Have you ever felt tempted to skip the skills section on your resume, thinking that your employment history is the most crucial part? While your work experience is certainly important, recruiters and employers, especially on LinkedIn, believe that skills are equally vital in securing opportunities.
As Rohan Rajiv, LinkedIn’s head of product for Jobseeker, Employer Brand, and Skills, noted in 2022, “Skills have become more important than ever in landing opportunities today. In fact, over 40% of companies on LinkedIn globally explicitly rely on skills to search and identify job candidates on LinkedIn [up 20% year-over-year].”
This significant trend is expected to grow in 2024, as companies increasingly adopt new methods to evaluate job applicants’ skills. LinkedIn continues to enhance its tools to help candidates and recruiters showcase and filter skills.
This shift highlights the importance of not just your employment background, but your skills and strengths—especially those tailored to the role you’re applying for.
Off LinkedIn, the trend of skills-based hiring is gaining traction, leading employers to place more emphasis on the skills listed on a candidate’s resume. While you should always highlight the core skills mentioned in the job posting, there are other essential skills to include on your resume. These can be featured in your skills section, online portfolio, LinkedIn profile, or throughout your professional and employment sections.
Here are the top 10 skills to include on your resume according to FlexJobs, blending both soft (or “power”) skills and hard skills:
- Problem-Solving
Employers seek candidates who take ownership of problems and find creative solutions, a skill that remains irreplaceable by Artificial Intelligence.
- Critical Thinking
Listed in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2023 report, critical thinking involves evaluating problems and solutions, and developing improved methods of working.
- Flexibility
While often a contentious topic, flexibility remains crucial. Strive to reach a compromise with prospective employers to ensure mutual satisfaction with working arrangements, and learn to adapt and embrace change.
- Communication
Communication skills are essential for project delivery, streamlined processes, and a healthy work environment. Highlight specific aspects such as presentation skills, conflict resolution, negotiation, or writing, depending on your role.
- Teamwork
Effective teamwork is vital for collaboration within and across teams. It’s difficult to find a role that doesn’t involve some degree of teamwork.
- Digital skills
Digital proficiency is necessary in nearly every job. Highlight your proficiency with company-specific software, design software, the MS Office suite, or a CRM. If the employer uses specific software, include it in your technical skills list, indicating your proficiency level.
- Design
A basic understanding of design principles and related software is useful across various roles, from engineering to social media management, and even creating presentations.
- Data Analysis
Data analysis is in high demand across many professions. If your role involves analyzing reports, spreadsheets, or other data to inform decision-making, you’re engaging in data analysis.
- Negotiation
Negotiation skills are crucial in sales, partnerships, agreements, and internal stakeholder arrangements. Include this skill on your resume and provide examples of successful negotiations.
- Mathematical Skills
While you shouldn’t list “mathematics” on your resume, specific mathematical skills are valuable. These include budget management, financial forecasting, cost reduction, statistical analysis, probabilities, machine learning, and financial modeling.
Remember, listing skills is only the first step. Providing evidence of how you demonstrated these skills in your roles and the positive impact they had is equally important. Avoid simply copying and pasting skills without ensuring they reflect your true capabilities and are supported by tangible examples.