One of the main sections that you should include on your resume is a skills section! This section explains the skills you possess and helps show employers that you are a qualified candidate!
The skills section can be tricky to figure out, though. You may have heard of hard and soft skills. But what are they?
Which skills do you actually use on your resume?
Are there skills you should avoid on your resume?
These questions and more will be answered in this blog post as I detail the different types of skills and how to build a skills section on your resume!
It Will Look Different For Everyone
So, this may seem obvious, but everyone’s skills section will look a little different.
You may even be building an entirely skill-based resume (this is called a functional resume). You can read more about the different types of resumes in this blog post!
However, I am writing this blog post for people building combination resumes (the most popular type of resumes). These resumes list professional experiences and include skills towards the bottom of the resumes.
The type of resume may vary from person to person, but the skills included will as well!
What do I mean by skills?
Skills are any trait or talent that you possess! It can be as simple as your problem-solving ability or as complex as knowledge of a data analysis tool!
There are different types of skills, hard and soft. These skills differ in what they actually are, how they are learned, and what purpose they serve on your resume.
Hard Skills
Hard skills are technical skills that you learn by performing certain activities.
Usually, when you are applying for a job, you will see a list of skills that are required or desired for the position in the job post. Typically these skills are hard skills. The employer wants to make sure that the person hired has the required skills to perform the job successfully.
Hard skills are super important to include on your resume because they show what you can do!
Soft Skills
Soft skills are less technical than hard skills. They are typically personality traits and behaviors that help you work with others.
These skills have to do with how you interact with people, and they are sometimes called interpersonal skills.
Employers often look for these candidates because they are hard to teach on the job. But these skills are crucial for long-term career success!
Often, soft skills are transferable across careers and industries. For example, creativity can be necessary for an art field but also for a science field!
Job postings will typically include some soft skills in their required or desired skills. This does not mean that you should list only soft skills on your resume, though.
Which Skills to Include on Resume
So, you know the difference between hard and soft skills, but which should you include on your resume?
The answer is BOTH!
Hard and soft skills have an important place on your resume, but they are used for different purposes.
Hard skills should be listed in the “Skills” section on your resume because that section is used to emphasize the technical skills that you are bringing to a position.
However, you can utilize soft skills in your descriptions of previous roles. Soft skills are also instrumental in job interviews!
Ever heard of the strength and weakness question that is always asked in interviews? Well, soft skills are usually what you use to answer that question!
For example, your strength may be problem-solving, but your weakness may be time management! These are both soft skills!
Hard & Soft Skills for the Skills Section of Your Resume
You now know the difference between hard and soft skills and how to use each on your resume. Now it’s time to actually start brainstorming which skills you want to include!
To figure out what skills to include on your resume, you can make a list of all the skills you have. Include any skills you picked up at past jobs, personality traits that you see as strengths, and any other strengths you have noticed in yourself.
Creating an ongoing list to add to when you learn a new skill can be beneficial for future resume building!
If you’re feeling lost, here are a few hard and soft skills that you may possess or that can help inspire you!
Hard Skills
- Google Suites
- Microsoft Office
- Adobe Creative Apps
- Photoshop
- Coding
- Google Analytics
- Programming Skills
- Data Analysis
- HTML
Soft Skills
- Problem-Solving
- Flexibility
- Teamwork
- Dependability
- Conflict Resolution
- Active Listening
- Public Speaking
- Attention to Detail
- Time management
Do you actually need a skills section on your resume?
Well, no. You don’t NEED to put anything on your resume.
But really, including a skills section on your resume can be really beneficial, especially if you’re a college student or recent college graduate who may not have a ton of work experience yet.
A skills section helps highlight the knowledge and qualities you will bring to a position, making you a stronger candidate for the job!
If you’re struggling to build your resume, download “The Easy Resume Guide” for free! This guide will help you format and build an easy resume and provide you with 5 resume templates to use as inspiration!