It’s no secret that many hiring managers in Canada spend only a short amount of time scanning a resume – fewer than 10 seconds – before deciding whether to pass on a job candidate or add them to the shortlist. So the hard and soft skills you list on your resume – the evidence you can perform the job you’re applying for and would integrate well with its team – is your best opportunity to grab their attention.
Hard skills are the technical abilities required to accomplish the tasks and responsibilities associated with the job. They’re acquired through practice, education, and training. While good skills for resume building, hard skills are often less important to hiring managers than soft skills. They’re measurable and easy to advertise: you either have the desired technical skills and experience, or you don’t. Your work history and certifications will speak to them.
Soft skills, on the other hand, reflect one’s personality and personal attributes and is how hiring managers can best judge a candidate’s ability to handle stress, communicate clearly, or fit into a company’s work culture. They may be “soft,” but they’re important: when two candidates possess comparable experience levels and technical skills, soft skills can often tip the balance.
So how do you know what to put under skills on a resume? It’s all about matching as many skills as possible with the job description and making an educated guess on which others to include based on factors such as the job title, company, and industry. Read on!
Now that you have a sense of what skills you should be listing on a resume, here’s a list of things to avoid listing under skills on a resume:
Don’t exaggerate or lie about your skills — or anything else. Never give in to the temptation to inflate a job title, add a certification or skills you don’t have, or embellish a job tenure that didn’t last as long as you say it did. Making false claims or stretching the truth isn’t worth the risk. Most Canadian companies conduct background checks and call references, and falsehoods will severely damage your trustworthiness — and likely cost you the job.
Don’t leave out numbers. No matter what position you’re applying for, you should try to quantify your value. Did you reduce expenses for your company, increase sales or reach new target markets? Did you respond to customer inquiries or process orders X% faster than the previous year? All of those accomplishments involve numbers that you can use in your resume.
Don’t misuse words. Check your resume for wordiness. If you feel like a section is short, it can be tempting to get flowery with your language, but “owing to the fact that” is nowhere near as good as “because.” Also avoid using clichéd business jargon like “synergize” or “outside the box.”
Don’t forget to proofread. Before you send in your resume, go over it with a fine-toothed comb for spelling, grammar and formatting mistakes. If you’re worried about your own editorial skills, ask someone who understands your job-search goals to look it over. Or leverage AI to proofread. Or review a printed copy yourself: Sometimes it’s easier to catch errors on paper than on a computer screen.
Above all, be thoughtful and meticulous – your resume, and the skills you list on it, should provide an accurate, truthful report of your personality, your work history, and your abilities, presented in a way that directly addresses the needs outlined in the job posting. The time and work you put into it will pay off when interview invitations come in.
