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How To Word Skills On A Resume

Figure Out Your Skills

How to Create Skill Columns in Your Resume Using Word

If youre not sure what your skills are, your first step is to identify them.

You gain skills from life experiences, such as paid and unpaid jobs, interests, hobbies, playing sport, belonging to organisations or school.

To find out what skills employers are looking for, you can:

  • ask employers directly

How To Actually Learn It

Companies are looking for employees who will take these skills to the next level with the use of pivot tables, VLOOKUPs, and macros to facilitate daily business, depending on the role and industry. If your eyes instantly begin to glaze over with the mention of these integrated Microsoft capabilities, consider taking a quick class to brush up on your skills or play around in the programs during your free time to see how else they can be used.

Check out Udemys free PowerPoint training tutorial or its Excel From 0 to Working Professional in 1 Hour and see how quickly you learn the systems youve got listed on your resume.

How To Make Your Skills Jump Out In The Ats Scan

âYour skills section should be front and center, easy for both the hiring manager and the ATS program to scan quickly,â says Jennifer.

To find the exact words theyâre looking for, refer to the job description. The better the skills in your resume match the keywords, the better your chances are to pass the ATS scan and reach the hiring managerâs hands.

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What To Write In Your Resume Instead

Its important to choose words and phrases that actually showthat you have a particular quality. For example, what have you actually done at work that proves you are a team player? Bennett asks.

Without supporting evidence to show that you have those characteristics, buzzwords are merely words which many other people also use and therefore have little value, says Julian Williamson, director and founder of The Jobseeker Agency.

If you want to show that youre a loyal employee, you could demonstrate it by stating how long you stayed at a particular organisation. Or, if you want to prove that youre client-focussed, you could give examples of how you went above and beyond what was expected by clients in a certain role.

Replace these words:

With powerful action verbs and examples, such as:

  • Developed
  • Achieved
  • Managed
  • Initiated

These types of action verbs capture attention and excite the reader, says Bennett. These words help to highlight your skills and abilities and demonstrate the success you have achieved in previous jobs.

What Are Some Examples Of Skills For A Resume

Resume Action Words Add Value to Your Resume.

It all depends on your industry and role. Scuba diving is a hard skill, but only relevant to very specific jobs. Remember, hiring managers are reviewing your resume with the job you applied for in mind, so keep your skills section at least tangentially relevant to avoid the dreaded Why did they apply for this? reaction.

Below are some examples of specific roles you might be applying for and skills that could be appropriate to list, but remember that a job posting is always the best place to find the skills you need for a specific role. To get a more robust list for your specific industry, you can check out O*NET, a resource developed by the U.S. Department of Labor that breaks down occupations by skills, tasks, and activities.

  • Language Skills
  • Phone Support
  • Montgomery Investment Technology Utility XL
  • NetSuite
  • Adobe Creative Cloud
  • ADA Compliance Training
  • Style Guides/Pattern Libraries for React
  • Testflight

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Tailor Your Skills To The Company/position

As you may have read in our other blog articles, it is always very important to tailor your job interview to the company and position you are interviewing with/for (for a more in depth look at our Tailoring Method article. This includes your resume and the skills you include on your resume as well!

As we mentioned before, the company will have a specific set of skills that they will require the successful candidate to have in order to do the job to their standard.

So as you might have guessed, it is absolutely essential that these skills make an appearance on your resume.

You need to spend some more time researching the company, and this means going through all of their various web properties including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Why?

Because they will leave clues about the types of people they hire, which will give you a better idea of the skills that you need to include in your resume. This especially applies to soft skills.

Ask yourself this. Do I have a similar skill-set to the types of employees they hire?

If the answer is yes, great!

If the answer is no read on!

And as we said before, REALLY dig into the job description to make sure you have a strong understanding of the skills that are required for the job, and make darn sure you put those skills in the skill section of your resume.

Align Your Linkedin Profile

Your is just as important as your resume. You want to make sure youre presenting yourself in the same way. But dont just cut and paste from your resume. LinkedIn is a different beast altogether so you want to make the best use of the platforms features. You dont have to use bullet points you can be more narrative, and even more casual, says Heifetz. You also want to tweak the tone. Theres a greater expectation that youll demonstrate personality, she adds. For example, the summary section should be written in the first person. It gives you the opportunity to present yourself as a living, breathing human being. Heres my colleague, , after she got some help revamping it from a professional.

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Figure Out The Computer Skills Required For The Job

When applying for a new position, you must first identify the computer skills needed. To figure this out, go through each job description and highlight each thing that relates to a technology, software, or application.

Then create a list with the computer skills described, making sure to write each skill using the same wording that is used in the job description.

Data Analytics

How To List Skills On Your Resume: 5 Quick And Easy Tips

How to Make an Easy Resume in Microsoft Word (2020)

Let’s narrow down how to list skills on a resume so that it makes its way through resume tracking software, stands out professionally, and catches the eye of potential employers. Here are quick resume skills section tips to keep in mind:

  • Use Job-Specific Skills on Your Resume. Only write job-specific skillscurrently used and recognized in your job. Dont bother including oldprogramming languages and old machinery, as it makes you look out of touch withcurrent trends.
  • Limit Your List to Only Include Applicable Skills. A skill sections goal is to convincean employer that you can do the job, not every task imaginable. Write only the professional skills relevant for the job. It would also be helpful if you include the levels of proficiency on the r
  • Organize Your Skills into Categories. Divide skills into majorcategories related to the position. For example, a web developers skill setcould be divided into programming languages, software, design, and softskills.
  • Include Relevant Synonyms. Use synonyms and different phrasesused for your skills. For instance, social media marketing also goes by SMM,and can sometimes refer to specific platforms, such as Facebook marketing, orPinterest marketing.
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    Summary Of Skills Section

    Following your professional summary comes a summary of skills section. Alternative titles for this section could be technical skills, key skills, or core competencies.

    Your skills section should be written in list form. Depending on the amount of skills you want to include, you can either list them out separately or arrange them into categories. A good rule of thumb is 10 skills or less should be separate, while more than 10 skills should be categorized.

    Summary of skills resume example:

    Why List Microsoft Office Skills On A Resume

    Companies often use Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, products that are included in Microsoft Office 365 Business. They may also use Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint to make teamwork easier. In fact, Microsoft Office is the most widely-used tool for documenting, organizing information, delivering presentations and processing data. For this reason, Microsoft Office efficiency is usually a required skill for most positions, regardless of your industry.

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    Include Them In Your Resume Skills Section

    Your resumes skills section is the main place to list your skills and the easiest place because you only need to list the relevant skill and dont need to provide any context.

    Depending on your skill-set, you should add an additional skills section or a technical skills section.

    When to use an additional skills section

    If you have several job-relevant hard and soft skills but dont have a highly developed technical skillset, then an additional skills section is the ideal way to highlight skills on your resume.

    Just make sure the skills you choose to include in your additional skills section are related to the specific job youre applying for.

    Heres what an additional skills section looks like:

    When to use a technical skills section

    You should use a technical skills section when you have a wide range of hard skills that are highly important to the job youre applying for. This format is especially useful in tech, where candidates are judged on their mastery of job-specific technical skills.

    If you think this is the case for you, a dedicated technical skills section is the best way to feature your skills and abilities prominently on your resume.

    Heres an example of a technical skills section on a resume:

    Because software development work demands a special skillset, this Java developer resume begins with a technical skills section.

    Some industries where a technical skills section works well are:

    • Information technology
    • Executive level positions, like CEO

    How To Include Adaptability And Flexibility Skills In Your Resume

    Resume with the Accent Beautiful Free Download 60 Actors ...

    Here are some terms to include in your resume:

    1. Open to New Trends.

    • Emphasize how youre open to new trends, ideas, and challenges in the workplace and how it makes you a better employee.

    2. High Adjustability.

    • It highlights your adjusting demeanor and willingness to tackle new challenges.

    3. Problem-Solver.

    • Use this term and explain your positive attitude towards problems and how devising and implementing solutions drive you.

    4. Ability to Handle Pressure.

    • It highlights your ability to soak up pressure and work in stressful situations. Here, you can briefly explain how working on a deadline enhances your performance.

    5. Acknowledge Others.

    • Emphasize how well you can work in teams and are the first to acknowledge the efforts of others.
    • Highlight how you believe in sharing the credit, and how youve done so in the past.

    6. Culture Fit.

    • It explains how your adaptability and flexibility make you an asset in the workplace.
    • Here, you can also point out how you can seamlessly fit into the specific company you want to join.
    • Highlight the term culture fit and how your career goals align with the mission and vision of the company.

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    How To List Microsoft Office Skills On A Resume

    If you are searching for a job, including Microsoft skills on your resume can tell employers that you have the ability to perform any data-handling and presentation tasks required for the job. Required for most jobs today, these skills can position you as a highly promising candidate with companies. As you customize your resume skills section, it’s important to include any Microsoft Office skills you have to offer a company. In this article, we discuss why Microsoft skills are important, the types of skills you should include and how Microsoft Office skills should be listed.

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    How To List Languages On Resume

    Writing a compelling resume that can emphasize and highlight all your skills, abilities, experience, and achievements is not easy. Many people prefer to use professional resume writing services like CraftResumes.com. This is because it takes an expert writer to know exactly how to put the right word in the right place with great attention to detail. Although adding CV language skills might seem simple, it takes a bit of consideration in advance if you want to do it right.

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    Dont Worry Too Much About Gaps

    One of the questions that Lees and Heifetz get asked regularly is how to account for gaps in a resume, perhaps when you werent working or took time off to care for a family member. If you were doing something during that time that might be relevant to the job, you can include it. Or you might consider explaining the gap in your cover letter, as long as you have a brief, positive explanation. However, the good news is that in todays job market, hiring professionals are much more forgiving of gaps. In a recent survey, 87% of hiring managers said that they no longer see candidates being unemployed or having an employment gap as a red flag.

    Mine The Job Descriptions For Must

    Resume Template | Microsoft Word Tools and Skills | TECM Tech Lab

    The next step is take a look at the job description for the position you are applying for and make a list of the required skills that are listed. Are any of the skills on both of the lists you just created? If so, these are must-haves for your resume.

    Now notice if there are any skills on the job description that you dont have. If there arent any, great!

    But if there aredont panic. You just need to dig a little deeper into your past in order to demonstrate that you have the skill more on that in a minute.

    Here is a link to a ton of job descriptions that can give you an idea of the skills needed take a look and find the position you are interviewing for!

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    Refine Your List Of Skills

    But theres more to it.

    When your resume is filled with skills and qualities sought after by the employer, and your key skills section has 20+ items

    Its time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    Theres one problem, though.

    The task may seem impossible when every skill feels relevant.

    Heres what to do.

    Assess how good you are at each of your skills and talents. A simple scale from 1 to 5, or from beginner to advanced should do.

    It takes value from it.

    So if you feel like some of your technical skills or computer skills are basic, keep them to yourself.

    Let your resume highlight your best professional side.

    Expert Hint:Do cover letters matter? Weve asked over 200 recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals, and they told us that 83% of the time a great cover letter can help you get the interview even if your resume isnt good enough.

    Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and make your application documents pop out.

    Want to try a different look? Theres 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.

    What Are The Best Skills For 2021

    The best skills for resumes in 2021 are skills that make you look qualified for the specific job youre applying for. However, it also helps to take into account recent changes to how companies operate.

    Showcasing your knowledge of remote working software and emphasizing that youre self-sufficient is a great way to prove to employers that youre ready for the modern workplace.

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    What Skills Should I Not Include At All

    For people who are pivoting to another career, it can be a good branding move to not include the skills you dont want to use anymore, especially if they are not relevant or inherently interesting. For example, if youre an executive assistant who wants to move into diversity and inclusion work, you probably dont want to list all the flight booking and calendaring tools youre familiar with. If you must include these skills in your experience section to accurately describe your previous roles, thats fine, but dont reiterate them in your skills section.

    Skills that are a bit obvious can also be scrapped. Theres generally no need to put Microsoft Word on your resume, unless the job description specifically lists this skill. And avoid anything that is completely unrelated to the position youre applying for. You might be an amazing knitter, but that probably doesnt belong in your skills section if youre applying to be a social media manager for a hotel chain.

    Words To Avoid Using In Your Resume

    Skill Based Resume Template Word ~ Addictionary

    Buzzwords are really popular terms that have become part of resume language, but can actually come across as generic in your resume.

    Simon Bennett, career coach and recruitment consultant at Glide Outplacement and Career Coaching recommends avoiding popular buzzwords such as loyal, energetic, punctual, motivated, enthusiastic, team player, client-focussed or a people person in your resume.

    These words are frequently overused and rarely backed up with concrete examples, Bennett says. Yes, almost every employer will be looking for these traits, but anyone can say they possess them.

    The problem is not with the words themselves, but how theyre used, Bennett says. People often include the words thinking they are enough to make them sound competent, he says. But employers want to see how you embody these traits.

    So, its not enough to simply include buzzwords that say youre enthusiastic or motivated, for example. To really convey your skills to employers, its better to use words that demonstrate how you are motivated and enthusiastic.

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