|
I review a lot of resumes. And there’s one section that almost always needs to go.
The skills section.
Leadership. Problem solving. Team player. Strategic thinking. Communication. Every resume has these. Which means none of them set you apart.
I was working with someone recently who had a genuinely impressive background. Managing a large team, tracking real metrics, running a multimillion-dollar operation. But when I looked at the skills section, it was all claims with no proof. And the experience section below it wasn’t doing the work either. It was full of job duties instead of outcomes.
|
|
I see this in almost every coaching session. Someone lists “problem solving” as a skill, but nowhere on the resume does it say what problem they solved. Someone lists “leadership” but the resume doesn’t mention team size, shift management, or any measurable outcome.
I had another conversation where someone had a skills section loaded with supply chain buzzwords. Lean, Kaizen, DMAIC, value stream mapping, 5S. On the surface it looked impressive. But it also looked like a glossary. If it’s on your resume, you need to own it.
Here’s what I would encourage this week:
Open your resume. For every soft skill listed, ask yourself: is this proven in my experience? If it is, cut it. It’s already doing its job. If it’s not, you need to rewrite your bullets to show it instead of say it.
- Instead of “leadership,” show it: “Managed a team of 18 across peak/off-peak shifts, maintaining labor costs under 19% against a 21% target.”
- Instead of “problem solving,” show it: “Sourced product from a nearby location within 45 minutes when a supplier delivery was shorted, preventing disruption to operations.”
- Instead of “communication,” show it: “Coordinated daily across vendors, internal teams, and leadership to maintain on-time performance above 95%.”
The only things worth keeping in a skills section are technical tools that can’t be inferred—SAP, Power BI, SQL, Tableau. Everything else? Put it in your bullets with numbers, context, and proof. Don’t tell them you’re a problem solver. Show them a problem you solved.
|
