Employers today do not just look for candidates who have the right educational background and relevant professional experience but who can also adjust to a dynamic work environment moving forward.
Many industries today are diversifying into various kinds of segments that require specialization and the ability to take on multiple roles when needed. Hence, candidates who can show they have the ability to learn new skills quickly stand a greater chance of landing a job.
Gone are the days when an employee did the same work from 9 to 5 for six days a week through all the years of his employment. The ability to take on multiple roles, if required, and bring new ideas to the table by combining various aspects of the job is crucial. And if you can put it on the resume, you are sure to stand out among the sea of other applicants.
Who is a Fast Learner?
A fast learner should be someone who is open to learning new skills by undergoing additional training if required, learning quickly on the job by understanding what adjustments need to be made to get the job done, and should be open to constructive feedback in a dynamic work environment.
They should be focused on the solution and should be able to discern the best strategy to do so. For this, it is crucial that they can absorb new information quickly and have strong problem-solving skills intuitively, without the employer having to spend hours of time or tons of resources training them.
Most importantly, fast learners should not just learn the new information in theory but should also be able to apply it to their work as quickly as possible.
How to Indicate You Are a Fast Learner on Your Resume?
Instead of just saying you are a “fast learner” on your resume, you need to show your employer that you actually understand what it entails. Simply saying the words mean nothing by themselves.
Certain qualities are associated with being a fast learner, and you need to put them down. Try using the following terms and phrases.
1. Active Listener
The first quality of being a learner is listening attentively and absorbing all the information you can get. Paying attention to your trainer, mentor, manager, supervisor, or boss is the first step toward learning.
2. Open to Research
As a fast learner, you should be able to conduct your studies without your mentor having to spoon-feed you all the time. You should be able to find time outside work to learn and study more if you are learning well. You should also be open to training if required.
3. Versatile
You should be adaptable to all kinds of situations if you are to become a versatile employee. You can do so by paying attention to details to learn every step of the way and understand how one solution can be used, with further adjustments to solve different kinds of problems.
Formatting Your Resume to Show You are a Fast Learner
Once you have decided to draw your employer’s attention to being a fast learner, you need to format your resume accordingly. Organizing the various aspects of your resume is crucial at this point. It would be best if you also tried to customize it according to the multiple roles you are applying for instead of sending the same resume everywhere.
Here is how you can include the quality of being a fast learner with subtlety yet effective.
Create a Skills Section
Being a quick learner is an important skill. You can list qualities like being open to research and training, being an active listener, being resourceful, being detail-oriented, and being versatile under this section. You will be able to highlight these skills as well as use keywords that will take your resume through the applicant tracking system.
Customize the Education or Certification Section
You can show you are a life-long learner by modifying the education or certification section. If you have undergone training and refresher courses at regular intervals or constantly keep yourself updated by taking new certifications, then you should list them here. Be sure to mention the dates for this will tell your employer that you have constantly updated your knowledge, indicating you are a fast and ardent learner.
You may also add an “additional facts about myself” section at the end of the resume, telling you recently learned to bake cookies and cakes or how to create and tend your terrace garden.
While these might not be relevant to your job, they will still show you have a penchant for self-development and picking up new things.
Bonus Read: How to List Education on Resume Properly? {5 Best Examples – 2022}.
Add it to Your Work Experience
You can indicate that you are a fast learner by adding certain facts to your work experience. Here, mentioning the time frame is very important to show that you are able to achieve successful results rapidly.
For example, you can show your transition from one position to another, which might have happened in less than a year. Or, you could show how you acquired a new skill or certification and used it to enhance the company’s profit by 40% in a matter of six months.
On the other hand, you can also list the departments you have worked in, in a short period. Use bullet points for each promotion or change for recruiters, as they would love to see the vast gamut of responsibilities you have handled in a given period.
Hence, if you have handled various kinds of roles like overseeing operations, marketing, designing, and project management at the same time while constantly acquiring new skills as well, it is going to work largely in your favor.
Bonus Read: 2 Effective Ways to Show Your Promotion on a Resume.
Why is it Important to Demonstrate You are a Fast Learner?
The main reason to showcase that you are a fast learner is to stay ahead of the competition. If you work in a highly competitive industry where opportunities might be limited, or roles might be fast filling up, you might not get the role you initially wanted.
However, when you can learn quickly, you open new doors of opportunities for yourself as employers can also use them in multiple ways. Since new technology is being adopted by every industry, and innovations are changing the face of how business is conducted very frequently, it is important to be able to learn and grow with the changing times.
Sometimes, new roles are introduced when companies merge, and old technologies become redundant and obsolete quickly. You never know what to expect next, so being adaptable is the best way.
And the only way to do so is to convince your employers that you will be able to step up and fill any role because you learn quickly. You are listing your accomplishments and highlighting the best aspects of your career that you learned while on the job can be fruitful.
Examples to Put on Your Resume to Show You are a Fast Learner
If you want to show that you are a fast learner, then you can do so by following a step-by-step method.
- First, you may list examples of skills you have learned in a brief span with the objective of doing the task.
- Then explain the ways in which the new skill helped you contribute to the project.
- Next, show how this was really beneficial when you decided to switch careers and yet ended up becoming a specialist in a whole new field.
- Please provide examples of the different achievements and recognitions that you obtained during this period.
- Include recommendations from your erstwhile employer that highlights that you are a team player and fast learner.
However, you must always relate your statements and claims to the fact that your newly learned skill helped the company in some way. Unless you do that, you will not be able to convince your prospective employer to hire you for a position that probably requires 2 years of experience when in fact, you have only 1. Here are some example formats for you that you might customize accordingly for your resume.
Example: 1 Including Fast Learning Skills in the Experience Section
Job Role: Junior Marketing Associate is applying for the role of Senior Sales Specialist
EXPERIENCE
Marketing Associate
Enabling Minds Corporations
05/2019 – 09/2021
• Learned how to operate the new sales software for three weeks.
• Was promoted after two months due to selling over the stipulated target.
• Helped five interns get onboarded and trained them to use the basic version of the software as well.
• I switched to a Sales role to fill in for a coworker who was on a long medical leave.
Sold 30% more than the target and brought 18% new clients above the regular numbers in a quarter to the organization.
Here the marketing specialist shows that they have the ability to sell more due to personal initiative. They have not only learned how to operate new sales software in a brief period but also taught it to the new interns, meaning they have leadership abilities.
In addition, they have managed to bring in new clients, which shows they have great communication skills as well, which is a must in sales.
Example 2 Including Fast Learning Skills in the Resume Summary Section
Job Role: Business analyst with three years of experience applies for the position of Financial Analyst
• Reached the position of a Team Leader within a year of working as a junior business analyst.
EXPERIENCE
Business Analyst
GrandMedia Techno Inc.
08/2018 – 05/2020
Denver, CO
• Had the responsibility of training and managing 5 interns
• Made business plans and managed projects after learning new project management tools.
• Started looking after the finances of managing and analyzing businesses.
• Obtained a certification in financial management and analysis with an executive online course.
• Currently a part of the team that handles and manages finances of leading clients in the current organization.
Here the business analyst shows that they are capable of handling trainees that demonstrate their leadership qualities. In addition, it offers that they know that managing the finances of a business goes a long way in analyzing the business as a whole and where they can improve. The candidate then switches over to financial analysis clients that will help them better manage their business finances.
Conclusion
Being a fast learner will soon make you an asset to any organization. What you need to remember is that simply putting it on your resume is only half the job done. Once you are selected on the basis of your resume, you will also have to appear for an interview, where you need to convince your recruiters that you are indeed a fast learner.
And once you have joined the organization, you also need to demonstrate all those abilities. However, putting it down correctly on your resume is the first step, and by doing that well, you will exponentially increase your chances of landing your dream job.
