Adaptability and Flexibility Skills: Highlighting How You Adjust to Change on Your Resume (in 2024 and Beyond)

Three ways to show you are an adaptable employee on your resume in 2023!

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In This Guide:

• What are “adaptability” and “flexibility”
• Why are “adaptability” and “flexibility” wanted by recruiters on your resume
• What skills, activities and accomplishments help you highlight your “adaptability” and “flexibility”
• “Adaptability” and “Flexibility”: Key Takeaways for Your Resume

What are “adaptability” and “flexibility”

Have you seen the following requirement (or its likes) within your recent job search: "adapting to change and leading change"?

And you started going over and over your resume. Overthinking and overanalyzing if your experience shows how you deal with change…

Benjamin Franklin once said that: “Change is the only constant in life. One's ability to adapt to those changes will determine your success in life.”

With that being said, we will guide you on how to best showcase your "adaptability" and "flexibility" skills in your resume.

Both soft skills are very similar and are often used as synonyms in job ads.

"Adaptability" are qualities that help you adjust to change in situations facing new (and, or unexpected) factors, conditions, environments, circumstances, or obstacles.

"Flexibility" is also the ability to suit your behavior and actions to change. But additionally, it defines the willpower to adapt your mindset to the new and unknown.

This phrase may be a bit worn-out, but it still reflects our reality. Over the past two years, we have been adapting every single day to the "new normal" - from our way of life to our way of work.

And the key outcome from this constant adapting is how we have developed our cognitive and learning abilities, which are essential also to the workplace.

Without revealing too much, too soon, let's look at some more reasons why it's good to mention your adaptability and flexibility skills.

Why are “adaptability” and “flexibility” wanted by recruiters on your resume

Adaptability and flexibility skills aren't just something you need to “check off your list” and be done with. They indicate to recruiters that you’ll be successful within the role.

From the very start of a new position, you should be able to easily get used to the new systems, environment, and colleagues.

Of course, this responsibility falls on both parties, but your flexibility skills could make settling into your new job seamless.

The adaptable skill set shows recruiters a professional that's reliable and diverse; a great team player and collaborator.

If you’re adaptable, it means you can handle uncharted waters and aren't afraid to face the unfamiliar. And, you are always able to deliver - no matter the circumstances.

Looking ahead, adaptable employees are the early adopters of new ideas.

To survive within the modern economy, businesses need to implement new technologies.

Employees that showcase adaptability easily integrate them within their work environment.

Shaping further company culture and taking on the first wave of innovation.

Their career exemplifies a yearning for growth and progress.

Put it simply - from the first moment these employees enter the office, they are ready to take on any challenge to achieve their goals.

And if you are still wondering which of your skills are great examples of flexibility, look no further.

What skills, activities and accomplishments help you highlight your “adaptability” and “flexibility”

We have prepared the 3 most popular qualities that could define you as an adaptable and flexible professional.

Of course, you shouldn’t be limited to just these 3, but use them as a framework for your experience:

• Consciousness and open-mindedness - both skills are more linked to demonstrating a particular mindset. They portray an individual that is well-aware and understands their surroundings. And when a certain problem arises, they can impartially look for new solutions from different sources.
• Creative and strategic thinking - how do you feel about experimenting and improvising? Creative and strategic thinkers can provide a new perspective on a given issue. But they also think ahead - on the impact their actions would have on the end goal, byline, or big picture.
• Conflict-resolving skills - being able to lead an educated discussion or debate with your colleagues shows adaptability. Remember to showcase impartiality - that you respect others' opinions in the face of conflict. Focus on what can be done rather than the unnecessary drama.

How to demonstrate “adaptability” and “flexibility” on your resume:

• Describe how you have handled unplanned changes within your work environment - whether it's communicating unprecedented problems to clients or being the first to explore a new tool;
• Within your day-to-day work, another good example would be how you adapted your workflow to prioritize unplanned events;
• Think of situations where you have led meetings with your team (and or clients) to get everyone's feedback, opinions, and ideas in an impartial and positive environment;
• Cases where you have offered outside the box thinking for a certain issue - that have had a positive, measurable impact;
• Even your attitude towards failure could be good to describe - where you made a mistake, but got back up and offered new solutions.

Demonstrating your adaptability and flexibility skills, as you far have seen, is about showing the way you think.

They help you thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. And guide you to see change as an opportunity, rather than a threat to your job.

If you solely rely on a good thesaurus when writing your resume rather than showing what you can do, we can guarantee that you'll get nowhere really fast.

Because we can't all be "dynamic, adaptable, flexible, adjustable individuals".

At one point, this sandcastle you are building will wash away.

That's why you need to build it with more durable "materials" - in this case, proof and examples.

To further enhance your adaptability and flexibility skills on your resume, we have prepared a couple of snippets for you.

They describe how you can adequately show this particular skill set (or should we say mindset) as part of your career.

Example 1: Demonstrate “adaptability” and “flexibility” in the experience section

Job situation: Project Manager, applying for the role of Senior Project Manager