Where to put them in your CV and why you should be on them
Our curriculum vitae is like a business card we are handing to potential future employers. When we start writing it, the first sections put you at ease.
First, you need to insert your professional experiences: the position title, the firm name or name of the employer, and the tasks you were assigned.
Secondly, education. University degrees, courses, and specializations. All in rigorous non-chronological order, i.e., from the most recent experience to the one you completed years ago.
Until now, everything seems to run pretty smoothly. You can breathe again. Scrolling down the page, the next section to fill in asks you to insert your skills. What do they want to know in this section? Are they asking about your language knowledge and level? Yes, but there is more.
Hard vs. Soft skills
Our skills include not only those capacities that usually get certified through a diploma, as it happens with languages. There are indeed skills that are classified as “soft.” While the hard ones are those skills learned at university or the courses indicated in your education section, soft skills deal with your interpersonal capacities, personal qualities, and character.
These qualities define your profile, complement your education, and give a better picture to the employer of the person they are examining and potentially adding to their team.
Useful for all your applications
If on the one hand, each curriculum vitae should be adapted to the vacancy you are applying for, soft skills are often capacities that all employers appreciate and are thus useful for all your applications. Examples include leadership, problem-solving, and time management. But also the capacity to work in a team or independently.
It is thus crucial to be aware of your soft skills and to be able to present them in the right way. The qualities building your character and the way you relate to others define the kind of team member you could be and, therefore, you should bet on them.