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Radhika Panjwani is a former journalist from Toronto and a blogger.
In an effective résumé, a candidate’s actions are measurable and their aptitude evident through accomplishments, so does it make sense to waste valuable real estate on a bulleted list of skills? More importantly, what makes a résumé stand-out to a prospective employer?
“A good résumé includes a good story,” says Robynn Storey, chief executive officer of Storeyline Résumés, a U.S. company that specializes in résumés for senior- and executive-level candidates anywhere in the world. A résumé “must showcase a candidate’s ability to influence change, transform outcomes and impact business results,” Ms. Storey says. “Hiring managers are looking for how you impacted a business, grew revenue, built a team, solved a problem, saved money and made money for the company.”
To that end, Ms. Storey, a popular LinkedIn influencer with about 850,000 followers, believes having a bulleted skills list will helps. Keyword scanning is how the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) flags the résumés for a more detailed review and having a skills section ensures there’s an extra chunk of relevant keywords, she adds.
Don’t bother, says this expert
Unless you’re in a technical field, the skills section is a waste of space, says Adam Broda, a career consultant, in a viral LinkedIn post. He says about 75 per cent of all non-technical résumés have the same set of skills, so why bother?
“I need to know how you applied the skill and not that you believe you have it,” Mr. Broda writes. “Generically listing ‘communication skills’ doesn’t separate you from other candidates. There are better ways to convince me you’re good at this. Demonstrate the ability in an example.”
Much like Ms. Storey, Mr. Broda too says applicants must utilize the “valuable real estate on their résumé” to market quantifiable results and value-based accomplishments.
In the same vein, listing ones soft skills without context is equally pointless, he says.
Show, don’t tell
A study by the American Association of Colleges and Universities reveals more than 90 per cent of those surveyed believed soft skills such as teamwork and critical and analytical thinking are important for college graduates entering the workforce.
Findings by job portal Indeed Canada shows 77 per cent of employers would hire a candidate based on soft or interpersonal skills and attitude, rather than job-related knowledge and hard skills.
Shortage of required hard skills in some sectors in Canada has employers looking at soft skills – such as communication, teamwork and ability to handle pressure - to shortlist trainable candidates promising who can learn on the job, the Indeed report notes.
“Valuable aptitudes: critical thinking, leadership, work ethic, adaptability, time management, attention to detail and an overall positive attitude are seen as more and more crucial to building productive teams and happy and successful work environments,” the report says.
Employers want résumés tailored to the advertised job. Listing soft skills is great, but it’s even better to demonstrate them, says Amanda Broos, vice-president of people at Neo Financial, a Calgary and Winnipeg headquartered technology company that simplifies finances through reimagined spending, savings, investing and mortgages.
Soft skills are extremely important, Ms. Broos says. Her company typically assesses candidates’ soft skills during the interview process by probing on their accomplishments and how they garnered results, she says.
Ms. Broos says an ideal résumé is:
- Clear and concise. A résumé that’s more than one page, double sided, is too long. The rule holds true for everyone irrespective of their seniority.
- Highlights scope of role, magnitude of impact, title and the organizations you’ve worked for. She says there’s no need to add a bullet for every key responsibility.
- When listing key accomplishments, make sure they stand out and are quantifiable.
- Details matter so have someone proofread your résumé before you submit it for an open role. A typo or mistake that could have easily been avoided might cost you the opportunity.
- Make sure you save your résumé with a good file name [for example, first and last name and company name]. This will help employers during the screening process.
“I have personally had my résumé reviewed by colleagues or subject matter experts before I’ve applied for almost every job I’ve had,” Ms. Broos says. “Get people who will be honest and will be diligent to review it.
Ms. Storey, a 25-year veteran in the résumé business, says ultimately it doesn’t matter whether you have switched careers and moved across to different industries or stayed on a linear path as long as your résumé conveys your successes and skills persuasively.
“Success is universal,” Ms. Storey says. “Almost no one ends up where they started out. The key is to show you’ve had an impact along with measurable results in every job you’ve had.”
What I’m reading around the web
- In a blog post, leadership coach Suzi McAlpine writes when promoting functional experts into managerial roles, leaders must caution against some traps because strengths in domain knowledge don’t necessarily translate into leadership.
- In this story in Psychology Today, a linguist says there are three common elements in a communication: explicit content, emotional subtext and an implicit statement. The second and third elements, referred to as the tone, usually have the greatest impact on how an interaction turns out.
- This report in the World Economic Forum says a skills-first approach can be beneficial as it not only helps employers find the best workers but also retain them, especially when there’s a global skills shortage.
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