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Do you require creative thinking skills to function well in your job role? This article provides a guide on how you can develop the skills and include them on your resume.

 

What are Creative Thinking Skills?

Creative thinking is the ability to develop new, distinctive resolutions to issues. Creative thinking which is often known as creative problem-solving is an important and marketable soft skill required in a wide range of careers. Creative thinking skills are the skills necessary to approach a problem or responsibility from a novel viewpoint, an unconventional attitude, or from a critical perspective.

Creative thinking might involve coming up with innovative solutions to problems, tasks, and obstacles. It entails tackling your work from a novel, occasionally unconventional point of view. Creative thinking can make an organization or department to be more productive. Creative thinking refers to the application of required strategies and soft skills in resolving challenges. A plan can be developed using the appropriate tools, different creative viewpoints, and critical thinking strategies.

Creative thinking would entail doing things differently, adapting approaches from one field to another, or just making room for new perspectives and alternative solutions to emerge via discussion, experimentation, or reflection.  Since creativity refers to the capability to create something new, and some solutions may require an entirely new approach to handle, the emphasis on creativity and innovation is essential. Creative thinking skills are highly valued skills to possess personally, and companies should constantly strive to have them among their requirements. Employing creative thinking skills at the workplace has advantages for how we approach communication, self-fulfillment, task management, and progress, in addition to how we solve challenges.

Whatever your role, there are advantages to creative thinking skills. An efficient leader is generally responsible for fostering a culture of creative thinking within a workshop or group. Some examples of creative thinking skills include; experimentation, open-mindedness, lateral thinking, pattern recognition, active listening, challenging norms, lean organization, simplification, radical planning, collaborative thinking, data collection, interdisciplinary thinking, visual thinking, abstract thinking, storytelling, reflection skills, etc.

 

Importance of Creative Thinking Skills

• Help in maintaining effective leadership: People who hold positions such as managerial duties in a firm need to be exceptionally creative thinkers to effectively assess situations. When making choices that influence the company, true leaders need to employ their creative thinking skills. When analyzing circumstances and weighing the advantages and disadvantages of potential solutions, they must use creative thinking skills. Any organization’s executives must possess the ability to think creatively since it enables them to consider various options while coming up with solutions to challenges. If one is creative enough, it won’t be difficult to find a solution to some situations that call for critical thinking. Business leaders can collaborate and evaluate each potential solution before deciding on the best one to execute. Since critical and decisive thinking is a type of creative thinking, they also entail intellectual creativity, enabling corporate executives to combine knowledge and research. Business leaders should be critical thinkers to be effective leaders since they are viewed as good crisis resolvers and decision-makers.
• Stronger interpersonal connections: Creative thinking skills help to convey ideas more effectively and thereby improve interactions and rapport with friends, family, and coworkers. Additionally, many approaches to creative thinking are most effective when used in groups. By employing creative thinking skills, employees can strengthen their relationships and combine their ideas to produce something genuinely outstanding. Communication and critical thinking are closely related. Applying critical thinking skills to communication enables you to take into account other people’s viewpoints, foresee potential responses, and come up with the best response. This promotes productive relationships and increases productivity and performance.
• Influence heightened productivity: Contrary to what would seem to be the case, creative thinking is not a time-consuming diversion from one’s profession. When we are mired in thought patterns, it is simple to become irate when something does not function as intended. Our productivity may suffer as a result of that frustration. One’s motivation, desire, and ability to find new solutions to issues when they occur can all be enhanced by just employing creative thinking skills.
• Enhance self-awareness: Creative thinking allows one to come about viewpoints they may not have previously thought about. When examining alternative viewpoints, a person could learn something about their presumptions, opinions, or biases that they were previously unaware of. Higher self-awareness and an increase in emotional intelligence can be gained by challenging one’s conventional ways of thinking. One’s capacity to shift perspectives and have a growth mindset is enhanced by creative thinking.
• Help in problem-solving: All organizations encounter one issue or the other daily. While some issues may have an immediate solution, others would require a more extensive strategy. When dealing with the more critical issues as a corporate leader or employee, it’s crucial to exercise your critical thought skills. By coming up with multiple potential solutions to a problem using critical thinking, you can make sure that the choice you choose is the greatest one for the firm as a whole.

 

How to Improve your Creative Thinking Skills

Keep up with the trends: Trends that are currently shaping the industry and those that are in the future might be able to influence your creative thinking in one way or the other and help you improve your skills. It takes more than merely reading news about your industry to stay current with trends. The ability to recognize what has the creative potential to go viral or not also requires developing a keen eye. Your marketing plans will only be successful if you have this skill. You don’t need to be a fortune teller to be able to foresee trends. Instead, you must comprehend the internal dynamics of your industry and the sources of innovation. Finding new and unique ideas requires adopting a problem-solving mindset.

Discuss ideas with your team: Even though it isn’t always possible to see things from another person’s perspective, open communication and engaging in problem-solving together with your team members is the alternative best thing. Being given feedback on your ideas while working in a team may inspire you to be more creative. You may even encourage your team to add interesting features to your regular team meetings, including brief Q&A sessions or making mental representations of the meeting’s subjects. Consider joining an online discussion group to foster your creative thinking if you work from home and find it difficult to communicate with your team regularly.

Be open-minded: Your capacity for exploring and comprehending novel concepts can have a significant impact on your creative thinking skills. When handling even the most familiar circumstances, you should think about how someone else may approach them to practice being open-minded. This might make it easier for you to relate to the wisdom and experiences of others and see things from a different angle.

Try to create something every day: When someone wants to lose weight, they develop a fitness program that requires both daily commitment and effort. The same principle holds for the mental and technical exercises necessary to maintain your effectiveness. Be sure to make an effort to create something new every day with that objective in mind. Anything new that results from all the new references you are taking in don’t have to be something big or important. These inventions might also provide solutions to common issues you or your neighborhood experience. The most crucial step in this process is developing the habit of coming up with new ideas so that it becomes second nature to you.

Engage in brainstorming: A wonderful technique to hone your creative thinking skills is to brainstorm. People can open up and share their thoughts and ideas freely, without boundaries or prejudice, in a brainstorming session. By forming groups where everyone writes down their ideas simultaneously and then shares them with the other group members for criticism, brainstorming aids in the creation of new ideas. It has been demonstrated that using this method would increase both productivity and creativity.

Take breaks when needed: You might occasionally desire to develop your creative thinking while being engaged in something else. Perhaps you are working on a project that requires you to be more creative, but you lack the drive to do so. In this situation, changing your surroundings will help you become more creative. For instance, you can move to the balcony for a while. Get some coffee or have a conversation with someone while taking a break. By altering your workspace, you may discover that inspiration often strikes when you least expect it. Change your environment in this situation to foster your capacity for original thought.

 

Jobs that Require Creative Thinking Skills

Graphic Designer: Many of the pictures, marketing materials, and visual media used by various types of businesses are produced by graphic designers. Consider a career in graphic design if you have a strong sense of visual creativity and expertise in technology. You can explore working in a range of techniques in this professional path, which can be highly lucrative and satisfying. Many graphic designers will work as independent contractors, building a strong portfolio of assignments and relishing independence. Another option is to join a firm or an organization that links graphic designers with businesses in need of their expert level of creativity.

Event Planner: The primary objective for event planners is to create memorable events, whether for weddings, special occasions, or various types of parties. Event planning may be one of the best occupations to demonstrate your creative vision if you have a talent for making each event you host an experience. Being an event planner has the benefit of allowing you to start your own event planning company after you have a portfolio of successful events under your credit.

Interior Designer: An interior designer can transform a blank area into one that expresses a person’s sense of style, way of life, and vision. Undoubtedly, someone with a comprehensive sense of creativity and good interpersonal skills is needed for work in this profession. You can work in apartments, shops, offices, and more if you pursue a career in interior design. In addition to thinking about how to decorate a place depending on their client’s preferences, interior designers often assist in room arrangement, offer renovation suggestions, and create useful yet beautiful spaces.

Social media manager: A social media manager is in charge of creating interesting content for social media platforms, including text, photos, and video. You could work in the marketing division of a single company or inside an advertising agency with multiple customers as a social media manager. Because a social media manager often needs to come up with new ideas for attracting and engaging a target audience, creative thinking skills are crucial. When measuring the effectiveness of posted content and making appropriate adjustments to the social media strategy, this individual may also combine creative thinking with data analysis.

Some other jobs that require creative thinking skills are digital marketer, lawyer, research scientist, user experience designer, software architect, video game designer, copywriter, video game designer, public relations manager, etc.

 

How to Include Creative Thinking Skills on Your Resume

Start your resume with a captivating profile: The section of your resume that the recruiter would probably check first is the profile section (sometimes referred to as the career description or career objective). So, to excel at your application, it’s crucial to demonstrate your creative thinking skills.

Read the job post or description carefully: Employers will expressly state what qualifications they are looking for in a qualified candidate in the job posting or ad. Every time you apply for a job, customize your resume and cover letter to reflect the requirements listed by the employer. If not, you might not come off as knowledgeable or specialized enough for the position.

Connect your critical thinking skills to the job description: Ensure to incorporate critical thinking skills if they’re mentioned in the job posting. Try to also include additional similar critical thinking skills, especially if those skills appear crucial to the job. Use the exact wording that is specified in the job description. That will show your attention to detail and also assist in getting your resume past an applicant tracking system (ATS). ATS is typically used by larger firms to sort and prescreen candidates. In other words, if your resume doesn’t pass the ATS, a recruiter won’t even read your resume or cover letter.

 

Examples of How to Include Creative Thinking Skills on Your Resume

• Designed an initiative for Creative Writing and Storytelling, and executed the training program from the beginning to the end.
• Initiated a concept to switch our team’s CMS and alter the communication strategies which promoted idea generation and brainstorming.
• Held numerous workshops on developing one’s imagination and thinking creatively which influenced productivity among staff members.
• Created and implemented a new marketing campaign for the business’s first client alongside a team of designers.
• Conducted interactive sessions successfully on topics like using thinking critically, building mindmaps, and offering constructive criticism.

 

How to Demonstrate Creative Thinking Skills in an Interview

Justify the skills written in your resume: You’ll have to leverage the interview as an opportunity to defend your critical thinking skills as written in your resume and cover letter.  The recruiters will likely refer to the things you wrote on your resume and cover letter and ask you questions about them. Therefore, be sure you can connect your skills to the job requirement and provide specific examples of how you employed creative thinking skills in previous work experience.

Express your ability to solve problems creatively: To capture the recruiting manager’s attention, you should provide concrete examples of your problem-solving creativity. Just Mentioning your potential for creative thinking is not enough to succeed in an interview. You must provide evidence of your professional success and experience. This will enable potential employers to better comprehend your distinctive background.

Sell yourself to the interviewer: You need to be able to convince the employer that you have the critical thinking abilities necessary for the position you’re interviewing for. The ideal approach is to communicate a compelling narrative that delivers relevant information and supports your claim. When the interviewer asks you a typical question, such as “Tell me about yourself,” it is an excellent time to mention your creative and critical thinking skills.

 

Examples of Interview Questions to Test Creative Thinking Skills

• What is the most creative innovation project you have successfully executed in your work experience?
• Why is it important for managers and leaders to promote creative thinking in their organizations?
• Describe a time when you had to be creative while resolving an issue or finding a solution to a problem at work.
• Has there been a time you created a unique idea or solution, and it was rejected by your colleagues or manager? How did you handle that experience?
• What are the effective ways to encourage creative thinking within an organization?

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