By Kristen Carter
Contributor, Career Services
Your resume should be a promotional brochure about you, reflecting to potential employers the self-confidence you possess in your skills and abilities. While summarizing your work history is important, it is essential to outline your skills and emphasize traits you possess that qualify you for the position at hand. NACE’s (National Association of Colleges and Employers) Job Outlook 2013 identified the following skills as being the top attributes employers are seeking in potential employees.
- Ability to verbally communicate with persons inside and outside the organization
- Ability to work in a team structure
- Ability to make decisions and solve problems
- Ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work
- Ability to obtain and process information
- Ability to analyze quantitative data
- Technical knowledge related to the job
- Proficiency with computer software programs
- Ability to create and/or edit written reports
- Ability to sell or influence others
While it is important to demonstrate that you possess such soft skills throughout your resume or within a summary of qualification section, it is important to reserve your “Skills” section for hard skills, such as language and computer abilities. These skills are different from the ones listed above since you will need to indicate your proficiency level for each area. Thus, these skills can be verified, whereas the above listed skill sets can be viewed as subjective in nature when including them on a resume.
For instance, you can indicate your language proficiency using the following terms: beginner, intermediate, or advanced/fluent. You also will want to list your ability level for each area: writing, reading, and speaking. At the same time, particular computer skills may appear too basic to include within a resume (i.e. Microsoft Word); however, keep in mind, an employer may be using a proficiency in Word as a baseline for suitable applicants. Remember, also, to not include every computer program you are familiar with, but instead you should list the most recent version of the software you are capable of operating. You can also group similar computer programs together, such as operations systems, software programs, and/or programming languages.
Overall, you will want to be honest regarding your skill levels and not exaggerate any proficiency since it will be evident to the employer what you are capable of once you get into the interview and/or role. I have heard of hiring managers speaking in the applicant’s acknowledged second language within the interview, only to find out that the applicant misrepresented their language ability on their resume. Don’t let yourself be caught in that situation. Honesty is always the best policy!
Comments are closed.