How To List Strengths And Skills On Your Resume In 2024

One of the most crucial components of a resume is your strengths and skills section.

So many candidates make the mistake of only speaking to what they did in their work experience, but hardly any mention of what skills they developed or demonstrated within their roles. Including these skills can make all the difference between your application landing in the shortlisting pile or not.

But how exactly do you showcase your strengths and skills within your resume?

When deciding what work skills to include in your resume, and how to structure and place them strategically, there are a few conventions you need to follow and bear in mind:

1. Ensure Relevance

There’s no use in listing any and every skill you’ve ever developed since the start of your career. You’ve likely built dozens of skills—but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to include all of them. To help you decide which ones need to be excluded in an effort to keep your resume brief and concise, look at the requirements and qualifications listed in the job advert, and tailor your skills section accordingly.

2. Create A Skills Section

Create a dedicated section for your skills and strengths. You may title it “Skills” or “Skills Highlights.” While it is essential to include examples of your skills all throughout the resume, it’s also important to have this separate section so that it stands out to recruiters. Place this section near the top of your resume, after the professional profile, and before you delve into your work experience.

3. Group By Category

For ease of reading and scannability purposes, you may find it more effective to categorize your strengths and skills under relevant headings, particularly if you have quite a few. For example, you can say, “Technical Skills: Adobe Photoshop, Figma, Canva, MS Office,” etc. Or, if you are bilingual or multilingual, you can save space on your resume (depending on layout of course) by grouping your skills and proficiency levels under languages.

4. Balance Soft And Hard Skills

If you work in an industry that tends to have a firm reliance and emphasis on “hard,” technical skills, such as the technology industry, or manufacturing, it’s pretty easy to overlook soft skills, also known as power skills.

MORE FROM FORBESThe Top 10 In-Demand Soft Skills To Learn In 2024, Based On ResearchBy Rachel Wells

However, according to CompTIA, the professional certification body for IT certifications, soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, organization, and project management, are needed more than you realize for—yes you read right—even largely technical jobs.

For instance, communication is necessary so that you can effectively liaise with project and product managers, and other non-technical stakeholders, so it’s important to showcase instances of your communication skills in action, on your resume.

5. Update Periodically

We tend to forget how amazing we are as humans. The business and rush of life can frequently overwhelm us, and we get so lost in doing work, that we forget to take note of what we’ve actually achieved. If you’ve been suddenly laid off and are scrambling to find what strengths, achievements, and skills to list on your resume, chances are, you’ve been a victim of this very habit.

So, every now and then, review your resume and give it a refresh. Do this exercise every time you complete a certification or training course, learn a new skill at work, or achieve something remarkable in your professional life. This ensures your resume is always up to date, so that you’re never caught out, forgetting what strengths and skills you actually possess.

Ultimately, your skills section should complement the rest of your resume—and where you lack space, you can strategically include your skills throughout other sections as well. This will help to paint a comprehensive picture of your suitability for the role.