Stop "Listing" Skills on Your Resume

Communicating your skills to an employer is one of the most important aspects of your resume. The best way to do this is by highlighting your experiences, transferable skills and technical qualifications with specific examples so employers know exactly what you bring to the table. This isn’t always what we see though.

A trend that AWE staff have seen on resumes is the too-often used “list of skills” without examples of how those skills are used and developed. This tends to be a long, bulleted list containing buzzwords like “excellent communicator,” “fast-learner,” “problem-solver,” “good work ethic” or “time management.” While all of these might be true, it’s important to elaborate on them and give specific examples that tell the employer how, where, and when you developed these skills. 

Enter: the “highlights” section. This is a section that we suggest using as a way to give context to all of those wonderful skills and qualities that you have developed throughout your career. We usually suggest picking 4-5 of your strongest skills and matching them up with specific evidence of when you demonstrated or built on them. 

For example, in a standard list of skills, you may be inclined to say that you have:

• “Excellent communication skills,” or 

• “Written and verbal communication skills.”

Communication skills are extremely valuable and important to highlight! However, try matching them to some of your education, work or volunteer experience to provide proof that you have those skills, instead of just naming them. This could look like:

• “Strong communication and interpersonal skills developed by connecting with clients and customers through volunteer and customer service experience,” or

• “Strong written communication skills developed through writing reports, presentations and persuasive essays in both education and work experience.”

This wording shows the employer exactly how you have developed the skill and provides more evidence to give them a reason to trust and better understand your skill set. When writing your resume, really take the time to think about your skills and what experiences helped you develop them. To an employer, your transferable skills are an extremely important piece of your story, so it’s crucial to make sure you highlight and explain them to the best of your ability. Providing context is the key to making your resume stand out!