

Ask HN: How should i present my skill sets with my cv - thedangler

Recently when applying for jobs i've come across fill in the blank type resume submission.<p>In the CV part I've been providing my skill sets as a list. What is the best way to list the skills with out just slapping key words and listing languages.<p>I start the list with "proficient in" and "excellent in". Seems thats what everyone does, and I want to stand out.<p>Thanks
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klync
There are lots of things you can do - many of them depend on exactly who you
are (ie. what jobs you're applying for as well as the experience you have),
and some on the specific posting / submission engine you're facing.

Terms like "proficient" and "excellent" are usually not needed: you list your
skills in order of your abilities - the most proficient are at the top / front
of the list, so you can leave out those extraneous words.

Also, a lot of what you write will sound like standard tripe, but that's a
good thing ... to an extent. You want to stand out from the crowd, but you
also want to demonstrate that you understand the game being played here. In
short, your resume should make it as easy as possible for the person reviewing
it to match you to the job posting.

An example of where you should follow the same style as others is in using
"action words". Don't say you are familiar with / proficient in project
management, for example; say you have managed projects [of X size and scope].
Don't say you know Python; say you have contributed to an open source python
project (and provide a link!).

Keywords are good. You can adapt / evolve your resume and cover letters based
on the words and phrases you're seeing in postings. This is especially
important when the target is not an employer, but a recruiter who might not
even understand what a "J2EE Deployment Engineer" is, precisely. And how
Weblogic is different than JBoss. So use their terminology - it shows you
care. In times when I've been looking for work (or even just polishing off my
resume for good measure), I start by gathering together a number (say, 20) of
postings that sound like jobs I'd like - regardless of whether I'm actually
qualified for them. I then look at the phrases and skills they're asking for;
which ones are most common, etc.; and start creating a list. I will then
review that list, refining it as I contemplate my own skills and experience,
and then building up the terminology I'm going to use to describe myself.

Master these things, and then you can start working on how to stand out. I'm
going to cut my comment off here for the moment, but here's one more thought:
when listing past experience and when writing cover letters, an example can
say a thousand things that will expand out your bullet points. As an example,
say you're applying for an intermediate programmer job - they're asking for
someone who knows php, and is a "front end rockstar" and works well under
pressure, blah blah. You start off by saying "I've been building php websites
for 5 years." (or whatever) And then you give an example "At my last employer,
we were under extreme pressure to deliver a custom solution for a fortune 500
company. After helping our team derive a scalable architecture based on my DAL
model, I was given sole responsibility for implementing the UI by building on
the originally approved comps." With two sentences like that, you can show
that you know your php, that you can handle the deadlines; that you know your
way around the back end as well as the front, etc. And, again, provide a link!

HTH ... if you have any other specific points, I'd be happy to give you my
$0.02.

~~~
thedangler
Thank you very much. I'm going to revise my resume. You've been more then
helpful.

