Problem-solving skills encompass abilities that help you analyse a problem from various angles, devise solutions, implement them, and evaluate their success. Good problem-solvers are in high demand regardless of the industry, as their value is recognised by employers across many fields.
In this article, we will examine some of the most useful problem-solving skills to have at your disposal and ways to include them on your CV. We will also share a few tips to help you further develop them, so read on!
Key Takeaways
Problem-solving skills in the workplace include analysis, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, creativity, critical thinking, decision-making, research, and more.
These skills are crucial for analysing a problem, coming up with an adequate solution, and implementing it successfully.
You can add problem-solving skills to your CV summary, include them in the work experience section, or list them among other soft skills.
To improve your problem-solving skills, you should practise root cause analysis, consider different perspectives, and use SWOT analysis.
What Are Problem-Solving Skills?
Problem-solving skills involve the ability to identify a problem, analyse it, find practical solutions, and effectively implement them. Furthermore, they entail the ability to evaluate the results after the solution has been implemented and devise a new one if necessary.
Since problem-solving isn’t limited to a particular industry, it’s considered a soft skill and can be relevant in everything from technology and science to marketing and business. Good problem solvers are highly valued in most companies, as they typically also possess resilience, emotional intelligence, creativity, and decision-making skills.
Why Are Problem-Solving Skills Important?
Problem-solving skills are important because they allow you to handle most workplace challenges and contribute to your value as an employee. No employer wants to hire someone who will collapse at the first sign of trouble; they want someone resilient who views hurdles as opportunities rather than disasters.
As a result, adding problem-solving to your CV can be an instant green flag to recruiters. However, if you want to really impress them, you need to demonstrate this skill through concrete examples and achievements.
9 Examples of Problem-Solving Skills for Your CV
The examples of problem-solving skills for your CV include analysis, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, creativity, critical thinking, and more.
Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.
#1. Analysis
Analytical skills are rather important for the problem-solving process, as they allow you to break down complex problems into smaller parts. This makes it easier to gather important information and accurately interpret it, which helps with identifying the solution.
Here is how you could demonstrate your analytical skills on your CV:
Analysis
Analysed customer feedback to identify recurring issues and implemented tweaks to the initial strategy based on this, resulting in a 15% increase in customer satisfaction over the next 6 months.
#2. Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution skills are vital when solving problems such as mismatched working styles or opposing opinions within a team. They can help you bridge the gap between the two sides using active listening, emotional intelligence, and compromise.
While all job positions can benefit from hiring an individual with excellent conflict resolution skills, they are particularly important for managers, team leaders, and hospitality workers. These roles involve direct interaction with people, which always comes with some clashes and misunderstandings.
That said, this is how you can showcase conflict resolution skills on your CV:
Conflict Resolution
Resolved customer complaints effectively, turning negative experiences into improved ratings and strengthening my company’s relations with clients.
#3. Emotional Intelligence
As we’ve mentioned earlier, emotional intelligence is a key component of conflict resolution, but it also generally contributes to the problem-solving process. Emotionally intelligent individuals tend to perform better under pressure, as they have an easier time regulating themselves and managing stress.
In addition, they can understand other people’s needs and feelings better, which allows them to come up with more effective and satisfying solutions. This is particularly important in customer service, healthcare, education, and other people-oriented professions.
You can mention your emotional intelligence on your CV in the following way:
Emotional Intelligence
Used emotional insights alongside logical analysis to understand and resolve customer complaints, resulting in a 20% increase in customer satisfaction.
#4. Creativity
Creativity is often linked to the arts and self-expression, but that’s not all it can be used for. In fact, it’s critical for problem-solving, allowing you to think outside the box and examine the issue from new and unexpected angles.
As a result, many professions that aren’t typically classified as creative require a great deal of innovation. For example, software developers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and academic researchers need to be just as imaginative as designers, writers, animators, and marketing experts.
Regardless of what you do, here is how you can add creativity to your CV:
Creativity
Created a new scheduling process that reduced employee overtime by 14% and increased the overall efficiency of the team.
#5. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking skills are necessary in the process of examining the information obtained through analysis and evaluating potential solutions. Essentially, they allow you to think deeply about a problem and weigh pros and cons before choosing a particular path to pursue.
Critical thinking is particularly valued in academia, business and finance, journalism, law, and various STEM professions. In other words, any field that deals with facts and information requires this skill.
This is how you can add it to your CV:
Critical Thinking
Evaluated competing project proposals and selected the best and most cost-effective one, saving the department £5,000.
#6. Decision-Making
Decision-making skills revolve around selecting the best solution for a particular problem, and, as such, they are inseparable from the problem-solving process. They come into play after you’ve analysed the issue and evaluated different approaches, when you are ready to take action.
Now, let’s see how to include the decision-making ability on your CV:
Decision-Making
Analysed patient condition and made crucial care decisions in a high-stress environment, with a success rate of 85%.
#7. Research
To effectively solve a problem, you must thoroughly examine it from multiple angles and understand its intricacies. One way to do this is to conduct research, examining the information and evaluating solutions that have been used to address similar problems in the past. This can help you make a more informed decision.
Research skills are highly regarded in science and academia, but they are also valuable for content writers, journalists, analysts, filmmakers, and numerous other professions.
Keeping that in mind, they can be an excellent addition to your CV, so consider including them in the following way:
Research
Conducted in-depth market research to identify trends, resulting in a successful product launch strategy that received significant attention from the target demographic.
#8. Communication
Strong communication skills are invaluable, regardless of the profession, especially when working in a team-oriented environment. The better you are at communicating, the more successful you will be at expressing your ideas and encouraging others to share theirs.
Unsurprisingly, this is the key ingredient to finding better solutions. Brainstorming introduces you to ideas you might not have thought of on your own, and the synthesis of these ideas may be just the answer you’re looking for.
So, here’s how to include this soft skill on your CV:
Communication
Communicated complex technical concepts to non-technical team members, leading to better collaboration and a 14% increase in the team’s efficiency.
#9. Teamwork
Teamwork is closely related to communication and often necessary for effective problem-solving, particularly in professions that involve complex issues. In a tight-knit team, everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas, listens to others, and gives constructive feedback to refine the problem-solving process.
Here is how you can mention your teamwork abilities on a CV:
Teamwork
Collaborated with cross-functional teams to launch a new product two weeks before the schedule.
#10. Adaptability
Adaptability is rather important for the problem-solving process, as it allows you to quickly come up with new solutions if the initial one doesn’t work out. Rather than feeling stumped and panicking, you can focus on what needs to be done and change your perspective in an instant.
To add adaptability to your CV, consider the following approach:
Adaptability
Learned new coding languages and tools to meet project demands and deliver high-quality solutions before the deadline.
#11. Resilience
Finally, resilience can help you stay focused on your goal despite the challenges and maintain a positive attitude even when things don’t work in your favour. As a result, it’s crucial for successful problem-solving; instead of giving up quickly, resilient individuals keep searching for solutions even when they don’t come easily.
Use the following approach to include resilience on your CV:
Resilience
Maintained excellent performance and met all deadlines during the period of uncertainty and downsizing in my previous company.
How to Show Problem-Solving Skills on Your CV
You can show your problem-solving skills on your CV by including them in the summary, adding them to your work experience section, listing them in the skills section, or demonstrating them in your cover letter.
Let’s take a look at how to add skills to your resume in more detail:
Problem-Solving Skills in Your Summary/Objective
Problem-solving skills can be included in your CV summary as brief descriptors that highlight your professional identity. Of course, considering that this part should be only 4–5 lines long, you won’t have the space to elaborate on them; still, even a quick mention can leave an impression on your recruiters.
Let’s see what problem-solving skills can look like in the CV summary:
Problem-Solving Skills Example
Adaptable software developer with 5 years of experience writing code and designing applications across front-end and back-end systems. Developed a new communications app to streamline my team’s collaboration and boost its efficiency by 25%. Known for my creativity, excellent decision-making, and superb research skills.
Problem-Solving Skills in the Work Experience Section
The work experience section provides another opportunity to talk about your problem-solving skills. Here, you can put them in context, briefly describing where and how you used them to contribute to your company’s operations.
Once again, though, you won’t have much space for elaboration, as these descriptions are typically limited to short bullet points. Therefore, you should include relevant and impactful information, preferably accompanied by quantifiable achievements.
In other words, consider something like this:
Problem-Solving Skills in the Work Experience Section
Work Experience Software Developer XYZ Company July 2021–February 2025
Developed a new communications app, resolving collaboration issues and boosting my team’s efficiency by 25%.
Resolved a critical bug in the code, increasing system reliability by 60%.
Collaborated with cross-functional teams to deliver new features based on user data.
Problem-Solving Skills in the Skills Section
The skills section is where you should list all your crucial skills, including problem-solving abilities. Since they are considered soft skills on a CV, they should go underneath hard skills, which are usually listed first because of their relevance for specific industries.
That said, here’s what the skills section can look like:
Problem-Solving Skills In The Skills Section
Skills
Programming
JavaScript
Front-end and back-end development
Problem-solving
Analysis
Critical thinking
Decision-making
Problem-Solving Skills in Your Cover Letter
Finally, problem-solving skills can also be added to your cover letter, where you can elaborate on them further, illustrating them with specific achievements. Cover letters are longer and more detailed than CVs, so they offer an excellent opportunity to give more context to some of your abilities.
However, don’t overdo it in this case, either. These documents shouldn’t have more than 4–5 short paragraphs, as anything more than that risks losing recruiters’ attention. Use this space wisely and leave any excess information for your interview.
3 Handy Tips on How to Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills
To improve problem-solving skills, you need to regularly engage your mind and practise coming up with solutions to various issues. Eventually, the entire process will become second nature to you, and you’ll gain more confidence overall.
Let’s take a look at a few techniques for the development of problem-solving skills:
Practise root cause analysis. Whenever you encounter a problem, try to identify the underlying causes and address them, rather than just treating the symptoms. The best way to do that is to examine the data and ask yourself why something is happening. Repeat this process until you reach the core of the issue.
Consider different perspectives. Before you attempt to solve a problem, ask yourself whether your approach is truly the best one. Could there be alternative perspectives you haven’t considered? If you can’t identify them by yourself, share the issue with others and listen to their thoughts on the matter.
Use SWOT analysis. Learn to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in every situation. This can help you predict and overcome potential challenges, as well as determine the most effective problem-solving strategies.
Create a Professional CV With CV.co
If you need help incorporating problem-solving skills into your application, our CV builder can assist you. All you need to do is follow simple instructions, and you’ll have a job-winning CV ready for submission in less than 15 minutes.
However, if you don’t want to fully rely on our builder, you can still browse through our CV examples instead. They can serve as inspiration in your writing process, helping you understand what approach works for your particular industry.
Final Thoughts
Problem-solving skills are among the most important soft skills you can include on your CV, since they are relevant for practically every industry, be it creative or scientific. We’ve explained the best approach in this article, and now it’s up to you to implement it and write an outstanding application.
If you’re still not sure how to do that, you can always choose one of our industry-specific CV templates and simply enter your information. Within minutes, you’ll have an impressive application to submit to your potential employer.
Problem-Solving Skills FAQ
#1. Is problem-solving a hard skill?
Problem-solving isn’t a hard skill, since it’s not tied to any specific industry or obtained through particular training. Instead, it’s a soft skill: relevant in most professions and encompassing a set of personal attributes and behaviours rather than abilities.
#2. What is a good example of problem-solving for an interview?
A good example of problem-solving for an interview can be talking about a time you addressed a customer complaint using your skills and knowledge. When telling this story, make sure to use the STAR method for better flow and structure.
#3. What are the basic steps of problem-solving?
The basic steps of problem-solving include identifying the problem, generating potential solutions, selecting one of them, implementing the chosen solution, and evaluating results. When necessary, this process can be repeated for better outcomes.
