Some job requirements are fairly cut and dried — you either have the right experience or you don’t.
Others are … not so much. Creativity, like any soft skill, is one of those. But that doesn’t stop recruiters from asking for it — and it shouldn’t stop you from putting it on your resume. In this guide, we’ll cover how to prove that you’re creative, what creativity skills your resume should include, and bullet point examples to get you started.
How to list creativity skills on a resume
- First, find out exactly what creative skills you should be targeting by reading the job description or searching for common keywords by industry or job title.
- Now make a list of your creative skills. Can you think outside the box? Come up with creative solutions to problems? Are you a design whiz?
- Once you have your list, try to match up each of your skills to something mentioned in the job posting. If you have any skills that don’t quite fit, it’s okay to discard them — stick to highlighting your most relevant skills for each job you apply to.
- For each skill you want to include, think of at least one example of how you demonstrated that skill. This should include a short description of the task or project (what you did) and some numbers or metrics (what the result was).
- Put this example into bullet point format by starting off with a strong action verb.
- List bullet points in your work experience section (if you can) or in another section like volunteering, projects, or extracurricular activities.
- Include any supporting evidence — for example, an award for “Most Creative Advertising Strategy” or experience using common design software.
Creativity skills resume samples
You can show creativity on your resume in a few different ways:
- In your work experience bullet points — this is the best place for any soft skill
- Through other types of experience, like volunteering or extracurricular activities
- In a projects or additional information section
- By listing qualifications in creative software or other technical skills
Let’s take a look at what each of those should look like on your resume.
Showing creativity through bullet point accomplishments
Your work experience is what recruiters care about the most, which makes it the best place to list any essential skills you need for the job. Depending on the position, this could include creative thinking, problem solving, communication, and design skills.
A good way to check if the accomplishments in your work experience section highlight your creativity is to upload your resume to the tool below — it’ll let you know if you’ve shown enough creative skills and soft skills.
Demonstrating creativity skills through projects
If you’re looking to supplement your work experience with other evidence of creativity, why not use a dedicated projects section? Linking to a GitHub or design portfolio allows hiring managers to see your creativity skills in action.
Highlighting creative technical skills, awards, and qualifications
Want even more proof of your ability to think creatively? Design skills, techniques, creative software, awards, and certifications can all help demonstrate creativity. Title this section “Skills,” “Certifications,” “Awards,” or “Additional Information” and use subheadings to keep your resume easy to skim.
Essential creative skills for a resume
“Creativity” is very broad, and so are the expectations of hiring managers. The best place to find out exactly what kinds of creativity a company is looking for is in the job posting, but here are some of the most common in-demand creative skills to put on a resume.
Creative thinking skills:
- Open-mindedness
- Brainstorming
- Storyboarding
- Mind mapping
- Creative problem solving
- Visual communication
- Branding
- Marketing
- Experimenting
- Lateral thinking
- Making observations and connections
- Asking questions
Creative design skills:
- Graphic design
- Web design
- Design software (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite)
- Photo and video editing
- Product design
- UI / UX design
- Visual layouts
- Typography
- Creative writing
To find out which of these skills you should be prioritizing:
- Check the job description — the kinds of creativity skills required by a marketing director are very different to those needed for a graphic design position.
- Use our skills and keywords finder to search by job title or industry.
- Run your resume through our Targeted Resume tool to find out if the skills you’ve listed are a match for those in the job posting.
Synonyms for creativity on a resume
Ready to start writing your resume bullet points? You’ll need to start with an action verb that describes what you did with a focus on creativity. Try verbs like:
- Created
- Conceptualized
- Designed
- Brainstormed
- Developed
- Wrote
- Edited
- Illustrated
- Published
- Directed
- Customized
Once you have a strong foundation, it’s time to add your accomplishments. Keep scrolling for examples of how to describe creativity skills on a resume.
Creativity skills: Examples of resume bullet points
Looking for the right way to say you’re creative on a resume? Here are examples you can use for just about any situation.
Creative solutions and problem solving
Utilized web scraping techniques to help the firm download public data, including 10,000 company descriptions and quotes, resulting in 50% increment in research efficiency.
Creativity isn’t just restricted to creative fields. Hiring managers for all job types want employees who can think creatively and come up with new solutions to existing problems, from automating repetitive tasks to integrating new and emerging technologies.
Creative thinking and multiple perspectives
Used a random forest algorithm to pinpoint 2K loyal customers by predicting their likelihood of buying a recommended product with a 70% accuracy.
If you excel at lateral thinking and “outside the box” solutions, emphasize your creative thinking skills by describing a time when you did things a little differently — and it paid off.
Creative marketing, branding, and advertising
Devised proposals for new platforms & media strategies, & grew TikTok by 25K followers in 4 months.
Creativity is essential for any jobs involving social media, marketing, advertising, branding, or public outreach. Choose accomplishments that show your ability to develop creative strategies, use platforms effectively, and get concrete results for a company.
Creative design skills
Created 3D plans of designs for 15 commercial buildings in collaboration with 3 architects and engineers using AutoCAD.
If you’re looking for work in a creative or design field, recruiters want to see evidence of creative thinking, design skills, and familiarity with creative software. While listing technical skills in your skills section is good, showing how you’ve used them in action is even better.
