The 'Skills' section in a CV
A fundamental section of the CV, the 'Skills' section must be handled with care, since it should not be seen as a 'catch-all' in which to brag about all your merits without any form of organisation or qualification.
The 'Skills' section aims to demonstrate what you are capable of, and not to present a list of your achievements (which you may possibly mention in small italic characters).dans la rubrique « experiences professionnelles »). focus sur la section « competences » dans un CV.
The 'Skills' section in a CV: what is it all about?
In a Curriculum Vitae, the 'Skills' section refers to your skills and expertise acquired during the course of your professional experience.
For example: If you have been a teacher or an editor, analysing and synthesising data is a skill you can claim to possess in its entirety.
The skills also refer to all the theoretical knowledge acquired during your education or your professional experience.
If you have worked as a management secretary and have been called to take a close interest in the law for drafting contracts, for example, then you can mention that you have mastered the Labour Code, since it is not within the reach of everyone, and therefore is a unique skill.
The 'Skills' section in a CV: where and how to locate it in your CV?
The 'Skills' section is of great interest to recruiters, it is the one that will demonstrate to them how your profile has extra value, which will differentiate you from other candidates.
It is in this section that you can carefully play on the words that sell you and to make the recruiter want to meet you.
Clearly, the 'Skills' section is like a first glimpse of the angle you will present in your eventual job interview.
This is why it is necessary to use it wisely, and to master the aspects, especially in placement and content.
The 'Skills' section is directly related to your professional experience as well as your academic and educational background, so it should be placed near these two sections, above, or just to right or left, for example.
It is important not to repeat in the 'Skills' section what has already been stated in either of the two headings 'Education & Training' and 'Professional Experience', this would create redundancy and could devalue the information already communicated by your CV.
Distil your information droplets so as not to ramble, and make the recruiter want to meet you.
The 'Skills' section in a CV: technical skills and non-technical skills
Know that there is a differentiation between skills: technical skills on the one hand, and non-technical skills on the other hand.
The technical skills relate to 'hard' skills and correspond to the concrete skills obtained in the context of repetitive tasks in the course of your work: data entry, management of a software suite, precise calculation methods, etc.
Non-technical skills refer to 'soft' skills and correspond to human skills acquired during professional experience, and developed from a personal point of view (even with the same professional experience, not everyone develops the same non-technical skills): empathy, ability to manage a team, rapport with young children, conflict resolution, etc.
If you have both kinds of skills, first list the technical skills, then the soft skills, without separating them from a visual point of view, simply arrange them one after the other.
Why? Non-technical skills are strictly personal and can make the difference in a reluctant recruiter, so putting them in the last place reinforces the persuasive force of your words and gives you every chance to convince the recruiter.
The 'Skills' section in a CV: the alternative of the competence-based CV
These days, we are seeing the emergence of a new style of CV: the skill-based CV.
The difference from the classic CV is that instead of listing the professional experience chronologically, each skill is listed in such a way that it is associated with a particular job.
It is a CV based on qualifications and not on experience. In this case, you must list the competencies in the order corresponding to their level of importance relative to the position you have been offered, or the one for which you are applying.