Supporting skills. Examples of professional skills and abilities in a resume

When writing a resume, you should focus on highlighting key skills. The more accurately you formulate them, the greater the chance that the employer will pay attention to you.

Types of Key Skills

In a large number of resumes, the recruiter’s task is to find exactly the one who will best meet the employer’s requirements. In the key skills section, help the employer understand exactly what your advantage is over other applicants for this job. Why formulate three to five of your main strengths.

There is no need to list all your responsibilities that you handled at your previous places of work and business characteristics. Focus on what's most important. This is necessary in order to show that you can be successful in the desired position indicated at the very beginning of the resume.

The types of key characteristics include skills:

• communicative;
• organizational;
• leadership;
• applied.

Try to answer the question “What can I do?”, analyze job responsibilities from previous jobs, if they are relevant to the desired position.

Let's reveal a little secret: When you describe skills in a resume, rely on the requirements and keywords from the job description. Then the employer is more likely to pay attention to your candidacy. If key skills are significant for this position, then these are the ones that need to be reflected in the resume.

1. Communication skills contain information about how well an employee will be able to communicate with colleagues and clients. These include:

• participation in negotiations;
• the ability to convince clients and motivate them, for example, to purchase a product or service;
• the ability to resolve controversial issues and smooth out conflict situations;
• Experience in handling customer complaints and objections;
• mastery of competent written and oral speech;
• participation in public speaking.

1. For a vacancy in a managerial position, a candidate must focus on his organizational skills:

• building and optimizing business processes;
• successful project management;
• budgeting and strategic planning;
• ability to multitask and successfully cope with large amounts of information;
• strategic thinking.

1. Additionally, the manager must have leadership qualities:

• the ability to properly motivate employees;
• team management skills (it is advisable to indicate the number of employees who were subordinate to you at the previous place of work);
• the ability to make decisions independently and be responsible for the results of the team’s work.

1. Applied skills are associated with the performance of specific executive duties. These include:

• level of use of a personal computer, skills in using office equipment;
• knowledge of office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.);
• ability to quickly type text;
• clerical, personnel or accounting skills;
• knowledge of legislative documents, ability to work with legal systems;
• practical knowledge of GOST and SNIP standards;
• knowledge of foreign languages ​​(the level of proficiency and documents confirming it are indicated).

Examples of Key Skills

Each type of profession has its own “set” of key skills that employers pay attention to when selecting employees. Therefore, when writing your resume, pay attention to several examples of the design of this section.

For position sales manager household appliances key skills may be:

• direct sales;
• persuasion skills;
• excellent knowledge of the range of household appliances;
• knowledge of sales technologies.

For position PR-manager:

• availability of a contact database for journalists;
• article writing skills;
• knowledge of vocabulary in a certain area.

Job title administrator relates to leadership, so key skills include:

• leadership of people, ability to resolve conflicts within a team;
• ability to organize work process;
• skills of independent decision-making, forecasting and strategic planning;
• the ability to bear responsibility for one’s decisions and the results of the team’s work.

For engineer It is important to show specific skills, for example:

• knowledge of the principles of operation of equipment, specific features of the operation of mechanisms of varying complexity;
• experience in maintaining technical documentation, reading drawings;
• skills in carrying out planned work and in emergency response mode;
• knowledge of the regulatory framework in the field of engineering design, GOSTs, SNIPs;
• ability to work with application software.

Shop assistant must have the following characteristics:

• knowledge of the characteristics of the type of goods being sold;
• knowledge of cash discipline;
• skill to work in team;
• Confident in using a personal computer.

Applicant for position accountant must indicate in the key skills section of the resume:

• Experience with accounting, tax accounting, reporting;
• knowledge of the basics of tax legislation;
• experience in participation in accounting, tax audits, audits;
• conducting operations for payroll calculation, accounting of fixed assets, currency transactions, etc.

For driver important skills are:

• availability of accident-free experience;
• Experience working on luxury cars or special equipment (if required);
• ability to navigate within and outside the city;
• Experience working with documents required for departure on a flight (waybills).

Specific skills for lawyer are considered:

• knowledge of legislation in the field of civil, civil procedural, arbitration, labor law;
• the ability to competently (from a legal point of view) draw up contracts and conduct legal examination of documents;
• skills in working in legal information systems;
• ability to provide advice on legal issues;
• experience in participating in court hearings.

Cashier is associated with receiving and issuing cash, so his skills:

• knowledge of the principles of trade, cash discipline, rules for accepting and issuing funds;
• Confident user of cash registers, PCs and office applications;
• recounting skills;
• ability to work with clients.

A number of organizations provide services through telephone consultations, for which they recruit operators. For operator Key skills are:

• competent, intelligible speech;
• telephone conversation skills;
• ability to listen;
• patience and kindness;
• the ability to neutralize negativity.

A good resume should have a focused, presentable and concise summary of skills, knowledge and abilities. This block has at least one important purpose.

Why write about professional skills on your resume?

Your skills are a distillation of your experience. You may have several jobs, serious work experience and a description of the experience may take more than one A4 page. This is a large amount of information and the HR manager will have to study it for a long time to understand whether you fit the requirements of the vacancy or not.

Help the HR manager, do this analytical work for him. This will increase your chances of getting an interview.

The main purpose of a skills list is to show that you are a perfect fit for the job requirements. This is exactly the principle I adhere to when I create a “selling” resume.

What professional skills should you include on your resume?

How to show that you are suitable for a vacancy? There are three rules for describing professional skills and knowledge in a resume:

• Compliance with job requirements.
• Presentability.
• Conciseness.

Compliance with job requirements

This is the most important rule to follow when writing a resume.

Firstly, position yourself at the “executive-manager” level. Looking at your resume and skills, it should be immediately clear who you are.

In the course of my work, I often have to remove or reformulate many “executive” phrases from the resumes of managers and directors. Correct positioning is an important task.

Secondly, analyze the requirements and responsibilities of vacancies, see the style of phrases and expressions and other nuances. This will help you write professional skills and abilities correctly in your resume. To conduct such an analysis, you just need to find 5-7 interesting vacancies and study them carefully. You can easily copy good wording from job descriptions into your resume.

Presentability

Your skills should sound beautiful and strong. They must sell you, and clear and simple words, facts, figures, professional vocabulary or even jargon will help you with this.

Here are some examples of professional skills on a resume.

Essentially, you just need to flesh out some skills. Facts are more credible, vocabulary shows your expertise, clarifications describe you better.

Conciseness

• If you write few of your skills, you will get the feeling that you are not an expert.
• If you write a lot, it will be difficult to read the resume, and there is also a risk of falling under the “overqualified” filter.

Common Mistake

Very often I come across a completely wild and faceless list of qualities on a resume:

• Productivity.
• Determination.
• Communication skills.
• Stress resistance.
• Learning ability.
• Initiative.
• And so on.

The sad thing is that almost everyone writes this. This set of qualities, unfortunately, does not guarantee an invitation to an interview and does not make you more valuable in the eyes of HR specialists.

There are two ways to present yourself better.:

1. Delete this entire list and leave only the core job skills.
2. Choose one (the strongest) of your skills and describe it in more detail. If you decide to choose learning, write what exactly you mastered quickly - learned Japanese in 6 months, mastered CRM Axapta in a weekend, completed a BMW car repair course in two weeks and passed the exam with 98%. Specifics and facts are important!

Examples of skill descriptions

Below I will give some examples of professional skills and abilities in a resume. I chose several positions at different levels for this.

accountant

• Experience in accounting and management accounting - 6 years (areas - wholesale trade, logistics).
• Experience in setting up accounting and tax accounting from scratch.
• Successful experience in passing tax and audit audits.
• Experience in obtaining loans for a company.
• Knowledge of taxation, currency legislation, Tax and Civil Code, RAS, IFRS, INCOTERMS 2000.
• PC knowledge (Office, 1C 7.7, 8.2, 8.3).

Example of description of professional skills sales consultant

• Consulting and serving customers on the sales floor.
• Registration and delivery of online store goods.
• Checking the serviceability of goods.
• Reception and display of goods.
• Handling claims (returns, accepting goods for warranty repairs).
• Reporting.

An example of a description of a driver's professional skills

• Driving license category B, D.
• Driving experience - 17 years.
• Excellent knowledge of the city and suburbs of Moscow.
• Experience in minor car repairs.
• Experience of traveling to the European Union, knowledge of rules, laws, paperwork.
• No bad habits (I don’t smoke, I don’t drink).
• Citizenship of the Russian Federation.

An example of a lawyer's professional skills description

• Experience in legal support of the company (7 years in production).
• Experience in resolving disputes and protecting company interests.
• Experience in pre-trial dispute resolution.
• Knowledge of legal documents (contracts, statements of claim, claims, powers of attorney...).
• Ability to communicate with government agencies and authorities.
• Ability to work with clients.
• Knowledge of current legislation of the Russian Federation.
• English is fluent.

Example of description of professional skills manager (director)

• Higher economic education + EMBA.
• 14 years of experience in production management (wood processing and furniture production).
• Personnel management skills (teams of up to 220 people).
• Thorough knowledge of warehouse logistics and supply.
• Skills in interaction with regulatory authorities (certification, licensing and other tasks).
• Knowledge of laws, rules and regulations of safety, labor protection and environmental standards.
• English language - Upper Intermediate.
• Excellent PC knowledge (specific knowledge of SAP).

For effective work and career advancement, modern specialists simply need professional skills. Moreover, certain knowledge and skills help to win over the employer when looking for a suitable vacancy; you just need to indicate yours. Each profession requires special skills from the worker. It is for this reason that when filling out a resume, specialists must indicate what professional skills they possess.

Examples of professional skills in a resume

Experience managing people and successful strategic planning. Average level of knowledge of English. User of several computer programs: Excel, MsWord, PowerPoint. The ability to make non-standard strategic decisions when managing an organization. Ability to forecast.

Professional skills in a resume

The “professional skills” section of your resume should be placed after “work experience” and “achievements.” This section is a short list of key knowledge and skills that you have acquired in previous jobs or at university. This is the culmination of describing you as a professional and expert in your field. The HR manager will determine your capabilities based not only on the information provided about the experience in performing certain duties, but also on the skills and abilities provided in your resume.

To determine what exactly should be included in the professional skills section, you need to analyze the requirements that the employer wants to see in a candidate for the position with what you can do. Compare all this data and indicate the most profitable ones for the company, those that correspond to the proposed vacancy. The main thing is to indicate skills that clearly correspond to the vacancy.

List 4-6 points, this will be quite enough, you should not exaggerate or embellish, because excessive versatility may lead the HR manager to think that your knowledge is superficial and that you have not taken the issue of writing a resume too seriously.

Focus on your advantages, even if there are not many of them, but you can confidently show and prove them during the interview.

If you have mastered some skills, but you do not have practical experience in this area, you can indicate in your resume that you have theoretical knowledge and list them.

This way, you can give the impression of a purposeful person, show that you are interested in innovations and are developing in a professional direction.

To describe your key knowledge and skills in your resume, use the phrases: “experience in doing this,” “knowledge of this,” “ability to do this,” “know this,” and so on.

Avoid such qualities as “stress resistance”, “communication skills”, “organization”. They should be classified in the “personal qualities” section of the resume and are not appropriate here.

The required skills that you must indicate are the level of computer proficiency, possibly knowledge of special programs that are needed to perform a specific job, and knowledge of languages.

Example of professional skills for a loan officer resume:

Your main goal is to force the HR manager to choose you, to convince him that you are the best option, that your experience and knowledge fully meet the requirements, and perhaps even more.

Professional skills and abilities - examples.

This section provides a short list of the most important practical skills and abilities that were acquired at previous jobs or at a university. You can also describe your professional achievements here. At its core, this section performs the same function as the description of work experience, but more fully reveals the applicant as a professional. The Professional Skills section of a resume is also called “Qualifications.”

Indicating your skills and abilities. you thereby make your resume more attractive. By reading this section, the employer answers the question of why he should invite you for an interview. For an interview to take place, he must be interested in the professional knowledge and skills of the person who sent his resume for consideration. In order for you to succeed as often as possible, we suggest that you use the following recommendations:

Place the “Qualifications” section immediately after the resume objective or after the “Education” section. This sequence is quite logical.

Adjust this section for each vacancy being considered. Indicate here only those professional skills and abilities that are suitable for the position that interests you.

Don’t try to give the impression of being a one-man orchestra by meticulously describing your entire set of advantages. Indicate only 5 - 7 main ones. In order to emphasize some professional skills, sometimes you need to sacrifice others.

First of all, indicate the key skills and abilities that are most relevant to the position that interests you.

Make the list so that this information is easy to read.

Use the language and terms that the employer uses in their job advertisement.

When describing your professional knowledge and skills, start with the words: experience..., proficient..., knowledge..., ability..., work skills...,

Do not list your personal qualities in this section. A special section is provided for this purpose.

Professional skills in a resume

The “Professional skills” section in a resume can also be called “Technical skills” (for programmers and workers in other technical specialties) or “Qualifications”.

In this section, you should provide a short list of skills (abilities) and describe your professional achievements that were obtained in previous places of work. The list should be from four to six items. The main thing to remember is that all listed professional skills must strictly correspond to the proposed vacancy and you should not indicate personal qualities here, such as: efficient, stress-resistant, etc.

It is this section that best contributes to achieving the main goal of a resume - to force the employer to call you and invite you for an interview.

An example of describing professional skills in a resume:

Professional skills

Professional knowledge in the field of journalism. Seven years of experience. Skills: writing, editing and broadcasting news articles and reports.

Highly qualified in oral and written interaction with respondents, for which he was twice awarded a journalism prize in 2000.

Another example of describing work experience in the resume of an inexperienced programmer:

Technical skills:

Operating systems: Windows 95/98, UNIX from Sun SPARC and MS-DOS.

Programming languages: C, C++, HTML and JavaScript.

Software: Microsoft FrontPage, Image Composer and Word Lotus 1-2-3 and mSQL.

Sample descriptions of professional skills

IT director (head of IT department)

Experience in managing an IT department (15 people under supervision).

Department budget management.

IT development in the company.

Participation in making management decisions in the company.

Analysis of the ERP systems market, selection of the one suitable for the company's needs.

Experience in selecting partners for the implementation of ERP systems (implementation project management, participation in pre-project survey, writing technical specifications on the part of the customer).

Additional analysis and participation in the selection of information systems.

Automation of company activities.

Management of internal projects.

Ensuring information security.

Technical support for the office, organization of equipment fleet renewal.

Ensuring uninterrupted operation of corporate LAN and office equipment.

Director of logistics

Development and implementation of a warehouse accounting system.

Creation of regional warehouses and regional logistics.

Optimization of the entire supply chain.

Optimization of warehouse accounting and document flow in the warehouse.

Optimizing the work of the transport department.

Negotiating and concluding contracts with logistics service providers.

Experience in automation and modeling of solutions using IT tools.

Construction of an integrated reporting system for departments.

Budget planning and cost optimization.

Knowledge of PHP.

Practical application of object-oriented programming (OOP).

Experience with programming frameworks (CMFs).

Knowledge of template engines.

Experience with databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle), knowledge of the SQL language.

Knowledge of JavaScript, HTML+CSS.

Knowledge of the principles of construction and operation of websites and servers.

Ability to read other people's code and documentation in English.

Sales Manager

Knowledge of sales techniques.

Ability to negotiate.

Maintaining and expanding the client base.

Consulting and providing clients with information about sales conditions and the company’s product range.

Work at exhibitions, product presentation.

Telephone conversations, receiving and processing orders.

Drawing up and concluding contracts.

Primary accounting.

Control of document execution.

Maintaining an archive of documents.

Control of shipment and delivery of goods.

Confident PC skills.

Knowledge of the specifics of wholesale trade.

Excellent knowledge of the 1C program, areas: bank, cash desk, current account.

Business correspondence.

Office life support.

Organization of reception of visitors.

Confident user of office equipment and PCs.

General understanding of the operation of mini-PBX.

Mastery of the 10-finger typing method.

Personal/family driver

Experience working as an escort (ability to keep a distance between cars at high speed).

Experience in completing small tasks.

The main thing in a resume for many employers is professional skills. A seemingly ordinary line on the questionnaire can tip the scales in your favor or, on the contrary, cross out this opportunity forever.

Well-chosen professional skills in your resume are an example of what you understand where you are getting a job and what actions are expected of you. They also serve as a clear answer to the questions: “why should the employer invite you specifically for an interview” and “why is the price that you indicated in the desired salary column not too high, but quite fair.”

Basic mistakes

Statistics show that employers close more than 85% of resumes without even reading them to the end. What is the reason? Having analyzed over 1,500 questionnaires, we are ready to answer this question.

Reason 1. Boring.

In the corresponding column, many applicants indicate not their professional skills, but a couple of general phrases describing their future functional responsibilities as a driver, lawyer, etc. Vague wording will not interest the employer in your person, but rather, on the contrary, will convince him that you It’s not possible to clearly formulate a thought, and you’re used to getting away with average solutions.

Solution: Write clearly, concisely and give a clear answer so that the employer may have as few questions as possible. Let's look at the example of an accountant.

Reason 2. Not what you need

Not all applicants understand what is hidden under this mysterious phrase “professional skills.” Wanting to please the employer, most of them indicate everything they are capable of, and in the end we have: knowledge of French and Japanese cuisine in the manager’s resume, perfect possession of firearms in the profile of the future kindergarten teacher, a completed music school for the driver and other pearls .

Solution: Even if you are particularly talented, the employer will only be interested in those professional achievements in your resume, examples of which clearly correspond to the declared position. Let's look at the example of a driver:

Reason 3. Illogicality

Not knowing what to include in their application, applicants mindlessly copy examples of professional qualities listed in their resumes, which are freely available on the Internet. As a result, we get all the same problems that were already described above (no one said that there could not be errors in the samples). Also added to them is the discrepancy between what is written and what is actually written.

Solution: When compiling a questionnaire, an example of professional skills and abilities in a resume can be the qualities and achievements of other people. But don't copy them mindlessly. “Pass through yourself” all the professional skills and achievements indicated. Every time ask yourself the questions: “do I really have the skills of a lawyer”, “whether these qualities are suitable as the main ones for a manager.”

Reason 4. Overloaded with terminology

Wanting to show off their extraordinary abilities to the recruiter, applicants use complicated terminology even where it is inappropriate. As a result, the driver’s simple and understandable phrase “professional achievements – 5 years of accident-free travel experience” or any other example describing special skills in a resume turns into gobbledygook. The employer will not waste time dealing with it, which means you have every chance of losing the vacancy without even getting it.

Solution: in your resume, describe your qualities and achievements in simple words that are understandable to someone “not in the know.”

Consequences of Exaggeration

Never lie when listing professional qualifications on your resume. An example of the consequences could be not only subsequent dismissal from your position, but also the refusal of other employers to do business with you.

Moreover, an experienced recruiter will still find out the truth during the interview, using projective techniques of a structured interview or asking for recommendations from your previous place of work.

Professional qualities required for in-demand positions

Summarizing all of the above, let's look at examples of professional qualities in resumes for popular professions.

Video: how to write a resume correctly, basic recommendations from a HR specialist.

Examples of professional achievements indicated in a sales manager's resume:

List of professional skills indicated in a taxi driver’s resume:

Examples of professional skills included in a sales consultant's resume:

Examples of professional achievements for an accountant's resume:

List of characteristics that are indispensable in a lawyer’s resume:

A resume is created to show a potential employer how suitable you are for the company you are applying for. His goal is to show you from the best side. What can show you best? Of course, this is specialized training and work experience, but often the job also requires some specific professional skills, in the absence of which the employer will not consider your candidacy.

In the article you will see what professional skills exist, which ones are suitable for various professions, and you will learn what professional skills to write in a resume with examples.

Why write professional skills?

Any professional skill is your experience in this profile. First of all, you need to interest and hook the employer, and a long list of your places of work will not tell him about what you can do. If you do not have work experience, then you can enter those skills that you have through internships, various trainings, etc.

Each position has its own list of required skills, and by correctly specifying them, you increase your chances of getting a job. But you only need to tell the truth so that the employer understands in advance how ready you are for work and whether you can quickly learn if necessary.

There is no general list of skills that fits every profession. But if you cannot accurately define your skills, you can indicate some key skills that will show you well as an employee.

1. Good computer skills;
2. Knowledge (you can list which ones and indicate your level of proficiency);
3. Ability to plan your working time;
4. Management skills;
5. Ability to make quick decisions;
6. Attention to detail;
7. Ability to quickly analyze;

However, such a listing is not enough. The employer wants to know whether you will join the job right away? Do you understand what you will do? So that, looking at your skills, it becomes clear what kind of employee you are. Therefore, each profession has its own special skills, the possession of which is mandatory. The ideal number of these skills is 6-8 pieces.

Examples of skills for different professions

Manager:

1. Knowledge of computer programs (indicate your level of proficiency);
2. Ability to negotiate;
3. Specific knowledge of the market;
4. Successful sales experience (indicate how many years you have been in the wholesale business);
5. Ability to communicate competently and persuade;
6. Ability to process large amounts of information;
7. Ability to find an approach to the client;

Lawyer:

1. Knowledge of legislation;
2. Ability to negotiate;
3. Experience in court hearings (experience working with a company);
4. Fluency in languages ​​(indicate the number and level of proficiency);
5. Ability to work with clients;
6. Knowledge of legal documents;
7. Ability to make claims and claims;

Salesman— consultant:

1. Ability to quickly recognize the client’s desires;
2. Consulting on any product or service;
3. Design of goods in an online store (indicate your PC skills);
4. Reception and display of goods;
5. Ability to work with claims and objections;
6. Ability to work in stressful situations;
7. Reporting management;

Supervisor:

1. HR management experience (indicate the number of subordinates you managed in your previous job)
2. Knowledge of languages ​​(specify which languages ​​and level)
3. Production management;
4. Experience in negotiations;
5. Ability to persuade;
6. Ability to plan and make forecasts;
7. Conflict resolution;

Accountant:

1. Experience in accounting and tax accounting (indicate how many years, what area);
2. Knowledge of legislation;
3. Reporting preparation (IFRS, RAS);
4. Skills in obtaining loans for companies;
5. Computer knowledge;
6. Ability to calculate payroll, compile sick leave, vacations, etc.;
7. Attention to details;

Teacher:

1. Communication skills;
2. Tolerance and flexibility;
3. Initiative and energy;
4. Ability to analyze;
5. Organizational skills;
6. PC and technology proficiency;
7. Broad-minded, well-read, erudite;

Psychologist:

1. Communication abilities;
2. Experience in conducting trainings;
3. The ability to understand a person, listen and reassure;
4. Conducting social research and personality diagnostics;
5. The ability to find a common language with people, searching for approaches in everyone;
6. Conducting tests and analyzing their results;
7. Ability to build a psychological portrait of a client;

Do not confuse the description of your skills with yours.

Professional skills are developed through experience. In a resume compiled to apply for the desired job, your personal and work qualities, also called competencies, must be indicated objectively, concisely, and clearly.

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What are key skills

Key means the main, convincing, weighty argument. Key competencies can be defined as follows:

• from the employer’s perspective, this is a summation of the acquired aspects of theory and practical experience of the candidate in the context of the announced vacancy, which can be beneficial in the work of the company;
• on the part of the applicant - a set of put forward requirements based on the needs of the organization itself, its strategic plans, an assessment of how much his knowledge and experience are acceptable under the specified conditions.

In other words, the employer wants to see the employee’s key skills that will fit into the overall “portrait” of the company, and that their work will be carried out efficiently and fruitfully. This is not only high-quality, timely performance of functional duties, but also maintaining the corporate style of the company and the opportunity to introduce useful innovations into the work of the team.

How to find out what an employer wants

The main points when writing a resume should be:

• the reality of the specified information;
• relevance of the applicant’s competencies to the type of activity of the organization.

Companies often select employees based on “three pillars”:

• the candidate must be successful;
• be able to make decisions;
• work in a team.

To find out the needs of a particular employer, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting a position, it is worth collecting as much information as possible about the company via the Internet, a circle of acquaintances, and subsequently focusing in your resume on personal and professional qualities, starting from:

• type of activity of the company;
• its position in the market;
• states of success.

• collaborate with pleasant people whose first impression of their appearance is formed from the photo in their resume;
• work only with competent employees who can express their thoughts and present information correctly;
• see a logical career path;
• observe the presence of recommenders, which indicates that the applicant is not afraid to indicate them;
• he does not want to read the experience reflected in one sentence, to unravel the abbreviations of unknown names.

The resume should reflect the answers to the queries put forward in the vacancy announcement.

How do key skills differ from the personal qualities of an applicant?

The effectiveness of an employee’s work depends not only on the acquired theoretical knowledge and practical experience, but also on his psychophysiological abilities to perform assigned tasks.

Therefore, when writing a resume, you should correctly separate professional advantages from personal characteristics:

• key skills are: to know, to have experience, to have an idea of ​​something, to be able to do something, to own something, to be familiar with something;
• personal qualities are something that is genetically inherent in a person, but can be adjusted in the process of working on oneself: temperament, character, willpower, emotions.

For example, if we are talking about the profession of an accountant. For him, “I work with reporting promptly and efficiently” is a key competency, and “I am meticulous, I have an analytical mind” is a personal parameter.

Resume: column Professional skills and abilities

The column “Professional skills and abilities” is considered one of the most important in the document. Therefore, when compiling it, you should pay attention to the following:

• When compiling a chronological resume, it is better to place the column after the description of experience before personal qualities. It summarizes what knowledge and skills have been acquired during work activities.
• In a functional resume, which is effective when there are gaps in practical activity, where the emphasis is on career achievements, the paragraph is placed immediately after indicating the full name and position.
• For programmers and various technical specialists, this section can be designated as “technical skills” or “qualifications”.

This paragraph describes:

• a short list of skills, from 4 to 6 positions;
• professional merits.

It is important to remember that the list meets the employer’s requirements.

key skills

Key skills are formed depending on the position and functions performed; the most in demand now are those aimed at managerial features or performance, for example:

• managing subordinates and time;
• personal and business communication;
• business management;
• sales;
• strategic and creative thinking;
• organizational abilities;
• decision-making competence;
• multitasking;
• ability to develop and train others;
• business ethics;
• computer literacy;
• language proficiency.

Examples of other special skills

Among the voluminous flow of applicants for a vacancy, a resume with specified special skills will definitely be remembered by the employer; it will not be sent to waste. But truthful information must be provided there, even if slightly embellished. This speaks to the applicant’s ability to present himself. For senior positions and managers, presentation skills are important.

A candidate who has:

• critical thinking;
• ingenuity;
• ability to make risky decisions;
• adaptive competence;
• integrative (prioritization), conceptual (substantive) abilities;
• interpersonal communicative competence.

Examples of professional skills for different professions

Proficiency in software products and certain language levels is necessary for almost all professions.

There is no standard set of key competencies, but the following can be identified:

• For project managers: skills in constructing tasks, developing projects, conducting negotiations, competence in creating a team, allocating resources, knowledge of financial analysis, accounting, economics, and personnel management.
• For teachers: high erudition, broad cultural outlook, tutoring skills, mastery of technologies of pedagogical work and communication, organizational competencies, pedagogical endurance, mastery.
• For accountants: skills in tax and accounting, cash discipline, warehouse accounting and mutual settlements, payroll, working with primary documentation, preparing and submitting reports, conducting inventories; knowledge of tax, accounting legislation, postings.
• For customer service: ability to establish contact, experience working with clients, knowledge of methods for identifying needs, ability to listen, ask questions, manage a conversation, knowledge of the basics of conflict management.

A very common mistake

Professional competencies arise due to a person’s personal inclinations. But the most common mistake when writing a resume is when the applicant does not share these concepts, and personal qualities are described in the key skills column.

Also, often, trying to compensate for the lack of key skills or achievements, the candidate describes himself as a superman:

• initiative;
• highly intelligent;
• communicable;
• stress-resistant.

These phrases can easily be replaced with two sentences, for example, like this:

• “I’m not afraid to start difficult things, I bring them to a successful completion”;
• “able to think analytically and strategically”;
• “I regularly attend seminars and subscribe to the mailing list of a specialized website.”

What key skills should you indicate if you have no work experience?

How to describe key moments, labor achievements for young specialists after graduating from educational institutions or with an insufficient level of knowledge? It's worth trying the following:

• underwent practical training in this area;
• While studying, he worked part-time in sales;
• learning English remotely;
• I quickly find the information I need;
• I perceive, systematize it, process it, which effectively helps when working with unknown practice;
• able to reorient to new knowledge;
• I speak German well;
• I know how to use a computer, and so on.