How To Include Attentiveness As A Skill On Your Resume

Attentiveness is a personality trait that enables you to be observant, alert to possible dangers, and considerate of other people. Attentive people tend to be courteous and good listeners. They are also great at finding overlooked mistakes and information.

Employers are interested in people who show a high level of attentiveness. That’s because most employees don’t have this quality.

Research shows that only 35% of employees in the U.S. are engaged. The rest are either partially engaged or fully disengaged from the workplace.

Employers want attentive employees because it signals that are fully engaged in the work that they do. And that means they are highly productive.

On the other hand, disengaged employees are inattentive and thus not as productive as they should be.

What Are Attentiveness Skills?

Attentiveness skills are the combination of abilities that enable you to pay attention to detail while in the workplace to prevent mistakes and avoid dangerous situations. These skills also determine how customers experience a brand.

That’s why it’s good to include the fact that you can be attentive in your resume. But first, you need to understand what kind of words to use as well as which ones to avoid.

Synonyms for Attentiveness

Synonyms are words that have similar meanings to other words. According to the Merriam-Webster English Thesaurus, the following words and phrases are closely related to attentiveness:

• Alertness

• Watchfulness

• Vigilance

• Sensitivity

• Mindfulness

• Awareness

• Receptiveness

• Carefulness

• Readiness

• Wariness

• Heedfulness

• Cautiousness

• Consciousness

Antonyms for Attentiveness

Antonyms refer to words that have opposite meanings to other words. According to the Merriam-Webster thesaurus, the following words and phrases have the opposite meaning to attentiveness:

• Obliviousness

• Absentmindedness

• Inattention

• Inattentiveness

• Heedlessness

• Carelessness

• Inobservance

• Unwariness

• Unconsciousness

• Preoccupation

• Daydreaming

• Abstraction

• Daze

How to Include Attentiveness as a Skill in Your Resume

It should go without saying that attentiveness should be described in the resume using its synonyms rather than its antonyms. You don’t want your resume to show that you are a careless or distracted employee.

But at the same time, you cannot simply state that you are attentive. You must show your hiring manager the extent of your ability to be very attentive as an employee. And you can do this by including skills in your resume that can only be accomplished if you can pay attention to get tasks done.

Below are several skills you can include to show you are an attentive person:

1. Communication skills. Communication refers to the exchange of information. This can be done by writing and speaking. But it can also be accomplished through non-verbal cues such as gestures, eye-contact, and facial expressions.

   To communicate effectively, you must not only be able to send information, but also understand other people’s information. To do this well, you must be able to accomplish the following:

   • Read and understand body languages and nonverbal cues

   • Engage in active listening

   • Ask questions when you don’t understand the information being communicated

   • Be able to express information clearly so others can understand it

   • Answer questions so that there are no misunderstandings within the audience

   • Maintain eye contact with the people you are communicating with

   • Give your undivided attention to those you are conversing with

   • Articulate your words so that people can clearly hear and understand them

   • Ask open-ended questions so that people can provide comprehensive answers

   If you qualify as a good communicator based on the above criteria, then you should highlight your communication skills. You can do this in several ways. These include:

   • Highlighting the academic credentials that go hand-in-hand with communication. For example, you could state that you have a degree in journalism, or communication and public relations.

   • Highlighting the work skills associated with good communication. For example, you could state that you have participated in negotiations for better deals for your previous employers.

     You could also include your ability to create excellent presentations. If you are great at public speaking, include those skills too.

   • List the jobs that you have done in the past. If they depended on good communication skills. These may include crisis management and public relations jobs. Others are blogging, news presentation, and public speaking jobs, to name a few.

2. Customer service skills. Being attentive needs you to be solicitous of people’s needs. You must be a good listener that is good at responding with kindness even when the people you deal with are rude.

   To be a good customer care representative, you should also be:

   • Empathetic so that you can view issues from your customer’s point of view

   • Able to take responsibility on behalf of your organization when things go wrong

   • Adaptable when a situation goes wrong so that you can easily get back on track

   • An active listener that is mentally present when a conversation is taking place – you should also be able to recall what was said

   • Mindful so that you are in a constant state of awareness of what’s going on with your customers while withholding judgment – your approach to dealing with their issues should be done with an open mind

   Good customer service skills are in huge demand by employers. That is because 80% of customers consider the customer experience to be just as important as business products and services.

   Thus, highlighting these skills show that you are an attentive employee that can be trusted to solve clients’ needs thoughtfully.

   You can highlight such skills in your resume in the following ways:

   • By stating how you helped improve customer experience and loyalty in the organization that you worked for previously

   • By including the additional languages that you speak that can help you reach a wider customer base

   • By including academic credentials such as a hospitality management degree that make you good at customer care service

3. Problem-solving skills. Problem-solving skills are those skills that enable you to sort out complex issues. The more attentive you are, the more problems you are likely to solve within the organization that you work for. Here’s how to determine if you are a good problem solver:

   • You have good critical thinking skills – you can objectively analyze and evaluate a situation then make decisions that improve it

   • Puzzle games appeal to you

   • People rely on you to make good decisions on their behalf

   • You have excellent research skills

   • You can always find problems while other people ignore them

   • You have an instinct for sensing danger

   • People admire your creativity – you are known for thinking outside the box to find solutions to problems

   • You are good at paying attention not just to what is being said, but also to what is not being said – non-verbal communication is your strength

   • Your ability to analyze situations accurately is admirable

   Problem solvers are good at determining areas of weakness within the organization. They are also good at helping to improve business efficiency so that the company can increase its revenues.

   Therefore, if you are great at solving problems, you need to let all your potential employers know what you can do for them.

   Here are some strategies you can use to show your ability to be attentive and solve problems:

   • Include academic credentials that prove you have studied ways of solving problems – examples are degrees in forensic sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, and law

   • Highlight the problem-solving job positions that you’ve had in the past – state if you have worked as a police detective, forensic scientist, research analyst, personal bodyguard, personal trainer, nutritionist, etc.

   • Show off the career accomplishments that needed your problem-solving skills – examples include how you identified and solved a bottleneck and improved business efficiency problems in your company, improved network security in your organization, and reduced the number of cold cases in your department

4. Editing and proofreading skills. Editing entails the preparation of content for publication. This content could be in the form of text, video, audio, and photographs. It involves tasks such as correcting typos, grammar mistakes, and inaccuracies.

   Proofreading is usually the final stage of the editing process.

   Here is how to determine if you have excellent editing and proofreading skills:

   • You are a Scrabble champion

   • Grammatical mistakes drive you crazy

   • Your content is usually well written and has no grammatical mistakes – this includes your resumes, cover letters, and any other professional letters that you write

   • People remark on your need to ensure your information is always accurate

   • You have a great vocabulary

   • People have praised the work you were responsible for editing

   Some job sectors heavily depend on employees who pay attention to how content appears before publication. These include advertising, content marketing, publishing, and e-learning sectors. Both the movie and TV industry also rely on editors to some extent.

   To raise your chances of getting jobs in these sectors, you need to find creative ways of letting potential employers know that you are attentive. You can do this by:

   • Highlighting your relevant academic credentials such as a degree in creative writing or English

   • Showing off your mastery of the English language – if you won spelling bees and are a crossword or Scrabble champion, don’t forget to let everyone know

   • Including editing and proofreading career accomplishments – if you have worked as an editor or proofreader for a previous employer, remember to state that

   • Stating your expertise concerning editing and proofreading tools – these may include Microsoft Word, Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, Pinnacle Studio, Nero Video, and Audacity among others

Final Thoughts

Do not underestimate the impact of including attentiveness in your resume. You may not think it is important, but many hiring managers may think differently. They may be looking for that quality in the potential employees whose resumes they look through. Every organization could do with fully engaged employees.

So, consider highlighting that personality trait by including skills that require it. Doing so may help you stand out among your competitors for the jobs that you apply for. You may end up getting your dream job after the interview simply because you are great at paying attention to detail and others are not.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.