What are Critical Thinking Skills? + Examples

Here, you’ll learn what critical thinking skills are and how they can benefit your job hunt. We provide nine examples and explain how to include critical thinking skills on a resume.

Table of contents

• What are critical thinking skills? + examples
• Why critical thinking skills are important and benefit you
• Critical thinking skills for resume examples
• How to develop critical thinking skills
• Key takeaways

What are critical thinking skills? + examples

Critical thinking skills refer to the ability to analyze, understand and respond to different information or problems. They help you spot, study and solve problems.

Top examples of critical thinking skills

“Critical thinking” is an umbrella term consisting of distinct mental attributes.

Here are nine critical thinking skills examples with explanations:

1. Analysis: Your ability to read, understand and explain data and information.
2. Decision-making: The mental process of gathering information to make wise judgments.
3. Evaluation: Weighing the pros and cons of every idea, situation and decision.
4. Explanation: Communicating complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms.
5. Planning: Preparing solutions and next steps before taking action
6. Problem-solving: Resolving issues, fixing mistakes and turning negatives into positives.
7. Research: Gathering and sourcing valuable information to make informed decisions.
8. Self-awareness: Sensing how your biases, attitude and history affect your thinking and work.
9. Strategizing: Setting the plan or course of action for an outline, project or business plan.

You can find all these and hundreds more skills in our Resume Builder. It can help you seamlessly weave critical thinking skills into your resume!

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Why critical thinking skills are important and benefit you

Critical thinking skills are how you handle and overcome challenges. They can also make life richer by helping you find meaningful work.

Many employers value critical thinking skills. People with these skills make smarter decisions, solve bigger problems and improve workflow efficiency.

So, next, we’ll show you how to include critical thinking skills when applying for a job.

Critical thinking skills for resume examples

The first step in including critical thinking skills on your resume is to check the job post to target the traits the employer wants.

The employer could mention “critical thinking” or more specific requests like “deep analysis,” “road mapping” or “creative problem-solving.” The language you use in your resume should reflect the keywords used in the ad.

When you’ve identified the correct keywords, there are several places you can mention your critical thinking skills when writing your resume:

1. A dedicated skills section.
2. Your work experience section.
3. Your professional summary or objective statement.

Next, we’ll explain the process of including critical thinking skills in each place.

Including critical thinking skills in a dedicated resume section

A resume skills section is where you can list the skills the employer seeks. It’s standard to list six to eight skills and include a balance of technical, hard and soft skills.

To pass an applicant tracking system (ATS), mirror the same language used in the job post or ad. Employers often use ATS to scan your resume and look for specific keywords.

Critical thinking skills in a job post example:

Adding the job post’s critical thinking skills on a resume:

Skills

Including critical thinking skills in a resume work experience section:

The best way to showcase and support your critical thinking skills is by adding them to your work experience bullet points.

Your goal should be to prove your critical thinking skills are effective by showing the results you’ve achieved, not just by claiming that you have the skill set.

Here are some resume examples from popular careers.

Critical thinking skills on a Teaching Resume Example:

Critical thinking skills on an Accounting Resume Example:

Critical thinking skills on a Software Engineer Resume Example:

How to include critical thinking skills in your professional summary.

Your professional summary lives at the top of your resume and is the first thing an employer reads about you. If critical thinking skills are crucial for the role, mentioning some in your professional summary is a good idea.

Critical thinking skills examples in a nurse’s professional summary:

See more: Nurse Resume Examples.

Critical thinking skills examples in a supervisor’s professional summary:

See more: Supervisor Resume Examples.

Critical thinking skills examples in a web developer’s professional summary:

See more: Web Developer Resume Examples.

If seeing all these examples has inspired you to prepare your document, use our best tool for the job: our Resume Builder.

The resume builder is fully automated and walks you step-by-step through the writing process. It also features prewritten text options you can add with a click to complete your resume in minutes!

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How to develop critical thinking skills: 5 tips

Critical thinking skills are like muscles; the more you use them, the stronger they get! Follow these hacks to develop and enhance your critical thinking skills.

1. Ask the right critical thinking questions.

Find truth in any situation by asking yourself honest questions about the information you see in front of you. Here are some guideposts:

• What do I know?
• How do I know that?
• What am I assuming?
• What is the ideal outcome of this situation?
• How can we best reach this goal with the available resources?
• Should I consult someone for guidance on this matter?
• Am I overstepping any boundaries by acting on a solution myself?
  
  2. Break critical thinking into steps.

Following a standard critical thinking process can make it feel like second nature to you. Keep in mind these steps:

• Identify a problem clearly.
• Gather data and opinions.
• Analyze and evaluate the information.
• Check underlying assumptions or biases.
• Determine the weight of each information bit.
• Decide based on the analysis.
• Communicate your conclusion effectively.

3. Think “outside the box.”

Critical thinking is valuable because it often provides creative or surprisingly effective solutions. You could improve your critical thinking skills by thinking outside conventions for solutions.

• Question previous approaches to a given problem.
• Brainstorm new ways you could also address this issue.
• Train your mind to think creatively with brain teasers, crosswords and mental puzzles.

4. Keep learning.

The more you read, learn and study about any topic, the more deeply you’ll come to understand it. Becoming an expert is a never-ending pursuit!

• Read books about topics you’re fascinated by to deepen your thinking. Deep thinking is critical thinking.
• Take online courses or classes in a subject that stimulates you.
• Look at different perspectives or approaches you may be unfamiliar with.
• Allow yourself to meditate on subjects that feel confusing until you find clarity.
• Perform research on topics that interest you to see what new things you uncover.

5. Be self-aware.

Being mindful and recognizing your bias and conditioning can help you to stay more open-minded and fair as a thinker.

• Consider how your actions may help solve or worsen a problem.
• Recognize common biases like confirmation bias and action bias.
• Be open to all possibilities and variables when decision-making and problem-solving.

Key takeaways

Let’s recap critical thinking skills for you:

• Critical thinking means that you’re skilled at figuring things out and have a depth of understanding.
• The most critical skills for this are analyzing, evaluating, judging, explaining and solving problems.
• Critical thinking skills can benefit you by making life easier and helping you to find complex and meaningful work.
• You can add critical thinking skills in three places on your resume: a skills section,  your experience and the professional summary.
• These skills can be developed and improved with focused, regular practice.

In addition to featuring critical thinking skills in your resume, you can also feature them when writing your cover letter.

Crafting the perfect cover letter just got easier with LiveCareer’s Cover Letter Builder. Our intuitive platform streamlines the writing process, helping you create tailored, professional cover letters in minutes. With our user-friendly tool, you can stand out from the competition and land your dream job.

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