Category: Skills and Keywords

How to Highlight Skills on Your Resume

Your resume is a personal marketing tool, and how you present your skills can make or break your chance of landing an interview. Hiring managers typically spend only 5 to 7 seconds scanning a resume, so formatting your skills in a way that’s clear, relevant, and visually appealing is essential.

Show Don’t Tell

Anyone can list skills on a resume, but the real value comes from demonstrating how those skills have delivered measurable results. Employers value specific, actionable examples over general statements, as they provide real-world evidence of your capabilities. This approach not only ties your skills to tangible achievements but also helps hiring managers envision the contributions you can bring to their company.

To show your skills in action, structure your experience using the following template:

  • [Soft/Hard Skill]: [Action verb] [Methodology/Technical Skill utilized] [quantified results].

Examples:

  • Project Management: Led cross-functional teams using Agile methodologies to deliver software projects 15% ahead of schedule.
  • Data Analysis: Analyzed customer purchasing trends using Python, increasing revenue by 12% over six months.
  • Leadership: Mentored junior employees, resulting in a 20% increase in team productivity.
  • Communication: Delivered weekly presentations to stakeholders, improving alignment across departments by 30%.
  • Problem-Solving: Resolved client disputes efficiently, achieving a 95% customer satisfaction rating.
  • Sales: Utilized CRM tools like Salesforce to identify opportunities, boosting quarterly sales by $50,000.
  • Creative Thinking: Designed social media campaigns that enhanced engagement by 40% within three months.
  • Time Management: Implemented workflow optimizations that cut project completion times by 25%.
  • Customer Service: Provided personalized support to high-value clients, maintaining a 98% retention rate.
  • Process Optimization: Automated reporting systems using Microsoft Excel macros, saving 10 hours of work weekly.

Best Practices

Identify Keywords

Carefully read the job description to identify keywords and required skills. For example, if the job requires “proficiency in Microsoft Excel,” include it explicitly if it’s a skill you possess. This is one of the most important steps in resume writing. After you have developed your resume, you need to tailor it to each job. Identifying skills you need and the prioritization of those skills will allow you to modify your resume to have the most impact.

This process will lead to subtle changes in your resume. In the professional summary at the top of your resume, you can’t list every skill. You need to select the most important skills and list those. The most important skills are the ones that add the most value to the specific employer/job. So, you might emphasize project management at the top of your resume for one job application, but move it down to the middle or end of your resume for another job. It all depends on the job description and what the employer wants.

Avoid Overcrowding

Keep the skills section concise and relevant. Including every skill you’ve ever learned can overwhelm hiring managers and dilute the focus. You should have a small number of skills you emphasize at the top of your resume, a few mixed in throughout the body and a list of additional skills at the bottom. Limit your list to those relevant to the job description. If you want a job as a computer programmer, listing your skills at reading Sanskrit, fishing, fencing or cooking don’t add anything to your qualifications as a programmer (and yes, I have seen all of those on resumes).

Many people have a tendency to stuff their resume. Overcrowding is the result. A list of 50 or more skills, with many having nothing to do with the job will hurt you. No one is an expert or master of every skill. If you list three skills, it is easy to assume you are proficient in all three. If you expand that to 30 skills, it will detract from the most important skills. They get diluted and have to fight the other skills listed for attention. A hiring manager might not even see them in a huge list.

Meet ATS Requirements

Most companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter resumes. To ensure your resume doesn’t get sorted out due to formatting, avoid images, graphs, tables, or columns—they are often not ATS-readable. A simple, clean format will help both the computer system and human hiring managers understand your resume easier.

Conclusion

Highlighting skills on your resume is about more than just listing abilities; it’s about presenting them in a way that aligns with the job’s requirements and demonstrates your value. By tying skills to specific actions and measurable results, you create a compelling resume that stands out to hiring managers.

Resume Keyword Lists

The webinar I presented on Wednesday went great. I reviewed the results of the resume benchmarking study I did for APICS, and then took questions. This was the first time I did a live resume assessment.  During the Q&A, I asked attendees to send their resumes so I could review them during the session.  Two people submitted resumes, and we walked through a few quick changes that they can make to improve their resumes.

One of the changes I identified was removing or relocating a keyword list.  Resume keyword lists are a common element of resumes.  They provide a list of technical terms that a hiring manager may use to find candidates.  This type of list is great for ensuring that a resume shows up in different searches.  Unfortunately, that’s the only benefit of a keyword list.

Putting a list of keywords on your resume will not get a hiring manager excited.  Anyone can pick out important terms and create a list.  It does not convey proficiency in any of the areas.  You have to describe your experience and accomplishments with a skill to make a strong impression.

A good place for a resume keyword list is at the end of the resume.  The section should have a title like “Skills” or “Areas of Expertise” and be the last item of the resume.  This placement ensures that it does not get in the way of more important information.  The keyword list might help a database match your resume to a search, but it is not going to make much of an impression with a human reader.

Keyword lists are most effective when they focus on in-demand technical skills.  Soft skills don’t offer as much value.  For example, leadership, communications skills, organizational skills and administrative skills may be important to a hiring manager, but they make terrible search terms.  They appear on too many resumes, and are important to almost any career.  Technical skills that are specific to a single career field tend to be much better search terms.  Ensuring these terms are in your resume by putting them in a keyword list is a great way to match as many relevant searches as possible.

Some job seekers put the keyword list at the top of their resume.  This can provide an attractive presentation, but it isn’t particularly effective.  Hiring managers will skip a list like this.  Even if they read it, the list isn’t going to do much to sell the candidate’s potential.  The result is the keyword list isn’t much better than just leaving a large blank space.  The top of the resume is valuable real estate and putting low value content such as a keyword list in it is a waste.

Sharpening the Saw

I spent several days last week in a training class. Professional development is important if you want to improve in your career. In today’s economy, it is even more critical. Unemployment continues to increase and job seekers continue to become more frustrated with the job market.

I spent several days last week in a training class.  Professional development is important if you want to improve in your career.  In today’s economy, it is even more critical.  Unemployment continues to increase and job seekers continue to become more frustrated with the job market.

There is a lot of talk about the recession being over.  We’re now in recovery!  Unfortunately, it’s being called a jobless recovery.  Companies have downsized to a point where they are profitable at lower volumes.  They are not in decline any longer.  They are also not growing or adding staff – they are only replacing key losses.  This could make the job market very difficult for an extended period.  It won’t last forever.  Job creation will return, but if you need a job now, that’s not much of a consolation. 

In the training class I attended, there were people stable in their careers looking to add a new skill, there were individuals looking for work who wanted to give themselves an edge in the job markets and others were looking to move in a new career direction and needed to add new skills to make the career change. 

These are great goals.  Additionally, by taking the initiative to find and attend a workshop, these individuals demonstrated a commitment to their professionals above what most are doing.  They are not sitting still. They are striving to move forward and grow. 

This is an important lesson in an economic downtown.  The number of discouraged job seekers has been climbing.  There are a ton of people who are out of work and have given up searching for a job.  An extended job search is frustrating and depressing.  There’s no way around that.  Being rejected over and over can make a person feel that their job search is pointless.  Unfortunately, if you adopt this view, you will be right.  Giving up will ensure an unsuccessful job search.

So what are you going to do?  Asking this question is a critical first step.  Running out and signing up for a training class is an answer, but it is far from the only one.  What is critical is what you are doing during your job search.  This could be enrolling in school, attending a workshop, volunteering at a local charity or any other activity that keeps you on a path of learning, growth and development. 

In additional to gaining some new skills, you will also help your marketability.  For people who have been out of work for an extended period, they are likely to face the question, “what have you been doing while out of work?”  Many will only answer “I’ve been looking for a job,” while a few will describe substantive activities related to their career that could make them more marketable.  If you were hiring, who would you pick?

Upgrading Your Skills

Improving your credentials is a good way to set yourself apart from your competition. Most people don’t have the time to get an additional degree, but there are options for improving your skills and your marketability.

Improving your credentials is a good way to set yourself apart from your competition.  Most people don't have the time to get an additional degree, but there are options for improving your skills and your marketability.

Obtaining an industry certification is a step that can boost your career.  Industry certifications provide a third party statement of training in specific skills.  Some are very specialized while others are applicable to a wide range of industries. 

Some certifications are absolute requirements – for example becoming CPA, a Professional Engineer or passing the bar exam are critical for some jobs in accounting, engineering or law.  Other certifications are optional, and can give you an edge over your competition.

A few of the more common certifications we see on a regular basis include:

  • CPIM – Certification in Production and Inventory Management (APICS)
  • C.P.M. – Certified Purchasing Manager (ISM)
  • PMP – Professional Project Manager (PMI)
  • Green Belt – Six Sigma Certification (Various Organizations)
  • Black Belt – Six Sigma Certification (Various Organizations)
  • PHR – Professional in Human Resources (HR Certification Institute)

Some of these can be obtained quickly, while others may take a year or more.  The benefits your career can be significant.  These certifications are much less costly to obtain than an advanced degree – often costing a few thousand dollars instead of the tens of thousands for master's degree.

Below are the trends in job postings for these certifications.  The graph show the percentage of job postings mentioning the certification.
 

The demand for PMP's is up, while the other certifications are down, but not as much as many industries in general. In a down economy, companies can be more selective.  There may be less jobs, but more companies are requiring professional certifications.

Look at the certifications in your field and consider pursuing one.  It could make the difference in your job search.

Highlight Your Skills

I was asked to help a job seeker under a really tight deadline.  The job seeker wanted to apply for a job that appeared to be an ideal match to their goals and needed to get their resume submitted that same day.

Because of the deadline, we focused on the quick and easy changes that would make a huge difference.  I wanted to share some of the changes we made. 

Background

The job seeker is a freelance graphic designer with a specialty in digital photo editing.  The job seeker is pursuing a full time digital photo editing position.  The position is a close match to the individual's background and skills.  The key is getting the resume to reflect this match.

Original Resume

Below is the original text of the job seeker's most recent position.

FREELANCE PHOTO EDITING  2003 – present
•   Create logos, business cards, brochures and a wide range of literature pieces for various businesses.
•   Photo editing for websites, books, special occasions, sales; each for both public and private clients.
•   Specializes in combing photos, replacing backgrounds, and improving overall appearance of photos.

This employment listing has a lot of problems, starting with being too brief and not specific enough. The first bullet is ok.  It's descriptive and gives a list of commercial work the individual has done, but none of it relates to photo editing and seems a little out of place. 

The second bullet has a different sentence structure – there isn't a verb in this bullet.  The bullet relates to photo editing but doesn't say anything about what the job seeker did.  It only lists the applications where the edited photos have been used.

The third bullet is the meat of the description.  It lists specific photo editing skills – combing, replacing backgrounds and improving appearance.  This is very general and will not impress a hiring manager.  Every job seeker that applies for this position will say something about their ability to "improve the overall appearance of photos."  If everyone says the same thing, it will not differentiate you to say it also.  It is essential to be specific and show how you are different.

Revised Resume

We revised the job description to be much more specific.  Below is the new description:

    FREELANCE PHOTO EDITOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER 2003 – present

  • Creates logos, business cards, brochures and a wide range of marketing materials for various businesses.
  • Provides photo editing for websites, books, special occasions and sales materials.  Clients include both individuals and commercial businesses.
  • Photo editing specialties include:
    • Replacing backgrounds  
    • Cropping photos 
    • Removing wrinkles, background objects/people and reflections 
    • Compilation photos: merging people from different photos for holiday cards, switching people from group photos so everyone is smiling and with their eyes open 
    • Adjusting tint, color and lighting 
    • Creating video slideshows from still photos including text, menus, transitions, and music 
    • Stylizing photos with a wide variety of techniques 

We changed the job title to show the greater scope of experience, making the first bullet fit better with the job.  We added a verb to the second bullet and reworded the description of the clients.  The big change was made to the third bullet.  We scrap the text and replaced it with a skills list.  This is still a general listing of skills but we added extra detail in a few places.  In particular, we added a clear description of the compilation photos. 

If we had listed just “compilation photos,” this would not have been as effective.  By describing clearing a couple of the project types in this category, we demonstrated the job seeker's skill with photo editing.  These are more advanced skills.  By just listing that the job seeker has completed projects requiring these skills, they establish credibility with these skills and with all of the photo editing skills.

Another advantage of listing all of these skills related to the hiring manager's goals.  It is likely that a few of these skills are a higher priority than the others.  If they have one significant priority, they will screen resumes by looking for this skill.  Listing all of the job seekers' photo editing skills increases the likelihood that the job seeker has mentioned the exact skill the hiring manager wants.

Other Changes

To make room on the resume for the added information, we deleted information from past positions.  There were some bullets that demonstrated skills and experiences that do nothing to support the graphic design and photo editing skills.  Since these didn't add value, we deleted them.  If the job seeker decided to apply for a position focused in these areas, they would need to add them back and deleted some of the detail from the photo editing. 

We made a lot of other changes to the resume.  One of the most important additions was to add a link to the job seeker's online portfolio.  It is important to show your past performance.  Most people can do this by describing accomplishments.  In design fields, it is often much easier to show what the job seeker has designed.  An online portfolio does this very well.

Keyword Summaries on Resumes

If you are planning on posting your resume on the internet or applying to large corporate sites, it’s important to include keywords in your resume.  It will be tough to be found if your resume doesn’t appear in the search results.  This is even more of a problem if the company uses database software to conduct the first screen of the resume.

It’s easy to put keywords into your resume.  They should naturally occur within the text.  To ensure you appear in every search that matches your background, you may want to include a keyword summary section. 

Here’s what I saw on a resume today.  The resume started with an executive summary, then had a keyword summary and then the work experience.  The job seeker was from a non-technical executive position.  The keywords listed included things like training management, organizational development and project management. 

The order is the first place where the job seeker got it wrong.  The keyword summary isn’t important enough to go at the top of the resume. Having the words "organizational development" at the top of a resume do nothing to differentiate the candidate. 

The other big mistake was calling the section a keyword summary.  The keyword summary is essentially a listing of skills.  Call it a skills section and write it in a format that appeals to a human reader.  The content will still help with search results and it won’t detract from the presentation. 

What if you’re in a highly technical field?  Then you may want to put your technical skills near the top of your resume.  For technical roles, the technical skills can be the most important information on your resume.  They are one of the primary selling points for you.  For most job seekers though, the skills section is information that is important, but a much lower priority than the work experience and education.

Highlighting Poor Computer Skills on a Resume

On a resume of a financial services professional, I saw something that surprised me.  It shouted “poor computer skills” because of a single omission.

The resume was for a sales rep in a financial services firm – someone that sells investment and insurance products to individuals and businesses.  This is a field requiring excellent sales skills along with good quantitative and technical skills.

The resume had all the stuff you would expect… state and NASD licenses, sales numbers, client numbers and other details relevant to the industry.  At the bottom, the resume had a Technical Skills section.  This is what caught my eye.  Here’s what the section contained:

  • Microsoft Windows XP and Word
  • Act! Contact Management
  • Proprietary in-house systems

The reason this caught my eye is that it doesn’t list Excel.  I find it hard to believe someone could work in the industry without some Excel experience – it’s a basic tool that is almost fundamental to financial analysis. 

Now if the resume didn’t have a technical skills section, I wouldn’t have noticed.  It was the overt statement that the job seeker knows Windows and Word, without mentioning Excel that made this odd. 

There’s a chance that this individual knows Excel and just forgot to list it.  I’d probably give them a call to check, given that the rest of the resume is pretty strong.  This wouldn’t kill the job seeker’s chances but it would cause me to question their technical skills more than I ordinarily might, since I would assume the skill level is low. 

There are situations where this could be a deal killer.  If the hiring manager considers Excel expertise a key priority, the resume has a fair chance of being discarded. 

Remember that if you are highlighting your skills, create a complete picture of the skills relevant to a position.  Listing Excel experience isn’t what’s important, it’s listing software that is a primary tool within the industry.   

The Laundry List

At the top of a resume I received recently was a laundry list of “Areas of Expertise”:

Areas of Expertise

  • Operations / Manufacturing
  • P&L Responsibility
  • Business Plans / Operating Budgets
  • Business Development
  • Bid Estimates / Contract Negotiation
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Six Sigma Methodologies
  • Consolidation / Organization Development
  • Supply Chain / Purchasing
  • Market Research
  • Product Development
  • Outsourcing / Reverse Sourcing

This is something I see a lot. Job seekers listing keywords that they think will get attention. The problem is that it doesn’t set you apart. There is nothing here that says that the job seeker is good at at any of these.

Now, I’m a proponent of having a skills section that is a laundry list of keywords – so why is this bad?

The target audience for the skills section is a computer – specifically the database system your resume may have to get through with a lot of large companies. These databases look for keywords, so you better have them.

The problem with this resume is that they keyword list was at the top. The top of the first page of your resume is the most valuable real estate – far too important to waste on a keyword list.