5 tips to write a killer Key Skills section for your resume

Your resume’s work experience will impress a hiring manager and get them thinking “Maybe we should hire this person,” but the key skills section will be the one that gets them to say, “We must hire them!”

A well-written key skills section will wow even the toughest of employers. You get to highlight and display the best of your vast skill set through the key skills section. It will also be the section of your resume that assures a hiring manager that you know to bring profit to their business.

Moreover, almost every employer today uses an ATS to find the best candidates for their company. Listing the right keywords in the skills section of your resume will help you get noticed by the right person. Here are 5 things you can do to write a stellar key skills section for your resume:

Incorporate keywords into the key skills section of your resume

The skills section of your resume is the best place to mention keywords. The ATS is trained to look for specific keywords in the skills section of any resume. If yours has all the right ones, the ATS will rank you higher among the competition. If you are writing a resume for a specific job description, highlight the keywords on it first. Then incorporate those words into your resume. If you are writing a resume in general, for a specific job title, refer to a few samples. You can look at 5 – 10 job postings for the position and a few sample resumes for the same job title to identify the keywords.

Organize the bullet points that go in the skills section of the resume

Don’t let the skills scatter everywhere randomly. Organize and group the skills you put on your resume. Use blocks to group your skills. For example, you can group all your management skills and display them in the same block. This will help a hiring manager get a good grasp of your expertise with different skills.

Always be specific when writing a resume skills section

Did you know that listing overused phrases in your resume gives a bad impression of you to the hiring manager? Remove vague skills such as “motivated,” “punctual,” and “hardworking.” Employers generally expect you to be all of those things. Instead, be specific. Add the exact skills the employer asks for in the job description. Avoid using umbrella terms for your skills. For example, you can remove the term “Computer software proficient” and mention the software you are good with by name as, “Proficient in Eagle, AutoCAD, and Fusion.”

Make sure the skills section of your resume is relevant but flexible

Not everyone has every skill the employer asks for in the job description. When your skill set does not match the expectations of an employer, you should carefully consider what goes into the skills section of your resume. At Resume Mansion, we advise our clients to mention the skills that align 100% with the employer’s expectations at the very top of the skills section. Then, follow this with transferrable skills you possess from a career gap or a career shift. You will have many soft skills you can highlight, including project management, organization, and personnel management that make valuable additions to your skills section.

Add a “Technical Skills” section to your resume

You’ve already created a general skills section for your resume where you included the best of your qualifications. Consider creating a separate “Technical Skills” section to go after the work experience section of your resume, if you work in a field that requires specialized skills. Professionals working in industries such as Graphic Design, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Medicine benefit greatly from a separate “Technical Skills” section.