What Is Considered A Skill
In broad terms, a skill is an ability to perform certain tasks well. Some skills can be measured and you acquire them through deliberate effort, others are related to your personality traits.
In other words, not all skills are created equal. Thats why we call some of them hard and others soft.
- Hard skills. These are the skills that youve acquired through deliberate effort. They can be learned, taught, and measured. Examples of hard skills include: English, Spanish, HTML, Python, copywriting, data analysis, SEO, SEM, and others.
- Soft skills, on the other hand, are closely tied to ones personality traits. They arise from your previous experiences and the environment you grew up in. These could be your leadership, communication, or other interpersonal skills. As opposed to hard skills, soft skills cannot be easily taught. Examples of soft skills include: problem-solving, negotiating, multitasking, time management, presenting, and others.
Both types of skills are highly valued by employers and have an important role to play in your job search.
You can think of your hard skills as a foundation upon which your entire application is built. They give you a fighting chance to score the job you want.
Your soft skills, on the other hand, are that something extra that can make your application stand out. They give you an edge over other equally capable candidates.
Job Specific Vs Transferable
Job-specific skills are those abilities that allow a candidate for employment to excel in a particular job. Some skills are attained by attending school or training programs. Others can be acquired through experience learning on the job.
Job-specific skills vary based on the position. For example, an IT help desk worker needs computer skills, teachers need lesson planning skills, and carpenters need skills working with power tools.
Job-specific skills can be contrasted with transferable skills like communication, organization, presentation, teamwork, planning, and time management, which are required in a broad array of jobs.
Transferable skills are those that you use in almost every job. Both types of skills can be included in a resume.
Best Skills To Put On Resume
Your skills are equally important as your work experience. In fact, some recruiters will put more weight on skills allowing fresh graduates to compete for their dream job position. The reason why recruiters put a lot of emphasis on skills is because it will save them the time and effort to train new employees. By possessing these skills, it makes it easier for you the new hire to get started on the job.
Identifying which skills to put on resume is critical to your success. To help you choose, here is a list of the top 20 key skills you need in your resume to get you noticed. This list is based on the on the skills employees needed in 2020 that apply in 2021 and moving forward.
1. Blockchain This is a new entry into the list of LinkedIns most in demand skills of 2020 . Your knowledge or skill with blockchain technology can prove valuable in the recruitment field.
2. Cloud Computing This is another one of the most in-demand skills in 2021. It used to be the top skills employers sought after until it was overtaken by blockchain. Still, having skill in this field will make you highly competitive in the job market.
3. Analytical reasoning In a data-driven world, the ability to analyze and make decisions based on data is proving to be critical in the hiring decision of employers and recruiters.
5. UX Design Your knowledge in developing human-centric and intuitive designs in mobile apps and websites can make you an asset to any company.
11. Creativity
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Not Sure What Your Resume Skills Are Try This
Whether youve been doing the same job for a while or have no experience and are looking for your first opportunity, it can sometimes be challenging to articulate the specific skills you possess. One of the easiest ways to figure out your top skills is to create a brainstorm list to break down the skills you use to complete your most common tasks.
Start by listing the tasks you complete daily, weekly, or monthly. Then walk through your process for each task and make a list of the skills involved to complete each one. For example, for the task of, say, writing an article, the skills required might look like:
- Researching
- Collaboration with Team Members
- Punctuality
Once you create your brainstorm list for each task, you can identify the most valuable skills. This is a good place to start when selecting your top resume skills. From here, you can add or remove the skills from your resume based on the specific job you are applying for.
Take The Time To Decode The Job Ad
How can you tell what the employer wants in a perfect applicant for the job? You can pick up a lot from the job posting, and it would help to also invest some time researching the job and the company to learn more details.
Heres what to look for when youre reviewing the job ad, including how to evaluate the job title, qualifications, requirements, responsibilities, and required experience.
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How To Customize A Resume Template With Ms Word
Many of the resume templates on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver come with an editable PDF or MS Word File, so you don’t need to use specialized graphic editing software to customize a resume template with your information.
Here’s a quick rundown of how to list skills on a resume using MS Word.
Note: For this example, we’ve used a professionally-designed resume template from Envato Elements.
Good Skills To Put On A Resume
When somebody says the word skills to you, what immediately comes to mind?
For most people, the answer is things I am good at.
Typing. Woodworking. Public speaking Cartwheels.
Yes, all of the things listed above can be considered skills, but when it comes to the job hunt, you have to be selective as to which of these to include on your resume. Why?
Because the company you are interviewing with AND the job you are interviewing for both require a very specific set of skills in order for you to get the job done effectively.
Filling up the skills section of your resume with a bunch of skills that have absolutely nothing to do with the job you are applying for is basically just a waste of space.
This is why it is important that you understand how to choose the correct skills to include in your resume for 2021.
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Use The Right Language To Stand Out
Trite, lackluster descriptions of your job duties and accomplishments won’t do you any favors. Make sure you’re using strong action words like “achieved,””designed,””improved” and “established” to describe your roles and projects, said Sade. This, he said, will make you sound confident while imparting vital information. But be cautious about depending on action verbs make sure to include details about how you improved a process or achieved a goal.
“Words such as ‘professional,”results-driven’ and ‘detail-oriented’ provide very little helpful information,” Sade said. “It’s better to use actual job titles than these words.”
Diya Obeid, founder and CEO of applicant tracking software company JobDiva, also said that you should remove buzzwords like “go-getter,””team player” and “go-to person” from your resume. These come off as fluff and only take up precious space on your resume.
How To Find The Best Skills To List On Your Resume
Before you begin writing your resume, familiarize yourself with the hard and soft skills associated with the job you want.
The best way to identify these important job skills is to analyze job openings in your industry. Take this job ad, for instance. For your convenience, weve highlighted soft skills in green and hard skills in yellow:
In this ad, you can quickly pick out several good skills to put on your resume. This includes a range of technical skills needed for the position, as well as many soft skills that help define the best candidate for the role.
Once youve looked at several such job ads, youll have a clearer idea of what job skills hiring managers are looking for.
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Top Hard Skills To Put On A Resume Final Thoughts
Your overall career may be in something entirely different from these in-demand positions mentioned, but carefully selecting just one additional hard skill to focus on may still make a difference.
You could be a nail tech that can create professional social media posts, or you can be a restauranteur with your own takeaway delivery app. Either way, you can add a hard skill to your resume, and success may start to look easy.
Good luck and all the best in your new job!
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How To Write A Resume Skills Section
Ran Zheng / The Balance
What’s the best way to write a skills section for your resume, and highlight your qualifications for the job? The skills section of your resume includes your abilities that are related to the jobs you are applying for. In this section, you should list skills that are relevant to the position or career field that you are interested in, such as computer skills, software skills, and/or language skills.
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Demonstrate Your Skills In Your Work Experience
Now that you have the top 1-2 skills in your resume objective and you have a dedicated skills section on your resume it’s time to actually talk about how you’ve used your skills in your past roles and projects.
This is especially important for soft skills. Put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager.
Does seeing that someone described themselves as “attentive to detail” in their skills section really mean much without seeing that skill in action?
It’s much more valuable if you can highlight a time you were attentive to detail in your past role. For example, if you’re an administrative assistant you might say you “re-organized thousands of customer contacts in HubSpot without losing any customer information”.
Remember, it’s one thing to say you have a skill but demonstrating your knowledge of that skill in a work or personal project will carry much more weight in the eyes of the hiring manager.
It’s best to start with specific work experiences then work backward to determine what skills you utilized during that experience as opposed to the other way around.
When it comes to technical skills try to be specific around what you did with the tool/ software you’re describing. Microsoft Excel is a program that can be used for many different use cases, for example. Try to talk specifically about what functionality you used in accomplishing your task .
Think Beyond Your Job Duties
Hiring managers don’t want to read a list of your job duties. They want concrete examples of your accomplishments in previous positions that show how you can make a difference in this new position. Rangel noted that specific merits are more engaging to read than just your experiences. For example, “I reduced operating expenses by 23% in six months” is far more interesting to an employer than “I have 30 years of sales experience,” she said.
When deciding what information to keep or cut out of your resume, focus on striking abstract traits and qualifications in favor of concrete, quantifiable results.
“The best resumes highlight a job candidate’s actions and results,” said Bob Myhal, director of digital marketing at CBC Automotive Marketing. “Employers want employees who get things done, and who take great joy and pride in what they do. Rather than a laundry list of your qualifications, your resume should reflect your accomplishments and enthusiasm for your career.”
You shouldn’t ignore your skills section either. Sade reminded job seekers to list any industry-relevant apps or programs they’re familiar with, and find ways to incorporate examples of their soft skills into their job descriptions.
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Online Teaching And Private Tutoring
More and more parents are gravitating to online learning opportunities for their children. The onset was initially because of the global pandemic however, it has become clear that many children benefited from online learning in general, just as parents are working from home.
There is not much to be said in terms of how it is done other than having a quiet environment set up with the correct equipment. However, in this instance, there are definitely some subjects that will always be in great demand:
- Languages English, Mandarin, French, and Spanish.
- STEM: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The Best Things To List On Your Resume If You Have No Experience
No professional experience on your resume? No problem as long as you read this guide on how to write a resume when you have no work experience.
There are plenty of reasons why you may not have any previous work experience to list on your resume. There are many other things you can add to your resume to show employers that you are the perfect candidate for their open job post.
When you dont have work experience, its important to highlight past activities, skills and other experiences youve had to show you have unique skills, professionalism and competency. When managers are hiring entry-level employees, the top two characteristics they are looking for in your resume are attitude and aptitude.
That is:
Keep these two traits in mind while writing your resume and add any relevant experiences that show that you have the attitude and aptitude for the job.
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Personal Or Academic Projects Relevant To The Job
You can also list personal or academic projects relevant to the job you are applying for, such as a group project at school or a neighborhood summer bake sale. You just need to relate your projects with how you are a good fit for a companys position. Before writing a project down, think about how you will explain its relevance during an interview.
The Importance Of Skills On Your Resume
The skills section of your resume is the second most important section in determining whether you will get an initial interview or not .
Before a human even looks at your resume an automated system called an Applicant Tracking System will decide whether or not your resume gets sent to a human for review.
What is the ATS looking for on your resume? The right skills.
Employers choose certain skills they’re looking for in prospective hires for a given role and the ATS determines whether or not your resume contains the right type, and amount, of those skills.
Knowing what to put on a resume includes knowing the right skills to get past the ATS filters but also so that you convince the hiring manager you deserve an initial interview.
We conducted an extensive analysis of over 1,000 job descriptions and break down the most in-demand skills you need to include when writing a resume based on your career stage or job title.
Quick Links
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What Are Hiring Managers Looking For In My Resume Skills
For certain roles, it can be a nonstarter for a candidate to not have specific skills. You cant be a ballerina if you dont know how to dance, obviously, just like you wont get a front-end developer role if you dont know HTML. By and large, though, the hiring managers Ive spoken to are looking at the big picture. Theyre trying to connect the dots, and skills help fill in the gaps a bit.
Hiring managers are trying to pull together a story about you, so list skills that match the experience youve written about in your resume. One hiring manager I know in tech finds it interesting and noteworthy to see skills that are kind of esoteric, but still relevant. Functional programming languages in particular always catch his eye. To him, it indicates that the candidate has a keen interest in programming and possibly went out of their way to learn it on their own. Thats a pretty efficient way to show your enthusiasmlisting a juicy, related, but kind of obscure skill.
Monica Orta, a hiring manager at the MIT Media Lab, says the skills section gives her a sense of the suite of skills a person hasits another way to look at their experience and helps paint a fuller picture.
Soft Skills For An It Resume
For even more examples of great skills to include on your resume, check out our list of 100+ Key Skills for a Resume in 2021 .
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Top Soft Skills For Your Resume
There are tons of soft skills that you can include in your resume, but how do you know which ones to include? Here is a quick list of soft skills examples you should list on your resume.
Problem Solving Skills
No matter what the job is, eventually something will go wrong and employers want to know that youre capable of coming up with a quick and effective solution. In fact, there are jobs that are essentially nothing but solving problems for the company, the clients, or both.
Critical Thinking Skills
Being able to think rationally and thoughtfully is the basis of critical thinking. Employers want workers who can think through a problem or a project and determine the best steps needed. Critical thinkers come up with new and better ways to work, making it an invaluable skill to put on a resume.
Flexibility
Many organizations and industries covet employees who are dynamic and adaptable to every situation, or who have a natural ability to use a variety of methods and approaches in different circumstances to get the best end result.
Communication Skills
Whether its written or verbal, being able to communicate with your boss, coworkers, and clients/customers in all situations is very valuable. The better you are at it, the better results you will generate.
Teamwork
Most jobs will sometimes require you to work with other people at some point, and employers want to know that you can succeed in a team environment. Some jobs will prize this skill more than others.