All of us have multiple skills; some are essential to our job and others we have gathered along the way to finish a project, fit into a team or take care of a business emergency. When you are applying for a new job, those secondary skills may be on the list of job requirements or may be important to list on your resume to show how well-rounded and valuable you are.
However, you should be careful if those secondary skills are threatening to take over the resume. For example, if you are aiming for an IT security job, your ability to respond efficiently to help desk requests is a secondary skill. More important is your experience in identifying and fixing holes in a company’s security and regulatory compliance. You want to be sure that your IT security experience and credentials receive top mention in your resume and the greatest amount of space. On the other hand, if you prefer working on a help desk to diagnosing security issues, then by all means turn your resume over to that secondary skill.
Secondary skills may also embrace soft skills. While soft skills of teamwork, mentoring, leadership and building client relationships, for example, are extremely valuable to a company, you may not want a position that demands a lot of soft skills. Again, decide what to include in your resume based on the job you want, not on the roles you have assumed in the past. If you like mentoring, highlight your mentoring experience; if you dislike client relationship management, de-emphasize it.
Finally, some secondary skills do not belong on a resume unless they are directly related to the job you are applying for. Sports skills, for example, would be valuable if you are applying to for a sports industry position, whether selling athletic equipment or reporting for the local paper or treating sports injuries. But for any other industries, they qualify as hobbies and may take up valuable space that could be used for more pertinent information.
When job applicants have trouble distinguishing between secondary skills and necessary skills, a professional resume writer can help. Contact me today.
