Fill in the "Skills" column in the resume

In the process of writing a resume, applicants quite often make serious mistakes, the sections "work experience" and "education" do not count. The main thing that the HR manager and the head of the company pay special attention to are "key skills".

When drafting the Key Skills section of your resume it is important to include information about your knowledge and skills. Superficial phrases in this case are inappropriate, especially when the position of interest belongs to the leading industry. There are times when the applicant indicates in this section information about personal qualities. For example, a great sense of humor. Such self-presentation is suitable for those wishing to become the hosts of an entertaining show, because these words easily fit into the "key skills" of showmen. But this characteristic is not suitable for lawyers or teachers.

The information presented in the section on professional knowledge is an important part of any resume. The employer must read this section in order to understand what a potential employee is capable of., because it is here that the accumulated experience from previous works is reflected. For this reason, it is extremely important to correctly complete this section of the self-presentation document.

It is not necessary to indicate general phrases describing professional skills. First, it turns off the employer. Secondly, it casts a shadow on the applicant.The recruiter will probably think that the person who sent the resume did not leave his past jobs himself, but he was asked to leave due to the lack of basic concepts about the scope of the company.

For people who do not know how to phrase their key skills, a quick tip is provided. These phrases, in principle, can be called generalized. However, you shouldn't use all of them. It is better to indicate truthful data on the accumulated knowledge from the previous place of work and dilute this list with characteristics suitable for the position of interest:

• knowledge of the intricacies of interpersonal business communication;
• ability to organize working hours;
• the ability to analyze what is needed to solve work issues;
• 7 years of successful management experience.

When preparing a resume for a position of interest, the applicant tries to show himself in the best possible light. However, the key skills of a potential employee do not always correspond to a vacancy. And in order to get an invitation for an interview for sure, you need to know one important nuance: the employer, placing an advertisement for the search for an employee, prescribes what the future subordinate should know. These are the requirements that need to be rephrased slightly and presented in the Key Skills section.

When compiling the “key skills” section, it is necessary to correctly, and most importantly, effectively present information about your own professional knowledge.

• At first, it is necessary to adhere to a concise approach... It is enough to indicate 7–8 basic knowledge. Going over with the number of professional characteristics will turn the section into a hard-to-read text. And a smaller set of key skills will raise doubts among the employer about the competence of the applicant.
• Secondly, the professional knowledge presented in the resume must meet the requirements of the vacancy in question as much as possible... One should not write about the skills of a pastry chef if the applicant wishes to become an advertising manager. When reading the "Key Skills" section, an HR employee should immediately understand what position the person who sent the resume is applying for.
• Thirdly, it is important to present the key skills section in a presentable manner... The description of each individual skill should be simple, well-written. It is advisable to use more numbers and facts, which are confirmed by letters of recommendation from former employers. For example, “extensive sales experience” sounds ridiculous. It is not clear from this phrase what exactly the applicant was doing in his previous jobs. It is best to indicate “6 years in a managerial position in a 15-person sales department”. Here it is already more clear in what field the applicant worked and what he did.

Do not forget about the psychological approach to the "key skills" section of the resume.

But the main thing is that these characteristics are veiled in clear and understandable phrasescharacterizing the job seeker from the professional side. The employer is bound to be impressed by the specific presentation of key skills. It is these characteristics that can play a decisive role in the acceptance of an applicant for a vacant position.

There are a number of professional and technical skills that are generalized. They can be applied to almost any resume. One way or another, but these characteristics will be useful, especially when the key skills are obtained less than the required standard.

• Knowledge of foreign language... This skill is indicated by translators.However, the ability to understand and communicate with foreigners is also suitable for lawyers or sales managers of international companies.
• Ability to budget... This characteristic can be indicated by purchasing managers or economists.
• Inventory skills... This characteristic can be written in the resume by the applicant for the position of procurement manager or office manager.
• Skill in developing commercial offers for clients... This characteristic mainly applies to customer acquisition managers and sales managers.
• Negotiation experience... Skill corresponding to the position of a leader.
• Direct selling experience... Most often, this phrase is used by job seekers for the position of sales assistant and sales representative.
• Persuasion skill... This professional trait is suitable for the person looking for themselves in sales.
• Ability to work with primary data... This is a characteristic that applies to copywriters, office managers, or designers.

However, this list is far from complete. There are tons of skills to fit different jobs:

• knowledge of the programming language;
• experience in business communication in oral and written forms;
• knowledge of the rules for compiling client databases;
• the ability to quickly find the required information;
• experience in reporting;
• experience of quickly searching for information on competitors.

Of course, these key skills are not suitable for a courier. Potential delivery staff are encouraged to include on their resume their ability to navigate the area, the ability to navigate the best routes, experience with cash registers, and knowledge of etiquette. but there are specialties where generalized skills are inappropriate... For example, an electrician. He must have special knowledge corresponding to such a serious position. There are, of course, exceptions, but only if the position of an electrician implies a wider range of work.

But in no case should professional characteristics be confused with personal qualities, no matter how good they are... This nuance is also important, because a potential manager, seeing even a slight discrepancy in the sections, can throw the resume aside.

When describing communication skills, it is important to understand their differences from skills. Skills are what a person has learned in the course of work. A skill is a skill brought to perfection.

Further, it is proposed to get acquainted with the skills and abilities related to the communication group:

• the ability to resolve conflict disputes and issues in a short time;
• negotiation skill;
• ability to discuss with potential clients;
• experience in holding events of a public scale;
• the ability to listen carefully and convince a partner that they are right.

These skills allow the employer to be convinced of the competence of a potential employee:

• the skill of managing projects of high complexity;
• the ability to solve multiple tasks of varying complexity;
• practical experience of working with large amounts of information;
• the ability to think several steps ahead;
• the skill of planning a team's workflow.

Skills from a leadership group match leadership positions. And in this case, it is strictly forbidden to write whatever comes to mind. It is necessary to carefully weigh each phrase in order to make it clear to the future chef about his professional features:

• Knowledge of foreign languages;
• skill of working with legal and legislative documents;
• the skill of leading people;
• ability to motivate subordinates.

In this group, there are many professional characteristics that resemble a generalized form:

• knowledge of PC at the level of an advanced user;
• knowledge of office and professional programs;
• possession of office equipment;
• conducting business communication in printed form;
• Knowledge of foreign languages;
• knowledge of legislation;
• knowledge of GOSTs, SNIPs;
• "Blind" printing of text in several languages.

In addition to professional skills, there is a list of other knowledge that the employer also welcomesrecruiting a new employee to the staff of his company. Many confuse them with personal qualities, respectively, indicate in another section of the resume:

• attentiveness to any nuances;
• Analytical mind;
• sociability;
• punctuality;
• management skill.

Before starting to write a resume, it is important to carefully read the requirements of the employer. Quite often, a company looking for a new employee indicates what skills a candidate for a vacant position should have. These professional characteristics need to be entered only in the "key skills" section. For example, an ad contains a requirement for an applicant to be "proficient in English." A person wishing to take this position should mention in the resume about the ability to organize a visa for leadership, if this is actually the case. Surely such a requirement for a potential employee was stated for a reason. Most likely, the company works with foreign partners, where not only spoken, but also written communication is required.

In no case should you steal a ready-made text from other resumes.... A recruiter at a recruiting agency or HR manager is bound to spot cheating. If it is not possible to compose the required number of skills, you can dilute the actual knowledge with generalized skills.... They can be slightly corrected if necessary. The main thing is that the information in the Key Skills section is appropriate for the position of interest.

If a resume is handed over to a recruiter at a recruiting agency, it is important to remember that the search for a candidate for an application received from employers is based on keywords... It follows that the list of key skills should be made up of common phrases that match business etiquette. An important condition is that the list of skills must correspond to the desired position. It is inappropriate to write neatly if the applicant is interested in the vacancy of a manager. But for the secretary, this characteristic is quite consistent. For a more detailed consideration of this nuance, it is proposed to get acquainted with some positions that require special knowledge.

Today, a fairly popular position, but not everyone is suitable. People with a hot-tempered and impulsive nature do not even go through a probationary period, they independently refuse this work and leave. Sanguine and phlegmatic people achieve great success in the field of direct sales.

Sales consultants need to have the ability to motivate the customer, be able to listen to customer objections, know how to resolve conflict situations, be able to identify consumer needs and help in choosing a product.

The position is very difficult, but very interesting. Not every person is able to prove himself in this field of activity. And it’s impossible to become an economist just like that. It is necessary to have a higher education and have a penchant for analytical thinking.

Only professional skills should be present in the economist's resume, namely: possession of a PC, knowledge of computer programs, the ability to work with bank accounts, maintain appropriate reporting, plan and keep records of recurring payments, as well as conclude contracts with customers and service providers.

A complex profession that requires only professional skills from the applicant. For example, experience in personnel management. In this case it is necessary to indicate the number of people who were subordinate... The skill of successfully creating a sales department speaks of the high potential of a candidate for a managerial position.

When writing a resume, it is extremely it is important to draw clear lines between professional skills and personal qualities of the applicant... Undoubtedly, they are related, but nevertheless, professional characteristics speak of knowledge and skills in work, and personal qualities demonstrate developed character traits. The next step is to look at some interesting examples of job seekers' resumes, as well as a sample with a mistake.

First of all, you should get acquainted with the resume, where there is a clear boundary between professional skills and personal qualities. Desired position - accountant. The form is delimited by separate blocks, where the item about education comes first, then about work experience. Below there is a section "professional skills". The applicant in this case clearly and clearly spoke about his knowledge in the accounting field. The section "personal qualities", as expected, is located at the very bottom. The only drawback is communication skills and punctuality are indicated in the personal profile, although these indicators are skills related to the additional group.

The second version of the resume is painted as fully as possible, but the section "professional skills" turned out to be meager and uninteresting.