Resilience skills and how to build them

Our research shows that employers are on the hunt for candidates who display resilience. If you’re wondering what exactly that means and how you’re supposed to build it, we’re here to help.

In this article:

• What is resilience?
• What does professional resilience mean?
• Why is resilience important in the workplace?
• How to build resilience skills
• Giving examples of resilience in applications and interviews

Resilience is all about how you process and move forward from the challenging situations that inevitably come up in life. It’s your ability to bounce back and keep pushing through. If you’re rejected for a job, resilience enables you to pick yourself up and get back to applying.

It doesn’t mean you never feel hurt, stressed or upset – unfortunately, those are all part of being human! It just means you’re able to process those feelings and find a way forward.

Resilience isn’t constant, either. You’ll notice you’re more resilient in some situations than others – that’s totally natural.

Your resilience is built up of lots of different skills and factors. Adaptability, stress management, emotional regulation and knowing when to reach out for support are just a few.

Professional resilience is – you guessed it – displaying resilience in the workplace. It’s all about fulfilling your responsibilities even when circumstances change or a setback occurs. For example, professional resilience might be finding ways to manage a high-pressure situation at work, rather than thinking that quitting is your only option.

Career resilience is slightly different. It involves approaching your wider career with agility and perseverance. To develop career resilience, you need to focus on continuous learning, proactively responding to changes in the job market and coping well with rejection.

In both cases, it’s about accepting that facing adversity in your professional life is a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'. All you can control is how you react to it – and that's where resilience comes in. Rather than accepting defeat, professional resilience means finding a productive way forward and toughing out the challenge ahead.

Facing adversity in your professional life is a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'. All you can control is how you react to it.

In Bright Network’s Annual Research Report 2024, we found that employers ranked resilience as the second most important skill out of the 12 key skills they value when hiring graduates (the first is passion for the business). Our members rated Resilience as the eighth most important skill they think employers look for, however. That’s a huge mismatch right there.

So, employers value resilience much more than you think – but why?

Things are always changing in the business world and that’s never been truer than it is now, with the rise of AI and other global disruptions. If you’re able to do your job effectively while things are in flux and respond to changes with a cool head, you can help the business to thrive.

Resilience also enables you to cope with the everyday stresses of working in a fast-paced environment. Even in the best-managed workplace, there will be tight deadlines and conflicts with colleagues to deal with sometimes. Being able to weather these is important not just for the business, but for your wellbeing too.

If your team is working on a difficult project and tensions are running high, you need to be able to manage your anxiety and frustration. You can’t just say you need some space and walk out (however tempting it is!).

Employers need to know that they’ll be able to count on you when the wheels come off, not just when things are going well.

So just how do you build your resilience? Lucky for you, we've outlined the best ways to get started.

What you tell yourself about a situation makes a big difference.

When something goes wrong, it’s all too easy to start imagining the worst-case scenario (we all do it!). Instead, try to find some middle ground. Acknowledge that the situation is difficult, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get through it. Not having the answers right now doesn’t mean you won’t find them. Remind yourself of previous times you’ve dealt with challenges and all the skills you have at your disposal.

Try to treat challenges as opportunities to grow. It's definitely much easier said than done, but if you believe that you'll come out the other side of a challenge better off for it, it'll help motivate you through the hard times.

Resilient people don’t dwell on problems, they look for ways to solve them.

Try to maintain a positive attitude. That doesn't mean you need to be cheerful at all costs – sometimes a situation is just tough, no matter how you look at it – but it means you concentrate on what you can do to remedy it.

It helps to accept the situation and then quickly move on to focusing on what you can control rather than on what you can’t. You want to move away from thinking of stressful situations as nightmares where you have no autonomy.

If a problem comes up, spend time defining it in detail and thinking hard about steps you can take to overcome it. Getting it all down on paper is a good start.

Remember to look for indirect solutions as well as direct ones. For instance, you might not be able to change a pressing deadline but you could ask for help with other responsibilities to free you up a bit.

Focusing on gathering knowledge and developing new skills means you’re more likely to have the tools you need to deal with tricky situations. It also reinforces your self-belief – it’s harder to doubt your competence when you have all these accomplishments in front of you.

Self-reflection is also important. Try to take a moment after a period of adversity to think about what you did well and what you’d like to do differently. It might feel uncomfortable in the moment, but in the long run, it can really boost your resilience.

A big part of resilience is finding a way to experience your emotions in a healthy way without getting swept up in them.

Here are a few things to try:

• Notice and name your feelings. This helps you to understand them and get some distance. Don’t just stop at 'stressed' or 'scared', be specific. This kind of categorisation is called ‘emotional granularity’.
• Ask why. Once you know how you’re feeling, try to put your finger on the cause. What feels like irritation with a colleague at first might actually have come out of a situation in your personal life.
• Practice mindfulness. This is a tool you can start using instantly when you feel yourself getting stressed out. If you can take control of your stress and negative emotions, you’re a step nearer to taking control of the situation.
• Consider journaling. Writing about how you’re feeling will give you some longer-term insights into your emotional wellbeing and let you spot triggers.
• Look after yourself. If you’re running on empty already, it’ll be that much harder to stay resilient. Eat well, get plenty of rest, exercise and make time for the things you enjoy.

With employers valuing resilience so highly, it’s vital to be able to demonstrate it in application processes. The best way to do that is to give them examples from your life. Don’t worry, you will definitely have some.

One top tip from us? When an employer asks about a time you've been resilient, don’t just talk about surviving the pandemic as your example. It's a good example, however, it's a very common one as it happened to everyone, and you want your answer to stand out.

Think about tough situations you successfully faced at work, at university or potentially even in your personal life. Try not to default to focusing on mistakes you made or times you've failed (though they certainly require you to be resilient) as those are common interview questions in their own right. This is a good chance to show how you respond to circumstances beyond your control.

You could also highlight any stressful disruptions or big changes that happened during your previous jobs or volunteering commitments. Was there a sudden increase in demand? Did the organisation have to overhaul its systems? Talk about the role you played, including any additional responsibilities you took on or skills you developed in response.

For an interview, think of some story-based examples. Perhaps you and your team had to deal with a tight deadline at work and were able to pull together. Perhaps you got some bad news before an exam but were able to calm yourself down and perform well anyway. Whatever the challenge was, it’s the strategies you used to bounce back that you need to focus on.

For guidance on other important qualities you can work on, read through our core career skills resources.