With recruiters and employers taking only six seconds to read them, it’s necessary for resumes to be written in a lean, clean, and concise manner.
What Are Core Competencies?
In a resume, core competencies represent skills and abilities acquired through education, training, experience, or practice that make you a good candidate for an open job position. These vary depending on the industry and should be selected based on the particular job you are applying for. For example, if you plan to find work as an IT specialist, the core competencies section of your resume will likely include computer literacy, data management, hardware and software knowledge, and so on. Both hard and soft skills can be included in your resume's core competencies, but we prefer to let your hard or technical skills shine while your soft skills are better explained within the content (and context) of your resume's Experience section or even a cover letter.
Why Are Core Competencies Important?
These key professional skills are a quick and efficient way to convince employers that you are qualified for the open job position. It’s important to know how to incorporate them into your resume properly to inspire and encourage recruiters and hiring managers to want to learn more about you and, ultimately, contact you to schedule an interview.
It’s also worth noting that many employers today use automated Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to scan resumes before they reach human eyes. With a properly written core competencies section on your resume, it will be easier for you to pass ATS scans and be shortlisted among potential candidates.
Choosing the Best Resume Core Competencies
Ideally, the core competencies for a resume should show both practical skills and knowledge. Once you have identified your best qualities for the job, you need to feature them effectively. Here’s how to do it:
✅ Choose professional skills and abilities that match industry buzzwords or keywords
Take a look at job postings you’re interested in and note the prominent industry buzzwords that are common among them. A job description for an accountant, for example, would list responsibilities such as spreadsheet proficiency, business know-how, financial training, mathematical reasoning, time management, etc. These buzzwords can provide you with a good idea of what core competencies are required for the job.
✅ Keep your list brief and concise
It’s best to limit your list of core competencies on your resume to 8-10, max. Cramming as many as you can just has the opposite effect, and you’ll end up turning a recruiter off instead of impressing them, and that’s something you don’t want to happen.
When listing your skills, elaborate on each of them with a brief description, but keep it to a sentence or two to conserve space. Here’s an example of a list of core competencies for an admin staff job, along with the accompanying description:
- Team player – able to contribute collaboratively, in addition to being responsible enough to complete tasks with minimal supervision
- Communication skills – always seeking to communicate in positive ways but willing to give constructive feedback when necessary
- Results-oriented – willing to make the extra effort to ensure quality work is done and deadlines are met
Here are some examples for customer sales personnel:
- Product knowledge – always ready with a clear insight into the products being sold
- Communication skills - able to engage with customers and develop connections effectively
- Forward-thinking – able to recognize opportunities and imagine new ideas for product selling
Be sure to review the particular job listing you’re looking at and follow the language used by the employer. This will help your resume overcome ATS scans in cases where these systems are in use.
✅ Feature your list prominently
There are several ways to feature your skills prominently on your resume. Great places to position them to include above or below the resume summary of qualifications and below the professional objective. Whichever placement you choose, make your skills easy to read by using bullets to make them stand out. A bulleted format will make your core competencies for your resume appear neater and more legible, not only in the eyes of recruiters but of ATS as well.
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