Do You Have These Skills On Your Resume?

Recruiters and HR staffers spend an entire six seconds scanning your resume. That's why you need to put your most important skills in an easy-to-read format. Discover five skills you need to include to capture the attention of recruiters and how to display these skills on a resume.

Why Soft Skills?

Soft skills differ from hard skills in that they transfer from one job to the next. You can put soft skills on your resume no matter what job you apply for because they are areas of expertise you have across any industry. Soft skills deal with how you handle people and situations at the office, such as teamwork, emotional intelligence and leadership. Hard skills are more technical in nature, including data analysis, running computer software or performing graphic design work.

Fewer employers look for technical skills and want soft skills. Plus, three of the top five required soft skills in tech jobs and customer service jobs are exactly the same. That's why you should put more of these types of skills on your resume.

1. Leadership

Leadership is the most desirable skill that recruiters look for in candidates. A full 75 percent of employers want leadership traits in a new hire. By comparison, 67.5 percent of employers want to see technical skills on your resume.

2. Teamwork

The ability to work on a team is another top skill sought by employers, especially in 78 percent of new college graduates. A company doesn't make money one person at a time, and every team member needs to know how to play his role on a team. Teams of people working together lead to success.

3. Communication

Recruiters say communication is the most important soft skill 67.5 percent of the time. This takes into account written and oral communication, such as answering emails and discussing your daily tasks with your team.

4. Analytical Thinking

Analytical thinking talks about how you perform research to get your job done. You learn to prioritize your time and projects. You need to make your tasks more efficient.

5. Strategic Planning

Recruiters love candidates who can think ahead and think beyond just daily tasks. Strategic planning is a trait of good leadership because you can think months or even years ahead of the present moment.

How to Put These Five Skills on Your Resume

Put soft skills on a resume when you see them on a job description. Match the same words if they are relevant to your skill set, and add some extra skills that enhance your value. Consider placing all of your top-level soft skills in one place prominently on the document. Think about the top in your career summary or at the bottom as a series of bullet points.

The point of having a separate section of skills is to draw the eye of a recruiter and also to have the right keywords for applicant trackers. Getting past an applicant tracker and a recruiter leads to a phone call and then an interview.

Your resume is essentially a professional snapshot of your life and experience. Make sure you showcase the top skills recruiters want and put them in your vital document to help you progress to the interview stage.

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