Let’s first define what strategic thinking is and why it may be something to demonstrate in a job application and interview process. Strategic thinking is a process of planning to create a clear vision and purpose for yourself and others. A great strategic thinker uses analysis and decision-making skills to develop a flexible plan of action for long-term, sustained success. Strategic thinking is also being attentive to the work environment, adapting to emerging changes, and more fully understanding what drives value for the organization.
Demonstrating strategic thinking skills in your interview and job application process makes you a more desirable candidate for employment because organizations look for people with the ability to deliver business results today and see future opportunities, issues, and threats that impact tomorrow’s results. So how can you more effectively demonstrate strategic thinking in the job application process?
If you already have the characteristics of a strategic thinker, we will teach you how to display them on your resume. If you want to develop these skills, read more about Mintzberg’s 5P strategy.
How Do You Describe Strategic Thinking on a Resume?
Strategic thinking encompasses several actionable skills. On your resume, we recommend providing a list of examples of strategic thinking in action—this will highlight your capabilities of strategic thinking and provide the employer with examples of you demonstrating strategic thinking.
Skills and activities you should consider listing as examples of strategic thinking in action include:
- Research: Identify how you have used formal data and information collection efforts from trusted sources, including AI, to impact decisions and results in your previous employment. Any good researcher with examples of how you have translated data into actionable insights for their team is an attention grabber for any recruiter and employer.
- Self-reflection: This skill is crucial for strategic thinkers because it leads to growth. Explain how you have used self-reflection on projects and work tasks that went well, and those that could have been better. Sharing these examples shows how you may be able to repeat the successes of the past and assist you in preventing the same mistakes from occurring with future work.
- Goal setting: We recommend listing at least three work goals you achieved in the past and being specific about the work goals you hope to achieve with a new employer. Your desire to be a goal focused and goal-oriented individual will dramatically improve your chances for interviews and prospects for hiring. Setting and achieving goals shows that you are future-focused, improvement-minded, and one who desires results for the company.
- Creative thinking: Share examples of how creative thinking and tenacity helped to solve a problem for a customer or employer. Many people talk about someone who can think outside of the box, but few can provide instances where creativity and “out of the box” thinking led to solutions or benefits no one else thought of. Proof of creative thinking also assists employers and recruiters with understanding your willingness to adapt to changing situations and managing challenges in any business.
- Communication: Candidates for employment will really stand out if you are able to illustrate how you use communication effectiveness and collaboration to work effectively with others. Communication is a crucial skill to highlight in a job application to provide employers and recruiters with how you partner with others to achieve shared goals and get results.
- Decision-making: Demonstrating effective decision-making in work situations helps to build trust and credibility with colleagues and super. Explain how you have gathered insights and feedback from others to influence your decision-making capabilities. Specifically, reference strategic or forward-looking decisions you made, and the value or benefit is created. Employers are looking for people who can fix short-term problems and generate long-term solutions.
- Detail-oriented: Strategic thinkers balance the broad view with attention to detail to ensure their work is both visionary and practical. Paying attention to the smallest details is important because mistakes show a lack of care and focus. A polished and proof-read resume is one way to demonstrate your ability to focus on minor details as part of the bigger picture.
- Inspiration: A strategic thinker inspires others with vision, communication, and excellence. Consider adding to your job application specific ways by which you plan to be an inspirational asset to the team. Employers are very interested in adding team members who will make others in the company better. Your ability to show how you have made working with others easy and enjoyable will be a signature strength desired by many employers.
How Do You Demonstrate the Ability to Think Strategically?
Demonstrating strategic thinking is essential in the workplace, and explaining how you have used your strategic thinking skills in previous work experiences is key to a standout resume and job application. When you receive a job interview, consider how you will elaborate on strategic thinking examples you have shared in the resume. The interview will be a perfect time to actively demonstrate your strategic thinking skills.
Here are 3 simple ways to exhibit strategic thinking in an interview:
- Ask better questions: Every interview will be a Q&A session. To stand out among other candidates, consider planning on the specific questions you want to ask and use creative language and AI to perfect your questions. For example, instead of asking the question, what are the responsibilities of this job, instead ask it this way. What are the primary duties and tasks that this role entails on a daily and weekly basis? When you ask better, more profound questions in an interview, it shows your commitment to presenting yourself in the most impactful way and will help you to establish immediate credibility with employers and recruiters.
- Research: As already discussed, strategic thinkers do their research, so make sure to dig into the company you are interviewing with and gather some intelligence on them. Understanding what they do and getting familiar with the company mission, vision, and values is a terrific way to distinguish yourself from others. With the information you obtained, share your thoughts on how you can contribute to the company’s mission, vision, and values. Doing so helps the employer or recruiter more easily recognize a mutual match and fit for your employment.
- Use examples: When asked about your previous work experiences highlighted in your resume, this is a chance to offer more context and verbalize strategic thinking skills and examples outlined in your job application documents. Be prepared to share at least two situations to describe to the interviewer. Be prepared with ways to enthusiastically explain how you have solved problems, worked in sync with others, and contributed to achieving shared goals. Consider phrases that elaborate and clarify. For example, instead of saying, “I planned a new product launch,” say, “For a new product launch I participated in, I researched the market, competitors, and industry status to provide the team with enough information to determine which markets to launch the product in first.” This provided opportunities to work through potential obstacles before rolling it out to other markets and countries.”
Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills with CMOE
If you are looking for new ways to develop and improve your strategic thinking, CMOE can help. We have over 45 years of experience developing and improving individual contributors, team members, and leaders across all industries around the globe. Connect with us today.
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