How to Present Analytical Skills on a Resume With an Example Updated 24 May 2023 Analytical skills are important in many careers, so it's important you can display them correctly on a resume. Providing specific examples to demonstrate your analytical skills is a good way to prove your competency and may increase your chance of success. Understanding how to highlight your analytical skills with relevant examples may help you secure an interview. In this article, we discuss what analytical skills are, provide a step-by-step guide on how to present them on your professional resume, describe why these skills are important and share an example resume containing analytical skills. Explore jobs on Indeed Part-time jobs Full-time jobs Remote jobs Urgently hiring jobs View more jobs on Indeed What are analytical skills? Before exploring how to demonstrate analytical skills on a resume, it's important to first define what these skills are. Analytical skills refer to the ability to study information in detail to draw data conclusions. Professionals primarily use these skills in industries that rely on data to inform their business strategies, such as sales, marketing, data analysis, business management, accounting and finance. For example, sales professionals use analytical skills to identify consumer trends and any changes in their profits. This helps inform decisions about new products or customer engagement. They can analyse a series of numbers on a chart or data released that shows current consumer purchases. 'Analytical skills' is typically a term used for several unique skills that combine to analyse data and information. These skills include: critical thinking deductive reasoning research knowledge of trends and patterns creativity problem solving Related: Definition and Examples of Analytical Skills How to present analytical skills on a resume There are several things you can include to help display your analytical skills on a resume. Some steps to compile evidence for your professional resume are as follows: 1. Choose your most relevant experience When thinking about what to include on your resume to demonstrate your analytical skills, it's a good idea to consider your previous experience. Resumes are typically one page, so it's important to choose the most relevant experience for a specific hiring manager. You can consider which of your roles used your deductive reasoning or data analysis skills. This can give you a good indication of examples and anecdotes you can then provide as evidence to present analytical skills. If you're applying for an entry-level role, you may consider examples from your educational experience that relied on research and analysis to present your skills, such as a research project. Alternatively, if you have many years of experience, you can select the most relevant examples. 2. Include your research experience Research is a key element of analytical skills, as you typically draw conclusions from your research to help inform the next steps. For example, a marketing professional may use research on customer engagement to deduce that customers wish to see improvements on their products. This is a good example of the kind of research you can include on your resume to show analytical skills. You can include an instance when your research and resulting conclusions made a tangible difference to your previous employer. This shows your proven history of using analytical skills to instigate a positive change on the business. This may significantly increase your chance of securing an interview. 3. Consider your data analysis experience Data analysis is a big indicator of analytical skill proficiency, as analysing data relies on close diligence and strong deductive reasoning. This is especially important if you're seeking a role in industries like sales, finance, software engineering or user experience and design. Data analysis is an attractive skill, as the data you analyse may help influence important business decisions. Ensure you include an explanation of the data analysis you conducted in your previous experience, including what methods you used. For example, you may reference the use of quantitative or qualitative methods to conduct data analysis in a previous role. This provides a clear image of your analytical skill level and may help an employer decide whether you're a suitable candidate for the role. 4. Incorporate examples of your use of deductive reasoning Deductive reasoning refers to the process of drawing conclusions or deductions from data or information analysed using logic and reasoning. This is an important analysis skill because you can feed conclusions back to your manager who can then act on the results. For example, if you're applying for an accounting role, you're likely to use deductive reasoning when analysing a client's financial information and advising them on how they can improve their saving and spending capacity, so they can meet their major financial targets. If you include information on your use of deductive reasoning, a hiring manager has a clear indication of your intellectual and logical capacity. They can then make an informed decision about your suitability for a role that relies on analytical skills. To showcase your deductive reasoning analytical skills, you can explain how you previously reached conclusions and what analysis you conducted to deduce reasoning behind trends or patterns. 5. Add any examples of intensive problem solving Problem solving is a key skill for many roles and a vital contributor to analytical skills. It's a good idea to include any examples in your previous roles where you used problem-solving and analytical skills together. It's common to use analytical skills when resolving complex challenges at work by analysing minor details of the issue and its causes, then working out a clear and concise resolution. Hiring managers value problem-solving skills as they demonstrate an ability to think quickly and work well under pressure. Problem-solving and analytical skills work together, as they both rely on strong logical-reasoning capabilities. For example, you may have intensive experience in a business management role, where you used analytical skills to identify why the business experienced a drop in its monthly profit. It may help secure an interview if you include an example where you've used both problem-solving and analytical skills. Related: 10 Best Skills to Include on a Resume Why are analytical skills important on a resume? It's important to include analytical skills on a resume because many employers highly value them. Most roles rely on analytical skills so you can identify problems and solutions for your manager, suggest new business development opportunities from data analyses and study information to make informed decisions based on raw data. It's especially important if you're applying for roles that list analytical skills as hard, mandatory skills for the role. A hard skill refers to an industry or role-specific skill that enables you to fulfil your primary duties. For example, a job advertisement for a data analyst may list analytical skills as a mandatory requirement as you rely on this skill to analyse and make conclusions based on the raw data. Typically, you can benefit from including analytical skills on your professional resume, as they're transferable across multiple industries. Hiring managers tend to value these skills for multiple roles because it demonstrates high proficiency in resourcefulness, finding business opportunities and intensive critical thinking. Related: Problem-Solving Skills: Definitions and Examples Upload your resume on Indeed Let employers find you when you create an Indeed Resume Resume example To help you present analytical skills on your resume, you can follow this example: Tony Brook Toorak, Melbourne 61 7845 6326 tbrook@mail.com Personal summary I am a hard-working individual with over 10 years' experience as a research assistant. My proficiency in quantitative and qualitative analysis and a vast portfolio of research project makes me an ideal candidate for a data science role. I believe that my experience and skills in analysis and deductive reasoning make me an asset to a business, with the ability to analyse a high volume of data and make deductions or solve issues accordingly. Work experience Research assistant, Melbourne University, January 2011–Present I assisted in numerous research projects for PhD students and academic staff, undertaking many subjects, including English Literature, History and Biomedical Science. I gathered data for the head researcher and conducted research studies via quantitative and qualitative means. I summarised results and tested thesis statements against results. I conducted control and repeat tests to ensure validity. I employed intensive analytical skills to notice trends in the data to advise on changes to thesis statements or entire sections of research papers. Education Bachelor of Science in Data Science Melbourne University, 2011 Key skills analytical skills deductive reasoning problem solving communication qualitative analysis quantitative analysis strategic thinking data management systems I have analysed data on over 30 projects using qualitative and quantitative methodology. This has helped me advise head researchers and authors on the appropriate course of action based on the results. For example, I have previously advised students and academics to change their thesis statement when the trend in results has contradicted their initial sentiment. This made a tangible difference to the impact of their research paper, resulting in a high amount of praise from academics. Related: Deductive Reasoning: Definition and Examples