The most sought-after critical thinking skills for job seekers

When you're searching for jobs on CareerBuilder, you'll likely find the term "critical thinking skills" listed in the qualifications of many of the job postings you read. Indeed, this skill is one of the most sought-after abilities by employers, and you'll encounter it in jobs as different from each other as data scientists and HVAC technicians. And because critical thinking skills are currently in high demand, you'll typically find that job postings that list critical thinking as a required skill are also more highly paid than those that don't.

If you're curious about what critical thinking skills entail and wondering how you can highlight your own critical thinking skills in your resume, you've come to the right place. This article provides an explanation of what employers mean by critical thinking skills and elaborates on six critical thinking skills that are highly valued by employers. Additionally, you'll find examples of ways you can incorporate your unique critical thinking skills into your resume.

Show off your critical thinking skills by uploading your resume to CareerBuilder.

Breaking down what employers mean by critical thinking skills

Oftentimes, when you see critical thinking skills listed in a job posting, employers will simply say the job "requires excellent critical thinking skills" or "effective critical thinking skills." But they rarely elaborate on what those skills are. It can be confusing to find ways to highlight your critical thinking skills in a resume if you don't know what to focus on. Fortunately, CareerBuilder is here to break it down for you.

Critical thinking skills are typically referred to in the plural form, indicating that they encompass a set of skills that fall under the category of "critical thinking," rather than a single skill. The individual skills that make up critical thinking skills are considered to be soft skills. Soft skills are demonstrated in the way that you respond to your environment, overcome challenges, and interact with others. These skills are often associated with positive personality traits, behavioral habits, and work ethic. 

Soft skills are often contrasted with hard skills, which are generally more technical and specific to a particular task or profession. The good thing about soft skills like critical thinking is that they are often transferable and can be applied across a range of situations and job roles.

The critical thinking skills employers value most

While critical thinking comprises a wide range of aptitudes, habits, and patterns of thinking, there are some skills that fall under this broad category that employers value more highly than others. Here are six in-demand critical thinking skills that employers value most:

"The good thing about soft skills like critical thinking is that they are often transferable and can be applied across a range of situations and job roles."

Analysis

Sometimes referred to as "analytical skills" or "analytical thinking," analysis is the process of breaking down a complex idea or problem into smaller parts to aid in comprehension, to help determine the next steps, or to understand how individual components work together. You can think about it like taking a clock apart and examining its individual components to figure out how it works. Analysis involves curiosity and inquiry. Strong analytical skills can help you problem-solve, manage complexity, and learn from mistakes.

Bias recognition

You can consider bias recognition as a fancier way of describing the ability to engage in honest self-reflection. There are many forms of bias that people naturally tend toward in order to think more quickly and efficiently. For example, confirmation bias is a common form of bias where people seek out information that will confirm pre-existing beliefs and reject information that challenges those beliefs. Recognizing bias is a powerful critical thinking skill because it allows you to create space for non-habitual ways of thinking, which can inspire innovation, help with problem-solving, and improve interpersonal work relationships.

Evaluation

Evaluation is related to analytical skills, but it includes the ability to make judgments based on your analysis. One common form of evaluation that happens in the workplace is the review process. In order to review a completed project, for example, you need to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses and make an assessment of its value, effectiveness, or quality. Having strong evaluation skills not only includes the ability to articulate what works well and what doesn't; it also means that you're good at providing honest, respectful, and actionable feedback on the materials you're evaluating.

Interpretation

Interpretation is the critical thinking skill that produces meaning from information. Like evaluation, it involves analytical skills. But analysis is a more objective process that focuses on identifying and organizing the information at hand, while interpretation is a more subjective process that involves making meaning by placing information into a broader context. For example, a project manager might use analytical skills to break down a large project into smaller, achievable tasks and interpretive skills to assess project data and create a presentation to communicate the status of the project to stakeholders.

Prioritization

At its heart, prioritization is a critical thinking skill that relies on ordering and ranking. For example, if you have an inbox full of unread emails when you arrive to work, good prioritization skills will help you read and respond to the most urgent emails first. When you're skilled at prioritization, it typically means you work well on your own and as a leader. That's because you know how to categorize tasks based on their importance and organize them so they get accomplished according to their priority. 

Problem-solving

People in a range of professions will encounter at least a few problems in a normal workweek. Having good problem-solving skills doesn't just involve being clever about finding a quick, efficient, or innovative solution to a problem. Because encountering problems typically involves a certain amount of stress, someone who has good problem-solving skills is also able to keep a level head during tense or demanding periods of their work life so they can focus on finding a solution to the problem at hand.

How to incorporate critical thinking skills into your job applications

Incorporating critical thinking skills into resumes and cover letters can help you stand out from other job applicants. The most effective way to incorporate critical thinking skills into your job application is to first identify which critical thinking skills are most relevant to the job posting. Highlight key phrases that relate to critical thinking skills. Examples could be things like "conduct research," "develop solutions," "communicate project status," "diagnose problems," or "set goals and objectives."

Once you've made a list of all the critical thinking skills or keywords you can find in the job posting, make a list of three to five that you'd like to focus on. Find ways to connect those skills to your previous professional and educational experiences. For example, in your cover letter, you could discuss your problem-solving skills by illustrating a time when you overcame a work challenge or achieved a long-term goal. In your resume, you could point to particular job duties where you used bias recognition to resolve a dispute or generate new and creative ideas.

In your job application materials, be sure to strike the right balance between highlighting your soft skills and your hard skills.  While job-specific and technical skills are also valued by employers, they're more valuable when they're accompanied by soft skills like critical thinking. For employers, those soft-skill habits of mind and work behaviors make the workplace a more productive and pleasant place to be.

More tips about how to show off your skills:

Worried your current skills don't apply to the job you want? You probably have hidden transferrable skills, and you just need help identifying them.

There's no such thing as too few skills. Check out these useful tips for boosting your resume when you don't have a ton of experience.

Maybe you feel like you've got so many skills that you're overqualified for your position. Consider these qualifications for being overqualified.