A resume is undoubtedly the most vital document, which you carry while applying for an interview session. It acts as your identity card and showcases your abilities, skills, education, and work experience enabling the hirers to judge your potential and decide whether or not you are a perfect match for their job opening.
A resume can be prepared in ample ways, following different techniques, procedures, and guidelines. However, there are a few general sections that form the heart of a resume and are always included in it. One of these is the skills section, which puts forward the skills that a candidate possesses. For example, an accountant has the skill to run and operate Quickbooks (accounting software) and perform advanced operations in MS Excel.
Relevance Of Putting Skills On Your Resume
Mentioning skills on your resume not only gives you a competitive edge over the other candidates but also helps you to create an identity, which is distinct from the other job seekers. This immensely helps in showing your worth and effectively negotiating the salary offered during an interview process.
Further, skills also help an interviewer to judge how much you qualify for the job role offered by them. In case, your skills show high compatibility with the tasks and duties to be performed while being in the job, you can certainly expect to get hired at a lucrative pay scale.
All The Skills At A Glance
| General Skills (for all resumes) | Specific Skills (profession-related skills) |
| Effective Communicator | Quickbooks, Zoho accounts, Xero |
| Team Player | International financial reporting standards and US GAAP |
| Problem Solver | Cognos Analytics (IBM) |
| Leader | Accounting principles and conventions |
| Active Listener | Data analysis and SQL |
| Flexible | Financial literacy and competence |
| Compliant | Phlebotomy |
| Multi-tasker | Patient’s care, empathy, and supervision |
| Detail Oriented | Dressing, blood pressure monitoring, and noting vital signs |
| Administrator | Electronic heart record |
| Visionary | Patient rehabilitation and mental counseling |
| Decision Maker | Scrum management |
| Empathetic | Google office suite (G-suite) |
| Conflict Resolver | Financial modeling |
| Passionate | Product lifecycle management and customer satisfaction |
| Effectively Uses Time | Sales Forecasting |
| Hard worker | Search Engine Optimization |
| Respects Deadlines | Pay per click and cost per click |
| Loyal | Branding and promotion campaigns |
| Creative | Email, SMS, and Social media marketing |
| Emotionally Intelligent | Google analytics |
| Multi-lingual | AutoCAD, Sketchup, or NanoCAD |
| Customer Oriented | Prototyping |
| Excellent Writer | Solidworks |
Best 51 Skills To Put On A Resume
The skills to be put on a resume vary according to your job role and profession. However, several skills are generalized and must form a part of every resume. A list of all such skills have been mentioned below:
General Skills – To Be Put In Every Resume
1. Effective Communicator
Communication holds a lot of relevance in any corporate. Every employee is expected to possess effective communication skills using which they can adjust to the existing communication processes of the company and can follow as well as extend orders. Hence, always mention effective communicator as one of your key skills, as it is a requirement.
2. Team Player
Most business organizations now prefer to operate in a team set-up wherein the employees are divided into separate teams based on their educational qualifications, the nature of the tasks to be performed, key skills, and their designation. Hence, every employee is expected to be a team player, wherein he or she delivers exceptional performances while working within a group and meet the team targets with dedication.
3. Critical Thinker
A corporate job is full of challenges wherein employees find themselves in hot soup. The deadline pressure, a need to maintain quality of processes, and consistent performance evaluation, add to their worries, requiring them to brainstorm innovative methods using which they can think critically and perform their tasks with precision. Hence, it is expected from every employee that he or she is a critical thinker and forms rational arguments while executing the assigned tasks.
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4. Problem Solver
Business organizations love to hire employees that possess a positive attitude and are inclined towards solving critical business problems. It is undoubtedly a tough and resilient process, which requires a lot of tactics, perseverance, and dedication on the part of the employees. Listing a problem solver as a primary skill on your resume really helps in showcasing your seriousness and urge to perform.
5. Leader
You might be getting hired at a lower level or maybe middle level. But with time, you will certainly grow in your position and will one day lead a big team of subordinates. Thus, employers are always on the lookout for leaders who can manage an entire department or a team using their instincts and innate leadership skills. Leader in itself is a dominant word and certainly reflects confidence besides exhibiting a positive attitude.
6. Active Listener
No matter what your designation is, there will always be a board of management that will guide, supervise and control you within an organization. The rules, policies, and procedures formed by them need to be religiously followed by the employees. This is possible only when you possess active listening skills. Hence, never forget to put it on your resume.
7. Flexible
Most business organizations are skeptical in relation to change management as there are huge internal protests and widespread discontentment among the employees, whenever there is any change implemented by the management. By putting “flexible” on your resume you simply show that you are not sensitive to management changes, rather have the ability to adjust with them.
8. Compliant
The processes carried on by every corporate are defined by a set of rules and procedures. Every employee, be it a Managing Director or a Data Entry Operator is required to abide by those rules and follow them while discharging their duties. Hence, every employer expects its employees to be compliant and diligently follow all the rules and policies of the company.
9. Multi Tasker
Most established companies require their employees to multi-task and perform several processes simultaneously. By putting the skill multi-tasker on your resume, you show that you understand the relevance of it and even have the ability as well as the will to execute multiple tasks and discharge several duties simultaneously.
10. Detail Oriented
Accuracy and precision hold a lot of relevance in any business organization. They not only define the quality of processes but also depicts the proficiency and adeptness of the employees. When you state “detail-oriented” as your skill, you show that you are a meticulous employee and prefer to gather a lot of information and details before embarking on the process of task execution.
11. Administrator
Be it the position of an accountant, a digital marketer, or maybe a mechanical engineer, in every profile, you are expected to be an efficient administrator and a master at managing the different affairs associated with your job. This includes handling your team members, obeying your seniors, and satisfying your company’s clients with the work performed. Hence, when you put an administrator in your resume, you show that you are an organized person who loves to take initiative and lead.
12. Visionary
Not only the promoters or directors, considering the level of business competition, but it is also now expected from the employees of the organizations as well, to be visionary and far-sighted. A visionary employee always imaginatively performs his or her tasks and delivers an exceptional work performance. Further, such employees are always in the good books of their seniors besides being widely respected inside the company.
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13. Decision Maker
The employees working at every designation or business position are required to make certain decisions that are related to their work profile. For example, a senior digital marketer would need to decide whether to run an email marketing campaign or a social media campaign considering the budgetary requirements. When you state decision-maker in your resume, you exhibit your willingness to indulge in the complex process of decision-making. This shows your commitment to the organization.
14. Empathetic
Empathy in a general sense refers to the act of stepping into the shoes of another person and thinking in accordance with their frame of reference. An empathetic employee always promotes satisfaction and a feeling of belongingness among peers, team members, and subordinates. It is a necessary soft skill that every employee must put in his or her resume as it is a common requirement of most hiring managers.
15. Conflict Resolver
Offices, workplaces, or factories are quite diverse nowadays with people belonging to different religions, castes, and creeds, working together under a common roof. Not only do they differ in ideologies but also possess a different work culture following which they perform their duties and execute tasks. This leads to conflicts and disputes among the employees that ultimately deteriorate the quality of business processes.
A conflict resolver not only shows immense maturity to not be a part of such disputes but also shows his willingness to resolve all such workplace disputes. Hence, always mention it in your resume and display your openness as well as maturity.
16. Passionate
Every business organization comprises some daily tasks that have the ability to crush any employee in its monotony. Passion in a general sense refers to the feeling of enthusiasm following which you discharge duties with interest, devotion, and dedication. Hence, when you quote “passionate” in your resume as your skill, you show that you are never dull and always passionate about performing even the daily/routine tasks with the same level of vigor and energy.
17. Effectively Utilizes Time
Time might be an illusion for an eminent scientist, but this theory just does not work well with the employees working in the corporate sector. Every employer, hiring manager, and interviewer expects the job seekers to have an unmatched ability to manage their business/working hours and remain productive besides being efficient. Hence, always mention on your resume under the skills section, that you utilize your time effectively.
18. Hard Worker
This is a very common skill and is used by several employees in their resumes. This certainly shows that you love to work hard at your organization and are even willing to work for long hours just to honor all your organization’s commitments. The skills section of a resume is almost incomplete without putting this skill, and hence it is recommended that you also mention it in your profile.
19. Respects Deadlines
In a company, the employees are required to execute several tasks in a single business day. All these tasks have a fixed deadline attached to them and you are required to honor all of them. Yet, several employees, primarily to their lethargy, fail to meet their deadlines and cut a sorry figure. Hence, always put on the resume that you respect deadlines and always try to achieve them using a developed/adopted prioritization technique.
20. Loyal
Turn-coats were simply never in vogue. No organization wants its employees to switch over to other organizations after gaining considerable work experience and developing many of the core skills. To reduce such occurrences, company’s try several methods to lower their attrition rates and prefer hiring only those employees who are loyal and will not switch over just for the sake of some additional monetary benefits.
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Hence, always mention “loyal” in the skills section of your profile to show your high level of commitment and dedication.
21. Creative
Every employee is expected to be creative while discharging his or her duties. This includes out-of-the-box thinking and trying some better or improved ways to execute their tasks. By mentioning that you are creative, you will certainly gain a competitive edge over the other candidates along with finding yourself in a favorable position wherein you can negotiate a high salary.
22. Emotionally Intelligent
Despite all those anti-harassment policies, rules, and procedures in place, a typical workfloor is always marred by a variety of office politics and associated issues. Hiring managers prefer not to hire those employees who are sensitive and lack emotional intelligence.
Hence, by putting this skill in your resume, you show that you have a high degree of emotional stability and will not feel bad or offended after receiving negative feedback, criticisms, or even some negative comments.
23. Multi-Lingual
If you are aware of several languages then it is high time that you included this skill in your resume. English, being an international language, is a common requirement for most of the employees, and if you are aware of any language apart from it, please mention it in your resume. This will certainly make you stand out from the rest of the job applications and there are high chances that you will get an interview call.
24. Customer Oriented
Customers are the reasons why business organizations exist. No matter if you are working in the finance department or the sales department, you got to have a sense of empathy towards the customers of the organization. Your every effort and endeavor must help the business organization to achieve its ultimate goals of customer satisfaction and service. Hence, it is worth mentioning this skill in your resume, which will highlight your overall personality and thought process.
25. Excellent Writer
Drafting skills or written communication is as important as verbal communication. More than not, you will find yourself in positions wherein you will be required to write effective emails, handwritten notes, business communications, user manuals, or media releases. In all such cases, you are expected to possess effective writing skills wherein you are able to form a structured and logical masterpiece. Hence, always mention in your resume, that you are a strategic or excellent writer.
Specific Skills – To Be Put As Per Your Profession
There are several specific skills that align and line up with the specific requirements of a job. Below is a list of the five most followed professions and the specific skills to be put in the resume:
Accounting, Finance and Budgetary Control
- Quickbooks, Zoho accounts, Xero
- International financial reporting standards and US GAAP
- Cognos Analytics (IBM)
- Accounting principles and conventions
- Data analysis and SQL
- Financial literacy and competence
Doctors, Nurses, and Other Healthcare Employees
- Phlebotomy
- Patient’s care, empathy, and supervision
- Dressing, blood pressure monitoring, and noting vital signs
- Electronic heart record
- Patient rehabilitation and mental counseling
Office, Administration and Customer Service
- Scrum management
- Google office suite (G-suite)
- Financial modeling
- Product lifecycle management and customer satisfaction
- Sales Forecasting
Promotions, Advertising and Marketing Related Sector
- Search Engine Optimization
- Pay per click and Cost per click
- Branding and promotion campaigns
- Email, SMS, and Social media marketing
- Google analytics
Engineering, Designing and Other Technical Jobs
- AutoCAD, Sketchup, or NanoCAD
- Prototyping
- Solidworks
- Troubleshooting
- Software testing
References
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
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