No matter what industry you’re looking to enter as an employee, certain skills are simply non-negotiable. Others, while not necessarily mandatory, can still put you ahead of competing candidates who otherwise match your exact skill set.
While, of course, more advanced skills and levels of experience are necessary for specialized positions, some abilities are a bit more easy to pick up and add to your resume in a short period of time. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the “easier” skills you can learn that will help distinguish you from your competition.
(Note: When we say “easier,” here, we simply mean that gaining a working understanding or ability of these skills won’t require you to undergo years of training or anything like that. Of course, you’ll still need to dedicate yourself to mastering these abilities over time in order to truly set yourself apart from the crowd.)
These skills are great highlights to a resume
Skill #1: Basic Computer Skills
At this point in time, being able to easily navigate computers, smartphones, and other such electronics is all but essential in order to be considered a
Similarly, at this point in time, “basic computer skills” doesn’t mean what it did ten or twenty years ago.
In other words, it’s not enough to simply know how to use Word to type up a report, or use Excel to create a basic spreadsheet. Rather, you need to be able to take advantage of the advanced functions within such programs (and more).
While you might be able to gain these skills on your own, it may benefit you to learn the ins and outs of specific programs in a more structured setting. To do so, consider taking a course at your local community college, or even enrolling in an online course. That way, you can be sure you’ve truly learned everything you need to know about the specific program in question.
Skill #2: Leadership and Collaboration Skills
Prospective employers want to know that candidates are able to both lead their colleagues to greatness and work together with them to achieve said greatness.
That said, you want to be sure that your resume includes specific mentions of times in which you acted as a team leader, and also moments in which you fulfilled a specific role within a team of workers.
Adding these skills to your resume may simply be a matter of looking back on your professional career (and even your personal life) and pinpointing moments in which you implemented these skills.
If this doesn’t apply to you, there are still a few ways you can quickly pick up these experiences.
Again, you might consider taking a course or two at your local community college; there will certainly be times throughout the semester to come in which you’ll assume the role of leader, and other moments in which you’ll need to be more of a team player. Even if the experience isn’t in a “real-world” setting, you certainly can still include them in your resume.
Another way to gain such experience is to volunteer within an organization in your community. In doing so, not only will you be able to add to your resume, but you’ll also be making a difference in the process.
Skill #3: Communication Skills
Communication is key in pretty much every single occupation in the world today.
That said, you want to be able to showcase your communication skills thoroughly within your resume in a way that shows that you not only know how to communicate well, but that you’ve used these communication skills to accomplish specific goals in the past.
If you don’t have any concrete evidence of your communication skills (aside from the manner in which you craft your cover letter and resume in the first place), you may, again, need to look to your local college campus. There will certainly be opportunities, there, for you to audit classes focusing on public speaking, communicative writing, and even learning the basics of secondary languages which may be pertinent for the position you’re seeking.
Again, it’s essential that you back up these claims in a “meta” sort of way by crafting your cover letter and resume in a way that shows you understand the importance of clear communication. In doing so, you’ll have a much better chance of having your application stand out from your competitors’.
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