Why Skills Aren’t Enough to Get You the Job
By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP
I tuned in to a webinar during which a job search specialist interviewed a well-known executive recruiter and resume writer.
I must have arrived late and missed some introductory explanation, because the first question the interviewer asked was:
“What do recruiters look for on resumes?”
And the executive recruiter answered:
“Skills.”
You may already have read enough of my columns to know what I’m about to say: I really disagree with the recruiter’s answer. In fact, I was pretty shocked by the answer.
“Skills?” That’s it?
What if 500 applicants… actually, let’s make it fewer… What if 50 applicants have the same or similar skills? If you’re talking about hiring a middle manager for marketing, for example, 99% of the qualified resumes are going to say Social Media or Social Media Marketing.
So, if you’re basing the interviewing and hiring on skills, and 98% of those resumes are from unrelated fields (which happens all the time), you now have 50 marketing manager resumes that all look the same. What do you do next?
After writing hundreds of successful resumes, and after seeing triple that number as an executive career coach and a recruiter, I think that technical skills are secondary to impact and results. I think that the most important part of a resume is actually impact and value add from soft skills.
If the job description calls for Advanced Excel, it’s great that you know Advanced Excel, and that you can create amazing tables and amazing reports with that, but what the hiring team actually wants to know is: How has your Advanced Excel work helped improve the company? Did leadership make a good business decision based on your Excel work? Did you adjust and/or improve the way the company used Excel? Those answers go beyond skills; they get into how your work with the required tool went beyond the job requirements and how your special expertise made the company better. The company is hiring you to make them better. Period.
In my 12 years as a coach and a recruiter, I have yet to see one resume that shows impact or benefit as a result of a soft skill. “Kept the team together as a result of my persistence and leadership” is not a benefit. If you’re a leader you’re expected – you’re literally paid – to do this; to lead and organize your team.
Skills to do the job are absolutely necessary; skills that are actually named in the job description are crucial for the resume.
And demonstrating how your skills that are named in the job description helped improve the company? Well, that’s “get this person in now” interview catnip.
****
Better job. More pay. More control.
For a free resume review, please contact us at Control Your Career!