Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2013. Its opening about how just getting a résumé read is cause for celebration, and about finding a job in bad economic times, reflects the 2013 job market in Spain.
These days, given that just getting your résumé read is cause for celebration, you need to try to stand out from the other candidates. Recruiters, tired of reading the same skills from one applicant after another, could well be pleasantly surprised to find certain keywords, in the form of skills, that would describe the candidate they’re looking for much better.
Ford R. Myers, author of Get The Job You Want, maintains that you can find a good job in bad economic times, but not with conventional job-search strategies.
Which skills can we include on our résumé?
People use hundreds of tricks today just to get a résumé looked at, such as printing it in a very eye-catching colour or giving it an original format. But once we’ve got them to read it, if the original cover doesn’t set the content inside apart from everyone else’s, we’re back where we started.
(Read: How to stand out for the right reasons in a group job interview)
There are many skills that may be inherited, transferable or acquired over years in a particular field
We may have learned them playing a sport or while lost on a mountain for 5 days. How doesn’t matter. What does matter is how those skills can help the company in the position we’re fighting for, so that we at least get the chance of a face-to-face job interview.
Myers divides these 40 skills into 5 general areas, giving some “keywords” you can include in your résumé. But remember that you’ll then have to prove you actually have those skills.
Communication skills
Clear and concise writing skills, I listen attentively, I express ideas openly, I negotiate and resolve differences, leading group discussions, persuasiveness, I offer well-reasoned solutions, able to win people’s trust when speaking to a group, comfortable with public speaking.
Interpersonal skills
I fit in well in groups, supportive, ability to motivate others, cooperation, empathy, self-confidence, not afraid to take on big responsibilities.
Research and planning
Forward-thinking, I like to anticipate every possible outcome, constant generation of ideas, I identify problems and look for solutions, I identify resources, I gather information before…, strategy development, I assess situations.
Organisational skills
Task coordination, I manage projects, meeting deadlines, I like to set goals, I keep the budget under control, I organise and plan activities, multitasking.
Management skills
I quickly identify potential customers for the company, conflict management, comfortable making decisions, I enforce company policies, leadership skills, a good adviser and coach to my team.
(Read: The job interview: a protocol for the battlefield)
Myers also reminds us that we need to change the approach we take to looking for work. We have to break as soon as possible with the feeling of competing for a job and focus instead on being the solution to the company’s problems. When a company looks for an employee, it doesn’t really want to fill a gap: it wants that employee to meet a need it has at that moment, and we must be the solution to that need.
Further reading
Featured image: Wolfgang Heine, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
