What’s Trending: Skills on Your Resume

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Resumes are documents of great importance for people trying to find a job, get an interview, and receive a job offer. And lately, the optimal skill set that a hiring manager wants to see on your resume has been a topic of great discussion. Here are the top pics from well-established experts in the field.

Indeed

The Editorial Team for Indeed makes great use of their article by pinpointing valuable hard and soft skills essential for the continuously growing labor market. With that said, their top listed skill to put on a resume is Active Listening.

Strong communication in itself is a skill that trumps most, but within communication is a subset of skills and qualities that a candidate stand out. Being aware of and understanding all modes of communication and expressing conversational cues that show you’re engaged is what active listening is all about.

“Though you may have several different areas of strength, include only those that are relevant to the job you’re applying to.”

Being confident in your skill set is a good thing for leveraging your worth to a potential employer, but knowing what skills to highlight depends on the position. This is why it’s beneficial to tailor your resume to each application.

CNBC

Morgan Smith with CNBC shares with readers that when it comes to filling open roles, companies are hiring with skills in mind. Utilizing data from a LinkedIn study, Smith’s top listed skill to put on a resume is Management.

Management is a versatile soft skill that doesn’t necessarily mean having experience in a management role. Instead, management skills relate to how well you plan, organize, make decisions, and solve problems.

“Technical skills are required for many jobs, but lacking soft skills can be a deal-breaker for recruiters and hiring managers.”

Technical, or hard skills, are gained by experience through training, the hands-on use of equipment or programs, and even certifications. Soft skills, on the other hand, are developed organically and have a huge impact on how we interact in workplace settings. Balancing your resume with both hard and soft skills is a formula for success for job seekers wanting to get noticed by a hiring manager.

Robert Half

The direction this article takes for listing skills is extensive while including some do’s and dont’s for how you showcase them on your resume. In today’s job market, there’s a prevalent lean toward technology, making their reasonable number one skill to put on a resume: Computer Proficiency.

Knowing how to use a computer in the modern workforce is a given, but being able to understand and utilize computer systems and programs is a technical skill potential employees cannot be without. Constantly developing your computer skills helps give you an edge over competition unwilling to adapt to new programs and digital tools.

“Your resume, and the skills on your resume, should be an accurate, truthful report of you, your work history and your abilities.”

It goes without saying that lying on your resume is not the best way to land a role. While presenting a false set of skills might help you gain an interview, proving those skills in a technical test or on the job will be extremely difficult. When in doubt, it’s better to be upfront about your abilities so that there aren’t any surprises down the road that could cost you your job.

gpac

The Marketing Team at gpac divides skill lists for first-time resumes, entry-level resumes, leadership roles, and transferable skills across industries. As companies invest in closing the skills gap for their workforce and hiring pool, it’s important for current and new employees to have a strong foundation for upskilling and development. 

Matching skills with experience or areas of improvement on your career path helps demonstrate your growth potential in a new position. In this sense, framing your skills is just as important as the skills you list.

“Having a robust skill set, from a first resume to your 50th version, is desirable, but it’s how you pair those skills with relevant courses, projects, certificates, etc., that conveys confidence in your self-worth.”

Yes, having relevant skills on your resume is a key factor to getting noticed, but showcasing how those skills have made an impact on your achievements is what will really wow a hiring manager. Skills, whether technical or soft, become more than just bullet points on your resume when they’re in examples of your growth thus far.

The takeaway

Your resume is the first impression you make on a hiring manager. It’s important that you highlight authentic abilities, skills, and experiences that will help you show potential employers that you have what it takes to not only fill their open role but excel. You’ll know you’ve tailored your resume with the best skill set on display when they’ve demonstrated how well-suited you are for the job, culture, and continued professional success with the company.