Top 20 Time Management Skills Examples for Your CV

Time management skills refer to a set of conscious decisions, techniques and approaches that allow people to achieve maximum efficiency and productivity from the time they spend on tasks at hand. It’s no wonder that these people advance their careers the fastest.

This guide discusses exactly what are time management skills and how to display them on your CV in an effective way. Let’s start.

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Listing skills on a CV? You might want to view these guides:

• Analytical Skills Definition & Good Examples
• Critical Thinking Skills & Who Should Have Them
• Customer Service Skills & Where They Matter
• Do You Need Project Management Skills?
• Interpersonal Skills Any Jobseeker Should Have
• Is Decision Making Your Superpower?
• Leadership Skills & How to Use Them
• Problem Solving Skills & Why They Rock
• Technical Skills Needed for Diffrent Jobs
• Transferable Skills & Why Employers Want Them

Time management skills on a CV example

What are time management skills?

Time management skills are the one of the most important components of a successful career in our fast paced world. They’re also one of the ultimate transferable skills. There’s not a job out there that doesn’t require time management in some form or another.

Luckily there are approaches, techniques and software to help. Consciously focusing on these five facets will help you acquire excellent time management skills.

1. Goal setting

Strategic thinking and being realistic and honest with yourself are the main key to effective time management. Learning to set achievable goals is key because forcing yourself into Sisyphean tasks can often end in embarrassment, and a feeling of failure.

2. Scheduling

Effectively estimating time needed based on previous experience is imperative to setting realistic deadlines and sticking to them. If you’re completing a task for the first time, measure how long it takes you, so you can manage your time better in the future.

Every company prefers a realistic person that sticks to every deadline, rather than a ‘yes man’ that doesn’t deliver.

3. Prioritisation

Prioritising the most crucial tasks (and knowing what they are), and breaking them down into strategic chunks is a skill that many do not have. Being a perfectionist often ends up spending time on the minutiae while the big picture suffers.

4. Delegating

The best time managers are great at delegating and outsourcing things they are not expert at, saving everybody’s time across the board. Knowing everyone’s strengths and weaknesses is crucial to reaching goals and maintaining morale along the way.

5. Assertiveness—Saying No.

People who manage their time well often have to be assertive. This includes declining distractions other people propose, restricting their access to social media, and utilising software and techniques (more about those shortly!) to increase their efficiency.

6. Process Improvement

The best time managers are excellent at streamlining processes to save time for themselves, other people and therefore the company. They constantly look for a better way. Every recruiter looks for the person that can improve the company as a whole.

7. Decision Making

Sometimes, you just have to eat a loss. Sometimes, you just have to take a gamble. Time management is not only about planning, it’s about making the right decision when things go rough. Prioritising the right thing and taking a smaller loss on another front can make or break a deal or a project.

8. Time Management & Project Software

Luckily, there is a whole plethora of time and project management tools that will help you plan and execute your strategy without slip-ups. Weaving these time saving IT skills into your CV shows you know how to handle yourself in a structured environment.

• Asana
• Basecamp
• Calendly
• ClickUp
• JIRA
• Microsoft Teams
• OneNote 
• Evernote
• Slack
• Todoist
• Toggl
• Trello
• Zapier

9. Personal Focus Techniques

We live in an age of distraction. While there are a lot of myths and mysteries about what is actually happening to our attention spans, one thing we can agree on: not many of us are satisfied with our focus. There are some effective methods to try and combat that.

One of them is the Pomodoro technique. Breaking up your work into 25 minute chunks with 5 minute breaks, and a longer, 15-20 minute break after 4 chunks can do wonders for your focus, as there is a constant sense of urgency.

If you practice this or another time management skill and find that it works for you, don’t be afraid to cite it in your CV. Something like that can show dedication to your work and strong self-discipline — which a lot of people cannot brag about. 

How to include examples of time management skills on your CV

Now that you know the theory, you’re ready to show how you demonstrate time management skills at work and start a CV.

1. Start with your CV profile

What to include in your CV? Every single one begins with a CV summary, also known as your CV profile. This is not a place to talk about appointment management (unless you’re a receptionist, of course) — instead try and focus on the most important improvements you made to the flow of your work and your company.

Here’s an example:

Time management skills in the CV summary

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2. Writing a work experience section

Here’s a place to really shine—by weaving time management skills into the work experience section, you will build a picture of a responsible, disciplined and organised professional. Here are some CV tips on how to get it right.

• Each point should begin with a strong CV action verb for a consistent scheme throughout. Differentiate them, and avoid canned phrases like ‘responsible for’.
• Showcase your professional achievements, improvements you made, and support them with numbers where possible. 
• Check your job posting for what is most important to talk about, and tailor each CV you send accordingly.
• Aim for 5-7 bullet points for your most recent job, and limit the older ones to 3.

Examples of time management skills at work

3. Make use of your education section

Writing a student CV focused on good time management skills is perfectly manageable, if you include all your extracurricular activities that prove you have good time management skills. You can make mention of supporting yourself with a job here also (if it’s a position that doesn’t deserve a full mention on your professional CV).

Here’s how to go about your CV education section:

Time management skills in the education section

4. Dial in your skills section

Your CV skills section could go one of two ways. You could either reiterate your strongest points, or list minor supplementary skills that don’t deserve a full mention. Either way, you ought to tailor each CV to each place you’re sending it to for maximum efficiency.

You can cut down the amount of skills and put a brief elaboration next to each explaining how you used them to the company’s advantage. If you have a lot of those points, you could even consider a skills-based CV.

And always include both soft skills and hard skills to show you’re a well-rounded candidate.

Effective time management skills section

or:

5. Include additional sections

Avoid a messy, jumbled ‘Additional Info’ section. A CV hobbies and interests section is fine if it’s relevant to your employer. This is not about you, it’s still about them. This part will either make you stand out, or bore the recruiter off your CV. List your Languages, Certificates, and Awards under separate, clear headings. 

Time management skills in the extra sections

What else to remember?

As you could see in the work experience section, sometimes it’s hard to convey both the approach and impact of implementing good time management in a couple lines. It requires more space. That’s why you need to write a cover letter. 

Your time management skills will surely improve if you consciously commit to them and hold yourself accountable and self-disciplined. And that’s exactly what your next employer wants.

You don’t have to be a CV writing expert. In the LiveCareer CV builder you’ll find ready-made content for every industry and position, which you can then add with a single click.

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If you’re still struggling to provide examples of time management skills at work, or you just need some advice on how to include good time management skills in your CV, then let us know in the comments section. We’ll be glad to help.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.