Resume writing skills and abilities. What professional skills to indicate in a resume: examples

Hello always dear friend!

Stirlitz once said: “I don’t like it when they hold me for a blockhead in the old Polish preference ...” This phrase was said in response to Muller for his portion of “weighty arguments”.

What does it have to do with what to list in key skills on a resume? Let's figure it out.

If you write your key skills like this:

• Result orientation
• Sociability
• Activity
• Working capacity.
• Discipline
• High learning ability.
• systems thinking
• Stress tolerance

Then, at best, this text will be skipped by the recruiter as “about nothing”. At worst, your resume will fly into the trash can. I'll explain why.

Do you yourself believe in it? Then why write it? Who will believe it? Already at the stage, the candidate begins to rub glasses or copy texts that no one needs. And he gets the results he deserves.

Now closer to the point.

What is a skill

Wikipedia gives a lengthy definition, the meaning of which boils down to the following. Skill - a type of activity brought almost to automatism.

That is a repeated experience.

• the skill of mass selection of forwarding drivers. There were three such projects and I ate a dog on this one.
• written communication skills at the leadership level. I think this is clear without comment.

Common Mistakes

a) Many people make mistakes limiting the list to specialized skills only.

Meanwhile, the employer is interested not only in this.

For example: the habit of bringing things to their logical end. Is it a skill? More like a habit.

But who needs to deal with the terminology? Moreover, there is no special section in scripts for your useful habits. Feel free to include your good habits in the skills section and you can't go wrong.

The habit of seeing problems as challenges. The habit of delivering impeccable quality. The habit of doing more than what is expected of you. Yes, you never know what interesting things you can say about yourself. Such that will hook the employer.

Where will you write it? For more information? But it’s not a fact that they will get to him, but the skills section is higher.

Your habits are often just as valuable as your skills as a specialist.

I will say more: A candidate who has an average level of skills as a specialist, but with useful habits, is often more interesting to the employer than an employee with developed skills that he declares.

The trick is that the employer does not know how to ask about it. And if you don’t tell it yourself, it will simply remain behind the scenes. Do you need it? So write boldly.

b) Another mistake - mismatch of skills to job level. The key skills of a director and a manager are different. For example, those skills that your humble servant described a little higher are relevant to the positions of a senior recruiting manager or head of a department. But not the HR director.

What skills are suitable for a resume

Let's remember the elevator logic we use to advance in the job market:

1. Who am I?
2. Why am I doing this?
3. Who can I help with my work?
4. How can I be helpful?
5. Why me?

Skills fall into the answer to question #4 and partly #5

I would suggest such a classification of skills

a) professional

• functional
• managerial if you are a leader

b) personal

Things that you can do, but are not directly related to the profession, for example:

• ability to speak in public
• ability to negotiate
• selling skills (if you are not a salesperson)

c) habits

We talked about this a little higher. Now the algorithm.

"Sifting" algorithm

Step 1.Writing a long list of our skills

Everything we remember about ourselves.

1. Professional

• The skill of building the work of the recruitment department based on KPI (after all, he was the head of the department for twenty years)
• The skill of recruiting personnel for working professions: drivers, warehouse staff.
• HeadHunting skill in TOP positions: HR Director, Marketing and Sales Director, Logistics Director, Operations Director.

2. Personal skills

• Negotiation skills, including "hard" ones.
• The ability to speak in front of an audience.

3. Habits

The habit of giving out the quality of work above the partner's expectations. Embellished a little, but how without it)

Step 2. Shorten the List

From the resulting list, select positions that meet the following criteria:

• What do you do best
• What can you do better than others
• What do you want to do best. These are skills that you have at an intermediate level, but want to develop.

Got some basic list. For example, 10 points. This is what we can offer in the market.

The majority should be professional skills - for example, 6-7 positions.

One - two - personal skills and good habits.

The list can be written into an Excel file.

Step 3. We adapt the list for a specific position

We look at the vacancy, we study the company. We make assumptions about what the employer needs, what skills they will need today and in the future.

Opens our file. We call the first sheet by the name of the first employer, the second - by the second, etc.

You can come up with your own method.

On the sheet, we highlight the skills suitable for this vacancy (employer).

Copy to resume to be sent.

Keywords

note : If the job description has specific skill requirements and you meet them, insert it into your resume in the same wording as in the job description. These are keywords. Sometimes a recruiter searches for resumes by keywords.

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Much attention should be paid to the “skills” column, because it tells what exactly you can expect from the applicant. Education or work experience are very important sections, but they will not tell you what exactly a potential employee can do. Social surveys among recruiters have shown that most HR specialists pay close attention to this column.

Naturally, each applicant strives to ensure that his resume sells it as profitably as possible, is as interesting as possible and does not turn out to be rejected by employers. This means that it is important that the recruiter is interested. In this regard, a completely logical question arises - what skills to indicate in the resume.

At its core, the “key skills” column is a listing of facts about the applicant that are related to his professional activities, a description of what he can do and what experience he has. It's best if the skills are listed as a list rather than grouped together in a single paragraph or sentence.

What can be written in the column "skills"

To figure out what skills you can put on your resume so that they put you in a favorable light, you first need to understand what key professional skills are in general. There are practically no average options - each profession requires skills in a particular field of activity. But in the case when general formulations are suitable for the applicant, then you can write something like this:

• business communication skills;
• the ability to carefully plan their actions, work in an organized manner and make timely decisions;
• ability to analyze and solve problems;
• organizational abilities.

Despite the presence of such formulations, it is still better to select skills individually, based on the qualities of your personality and the specifics of the profession. An important role is played by the requirements for candidates. In most cases, already at the stage of considering the vacancy announcement, it becomes clear what skills the employer needs an employee with.

If the applicant can read between the lines, then the best option would be to edit your resume for each individual case. Sometimes even such a technique is appropriate, in which the applicant simply rephrases the requirements from the vacancy announcement - in this case, the employer understands that this particular person can suit him. But it is important not to rewrite the wording verbatim, but to change them, adapting them to your personal qualities.

Leadership Skills

A special understanding of what key skills are required if you are applying for a leadership position. As a rule, applicants' resumes of this kind are treated with increased attention, candidates are considered more closely. This means that the skills listed on the resume can make all the difference. Listing what skills would be advantageous in this case? Here are some options:

• ability to resolve conflicts;
• ability to plan and organize the work of several people;
• manifestation of responsibility for the decisions made;
• analytical thinking;
• effective management of not only the workforce, but also time;
• the ability to negotiate;
• communication skills, the ability to inspire professional confidence in people.

An important point of the resume, which all employers pay attention to, is the column on the main professional skills. Neither education nor work experience will tell you about your personal expertise in certain issues. Therefore, it is worth looking at examples of key skills in the resume in order to competently fill out the appropriate section. This will help show the employer exactly what you can do.

What to choose from

It is difficult to find any "typical" skills. After all, each profession has its own requirements and the applicant must meet them. If you do not know what exactly you can write, then you can specify the following:

• interpersonal business communication skills;
• ability to organize work, plan, make decisions;
• attention to various nuances and details;
• the ability to analyze problems, effectively look for ways to resolve them;
• the ability to be flexible;
• project management skills;
• business leadership.

But it is still desirable to select skills depending on the requirements for candidates. Usually the employer himself indicates what he wants from the future employee. The applicant can simply rephrase his requirements and indicate them in key skills.

Leader Skills

First of all, it is important to understand what the key skills for a resume are for those who apply for the position of a manager. Potential managers are always subject to increased requirements and their candidacies are checked more scrupulously.

As skills, you can specify the following skills:

• resolve conflict situations;
• plan and optimally organize the work process;
• make decisions and be responsible for their results independently;
• think critically;
• effectively manage time and people who are subordinate;
• apply motivational programs;
• think strategically and creatively;
• negotiate;
• communication skills, the ability to win the trust of colleagues, partners and senior management.

It is important to be able to distinguish your skills from personal qualities. The former are acquired in the process of work and training, and the latter characterize you as a person.

You can also add multitasking to the list, the ability to adapt to different conditions, transfer part of the authority and monitor the proper implementation of tasks.

Professions related to communication

Separately, it is worth noting what skills should be indicated if you are applying for the position of a seller, manager or consultant. For example, you can list the following sales assistant skills on your resume:

• the ability to manage time;
• experience of personal communication and successful sales;
• competent oral speech, well-trained voice, necessary diction;
• creative approach to sales;
• the ability to listen, give competent advice, find an approach to clients;
• the ability to learn quickly and easily perceive large amounts of information;
• service skills, the ability to show tact and tolerance.

If you know that the company works with foreign clients, then knowledge of foreign languages ​​will be an indisputable plus. When applying for the vacancy of a sales manager, also indicate, if this, of course, is true:

• fluency in English, Italian, French or another language;
• Confident use of a PC, knowledge of MS Office programs;
• business correspondence skills, including in a foreign language;
• the ability to show attention, interest, friendliness.

But for teachers, teachers, leading seminars and trainings, there are slightly different requirements. They must have the following skills:

• motivation for learning outcomes;
• high energy and initiative;
• the ability to concentrate the attention of a group of people and hold it for a certain time;
• acquired skills of patience and flexibility, which must be shown when communicating with trainees;
• Ability to plan and organize work effectively.

Common to all these professions is the main skill - to establish contact with people.

Other options

Selecting the right skills for technicians is just as easy. The main task, for example, for a system administrator is to control the operation of the entire computer network. Therefore, he must have the following key skills and abilities:

• carry out diagnostics of professional equipment;
• monitor possible risks and plan ways to restore the functioning of systems as soon as possible;
• speak technical English;
• work with large amounts of information.

According to the required skills for this position, you can see how the specifics of the job affect what needs to be indicated in the resume. Separately, it is worth noting that in some industries, professional skills are so closely intertwined that it is difficult to separate them.

If you are applying for the position of an accounting specialist, then it is better to familiarize yourself with the requirements first. Examples of key skills in a resume for an accountant can be taken directly from the description of the requirements for candidates. They must:

• be able to think analytically;
• organize work in the assigned area;
• analyze problems, be able to look for ways to resolve them;
• plan wisely;
• pay enough attention to small nuances and important details;
• correctly prioritize;
• be able to work with a large number of documents;
• be able to identify priority tasks;
• have the skills to work with regulatory authorities.

There are slightly different requirements for employees of the legal department. For a lawyer, you can specify:

• knowledge of the law, the principles of the judicial system;
• ability to draw up documents, contracts;
• skills in the analysis of legal documents;
• the ability to work with a variety of information and quickly assimilate it;
• knowledge of computers, MS Office programs;
• communication skills;
• ability to use legal bases presented in electronic form;
• multi-vector approach (ability to work in different directions);
• skills of working with clients and employees of control bodies;
• ability to work with documents;
• ability to organize work and plan the execution of tasks.

Each specialty should have its own skills, but you can choose something suitable for your future job from all the lists presented.

An additional help in finding the right and relevant characteristics can be this reflection: imagine yourself a manager who needs an employee for a position that interests you. What would you expect from a job candidate?

As a career consultant, I am constantly compiling and editing key skills on my resume. This is the information block that presents and “sells” you well. For this reason, I want to talk in this article about some of the nuances of describing skills.

What are the key skills to include on your resume?

Rule #1 (Most Important) - Skills must match the position you're looking for.

Firstly, you need to clearly control the level of "performer-leader". An example of a typical and often made mistake: they are looking for a job as a manager (director), and in the list of skills in the resume they write a lot of skills of lower-level specialists.

The resume should clearly show whether you are a manager or a subordinate. The quality of job offers depends on this.

Secondly, you need to evaluate the style and content of the vacancies that you are applying for and, in accordance with this, describe yourself in your resume.

To understand exactly what key skills to write in a resume, find 5-7 vacancies that suit you, analyze and copy the main requirements and responsibilities from there. Of course, in the process of copying something will have to be corrected, but you, by and large, do not need to invent anything out of your head. Everything has already been thought of for you.

If you write skills on your resume based on job descriptions, you will be called for interviews more often.

Use it and work will find you.

Very common mistake

In my resume writing work, I constantly see descriptions of the skills and abilities of a superhuman and ultraemployee in the resume:

• Purposefulness.
• Sociability.
• Stress tolerance.
• Initiative.
• Working capacity.
• High level of discipline.
• Focus on results.
• High learning ability.
• Systems thinking.

If it used to be funny, now it's not. Tired. Everyone writes the same thing, and no one goes into the meaning of these words. And the hidden meaning of the set of these words is “hire me to work.”

How to fix such an error. Choose one (maximum two!) of your abilities and write about each of them in a sentence.

For example:

• I know how to start things and bring them to a successful conclusion.
• I regularly study and improve my skills (I like the seminars and webinars of the ABV school, I subscribe to the news of the abc.ru website, I participate in industry conferences).

How to describe skills on a resume

If possible, be specific but concise. It can be difficult to combine these two things, but if you see that it can be done, do it.

For example: extensive sales experience (8 years of experience, of which 3 years - head of department).

On the one hand, you write about sales skills, on the other hand, you provide serious evidence of this. It's smart and beautiful.

Separately, I want to say about computer skills in the resume. If you are a programmer, you need to describe in detail the ownership of programs and technologies. If you are a leader, one phrase like “confident PC skills” will be enough for you.

Examples of writing key skills (from real resumes)

An example from a PR manager resume:

Sample Key Skills for a Director's Resume:

• Experience in production - 17 years (in mechanical engineering about 11 years).
• Experience in personnel management - 15 years.
• Experience in starting production sites from scratch.
• Experience in automation and increasing the efficiency of production.
• Good knowledge of relevant documentation (regulations, state standards, regulations, etc.).
• English is intermediate.
• Strong PC skills (I know SAP R/3).

Also read

Of course, in addition to skills, there are many more sections in the resume, and it is desirable to make each of them effective and presentable.

For effective work and promotion, modern specialists simply need professional skills. Moreover, certain knowledge and skills help to win over the employer when looking for a suitable vacancy, you just need to indicate yours. Each profession requires special skills from the employee. It is for this reason that when filling out a resume, specialists should indicate what professional skills they possess.

Examples of professional skills in a resume

Experience in people management and successful strategic planning. Average level of knowledge of English. User of several computer programs: Excel, MsWord, PowerPoint. The ability to make non-standard strategic decisions in the management of the organization. Ability to predict.

Professional skills on resume

The “professional skills” section of your resume should be placed after “work experience” and “achievements”. This section is a short list of key knowledge and skills that you have received in previous jobs or at the university. This is the culmination of describing you as a professional and specialist in your field. The HR manager will determine your opportunities based not only on the information provided about the experience of performing certain duties, but also on the skills and abilities provided in the resume.

To determine what exactly should be indicated in the professional skills section, you need to analyze the requirements that the employer wants to see in the candidate for the position, with what you can do. Compare all these data and indicate the most beneficial for the company, those that correspond to the proposed vacancy. The main thing is to indicate the skills that clearly correspond to the vacancy.

List 4-6 points, this will be quite enough, you should not exaggerate and embellish, because excessive versatility can make the HR manager think that your knowledge is superficial, and that you have not approached the issue of writing a resume too seriously.

Focus on your advantages, even if there are not very many of them, but you can confidently show and prove them during the interview.

If you have mastered some skills, but you have no practical experience in this area, you can indicate in your resume that you have theoretical knowledge, list them.

Thus, you can give the impression of a purposeful person, show that you are interested in innovations and develop in a professional direction.

To describe your key knowledge and skills in your resume, use the phrases: “experience in this and that”, “knowledge of this and that”, “ability to do this and that”, “I know this and that” and so on.

Avoid such qualities as "stress resistance", "sociability", "organization". They should be attributed to the section of the resume "personal qualities" and here they are not appropriate.

Mandatory skills that you must specify is the level of computer proficiency, perhaps knowledge of special programs that are needed to perform a particular job, knowledge of languages.

An example of professional skills for a loan officer resume:

Your main goal is to get the HR manager to choose you, to convince him that you are the best option, that your experience and knowledge fully meet the requirements, and perhaps even more.

Professional skills and abilities are examples.

This section provides a brief list of the most important practical skills and abilities that were obtained in previous jobs or at the university. You can also describe your professional achievements here. At its core, this section performs the same function as a description of work experience, but more fully reveals the applicant as a professional. The Skills section of a resume is also referred to as "Qualifications".

Listing your skills and abilities. you thereby make the resume more attractive. Reading this section, the employer answers the question why he should invite you for an interview. In order for the interview to take place, he must be interested in the professional knowledge and skills of the person who sent his resume for consideration. In order for you to succeed as often as possible, we suggest that you use the following recommendations:

Place the "Qualifications" section immediately after describing the purpose of the resume or after the "Education" section. This sequence is quite logical.

Adjust this section for each vacancy under consideration. Indicate here only those professional skills and work skills that are suitable for the position that interests you.

Do not try to impress a man-orchestra, scrupulously painting the whole set of your virtues. Specify only 5 - 7 main ones. In order to emphasize some professional skills, sometimes you need to sacrifice others.

First of all, indicate the key skills and abilities that are more relevant to the position that interests you.

Make the list so that this information is easy to read.

Use the language and terms that the employer uses in their job posting.

When describing your professional knowledge and skills, start with the words: experience ..., I know ..., knowledge ..., ability ..., work skills ...,

Do not list your personal qualities in this section. For this purpose, a special section is provided.

Professional skills on resume

The "Professional Skills" section of a resume can also be called "Technical Skills" (for programmers and other technical workers) or "Qualifications".

In this section, you must provide a brief list of skills (skills) and describe your professional achievements that were obtained in previous jobs. The list should be four to six items long. The main thing to remember is that all listed professional skills must strictly correspond to the proposed vacancy and you should not indicate personal qualities here, such as: efficient, stress-resistant, etc.

It is this section that is the best way to achieve the main goal of the resume - to get the employer to call you and invite you for an interview.

An example of a description of professional skills in a resume:

Professional skills

Professional knowledge in the field of journalism. Seven years of experience. Skills: writing, editing and airing news articles and reports.

High qualification in oral and written interaction with respondents, for which he was twice awarded the Journalism Prize in 2000.

Another example of a work experience description on an inexperienced programmer's resume:

Technical skills:

Operating systems: Windows 95/98, UNIX by Sun SPARC and MS-DOS.

Programming languages: C, C++, HTML and JavaScript.

Software: Microsoft FrontPage, Image Composer and Word Lotus 1-2-3 and mSQL.

Skill Description Samples

IT director (head of IT department)

Experience in managing an IT department (15 subordinates).

Department budget management.

Development of IT in the company.

Participation in making management decisions in the company.

Market analysis of ERP-systems, selection of a suitable company for the needs.

Experience in selecting partners for the implementation of ERP systems (management of the implementation project, participation in the pre-project survey, writing technical specifications on the part of the customer).

Additional analysis and participation in the selection of information systems.

Automation of the company's activities.

Management of internal projects.

Ensuring information security.

Technical support of the office, organization of equipment renewal.

Ensuring the smooth operation of corporate LAN and office equipment.

Director of logistics

Development and implementation of a warehouse accounting system.

Creation of regional warehouses and regional logistics.

Optimization of the entire supply chain.

Optimization of warehouse accounting and workflow in the warehouse.

Optimization of the work of the transport department.

Negotiating and concluding contracts with logistics service providers.

Experience in automation and modeling solutions using IT tools.

Building an integrated reporting system for departments.

Budget planning and cost optimization.

Knowledge of PHP.

Practical application of object-oriented programming (OOP).

Experience with programming frameworks (CMF).

Knowledge of template engines.

Experience with databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle), knowledge of the SQL language.

Knowledge of JavaScript, HTML+CSS.

Knowledge of the principles of building and operating websites and servers.

Ability to read someone else's code and documentation in English.

Sales Manager

Knowledge of sales techniques.

Ability to negotiate.

Maintaining and expanding the client base.

Advising and providing customers with information on the conditions of sale and the range of products of the company.

Work at exhibitions, product presentation.

Telephone conversations, receiving and processing orders.

Drafting and conclusion of contracts.

Primary accounting.

Documentation control.

Maintaining an archive of documents.

Control of shipment and delivery of goods.

Confident PC skills.

Knowledge of wholesale trade.

Excellent knowledge of the 1C program, areas: bank, cash desk, current account.

Business correspondence.

Office life support.

Organization of reception of visitors.

Confident user of office equipment and PC.

General idea about the work of mini-ATS.

Proficiency in 10-finger typing.

Personal/family driver

Experience in escort (ability to keep a distance between cars at high speed).

Experience in completing small orders.

The main thing in a resume for many employers is professional skills. An ordinary at first glance column of the questionnaire can tip the scales in your favor or, on the contrary, cross out this opportunity forever.

So well-chosen professional skills in a resume are an example of what you understand where you are getting a job, and what actions are expected of you. They also serve as a clear answer to the questions: “why the employer should invite you specifically for an interview” and “why the price that you indicated in the column of the desired salary is not overstated, but quite fair.”

Basic Mistakes

Statistics show that employers close more than 85% of resumes without even reading them to the end. What is the reason? After analyzing over 1500 questionnaires, we are ready to answer this question.

Reason 1. Boring.

In the corresponding column, many applicants do not indicate their professional skills, but a couple of general phrases describing their future functional duties as a driver, lawyer, etc. Vague wording will not interest the employer in your person, but rather, on the contrary, will convince him that you it is not given to clearly formulate a thought, and you are used to getting off with average solutions.

Solution: Write clearly, concisely and give an unambiguous answer so that the employer can have as few questions as possible. Let's take an accountant as an example.

Reason 2. Not what you need

Not all applicants understand what is hidden under this mysterious phrase "professional skills". Wanting to please the employer, most of them indicate everything they are capable of, and as a result we have: knowledge of French and Japanese cuisine in the manager's resume, perfect possession of firearms in the profile of the future kindergarten teacher, a completed music school with the driver and other pearls .

Solution: Even if you are especially talented, the employer will only be interested in those professional achievements in your resume, examples of which clearly correspond to the declared position. Let's take a driver as an example:

Reason 3. Illogical

Not knowing what to indicate in their application, applicants mindlessly copy examples of professional qualities indicated in the resume, posted in the public domain on the Internet. As a result, we get all the same problems that have already been described above (no one said that there can be no errors in the samples). Also, the inconsistency of what is written with the real is added to them.

Solution: when compiling a questionnaire, the qualities and achievements of other people can serve as an example of professional skills and abilities in a resume. But don't copy them mindlessly. All indicated professional skills and achievements “pass through yourself”. Every time ask yourself questions: “do I really have the skills of a lawyer”, “whether these qualities are suitable as basic for a manager”.

Reason 4. Terminology overload

Wanting to show off their extraordinary abilities to the recruiter, job seekers pour out complicated terminology even where it is inappropriate. As a result, a driver’s simple and understandable phrase “professional achievements - 5 years of accident-free driving experience” or any other example describing special skills in a resume turns into gibberish. The employer will not waste time to deal with it, which means that you have every chance of losing a vacancy without even getting one.

Solution: In your resume, describe your qualities and achievements in simple, “off topic” words that are accessible to a person.

Consequences of exaggeration

Never lie by listing professional qualities on your resume. An example of the consequences can be not only the subsequent dismissal from your position, but also the refusal of other employers to do business with you.

Especially since an experienced recruiter will still find out the truth during the interview, using projective structured interview techniques or asking for recommendations from your previous job.

Skills required for in-demand positions

Summarizing all of the above, consider examples of professional qualities in a resume for popular professions.

Video: how to write a resume, basic recommendations from a specialist - a personnel officer.

Examples of professional achievements indicated in the resume of a sales manager:

The list of professional skills indicated in the resume of a taxi driver:

Examples of professional skills that are present in the resume of a sales consultant:

Approximate professional achievements for an accountant resume:

The list of characteristics indispensable in the resume of a lawyer: