What makes you profitable for an employer? The skills you possess.
In most hiring processes, it is your skills that get you hired. Therefore, while drafting a resume you should always make sure that your skills are mentioned in detail and formatted in the most easily visible area of the first page. A good skill set, prominently mentioned on your resume, is the key to landing a suitable job. It is important to understand that you need to tailor your skill set according to every job description for which you are going to apply. By avoiding those skills that may mislead the employer and displaying the most suitable skills on your resume, you will become the favorite candidate for any position.
Types of Skills
Hard Skills
Those skills that are acquired by spending time and effort, as well as money, are categorized as hard skills. You may have to enrol in a course or undertake an apprenticeship to learn these skills. In many cases, people spent months and years to attain these skills. Hard skills are very important as they make you eligible to apply for certain jobs. Examples of hard skills are:
- Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop
- Speaking a foreign language fluently
- Writing skills
- Coding skills
- Expertise in Science
- Hospital Management
- Plumbing
Soft Skills
These skills are different from hard skills because they cannot be easily taught. These skills vary from person to person and everyone has a unique set of soft skills. No doubt you can improve your soft skills with effort and experience but you cannot be certain if you will be able to learn a particular skill or not. In a situation where a lot of candidates are available with the required hard skills, the hiring team will rely on soft skills to single out the best applicant. Examples of soft skills are:
- Creativity
- Decision making
- Leadership
- Interpersonal communication
- Working in a team
- Finding alternatives to avoid bottlenecks
- Handling workload
What Skills to Put on Your Resume
Include both hard skills and soft skills:
Selecting the right skills to be displayed on your resume is no less than an art these days. You have to make sure that you present the appropriate hard and soft skills on your resume to get considered for an interview. A position for a technical manager, for example, will require hard skills in a particular area as well as leadership skills.
Be relevant to the job description:
The requirements of an employer are always mentioned in the job description. You can use these as a beacon to tailor your skills for a specific job. Presenting your past experience in a convincing manner will make you the most suitable candidate. On the contrary, if you don’t have particular skills, then it's better that you don’t apply for that particular job.
Be relevant to your past experience:
It is always advisable to include skills on the resume for which you can provide practical references and proof. This increases your credibility and helps the managers in selecting you without any doubt.
Popular Soft Skills
Your resume should be a good balance of hard and soft skills. However, in some situations where there are a lot of candidates with the required technical skills, soft skills determine whether you'll get hired or not. Let's take a look at some soft skills that can change the game for a candidate:
Team Work
A one-person show cannot get results in most working scenarios. Managers want to add people to their workforce who can collaborate with others to help them achieve their main goals.
Communication Skills
A person who can communicate well is always appreciated in a work environment. A good communicator will clearly convey information and the work will be done without confusion and chaos.
Decision Making
If a person has the ability to make good decisions, they will be the top recruit of any employer. A stitch in time saves nine – similarly, a good decision made at the right time works wonders.
Adaptability
A person who is a quick learner and has the tendency to adjust quickly in a new work environment without any hassle is the perfect candidate to join any team.
Management Skills
A candidate should be able to manage the resources well. These resources can be time, money, and subordinates. Being able to use the available resources in the best possible manner to achieve desired results is always considered to be a big plus.
Analytical Skills
The ability to use events in the past as a source of analysis to devise better plans for future projects gives you an edge and helps you in getting hired.
Although your resume gets you an interview call, remember that later on the information mentioned on your resume will help the interviewer to ask questions about your skills and experience. If you are unable to defend yourself well, a good resume cannot secure you the desired job. Therefore, design your resume according to the job requirements and prepare yourself well to prove your resume claims in an interview.