The skills you include on your CV are crucial, yet they do not all have the same level of sway and persuasion in a recruiter's eyes. Even if you are a school-leaver, you will have a long list of attributes, abilities, and key achievements. So, how do you identify the skills to include on your CV?
We will start by looking at hard skills and soft skills.
Hard skills
Hard skills are individual abilities and knowledge you must have to complete the job. Hard skills are learnt through training and study and are often a stipulation that qualifies or disqualifies you as a job candidate.
Examples of hard skills include:
- A university degree or academic qualification
- Computer or typing skills
- Industry certifications
- Foreign language skills
- Bookkeeping
- Coding or programming
- Proofreading
- SEO or social media marketing
When adding hard skills to your CV, focus on your strongest skills, key achievements, and the skills mentioned in the job advert. A hiring manager will be scanning CVs for these, so prominence is required if you wish to be selected.
Soft skills
Soft skills are usually life skills that are not role-specific. You might gain these through work experience, hobbies, or interests and they show your character, personality, and desirable traits.
Examples of soft skills include:
- Problem-solving
- Decision-making
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Organisation
- Flexibility
- Work ethic
- Project management
- Communication and interpersonal skills
Soft skills cannot be proved with a qualification or certificate, so you need to find a way to evidence these on your CV. Rather than just mentioning ‘strong leadership skills,’ create an example that demonstrates when you used your leadership skills and the outcome.
Once again, look to the job description to uncover the soft skills a recruiter is hunting for. Make these a priority on your CV.
Soft skills versus hard skills
When creating or updating your CV, it is not a case of one or the other for soft and hard skills. Hard skills show your practical abilities, while soft skills show you will be a good team member and fit for the company’s culture and values.
Presenting your abilities on a skills-based CV
A skills-based CV is ideal if you are lacking in work experience. Your skills might be your biggest selling point, so they should appear on your CV and personal statement, which should be the first section on your CV. Like the rest of your CV, it is a fantastic idea to tailor your personal statement to the employer and their job description.
Education: If you have recently completed a university degree and have little or no work experience, promote your hard and soft skills by adding details about relevant modules or practical or theological projects. If you have yet to complete your degree, include your predicted grades to add weight to your hard skills.
Employment history: If you have worked in many roles or employers, you don’t need to write sentence upon sentence for each. However, you should quantify your skills and responsibilities in statements such as ‘increased by Y%.’
Interests and hobbies: Interests and hobbies are not mandatory on your CV. However, they are an excellent opportunity to show your skills in action and demonstrate what you can achieve when passionate. Valuable soft skills can be revealed if you have run a club or society, written a blog, produced a podcast, played sports, or volunteered.
CV template examples
For further help writing your CV and securing a job interview, read our career advice and view our CV templates:
- Accounting CV template
- Agriculture CV template
- Arts CV template
- Automotive CV template
- Banking CV template
- Charity CV template
- Construction CV template
- Customer Services CV template
- Education CV template
- Engineering CV template
- Environmental CV template
- Facilities Management CV template
- Finance CV template
- Healthcare CV template
- Hospitality and Leisure CV template
- Human Resources (HR) CV template
- Information Technology (IT) CV template
- Leadership CV template
- Legal CV template
- Manufacturing CV template
- Marketing CV template
- Media CV template
- Office Administration CV template
- Personal Care CV template
- Professional Services CV template
- Public Sector CV template
- Retail CV template
- Sales CV template
- Science CV template
- Social Care CV template
- Telecommunications CV template
- Transportation and Logistics CV template
