7 Most Attractive Skills to Add to Your Resume

7 Most Attractive Skills to Add to Your Resume 7 Most Attractive Skills to Add to Your Resume Here are 7  skills to add to your resume: 1. Achievements Rather than simply listing your daily duties under each job, you should strive to include things youve achieved. Employers want people who can generate results and innovate rather than passively do their work, especially in leadership positions. For example, if you were named as employee of the month at some point by the higher-ups, you should add that. If you developed a new method of office workflow that saved the company time and money, include that too. 2. Writing and Communication Skills The ability to effectively communicate, both written and verbally, is a must-have qualification for just about any job. Whether youre a worker in a factory or a CEO, you must be able to clearly and effectively communicate with clients, employees, stockholders, other managers, and contractors, to name a few. Managers must be able to guide their employees and work out solutions to problems when they arise. Most employees need to be able to write error-free emails or letters for both internal and external eyes. Unclear verbal communication can cause instructions to be followed incorrectly, and written communication riddled with mistakes can be a massive embarrassment to an organization. These are simply basic skills every employee needs to have, and you can show you have them by making sure your resume and cover letter are error-free. 3. Decision-Making Skills If youre looking to get promoted to a chief operating officer position (COO), one of the most important COO job-essential skills is decision-making ability. To be a leader at a company, you must be able to make the hard calls. On your resume, talk about decisions you had to make in your previous jobs and demonstrate how you came to the correct conclusion. Its okay if split-second decisions arent always your thing- taking everything into account and weighing both sides of the issue can be equally desirable and effective. Adding instances like that on your resume can show that you’re an immensely thoughtful and intelligent person. 4. Tech Skills No matter what field youre applying to, tech skills are some of the most notable qualifications. You should always list the relevant programs you’re proficient in on your resume. If your industry heavily uses a particular software, like Photoshop for graphic designers, for example, include that on your resume, as well as other lesser-known programs that you’ve used. Fortunately, its fairly easy to learn tech skills, even on your own, though taking a class offered through your local community college wouldnt hurt. Most software companies offer free trials so you can learn to use the software on your own if you have no experience with it. 5. Leadership Skills Employers want to see that you were highly regarded enough to be placed in a leadership position. This is especially important if the position youre applying for is in management. You can demonstrate your capacity for leadership on your resume by detailing what teams you’ve managed in the past and the successes you drove them to achieve. You can discuss how well you were able to create balanced teams, for example, and cultivate the strengths of each member of your team. Promotion to a management position also speaks very well of others faith in your leadership abilities, especially if it happened fairly quickly after you began working at a particular company. 6. Ability to Work on a Team and Solo Nearly all jobs require some form of teamwork. But its also important for you to be able to work and be productive on your own as well. Most people lean one way or the other, but to be the most desirable and reliable employee, you must be able to do both. Try to demonstrate both aptitudes on your resume by outlining what you’ve brought to teams youve been on, as well as what youve accomplished on your own. If youre not particularly good at one or the other, work at conditioning yourself to work better alone or on teams. Use time management software or volunteer in an organization where you will have to work with others to gain this experience. 7. Degrees and Certifications For many jobs, you’ll need to display some kind of college degree or other professional qualification to be considered qualified for the role. With some jobs, even if you have years of experience, you wont be considered for a position without the proper educational credentials. What can be even more important is specific certifications. For example, if you’re a paralegal, becoming a certified paralegal by passing the rigorous test offered by the professional organization NALA will make you a much more qualified candidate than an applicant who just has a degree. Some careers require you be licensed, such as in nursing, and you’ll simply be unable to acquire a job in that field without it. Being certified in certain software programs or for certain technologies can also be highly desirable depending on the position. These are all the skills to add to your resume or develop if you dont have them yet. Each and every one of the seven qualifications mentioned above are what employers look for, especially when hiring for management positions. Remember to follow all the other standard resume advice as well. This includes adding a resume summary statement at the top to catch the hiring managers attention, quantifying your achievements whenever possible, using verbs and active voice rather than passive voice, and omitting any unnecessary information. Put these most sought after qualifications on your resume and you should start receiving calls for interviews in no time at all. Addison Jenning is an HR manager and a passionate writer who recruits, motivates, and contributes to the development of employees. She oversees the effective and successful execution of the companys internal strategy. Addison regularly contributes for Job Descriptions Wiki. You can also find her on Twitter. Looking for more resume advice? Check out our resume tips category.