Skills and abilities for the resume: which and where to include them in the cv?

Knowing what skills to put on a resume and what abilities provide a real added value and differential gives you an advantageous position concerning other candidates for the same position. Adaptation to changes and commitment to continuous training are two points that make the difference between applicants.

Both digitalization and the continuous evolution of labor markets have tremendous specific weight in achieving this.

Knowing how to detect what skills to put on a resume is not easy, so we will share nine tips to help you see what skills you should include in your curriculum vitae -CV-.

What skills should I put on my resume? Preliminary notions

To detect which aptitudes and skills are essential in your CV, you should first know the differences between talents and skills. We can tell you right now that the latter is becoming more and more relevant.

We speak of abilities when we refer to innate competencies – not acquired through experience – those that predispose you to show a particular reaction to a specific event.

In terms of skills, we differentiate between hard skills, which are demonstrable linguistic or technical competencies -such as mastery of a language or the use of software- and soft skills, which are those that you can acquire and develop through your life professional experience.

Digitalization has played a part in the success of soft skills in personnel selection processes because they also have an exciting quality: they can be transferable. This means that you can take advantage of them and exploit them in other companies, so they are highly valued.

Best skills and abilities for a resume

Keep in mind that not all hard skills are transferable, as you may have specialized in using a specific machine that is not used in the new company so it won’t do you much good on your CV.

So to know which hard skills to include, analyze the offer carefully and add only those that meet the company’s needs.

As we have already mentioned, soft skills operate differently. Quick learning and analytical skills add value to your application, but they are not the only soft skills to look for.

Pay attention to others, such as those listed below:

• Collaboration and collective -as opposed to individual- thinking.
• Active listening and empathy.
• Negotiation skills.
• Proactivity.

If you want to get noticed, take note of these six skill sets that stand out as actual differentiating traits:

1. Adaptability and flexible thinking also involve frustration tolerance.
2. Decision-making and initiative to find solutions and overcome possible roadblocks in the face of unforeseen events. These skills require a sense of responsibility.
3. Respect for guidelines – including project deadlines -people – management, colleagues, and clients – and care for the work material.
4. Commitment to quality work together with resolution and willingness to learn when faced with a task, no matter how complicated it may be. This effort is significant in sectors that constantly face new challenges.
5. A taste nourishes emotional intelligence and rigorousness for detail without forgetting the focus on results.
6. Transversality of people capable of coordinating with colleagues or other teams and taking on tasks of different nature.

The difficulty lies in what criteria to follow to position the skills on your CV. To overcome this handicap, knowing how to present your skills through your experiences is fundamental.

It is not the same for you to write that you have leadership skills as it is for you to explain it with practical cases of how you have successfully managed projects and solved unforeseen events or difficulties.

In short, you must be able to contextualize your abilities and your most essential skills through authentic, verifiable experiences, results obtained, project details, etc.

Where should skills go on a resume?

Skills are important to include on your resume in order to demonstrate your abilities to potential employers. However, you may be wondering where skills fit into the overall layout of your resume. Here are a few tips to help you determine where skills should go on your resume:

• Skills should be included in the top half of your resume, beneath your name and contact information.
• If you have a significant amount of skills, you may want to create a separate skills section towards the top of your resume. Otherwise, you can simply list skills under each job entry in your work history section.
• Be sure to customize the skills you list to match the requirements of the job you are applying for. This will show employers that you have the skills they are looking for.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your skills are prominently featured on your resume and that they will pique the interest of potential employers.

How to list skills and abilities on a resume? 9 tips to help you

As a first step, think that the CV must respond to the offer, so it is not adequate to send the same one repeatedly.

Remember that you only have a few seconds to catch the recruiter’s attention. Get their interest by applying these nine tips:

1. Look carefully at each job offer you apply for. As a general rule, the top part of the job offer will explain the technical skills being sought, and the bottom part, the soft skills.
2. Identify the value you can bring to the company, i.e., show your transferable skills by describing your success stories.
3. Do not add skills you do not possess, and do not exaggerate them.
4. Avoid basic skills that do not add value, such as knowing how to use Word or e-mail.
5. Differentiate between your professional brand and your personal brand. Don’t add social networks that can compromise you.
6. Do not add soft skills that contradict your CV. For example, if you say that you take care of details in your work, your CV cannot be full of typos or oversights.
7. Visually highlight three skills that can differentiate you from your competition so that they do not go unnoticed.
8. Avoid horror vacui, do not fill space just to give the impression of having a large volume of skills; this practice is counterproductive.
9. Consider your CV a project and link it to the job offer you want to apply for. Give this process the importance it has to stand out from other candidates.

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If you want to know more about our products, request your free demo in which we will share solutions that you may not know and that can be very useful for you.