3 Important Skills You Should Include In Your CV

What makes a potential employer choose another candidate’s CV over yours? What makes their CV stand out more than yours?

Truth is, when an employer is going through your CV, they often times match it against the other applicants. Ultimately, it is the top and most promising candidates who get shortlisted.

As a job seeker, if you want to stand out, you must show the value that you will add to the organization. 

One of the best ways to ensure that you do this well is to highlight the skills you possess, that will be of value in the job you are seeking. 

Here are three skills that you should include in your CV, to help you stand out in today’s job market:

1. Communication

This skill involves the ability to pass a message to a colleague, your supervisor, or a client. There are various mediums you can use to effectively communicate, most notably through writing and speaking.

Effective communication skills also help you know when and how to ask questions, how to read and control body language, and how to customize your message for different audiences.

In the job market, employers value effective communicators for their ability to work with others to get work done.

2. Organization

A well-organized employee has a strong, neat structure in their workspace, tasks, and relationships.

Organized employees typically meet deadlines, communicate with others on time, and follow instructions well.

Employers can trust organized workers to meet deadlines, take notes and ensure work is completed efficiently.

3. Adaptability

Adaptability skills are used to continue working towards goals even as teams, projects, the management or products change.

Employers hire flexible candidates who can quickly learn new skills and processes to ensure work is done quickly, efficiently and with a positive attitude.

How to highlight the skills on your CV

You can include your skills on your CV, cover letter and during the interview.

Go through the job description carefully to identify which of your skills are most relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Listing portable skills on your CV

On your CV, there are several options when deciding where to include key skills. You can list the skills on your CV in the profile summary, previous experience, and the key skills and competencies.

Profile summary

While writing your profile summary, include your most valuable, relevant transferable skill.

For example, if you have strong communication skills, you can say; “Determined project manager with 5 years’ experience using strong communication skills to complete successful end-to-end projects with several teams.”

Previous experience

In your employment history section, identify which skills you used to be successful in previous roles. Instead of simply listing your job duties, you should select 2-3 of your most relevant accomplishments. You likely used several different skills to achieve those goals, so you don’t need to state the transferable skill directly.

Finally, soft skills can give you an edge when you’re applying for a job. Have a list of your strongest skills and see how you can fit them in your CV.

Would you like to include your skills on your CV but are not sure how? Get professional CV writing help here with a FREE CV Review.