While writing your cv you must come across this question what skills to put on resume?
Resume skills are the expertise or talent needed to do a task or job. Choosing the right skill for your profile is your way to success.
Recruiter holds a special interest in your unique qualities. Which makes it very important what key skills to add to your profile. When you are browsing the internet you will get tons of skills but don’t just copy-paste them. This will never land a job interview instead make your skills section a perfect fit for the job.
So to figure out this, I have written this article to find out the top key skills to list on resume, which will help you in the interview screening process.
Skills to Put on Resume: Know Where and How?
Before listing your strengths you must know where to include cv skills and how to mention them.
- Use bullet points to highlight all your qualities
- Briefly describe your proficiency level while adding your skills
- Choose where to put skills section format
a) Add your skills on a functional cv – If you are changing your career and you don’t have extensive experience in that field. You should include your key strengths which are relevant to the job profile in your skills section which you might decide to put at the top of your document. Any other professional experience which you have can come under this section.
b) Add your skills in a separate section – If you have extensive work experience that is relevant to the job profile then, in this case, you can include a separate skill section in which you can highlight your key skills or special skills.
c) Add your skills in the work experience section – You can mention your skills under your work experience section along with some examples this gives an extra boost and strengths your skills.
How to Choose Skills to Tailor Your CV?
You know what you are good at, you know your expertise and shortcomings. So jot down all the points and make a list.
You can make a list to skills that you know you have and you have above-average proficiency.
You have to check the job description for the desired skills that the job needed. Now that you already make a list of your strengths cross-check them and see if you fulfil all the required skills needed for the job.
If so then it is great and if not don’t panic see your past experience in order to demonstrate your skills otherwise learn that skills for better results.
Now the last step is to tailor your cv according to the position and company. As of now, you have the required skill set for the job but before moving ahead you need to tailor your profile.
Perform research on the company check their websites, social media etc and see what kind of people they hire there must be some hint. You can include such skills in your profile to make it strong.
Examples of Skills to Get More Interview Calls?
Here are some of the most common jobs with skills.
- IT jobs
- Programming Language
- Security
- UX/UI
- Front-end and Back-end Development
- Web Development…etc.
2. Marketing and Advertising
- Sales Funnel Management
- PPC
- SEO and SEM
- Graphics Design
- Email Automation and Email Marketing
- Paid and Unpaid Social Media Marketing
- CPC…etc.
3. Project and General Manager
- Agile
- Profit and Loss
- Scope Management
- Financial Modelling
- Forecasting…etc.
4. Health Care
- Wound Dressing and Wound care
- Record Keeping
- Rehabilitation Therapy
- Meditech
- Hygiene Assistance
- Knowledge and use of X-Ray, CAT Scan and MRI…etc.
5. Technical job
- CAD
- Computer Skills
- Technical Report Writing
- Troubleshooting
- STEM Skills
- Solid Works…etc.
6. Sales Representative and Customer Service job
- POS Skills
- Cashier Skills
- Referral Marketing
- Lead Prospecting
- Product Knowledge
- Increasing Customer Lifetime Value(CLV)
- Contract Negotiation…etc.
7. Administrative job
- Data Entry
- MS Office
- Answering Phone Calls
- Calendar Management
- Billing
- Scheduling…etc.
We have listed almost all of the skills that these sectors will look for in a candidate while hiring for an experienced or a fresher. These days employers look for some technical skills in their candidate as a general requirement.
So it is advisable to learn basic computer skills like excel, word to get ahead of others.
Types of Skills Not to Put on a CV
What skills you should not include in your job application? This question always crosses the mind while updating or writing your cv. Below are some skills you should not mention or include in your profile.
- Irrelevant skills
You should not include any skill in your document that is not relevant to the job. If you are not using the keywords from the job description there might be chances your profile didn’t pass the screening processes done by ATS.
If you are applying for various jobs then always maintain a different and unique biodata for each one of them and list the respective skills of the jobs applied.
2. Old or obsolete skills
Technology changes with time and an earlier version of any software become obsolete in no time. So keep yourself updated and try not to include any skill that becomes outdated and of no use. You should learn the latest technology so that recruiters can count on that.
3. Skills that you don’t have
This may be common among the candidates that they include skills that add value to their cv to get shortlisted. Many candidates lie on their cv just to pass the hiring process.
But the recruiter will easily understand that you were exaggerating your skill and you will lose your job before showing your talent in front of recruiters.
4. Common and overused skill words
Many candidates use the same common words to define their skills in their biodata. You can check this list of buzzwords published by Linkedin that candidates overuse in their profile.
You should be careful while listing your skills and use powerful words to describe your key skills.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best skills for 2021?
It totally depends on the type of job you are applying for and the company. To get the best skills for a particular job type-check its job description does company research and find out what skills they are looking for in a candidate and what skills you have.
Emphasizing the fact that is self-sufficient is a great way to tell the employer that are ready to work in different work culture.
What skills should I put on my cv?
You should tailor your profile according to the various job position. Make a unique cv if you are applying for different jobs. And put only those skills that are written in the job description.
If you don’t have many skills it is better to put soft skills or your personality traits like leadership, critical thinking, communication, etc. in your application.
How many skills to list?
You should always add or list skills between 5 to 10 on your cv. It all depends on you, how you choose to present them to the recruiters.
If you have a number of skills to showcase you can also put them in the summary of work experience.
Remember not to fake but always be true to yourself. If you exaggerate your skills, recruiters will easily find out at some point.
What are hard skills?
Hard skills are the abilities that make you perform a task on your job with the use of tools, software etc. These skills are learned through training, courses.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are the interpersonal, leadership, communication skills that tell how you work at your workplace. These are not about the knowledge that you have but more about your behavior.
Conclusion
Writing a cv is difficult yet it has to balance in all aspects. The length of the cv should be short and has to be precise.
Hence skills also have a special place in your profile it will introduce you to the hiring manager. There are endless skills that you can include in your resume but it is you who have to decide which skill will best suit you and the job requirement.
Over to You
Thanks for reading this article. We have tried and included almost all of the sectors and skills that those sectors require in a candidate. What do you think about this? Do you have any thoughts on this? Please comment below.
Great post.
Thanks.
Keep on writing, great job!
Thanks.
Pretty! This was a really wonderful article. Many thanks for supplying these details.
Thank you.