of high levels of concentration and flourishes with increased responsibility. Exhibits natural leadership capabilities alongside a sharp mind and the ability to mentor and coach team members. Passionate about remaining customer-focused while ensuring the achievement of aspirational targets and corporate objectives.

Example 2 – Project Manager

An accomplished and meticulous Project Manager who combines effective planning and technical capabilities with the drive to hand over projects on time without compromising on quality. Showcases a track record in completing complex and critical projects in challenging environments while motivating cohesive teams to achieve success.

  • Possesses over 30 years of experience covering various industries including oil & gas, chemical & nuclear, ship building and power stations

  • Offers a global outlook having worked across Europe, Africa, and SE Asia

  • Demonstrates a wealth of engineering achievements that contribute towards successfully managing projects focused on technical disciplines, testing, and eventual handover

Example 3 – Construction Manager

A diligent and hands-on Construction Manager with over 12 years of experience in construction, with six of those in management roles. Leads teams from the front by applying exceptional planning and management skills to complete projects to a high finish and in relation to the project programme. Demonstrates technical and logistical abilities when resolving problems combined with an aptitude for dealing with clients in a personable manner. Holds a Level 7 NVQ Black Managers Card.

Example 4 – IT Manager

A proficient, diligent, and versatile IT Manager who demonstrates a fluency across all testing activities that meets the needs of the end-user. Exhibits a deep commercial acumen to translate business issues into technical operations, combined with excellent leadership of multiple work streams, offshore teams, and 3rd parties. 

  • Offers a robust consulting background and an array of technical strengths to produce high-quality testing within deadline while under pressure

  • Quick to grasp new methods while demonstrating advanced organisational and prioritisation abilities

  • Experienced in delivering IT test management for finance, government, and insurance sectors

How to develop your managerial skills

Looking to upskill as a manager, or are not yet a manager, but keen to become one? Below are quick tips for building the skills to beef up your manager CV:

  • Showcase initiative and leadership by taking on essential responsibilities

  • Develop your ability to handle conflict by resolving issues in a constructive and respectful manner

  • Improve your skills by undertaking management courses and asking for advice from experts

  • Take the opportunity at all times to lead on anything, whether that's a team meeting or onboarding new members

  • Show you're keen by volunteering to help with strategic planning or other vital processes within the department

Get your manager CV to the top

If you're a manager, chances are you already possess all of the great traits we've outlined here, so ensure you illustrate them within your CV. If you're aiming for the giddy heights of a managerial position, but aren't quite there yet, go ahead and incorporate as many of these manager skills on your CV as you can, as long as they apply to you.

Unsure if your CV is worthy of you? Is it really selling you to the best of your abilities… especially your manager abilities? Get TopCV's free review to give you some guidance along the way, and start on the road to job success today!

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