Technical skills to indicate on your CV

Employers often select candidates based on their technical skills, so job seekers in tech, for example, naturally want to make sure that ‘they present their skills correctly. But creating a “skills” section in a CV can be a real challenge. Sometimes a simple list is enough.

But depending on the nature of the job, you may need to provide more details on the extent of your abilities or the extent of your experience. Mastery of these skills usually requires on-the-job experience, education, or training which can be extended. In fact, this should be captured as best as possible, so that this list will be an asset for your hire.

What are technical skills?

Technical skills make you a valuable product to potential employers and should be properly highlighted to demonstrate your worth. Depending on the offer and the field you are looking for, the technical abilities and knowledge desired by employees will vary.

For example, in marketing, we will be more interested in technical writing, knowledge of IT in specific programs and applications, data management and analysis, or project management. In engineering, data modeling, technical reports or statistics, and probability. In graphic design, you will be more expected on Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe CS, and InDesign, on HTML, or branding typography.

When considering what capabilities to showcase, don’t remember that relevance, in this case, is key. Instead of making a simple list of technical skills, you want to organize them in a way that maximizes your attractiveness with employers.

Putting technical skills in your CV in three steps

The job-specific nature of technical skills means that if you have them, they are often the most important part of your resume. The capabilities most relevant to the job you want should always be in the foreground, where they can be quickly analyzed. By focusing on your technical skills, you can end up on the short-list for the position you are looking for.

Create a section dedicated to technical skills

If your technical skills are strongly emphasized in the job description, the section dedicated to them should appear at the top of your CV, just below your introduction and above your professional experience. A bulleted list can be a good solution in this case.

If you have a large list of technical skills, you can define the bullets by categories and then enter the details or not.

Make bulleted lists

In addition to a section dedicated to technical skills at the top of your CV, you must prove your abilities through your work experience. By creating bullet points that target your professional accomplishments, you can show how effectively you have used your technical skills to benefit your previous or current employer.

For example, if you are an accountant, you can mention how you used ERP and accounting applications to achieve the accomplishments listed in your work experience. It will reinforce the way you have used your technical skills and show that you know how to put them to good use.

Use a robust CV intro

Another great way to bring your technical skills to the fore is to present them via a personal summary. The latter is essentially a mini-extension of your “Work Experience” section, where you present your most important qualifications. As often in a CV where the sections are well organized and clear, this will be the first thing the hiring manager will look at. This will therefore help candidates who want to immediately showcase their special abilities, to do so, with the technical skills most important for their targeted position.

Finally

Flaunting your technical skills is therefore a way to boost your CV and to climb to the top of a deluge of digital applications. Highlighting them on your resume will help potential employers determine more quickly if you are the candidate they need.