How often do you list out your skills and think, “I don’t have to put that down; it’s implied”? It’s a more common thought than you might think, and it is so far from the truth. Listing skills on your resume is VERY important. When writing your resume, it’s extremely important to remember who your resume will be seen by first, the hiring managers/recruiters.
It is often though that customizing your resume with industry jargon will be helpful, and this is not completely wrong, however using too many abbreviations or industry lingo will make it harder for HR and/or recruiters to decipher your skills. When I look for candidates to place, I’m usually going off a list of skill requirements, using keyword searches to find these terms within resumes. If I run a search for Java, and it is not on your resume, it won’t come up. The most perfect candidate may miss out on the opportunity because specific skills weren’t listed on their resume, so they simply get passed up.
I’ve created a list of simple steps to ensure that you’re being exhaustive without taking up too much space:
- As far as platforms go, just list the platform: For instance, you don’t have to list out Microsoft word, excel, power point, outlook, etc., but you can just write “Microsoft Office Suite”. If you have a particular strength, you can always write “Microsoft Office Suite, specializing in dynamic power point presentations” or something of the sort. Platforms such as Microsoft Office, and Adobe are generally well known, so using the platform name is okay. Just make sure you are using the overarching name for a very common platform.
- Include any languages you know and your level: i.e. fluent in Spanish, conversive in basic French, etc. You never know what you’ll need, and sometimes even a few words can be very beneficial on the job. Just make sure you are listing how much you actually know of the language, and don’t overstate your level of knowledge. This could get you into a bad situation.
- Don’t use umbrella terms: For instance, if you can use various operating systems, write each of them out such as Mac iOS, Windows, Linux, UNIX, etc. Not listing these out can cause your resume to be left out of searches. You may be great at working with Linux, but if it isn’t clearly stated, you’ll probably get passed up.
Just like with most things in life, you need to know your customer. Even though you may think that everyone at a software company knows the lingo, people that specialize in recruiting, and not in software probably won’t know what you’re talking about. Be clear, be concise, and list all of your relevant skills. Having the right keywords is one of the most essential parts of a good resume.