Writing a resume can be time consuming and difficult! There are so many things you could include, but then you run the risk of overwhelming people with a long document. It is vital to know the important skills for a resume that match the jobs you’re targeting.
A lot of people think that they should easily be able to write their resume. Then they beat themselves up because they don’t know what to say to be most effective. In this episode, you will learn more about the audiences you should focus on when writing your resume.
Our host and CEO Porschia, alongside our guest, Wynter Love, will share their insight on the significance of transferable and professional skills in resume writing.
Wynter Love is our Career Services Manager and Senior Resume Writer. With 15 years of experience in Employment Consulting and Transition Coaching, Wynter is a current member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches, and a previous member of the National Resume Writers Association.
What you’ll learn:
- How you can figure out the relevant skills that should be on your resume
- Why you need to prepare your resume for multiple audiences
- Why it is important to have skills relevant to the job you are applying for on your resume
- How a professional resume writer finds the important skills for a resume
- What transferable skills are and why it’s vital to have them on your resume
- The biggest challenges executives and professionals have with finding and incorporating key skills on their resumes
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00]
Today we are talking about resumes 103 important skills for resume with winter love. Winter love is our career services manager and lead interview coach. She is a current member of the professional association of resume writers and career coaches and a previous member of the national resume writers association.
In addition, winter holds certificates in human resources management, motivational [00:01:00] interviewing. mediation and technology. And distance learning. She has 15 years of experience in employment, consulting and transition coaching. And winter attained a bachelor of family and consumer science from the university of Georgia and a master of education with a concentration in adult education and training from Colorado state university.
Hi winter. How are you today?
Wynter: Hello. I always laugh when you get to my degree. So I’m like, ah, that sounds so long.
Porschia: Long and official. It is helpful for what you do today. Winter. Yes. Well, as usual, I’m thrilled to have you with us to discuss. Important skills for a resume. We’ve had you on the show before, as our regulars know.
So for anyone who wants more background about Winter and her career, [00:02:00] please check out episode two which is resumes 101, the basics and what your resume should look like. Winter and I also discussed resume writing tips during episode 25. So if you haven’t listened to those episodes. Check them out. Today we are going to jump right in and talk more about important resume skills.
When it comes to resumes, one of the most common questions that we get from executives and professionals is, What should be on my resume? And when clients ask us that, I think that the question they’re really asking is, What are the important skills and key accomplishments that should be highlighted? On my resume.
Winter, we know that everyone is different, but how do you think someone can figure [00:03:00] out the relevant skills that should be on their resume?
Wynter: Yeah, I think that is where everyone should start, right? Is what am I doing that’s relevant to where I want to go? My trajectory for the next, a couple of years, 5 10 years, if that’s part of your career plan, but I would say first and foremost, take notes of your day to day responsibilities, what do you do when you sit down first thing in the morning?
What are the systems that you pull up on the computer? All of that is relevant because those are keywords that are typically used in job descriptions. I think it’s important to note too, it’s like, what do people come to you for? Are you like a subject matter expert in your own regard in some way?
A confidant, a mentor, a mediator, like what do people come to you for? That’s important too. Yeah. Yeah.
Porschia: So let’s say someone is just like looking at their resume. How would they know just based on what you said, if they’re If you’re [00:04:00] on track,
Wynter: then your resume should be able to paint a picture about your roles and responsibilities and how they have progressed over the years without any questions in a way, right?
A lot of times clients
Let’s add more context to that. So what does your resume speak about the actual contextual information about the accomplishment? Just make sure that you’re painting a full picture of it. So you’re on the right track when you have a idea of and we talked about star answers in the interview podcasts that we had earlier episode we had earlier.
So you can use that same type of formula to answer for your resume as well. So that situation, that task, the accomplishment the action, I’m sorry. And then the result.
Porschia: Great. Great. So why is it important to have skills relevant to the job you are applying for on your resume?
Wynter: Oh, [00:05:00] applicant tracking systems are all the rage these days, didn’t you know?
Porschia: What’s about those applicant tracking systems, Winter, if someone doesn’t know what that is?
Wynter: Oh, applicant tracking system is a platform that most employers will use and will have you upload an application to a lot of times you’ll upload a resume and then you’ll fill out a series of questions or make sure that your actual resume populated correctly into an application.
Sometimes there are tests that are attached to it. And even most recently I’ve been seeing the virtual interviews that you can apply just do an all in one suite with some platforms. So you want to make sure that you’re. Skills are relevant to the job description as the computer reads it, which is the applicant tracking system, and then ranks you whether or not you are worthy, air quote, worthy for an interview and to go to the next process, next step.
Porschia: Absolutely. If your resume isn’t scoring highly [00:06:00] in, software technology like the applicant tracking systems, then you’re just not going to get interviews. And a lot of times people just don’t know why. I generally tell people winter that we are preparing their resume from multiple audiences.
This is sometimes really difficult for our clients in highly technical fields to understand. The resume is written to rank highly in the software technology systems, based on those right keywords and skills. Like you mentioned, its goal is. It’s also to entice a frontline recruiter, so the human being to put you in the yes pile after a five to 10 second glance of your resume.
And it’s also used for the ultimate hiring manager. Of the job to look at and be enticed by. So we’ve got those just three that I mentioned different audiences there for [00:07:00] most resume submissions. And, to think about that, for example, let’s say you have a Ph. D. in neuroscience. And you’re out there applying for scientist roles or other highly specialized and technical roles.
Well, you’ve got to take that scientist cap off because it’s important for your resume to be appealing and understandable in software screening systems. And to those reviewers who do not have
Wynter: a Ph. D. Yeah, that’s so important. Because it’s also the combination of words. It’s keywords and it’s phrases.
So you may have from your understanding, all of the keywords. but if they’re not in a phrase that is positioned by the company that they are looking for, then it is not as likely to pick up on those keywords that you’ve added. So yeah, all of the language is a balance. I would definitely
Porschia: agree.
So [00:08:00] as a professional resume writer, how do you find out the important skills to include on clients resumes?
Wynter: It all goes into knowing the right questions to ask. I think as you grow as a writer, you inherently know What clients need? What questions? And how to frame them in the right context.
A lot of professionals may not realize how they impact operations. In an informal conversation can honestly just lead to a lot of additional information. Where the context can be developed. So many experiences that many people don’t record on their resumes or on LinkedIn is a part of their journeys, too.
I learned a lot about publications or media appearances nominations for awards that can be added to your job search documents. I think even there was one instance there was like four or five presentations that this client gave all of the industry that they were interested in applying for and they [00:09:00] was like, Oh, I just didn’t know it was relevant.
I’m like yes. All of that has impact as well.
Porschia: And Winter will not toot her own horn, so I will do it here. Winter has also written hundreds of resumes. And the other writers on our team have all written hundreds of resumes as well. I know that winter and the other writers on our team, a lot of times they’ve written so many resumes and different industries and for different jobs that they just know some of the important skills to include for clients just based off of doing, the actual writing for years.
And then something else that our team does, and I don’t know about every other professional resume writing team, but. Our team goes in and does a lot of research. So again, for example, if someone were to sign up with Fly High Coaching and they want a resume done we will go and research the [00:10:00] job titles that they’re interested in, any.
specific job postings and look for important skills there too. So it’s not, so it’s part experience and just having that knowledge of, writing resumes for hundreds of clients. And then also the research part too in terms of, finding out even more of those important skills.
Wynter: Yeah. And customizing it to your location has so much value. A lot of times. clients just will send over a job description with the title that they’re looking for. And they’re like something like this. And something like this in Washington DC and something like this in Tampa, Florida are completely different in some instances, something like this in one business line can be completely different than something like this in another business line.
So we just want to make sure that a lot of. the job titles, the responsibilities are actually on target for what you’re looking for and don’t really get lost in the minutiae of the searches, right? Because you can type [00:11:00] in a project manager, but if you don’t specify and add context that it really won’t go anywhere.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. In what you were saying there, it made me think of a conversation I had just yesterday with a a prospective client who is interested in getting her resume done. And she told me winter that she just got so overwhelmed with trying to write her resume herself a lot.
And part of. Because she didn’t know what should be on it. What are those important skills and all of that. And so we’re talking about important skills for your resume today. But I want you to know that if your head is spinning. Feeling a little overwhelmed. It’s completely normal. I tell a lot of people that, a lot of this is not common knowledge, right?
, nerdy resume writers and career coaches, and, I’m a self-professed nerd, so it’s okay to say that [00:12:00] add me. , yes. At winter is too. So those are, the people where this might seem a little. Easier for, but I don’t want you to beat yourself up if you’re listening to this and you’re like, wow, this sounds like a lot or I’m a little lost.
Wynter: Yeah. I guess what you say when objectively, when I talk about it does sound like, but I’ve been writing for 15 years, so it is like a natural conversation, but I do agree. If you’re find yourself just like you sit down and you look at it and you’re just like, no. Ask for help. It’s okay. Especially if it’s those academic CVs, those federal resumes where you have like decades of experience.
You need to have a conversation with someone if I’m just being candid, just so reach out, ask
Porschia: for help. Yeah. Yeah. And along those same lines. Winter. We covered the basics of what your resume should look like in episode two. From your perspective, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve seen [00:13:00] professionals or executives have with finding and incorporating key skills on their resumes?
Wynter: Yeah, when you talk about being overwhelmed, I think that really struck a chord. A lot of executives and professionals are overwhelmed with the amount of experience that they have, but then the focus of their experience are like on their job duties in a sense. But if you can’t see the forest for the trees, then, those instances of cost savings and time management process improvements and quality insurance, that feels foreign to you.
That language doesn’t feel like it fits in what you were doing. A lot of time it’s managing those expectations and really understanding that those transferable skills, excuse me, I’m sorry that most executives have and the language may not resonate with them. And it requires a lot of.
Reading and researching the job descriptions. The biggest problem is just seeing themselves objectively.
Porschia: [00:14:00] I would agree. I would agree. And another challenge I think that’s out there is that online, we know there’s so much information, right? You can Google anything and you will get opposing views and differing opinions on everything.
But I think for resumes, there’s still a lot of Old advice that’s just floating around on the internet. And so sometimes we see clients who are trying to [00:15:00] stick to some old outdated advice that just really isn’t relevant anymore. For example, some people believe in the one page resume myth.
Or, for some professionals, they should have a one page resume, but everyone should not necessarily have a one page resume.
Wynter: And to that same vein, everyone does not need a five page federal resume. I should not be stretching your resume out to four or five pages. They do not want to read that.
Porschia: Exactly. Exactly. Another one I see is that’s. outdated is, having that like objective statement at the top. So there are just a lot of things out there where you can Google it and someone says it’s right, but it’s outdated and it used to be right 20 years ago. So those can be challenges for people too, because they don’t know who to listen to because they’re DIYing it from, just.
Different information across the internet. [00:16:00] Yeah.
Wynter: And considering the perspectives from that information, a career development or resume writer working at a college university or community college is not going to have the same perspective as someone who is writing for the majority of the workforce.
And same with some executives. I know a lot of times clients will go to a suite of friends, and be like, Hey, give me ideas. Well, they may not have the wide lens to give you that range of answers as well.
Porschia: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Winter. You made me think about one of our past clients.
And this is definitely, I think, a common mistake. Well, one, I talk a lot about your career support system and who should be in that. And we’ve got, previous episodes on the podcast about that, that everyone should not be in your career support system, number one. But we had someone who.
Took the resume [00:17:00] draft to 10 of her current coworkers at her job and surprise, there were different opinions from the 10 people she showed her resume to at her job. And these people were for the most part, her colleagues on her same kind of vertical level, they had the same exact job and had to tell her, these people have different motives for you.
Some of these people might not want you to go and get this fabulous new job at another organization because they’re still working at the organization that you’re at. Some people might not see you in this new version of yourself and might discourage you for those reasons. So she had been discouraged from some of the feedback that she got from people who were not professionals.
When it comes to resume writing, they weren’t in HR, they weren’t in recruiting. They were actually at her job. And so I had to tell her all of this, and then three months later, she got a job, a great job that she loved with [00:18:00] the resume as is. Yes, to your point, the perspectives of the people that you’re listening to that’s a challenge in terms of knowing, who to listen to and who not.
And one other thing, too, is recruiters. Sometimes people say, hey, I’ve got this recruiter friend. Or, hey, the recruiter at this company told me this. And with recruiters. I want to say that they all have their own opinions based on their industry and their organization. So a recruiter at Google is going to tell you what they are looking for at Google.
But if you try to take that advice and apply it to the resumes that you submit everywhere else outside of Google, it might not be as helpful. So I think that’s another benefit. And, working with professional resume writers who work for with clients, thousands of clients across industries with this type of varied experience, because they [00:19:00] know what’s going to be most effective across the board.
And sure. When you get your recruiter feedback from Google or some other large corporation, you could tweak it and have that one version for them, but not to necessarily use that across the board.
Wynter: It shouldn’t overwrite everything just for that one specific role. Exactly.
Porschia: Exactly. I’ll get off my soapbox when you make me think of a few things there with perspectives.
And I think it’s super important for people to know. So in addition to keywords that are specific to the job and industry, someone is targeting transferable skills are imperative to for those who don’t know what are transferable skills.
Wynter: Oh, transferable skills are those skills that are able to transfer.
That was horrible, wasn’t it? But really it’s those skills that go with [00:20:00] you as you switch roles, as you switch industries. How do you impact the room when you step foot in it? What is attached to you as a person? And those accomplishments are the transferable skills is how I like to explain it to a client.
I don’t like to give specific examples when I’m first talking to clients about transferable skills because I don’t want to guide them through what that looks like because sometimes the transferable skills is collaboration and they’re on a committee. at every single role that they’re in, and they don’t realize that they’ve been doing diversity, equity, inclusion for 10 years as a part of this committee work.
You just let the client tell the story, but those transferable skills are those reoccurring themes that keep on popping up every time you look at your career
Porschia: history. Yes, I like to say transferable skills are talents and abilities that can be applied to a new role. And I generally tell our clients that when you are thinking about [00:21:00] transferable skills they should be some of your high level proficiencies and competencies.
I also agree with. Not necessarily sharing examples of transferable skills right off the bat with clients so that they, are creative and really think uniquely about. What their transferable skills are before we start throwing out examples. It’s important to do that deep level work first.
And then after that we can think about some examples. Let’s say someone’s done that winter. They’ve already thought about what transferable skills are for them. And now they want some examples. What are some examples of transferable skills that could be helpful to include on a resume?
Wynter: Oh, I would always start with highlighting leadership. So how are you engaging with people? How are you moving the needle? And people can be clients, it can be patients, it can be staff, it can be board members, it can be vendors. But what, what is going on [00:22:00] with That pipeline. How are you moving teams?
How are you moving processes? How are you impacting the organization? Collaboration is huge. So I want to take a look at how are we actually pinpointing your accomplishments in connection to collaboration. I know we talked about committee work. A lot of times committee work is one of the last things that clients think about, but That’s a lot of people talking, that’s a lot of strategic planning.
That’s a lot of management and forecasting. So that collaboration piece is huge. I would also say take a step back and look at the jobs that you’re interested in. Those themes that we were talking about in those buzzwords that come across. So That you may see a lot of buzzwords right now are data driven decision making working in high energy environments are buzzwords.
Do you have examples that can fit in line with those things that you see and problem solving? You should at least have [00:23:00] five examples of problems. Agreed.
Porschia: Agreed. Some of the other ones that I like are, time management, delegation, listening, training persuasion is a transferable skill. I like to think of, the ability to facilitate or give presentations evaluating things, negotiating things, organization. So we’ve given you some good examples, I think, of transferable skills that might apply, to some of the listeners. We also include what some people call personal or professional skills in our clients resumes.
What are professional skills, Winter?
Wynter: Professional skills are more of those skills that are closer to your chest, right? Things that Or tactical skills. You can say what? What [00:24:00] is closer aligned to your industry? That you personally would use to influence teams to impact operations as we talked about.
So we talk about emotional intelligence. You’re talking about critical thinking. As you get into the more tactical keywords, sales enablement is a keyword that is really broad, but Is really specific at the same time and, and in connection, you can say pre sales engineering.
Those are more tactical and professional keywords that would be really specific to what you are able to do. That wouldn’t be in general and wouldn’t be considered like a buzzword, but is really important to your career history and your trajectory as you go on to explain your expertise.
Now, As it relates to more of like your, I want to say here I guess I should clarify that the personal and the professional [00:25:00] skills are not your hobbies. So just be mindful there. So while it is nice that, you may have gone skiing in 2003 it may not be the right time to put it on your resume.
Unless it is a part of the full package. So I just wanted to make sure that I was saying, be careful there not to confuse your personal and your professional skills with your hobbies and more off the clock type of things.
Porschia: Great point. Great point. I generally say that professional skills are traits that also make up your unique disposition, right?
So these are displayed at work and can be beneficial in a professional environment. You started, I think, mentioning some, but what are some other examples of professional skills, Winter?
Wynter: Oh, as you get more into your day to day, take a look at what it looks like to be a team player. Are you [00:26:00] trustworthy?
Are they giving you confidential documents to handle? Are you a quick learner? Is someone often calling you to be a team leader or a part of a team or to handle multiple things? So all of these things are personal skills and Professional skills that tie in to your full packaging can be explained.
I usually use a lot of these skills and traits for the professional summary on LinkedIn because it adds a layer of context that you wouldn’t get in the professional summary on your resume.
Porschia: I love it. I also think a few professional skills that I like to mention to people are. Honest, patient, unbiased resourceful tactful let’s see, I’m trying to think you’ve said so many good ones, dependable, enthusiastic these are all professionally Things that someone could see as a benefit [00:27:00] or an attribute to detail
Wynter: oriented is a big one.
Porschia: It is. That’s a great one. That’s a great one. So winter, what is your number one tip for writing or developing content?
Wynter: My number one tip is to take your time to review your information, take your time to review your goals going forward make sure that you When you’re developing content, it speaks to you and you’re not inflating your experience, but also make sure that you’re not deflating your experience.
It’s a balance, but I just want to make sure that everyone who is writing their own content or if they’re reviewing content, that they’re taking the time to actually
Oh, can you hear me? Excuse me. Taking the time to actually absolve the information and really see if it really fits on what you want to do. And what you have done in the past take a look at those keywords and compare in contrast the job descriptions. But yeah, I say take your time is the [00:28:00] most one.
If you’re creating your resume with multiple updates within an hour or two, you’re missing something. I promise you, just take your
Porschia: time. Yeah, I think that’s a great tip. That’s a great tip. So that tip was about really developing content. I’m going to ask you our last question and we’ll broaden it out to just resumes in general.
But how do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge with creating their resume?
Wynter: You get your positive edge with creating your resume by staying flexible. By researching your own industry and understanding how subject matter experts talk
Porschia: about your industry, like we said, look at
Wynter: your role in different locations, because sometimes a different explanation of your exact role in a different company across the country will just provide you with what the The marketing trends are, if you will, across the job [00:29:00] search.
So if you are able to keep a rolling list and being flexible of the keywords, the phrases that you input into your resume, I think that will serve you well.
Porschia: Agreed. Well, Winter, you have shared a lot of tips with us today, and I’m sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident in their careers with their resumes.
We appreciate you being with us.
Wynter: Thank you so much for having me again. [00:30:00]
