A resume is an official document that offers a summary of one’s professional experiences, including relevant work experience, skills, and so forth. However, a rich resume ought to entail personal traits.

On many occasions, personal attributes are just as important as the qualifications and skills on your resume.

Personal traits are known to be essential as they define one’s personal and individual sides. They add worth to your professional qualifications and other virtues. When added to the resume, they can fruitfully express why and how you are fit for a certain position. Some of the traits include;

Team-playing

Charlotte Akaliza, a human resource practitioner in Remera, notes that every company that is eager to grow would require a team player, this is because team players are flexible, dedicated to their team, hold themselves accountable, and perform to their expectations as they understand their role clearly.

She says, team players accomplish tasks in time, meet goals and manage projects and mostly, listen to their co-workers, respect ideas and are there to assist the team.

Leadership 

Akaliza says that leaders usually take responsibility for their decisions, they possess certain qualities, such as compassion and integrity, and, therefore, impart self-reliance while contributing to the growth of the company.

"Self-motivation is a must-have and not every person has it, it is what pushes you to achieve your goals, feel more satisfied and increase the complete quality of work, it requires setting up goals for yourself, and building a plan to achieve each goal.

"But it requires you to challenge yourself to learn new things. Surround yourself with other motivated people and inspire yourself to think positively and also push yourself outside your comfort zone,” she says.

Daniel Goleman, the author of several seminal books on emotional intelligence, identified four elements that make up motivation, and these include; personal drive to achieve, the desire to improve or to meet certain standards, commitment to personal or organisational goals, and initiative, which he defines as ‘readiness to act on opportunities’. 

"Optimism is the ability to keep going and pursue goals in the face of setbacks. This is also known as resilience,” Goleman notes. 

Problem-solving

Akaliza points out that there is no doubt that every job recruiter is looking for a person with problem-solving skills, because such people are often independent and can recognise a basic workplace issue and implement an effective solution.

Problem-solving is often considered a personal strength or soft skill rather than a hard skill that can be acquired through training and education, she adds.

Career experts advise to improve problem-solving skills by acquainting yourself with common problems in your industry, and learning from other more experienced employees in your company.

Creativity

Akaliza says that with creativity, there are various ways of thinking and approaching solutions from unusual approaches. Regardless of the position you’re applying for, innovation and inventive power will boost your job prospects. 

Reliability and flexibility

According to Balance Careers, a career and business online platform, reliability and flexibility are necessary for one’s career, as flexible employees are always dependable, and vice versa.

"Employers hire candidates who demonstrate reliability, responsibility, and honesty. Flexible employees can adapt to change, take on projects outside of their scope, and shift their schedules if necessary. A flexible and dependable employee is also willing to help colleagues with projects, even when the subject is unfamiliar. They are accountable, capable, competent, honest, and loyal,” an article on the site states.