Balance Soft And Hard Skills
We already spent a lot of time on this, but once youre actually crafting your resume, dont get lost in specific details to the neglect of the big picture.
You want to make sure your resume contains a good combination of soft skills and hard skills.
The hiring manager should be able to see that you would be a practical choice because of your technical and computer skills. But they also want to know that your people skills will make you a good fit for the team and company culture.
For instance, you might find the following list of qualifications on a job description, which focus on hard skills you could add to your resume:
Qualifications
- Working knowledge of material, facilities, and equipment – including maintenance.
- Working knowledge of computers and related hardware and common business software.
- Above-average spreadsheet and word processing skills.
- Ability to write in English coherently with proper grammar and tone.
- Ability to manage projects from conception to final commissioning.
- Experience with a computerized maintenance management system.
- Willing to study and learn new technical skills and techniques.
Additionally, you might find a request for a set of good people skills:
Team/People Skills
Use some of these same phrases as keywords in your resume.
The 25 Best Skills To List On Your Resume
Some companies receive thousands of applications for coveted positions, making writing an effective resume a critical step in any job search.
The only way you will be granted an interview when there is a lot of competition is to make your application stand out from the masses.
To do so, you must include your skills on your resume.
But how do you know what skills to include? What skills do employers seek the most in a candidate?
In this article, you will learn:
- The difference between hard skills and soft skills
- 25 in-demand skills employers are looking for
- How to identify your best skills
- How to identify the skills employers want
- Why listing the right skills for a resume is important
- How to best list your relevant skills on a resume
Highlight The Most Relevant Skills In Your Resume Profile
The resume profile is a short paragraph at the top of your resume that gives an overview of your career and explains why you are a good candidate for the position you are applying for. You can write this either as a resume summary or as a resume objective .
However you choose to write your resume profile, remember to include 2 to 3 of the most relevant skills that the employer will expect.
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Don’t Lie About Your Skill Set
Be honest when choosing the skills to list on a resume. It’s tempting to include an in-demand skill to get the keyword in your resume, but you could be asked to prove your claim during the interview process or after youre hired.
You dont need to include a competency level for each skill on your resume, but calling out your skill level is an option. Use this as a guide:
- Beginner: A novice understanding of the skill. You have exposure to the skill and understand basic concepts, but you lack experience. For transparency, theres nothing wrong with writing beginner in parentheses next to the skill.
- Intermediate: Between a beginner and an expert. You have experience with and can carry out the skill, but you don’t understand advanced concepts. For this level skill, you normally wouldnt need a qualifier.
- Expert: A highly developed skill level. You have solid experience and training with the skill and understand advanced concepts. To draw attention to a crucial skill, write expert in parentheses next to the skill. If youre an expert in your entire skills list, call the section expertise.
The Best Font Size For A Resume
The size font you use on a resume will depend on how much you have written, as you need your content to fill up one entire page. A good place to start is using 16pt for your name, 12pt for your section headers, and 11pt for the body of your text. Experiment conservatively until your one-page resume looks complete.
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Putting It All Together
So there you have it.
The most important thing to remember is to select skills that are relevant to the position you are interviewing for, and more important than that, skills that your company puts a tremendous amount of value in.
Once you get your skills straightened out, you should make sure that the rest of your resume is congruent with the skills you just selected, namely, that your experience shows that you both used those skills in a work environment and developed the skill with on-the-job tasks.
The next thing you should do is download our action list below!
Good Luck!
How To Include Skills Throughout Your Resume
Now that you know the top skills to put on a resume, use them to your advantage throughout your application.
There are three places on your resume where you can include professional skills:
Lets explore how to add skills to each of these key resume sections, and their respective benefits.
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Be Proficient In Computer Basics
Computer knowledge is a hard skill that can easily be demonstrated in the workplace. Most positions require a basic understanding of computer knowledge, including how to use email, Microsoft Office and other applications. Make it a point to be as knowledgeable as possible in the computer applications required to perform your job.
How Many Skills To List On Your Resume
For the most part, youll want to have anywhere between 5 and 10 skills in the skills section of your resume. Depending on what kind of job youre applying to, youll want to pick the skills that are most relevant to the job description and add them. Its also a good idea to include the skills you have mastered or have more experience with, rather than just using everything that applies to the job description.
It might seem like a small number, but you should be able to get the most important skills on your resume in most cases. While you might think that the more skills you list the better, its actually good to cut down on what you include. You dont want to make your reader go through every skill you have, no matter how much experience you have, and potentially get lost. It also shows your reader what skills you think are most important or that youre best at if you cut it down to 5-10 skills in the section.
Dont forget that your skills can also speak for themselves in other sections of your resume. If you include that you have a certificate in a specific skill or area, then people reading your resume will be able to infer that you have certain skills. The same goes for the experience section of your resume. If you include in your job responsibilities that you managed a team of 15, then theyll know that you have great leadership, managerial, and teamwork skills.
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How To List Your Skills
Whether youâre a jack of all trades or a master of one, you absolutely must list some skills on your resume. Skills offer additional insight into what you can offer the company as an employee, and may just push your resume over the edge and into the interview pile.
250+ Skills for Each Industry
What If I Dont Have The Required Skill
We brought up the earlier scenario in which you didnt necessarily have the skills required to do the job.
Heres where you have to be honest with yourself. If the skills required are part of the core competencies of doing the job, you may want to reconsider your application.
For example, if a golf course posts a job posting for a golf pro, you probably shouldnt apply if youve never swung a golf club.
Use your common sense to determine whether or not you are a suitable candidate for the job.
Quite often though you will come across a situation where it is closewhere you kind of have the skill.
This is where you need to get creative .
You need to be able to demonstrate, using examples from your past, that you are capable of doing the required skill. So go over your work history with a fine-tooth comb and try to come up with a few examples of you doing the skill.
They are going to ask about it in your interview, so dont think you can just wing it and everything will be fine.
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What Are Soft Skills
Soft skills are much harder to define, measure, or test. They are typically interpersonal skills that allow people to work well with others. While not impossible, its much harder to gain these skills through training. Ones character and personality determine them primarily. However, they are just as important, if not more important, than hard skills. While hard skills can get your foot in the door, your soft skills will determine your long-term success in the job.
What If Theres No Job Posting Where Can You Find The Right Skills
You should still identify the most desirable skills. It is crucial.
The only thing that changes is where you look for those skills.
Heres a couple of ideas:
– Take a long hard look at yourself, and come up with a master list of your professional skills.
For one thing, youll see what you can offer the employer. For another, it will be easier to judge if youre a good fit for the position.
– Find job offers for the same positions from other employers.
Its likely other employers have the same expectations about the strengths candidates put on their resumes.
– Look up other job offers from your employer of choice.
Get to know what they expect from candidates. Note all the skills they find desirable.
– Visit the companys website.
Learn its values and culture. Watch out for keywords to describe your core qualifications, key professional and personal skills.
– Check out related LinkedIn profiles.
Look at the people who already work in the company and those who hold similar positions elsewhere. Pay attention to the job skills they list on their profiles.
– Pepper your resume with all the skills youve learned about.
Use them to prepare your resume objective or resume summary, resume profile, job description, key skills list, and other resume sections.
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How Can You Choose The Best Skills For Your Resume
If youre unsure of the skills that you should include, think of your past experiences. Your strongest skills are the ones youve been doing since you can remember, the ones you excel at, or the ones you have a passion for. This is a good foundation for your list of professional skills. Next, take these steps:
Pair With The Job Description
To truly create a home-run resume skills section, you want to put in skills that are:
While job descriptions sometimes explicitly mention skills that are required and/or preferred, there is usually more to gather if you read between the lines. Take this 5th grade science teacher job listing, for instance :
While not all listings will be this detailed, you can always figure out what the hiring manager is truly seeking from job seekers if you look close enough particularly when it comes to desirable soft skills.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials? Adaptability.
- Resolve students behavioral and academic problems? Conflict Resolution.
- Enforce rules for behavior and Enforce administration policies? Classroom Management.
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Mine The Job Descriptions For Must
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!
How To Include Adaptability And Flexibility Skills In Your Resume
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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What Are The Best Resume Skills
Skills and requirements across industries vary widely. For instance, your marketing skills may be of little use if youre going to write code for a software company. Similarly, your expertise in operations management may be irrelevant for a role in brand management.
Thats why you need to know exactly what the industry needs, what keywords are most likely to be appropriate for each job description, and how your best skills are relevant.
These will vary across industries.
But there are job skills that might be required in every industry. They help in ensuring you adapt, sustain, and thrive in any work environment and climb the corporate ladder.
They are soft skills and hard skills.
Quantify Your Skills Whenever Possible
Saying you are a â60 word per minute typistâ has far more impact than a âfast typist.â
âMeasurables are incredibly valuable to your resume anything with numbers, percentages, or dollar signs immediately draws the readerâs eye and gives tangible examples of how you made a difference,â says Jennifer.
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Why You Need To List The Right Skills On Your Resume
As mentioned, hiring managers dont want to spend a long time reviewing your resume. In fact, most of them wont spend more than a few seconds before deciding if they will move forward with your application or discard it altogether.
For your resume to pass this glance test and pass any applicant tracking system software, it needs to highlight your skills and include keywords. These keywords will consist of the relevant skills they are looking for in a candidate.
How To Identify Your Best Skills
If youre not sure which skills you want to share, consider your previous experiences. Where did you excel? Where would your peers say youre especially practised? Here are a few ways to determine good skills to include on a resume:
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Consider your awards and achievements. Did you ever receive recognition for meeting a particular objective or excelling in a specific area? If so, your skills likely assisted you in reaching this achievement, so consider what personal talents or attributes helped you meet that milestone.
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Ask former coworkers or fellow students. Sometimes others can help note strengths you may not recognise yourself. Reach out to a former manager or colleague who worked closely with you. If youre new to the professional world, reach out to students you worked with, teachers who know you well or someone you consider a mentor.
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Talk to professionals in the field. If youre having a difficult time determining what skills an employer may want to see, consider contacting a professional already working in the industry or position similar to the one youre applying for. Find out what skills they consider most important, and identify which align with your own.
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