Professional skills to put on a resume (Examples)

What to put in skills on a CV? Whether they are acquired through your experiences or during your training, professional skills in a CV are decisive, whatever the type of CV (Classic or design) .

They are a qualification of your mastery and your practical knowledge, but also of your personal behavior . They will provide both the know-how and the know-how necessary for your position.

These are often discriminating criteria for choosing a candidate, particularly for the most sought-after positions.

In this article you will discover the skills to put on the CV with CV examples to inspire you:

• Practical knowledge and know-how
• Professional expertise
• Languages ​​and language skills
• Personal and relational behaviors
• The skills most sought after by recruiters

Practical knowledge and know-how

Among the skills to put on the CV , the first category concerns your practical knowledge. It is also about developing the client portfolio, mastering office automation, specific tools or craft techniques.

Know-how skills are very interesting if you lack experience or if you are starting your career. Students who lack experience will be able to highlight their ability to perform the job they want to start practicing.

Business or startup creators will also find it a good way to highlight their learning, even after a failure.

How to identify your know-how? (Examples)

The know-how is identified by answering the following question: what tools and techniques do you master in your profession to fulfill the tasks expected for the job offer?

Here are some examples of skills in a resume:

• Excel, Powerpoint or Microsoft Word software
• The AGILE method (Project Manager)
• Excel Pivot Table (Management Controller)
• Power BI data visualization (Data manager)
• Tax return and income statements (Accountant)
• Photo editing with Photoshop (Graphic designer)
• Erect scaffolding (Building)

However, it is not necessary to add skills such as Internet proficiency to a CV . After all, who these days does not master this tool?

How to highlight this type of skill on your CV?

In your CV, practical knowledge regularly appears in a dedicated section called “Skills”. They can take several forms:

1. The level gauge : it gives a graphic and design touch to your CV.
2. Points grading : more precise, it quantifies on a scale given from 1 to 5.
3. Descriptive : this is the most classic form. It allows you to be more exhaustive about the content of your skills.

Here is an example of a Caregiver resume to illustrate the use of gauge infographics for your skills:

In this other accounting assistant resume example , the use of points also makes the assessment more readable for the recruiter.

Whatever form you choose, we advise you to highlight them to make your CV attractive .

Technical skills: an example of a nursing assistant CV

Technical skills are very important in sectors of expertise such as medical, legal or in industry. To give you an idea of ​​layout, here is the example of skills to put in a CV of nursing assistant .

This example is very sober but illustrates well the interest of positioning the skills section in parallel with professional experiences. Indeed, reading is more fluid and the content very complementary.

Your professional knowledge and expertise

Your professional knowledge is an integral part of your skills to put on a CV . They aim to highlight your expertise or acquired experience. This is the type of skill to put on a CV for a professional retraining .

Your professional training can be included in this section. Not to be confused with the Training section of your CV which should present your academic training.

How to identify your professional expertise?

Your professional expertise is to be determined by answering this question: What knowledge have you developed or learned during your professional experiences? In what way are you an expert today?

Here are some examples of CV skills:

• Team management (Manager)
• Marketing Campaign Management (Advertising Manager)
• Partnership with major accounts (Key Account)
• Customer Relationship Management (Account Manager)
• Crisis communication plan (Communication)
• Customer portfolio development (Commercial)
• Assembly and enhancement of shelves (Warehouse worker)
• Prospecting, customer advice and negotiation (real estate agent)
• User experience design (Graphic designer)

This can also include the languages ​​you speak, if they are relevant to the position you are applying for…

How to highlight this type of skill on your CV?

The skills related to your profession will be assessed to judge your ability to take charge of the job quickly, without difficulty.

These skills should be ideally located in the content of your professional experiences, in bold if necessary. The goal is to support your experiences around them in order to legitimize your expertise.

They can also be located in the Skills section, taking care to distinguish them from your know-how. Here is an illustration with our elegant CV template :

Example of skills to put on a nursing CV

If we take the example of a nursing CV, the professional skills to highlight will certainly be the following:

• Assessment and monitoring of clinical/psychological status.
• Nursing care plan and implementation.
• Preparation of trolley and/or first aid kit.
• Traceability of care provided.
• Recording and updating of the care file.
• Coordination and communication with care/medical teams.
• Hygiene or comfort care checks.

We didn't invent them, we simply searched for about ten job offers for a nursing position, and we synthesized the most common skills.

And here's how we could highlight them in a nursing resume template . You can use this method for nursing resume skills, for another type of job, or for the job you're applying for.

Languages ​​and language skills

Language skills are essential for certain jobs. This CV skill is even more important if you are applying for a position with international reach where mastery of one or more languages ​​is required.

How to qualify your language skills?

Assess your level for each language at its true value. The classic language levels are as follows: Native, Bilingual, Fluent, Read / written / spoken, Notions .

The only problem is that the recruiter will not be convinced right away. Indeed, these categories are too restrictive and many candidates display fluent English when it is at an average level.

Here are some examples of your language level:

• Projective : able to lead a meeting, or give a presentation from A to Z.
• Rationale : TOEIC score 900
• Empirical : 1 year in the USA, or regular trips to England
• Affective : I have Anglo-Saxon family

How to illustrate this type of skills on the CV?

For each language you know, indicate your level.

Avoid point-based or barometer-based rating grids as much as possible. This can be a graphic choice to make your other skills more attractive, but it will always be less effective than a precise description in words.

To make your CV easier to read, you can also add an icon with the flag of the language concerned. This is the case for our CV template for communications officer , as you can see above. But all our CV templates have these icons by default.

Soft skills: personal and relational behavior

The last part of the CV in the professional skills section is interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills include all the skills relating to your behavior towards your colleagues, your teams or your customers/suppliers.

Soft skills are an aspect of your CV that you need to develop to make a difference and stand out from other candidates.

These " soft skills " allow the recruiter to get an idea of ​​your ability to integrate and flourish in a company or a team. With equal training and CV skills , it is the human and relational qualities that will allow the recruiter to decide.

This example of a graphic design student CV shows how to highlight these skills in your CV:

How to identify your interpersonal skills?

To identify your interpersonal skills, the easiest way is to start directly from the job offer. To do this, take a look at the Pôle emploi ads, choose about ten that you like and list the skills sought in which you recognize yourself.

This involves highlighting, for example:

• Your ability to handle pressure , to work in events.
• Your interpersonal skills , for commercial jobs.
• Your team spirit , for coordination or management positions.
• Your empathy , very useful in customer management or marketing.
• Your resilience and ability to motivate yourself when faced with complex projects with little chance of success.
• Decision making and judgment help you make the right decisions no matter the circumstances.

Some are more popular than others, such as creativity or team management, but this must be put into perspective of the type of job you are looking for: a financier will not have the same needs as a salesperson. And avoid standard qualities such as perfectionism as much as possible.

How to highlight your interpersonal skills on your CV?

Soft skills are more integrated into the cover letter or as a way of presenting your profile. You are therefore not obliged to create a specific section. If they constitute one of your strong points, they will be integrated into the hook of your CV, as in this example of a CV to download :

If possible, do not just list your qualities but justify them, very briefly, with concrete examples. In this respect, it may also be interesting to position them in the examples of your professional experiences.

Examples of skills: Commercial CV

Among the professional skills of a Sales CV , relational and personal qualities are extremely important. Because it is precisely a relational profession. Here are examples of skills for a Sales or Commercial CV:

• Managing daily priorities
• Autonomous
• Perseverant & Opportunity Hunter
• Learning & constant questioning
• Flexible: good adaptability skills
• Listening and empathy

The skills most sought after by recruiters

What is THE skill to put on a CV? From what we have just seen, the CV skills most sought after by employers are those that best match the posted offer . Quite simply.

Then, it's all about presenting your skills on a resume. Don't be evasive, describe precisely and in words your level of aptitude on each of the skills. Ideally, add examples to illustrate the application of these.

If, for example, you want to highlight your experience in a startup after it has ceased trading, you certainly have many skills to highlight around that.

Team management, accounting, budget management, staff recruitment, product marketing, etc. The key is to be selective about the job you are applying for and to keep a consistent story.

There you have it, you know everything about the skills to put in a CV. You can also take the opportunity to create a CV with examples of CVs with professional skills already integrated.

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