Resume Skills - Don’t Underestimate This Section!

A great resume alone will not get you a job. A great resume, will, however, get you in the front door! Careful attention to each section will greatly increase your chances of landing an interview. The most important part of your resume in these early stages of the process is your resume skills section.

The skills section is where you breakdown what you can do for the company. Listed skills should be relevant to the position you’re applying for. Now is not the time to list that you’re great with kids or play a mean cello.

(Unless, of course, you’re applying as a day care worker or for a symphony orchestra, respectively.) Hobbies are usually best left of a professional resume. The notable exception to this rule is when you are applying for your first job.

“Padding” your resume in this manner is common for very young people, to show that you are well-rounded. However, for most of us, it is not only unnecessary, but unprofessional.

As I said, your resume skills must be relevant to the job at hand. Technical skills, such as computer knowledge and skills associated with a specific career field (e.g., science, engineering, or translation) may require their own skill heading, if they are numerous.

Usually, however, they can all go together in one section. Other skills that are important are how you work with people, languages you may speak, and creative skills. Be sure to share what computer platforms you are comfortable working in as well.

The best way to organize your skills section is usually by bullet point. Give each skill its own bullet. If it’s beneficial to provide more information about a specific skill, treat that bullet as a subheading and expand a little bit on that subject. You know your skill set best, and hopefully you know how it will apply to the position you’re going for.

Keep in mind that most resumes a manager receives for a position have similar skill sets mentioned in their resume skills. Having a crisp, clean, well written resume can keep yours near the top of the stack.