Before you press send on that email that will help you land your dream job, do a skill drill. Go through your resume and check if you have highlighted and listed the skills that your potential employer requires.
They key to a great resume is editing it till it is perfect. You started with a blank canvas and now you have little white space left. But are you sure that all the space you used up takes you closer to an interview call.
Ideally, it should.
Skills, whether job specific or general, make up the core part of your resume. Your skill set can make you stand out in the crowd if you know how to highlight them.
If you think it is time to give you resume a makeover, read on and start today.
Types of Skills
Besides job specific skills, you can add other relevant skills on your resume. It is possible that you work in an industry for which excellent communication skills is a must. In that case, you may want to tell your employer about it by emphasizing about your achievements. It is not important to explicitly make different sections for job specific skills.
What you have achieved till now in your field explains what talent and skills you possess. Use your resume to tell a story about your job specific skills instead of listing them. Those are hard skills that you have developed through training or education. It is vital that you put your most relevant skills on your resume.
For instance, if you are applying for an IT positions then crocheting can stay in the interest section.
Read the Job Posting Carefully
Before you apply for any job, read the job posting to see if you have appropriate set of skills. These skills are actually your qualifications. The job posting should tell you about both soft and hard skills required for the job.
Soft skills are mainly your interpersonal skills. These skills take longer to develop thus employers seek people who already possess them. These include:
- Listening Skills: Being able to comprehend written and oral instructions.
- Communications and Collaboration Skills: Being able to explain, express, suggest, negotiate and persuade. Being able to work in teams. Being able to give and receive feedback. Being able to build a good relationship with customers.
- Management Skills: These include time management and project management skills. Having the ability to multitask, manage records and schedules.
- Leadership Skills: Leadership is about managing, taking initiatives and motivating people. The skill set includes giving clear instructions, supporting colleagues, helping people achieve as much as they can and coaching people.
- Problem Solving Skills: Being able to solve a given problem with research and analysis. Identifying and understanding problems. Analyzing collected data. Generating solutions and alternatives. Evaluating solutions based on available resources. Processing, proposing, analyzing and discussing solutions.
- Decision Making: Being able to correctly assess situations and picking a path leading to the best results
This is a small list of skill you can and should highlight. These skills are useful for most jobs and that is why they are called transferrable skills.
Beside these, you can list your employability, critical thinking, digital and IT skills. Once you have perfected your resume, go for that dream job as now you are unstoppable.