Teamwork is one of those gigantic words that mean so many different things to so many different people. Unfortunately, when you’re looking for a new job or in an interview, there is only one definition that matters and it’s not yours.
Teams are everywhere my friend.
The person sitting across from you, whether that’s an HR representative or a manager has exact qualities they’re looking for when it comes to being someone who’s great at teamwork.
If you don’t know what those are, or maybe you need a little more help in putting a concrete definition to that term, I’ve got something for you. Here are four things to prove that you are good with teamwork on your resume and in your interview.
Sign 1: Getting Good Ideas Out
Your ability to see past the clouds of data or the emotions surrounding a situation is essential to getting the nitty-gritty and awesome ideas out of whatever comes across your plate. Communicate to the interviewer that you’re able to lift above the situation and pull out what’s important to get to the nuggets that you can act upon.
DO this and you’re proving that, Hey, you’ve got the logical and “getting-work-done” side of teamwork down. When you have those nuggets, then you’re able to remove the stuff that doesn’t matter and refocus the team on the path to achieving the company goals.
Sign 2: Working With Personalities
Nobody is the same. Everyone has a different learning style, communication style, thinking style, judging style, you name it. There are plenty of personality tests out there that will help narrow down this very soft skill side of things but those are tools that need to be implemented to be useful.
And if you haven’t had exposure to them, it’s going to be really tough to figure out how best to work with different personalities in a team. Show that you recognize that there are different personalities and that you have experience dealing with difficult, confusing, shy, assertive, and very technical people and you will prove that hey, you are a valuable part of the team and you can help things get done.
Sign 3: Communicate Effectively
Be able to communicate key points via email, instant messaging, phone call, meeting, tele-conference, what have you, without being defensive, without being ornery, without being overbearing.
Show that you have an interest to share your work and your understanding of the goings on to the rest of the team and you’ll show that you are an effective communicator and a valuable part of the group.
Sign 4: Work To Your Strengths
If you don’t know your strengths, you need to go find them now because everything you’ve been doing so far at this point in your life has been done at a lower efficiency rate than you are meant to achieve. If you’re taking on any project or working on a difficult part of any aspect of teamwork without knowing how best people fit into the overall plan of thins, you’re just going in with blinders on and it’s not a great way to do things.
If you know that you’re great at intellectual things and creativity and communication, then you should be doing this piece over here, but if you know this other person is absolutely wonderful at the salesmanship, motivation, and integrity, then they have a completely other part of the puzzle they need to be working on.
It’s about finding the right people for the right jobs and making things work great instead of mediocre people for every bit of the job and moving the whole thing forward at a snail’s pace. Optimization is the key to awesome time and results.
Teamwork Is As Teams Do
If you’re really good at teamwork, a job interviewer is going to want to know the four things you just learned about this essential quality, this essential skill. If you’re good at getting ideas out, working with personalities, communicating effectively, and working towards your strengths and seeing how other strengths work into the overall picture, then you are a great team member.
Communicate this well on your resume and in your interviews and you’ll have this check-mark checked off and you will be miles above and head of everyone else who’s going for the same position. I hope this has helped and good luck out there!
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