Shining a Light on Soft Skills Within a Tech Resume
Posted July 5th, 2016
Professionals know how to sell their hard skills on their resume. Hard skills are concrete. They involve education and training, they are measurable in nature and can be easily tested.
Soft skills are often harder to properly display. These skills that are hard to define at times, being closer to innate character traits, and are very difficult measure. Still, soft skills can separate one candidate from another, and make one candidate more prepared for the aspects of a job that you can’t learn from a book.
The big question is, how do you market your soft skills so they get the attention they deserve? While speaking to them in an interview is one strategy, you need to land the interview first. Here is some guidance on integrating your soft skills into your hard skills, tech-based resume.
Emphasis Team Work
Employers and staffing services look for someone who works well in a group. Someone who can work with others towards common goals, providing support and reliability to help the team function at its best.
To bring attention to these skills, make sure your resume includes information about working as part of a successful team. Include references to project teams when going addressing your previous job duties, or mention any trade organizations you work with or support.
By mentioning team-oriented responsibilities, you are providing information about your soft skills in that area.
Problem-Solving and Creative Thinking
Problem-solving skills are considered a must-have, especially in positions that revolve around technical support, application testing, or areas where identifying issues and correcting them is a key job function. Providing evidence that you possess these skills can set you apart from the competition.
How do you go about listing these soft skills? Provide examples where using these skills were an integral part of the job. Mention troubleshooting experience, especially if you were responsible for higher level support.
Troubleshooting, by nature, requires problem solving and creative thinking. If you have a metric to go with it, such as the number of systems and customers you directly supported, or the number of trouble tickets you addressed each month, these piece of information provide a window into your soft skills.
Don’t Forget Customer Service
Regardless of the type of work you perform, everyone is working with a customer. Your customer may be internal users, customers who buy your product, members of management to which you provide data, or anyone who expects a deliverable from you.
When you are looking to integrate these skills into your resume, refer to the people you provided service to as your customers. If you have customers, you must perform customer service duties. By labelling the relationship as it truly is, you bring this fact to mind.
The Key to Soft Skills
When adding soft skills to your resume, consider how those skills are used. By attaching the skills to a task, you can bring attention to your capabilities, which may be just the thing you need to set yourself apart when seeking employment opportunities.
If you aren’t sure where to begin, the professional staff at Bayside Solutions can help get you on the right track. Contact us today!
