Top Resume Skills To Put On Your Australian Resume

Will your resume impress Australian hiring managers?

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Last updated: February 28th, 2024

Resume skills

Last updated: February 28th, 2024

Reading Time: 6 minutes

It’s true. You have mad skills – and not with a “z” at the end. Now, you just need to know how to showcase those skills on your Australian resume. If you’re reading this post, you’ve likely already tried at least one of the tactics below:

  • Googled a list of skills for the job you want.
  • Reviewed example resumes of people who have the job you want.
  • Downloaded a resume template with the resume skills section pre-populated.

If, after all that, you’re still seeking, I’d say you’re serious about your career, but you have unanswered questions, such as:

  • What’s the difference between skills, personality traits, abilities, strengths, talents or achievements?
  • Between hard skills and soft skills?

Listing your skills on your resume is no easy feat. But fear not. These questions are precisely what we’re here to parse through today.

My team has written thousands of resumes for Australian professionals with a consistent 5-star rating. So I know how to write a decent Australian resume.

3 Types Of Resume Skills That Impress Australian Employers.

1. Hard Skills.

The technical skills you need to do a certain job. Also known as job-related skills. These are teachable and can be quantified.

Examples: “spearfishing” or “HTML/CSS programming”.

2. Soft Skills.

The personal attributes or skills you use to manoeuvre through life in the world. Also known as adaptive skills. They are subjective and aren’t as easy to quantify.

Examples:

3. Transferrable Skills.

The ones you can take with you from one job to another.

Technically this can be a subcategory of the other two skill types, in a sense that transferrable skills can be either hard – for example, “public speaking”, “fluent in French” AND soft – for example, “the ability to take feedback”.

resume skills

Skills That You Must Exclude From Your Australian Resume.

Now that you’re skilled in skills, let’s discuss which don’t belong on your resume.

1. Skills You Don’t Possess.

While the readers of our blog are unquestionably people of integrity, a CareerBuilder survey reports that more than 75% of Australian HR managers have pinpointed a lie on a resume.

So, even if your intentions are good, resist the temptation to embellish or exaggerate your skills to get the job.

Whether it means you get an interview and don’t perform – or, even worse, you get hired and aren’t sure what you’re doing.

The bottom line, tell the truth. And apply for jobs that don’t err too far on the edge of aspirational.

2. Obsolete Skills.

Still a whiz with MS-DOS, Lotus 1-2-3, or Vista?  Keep it on the down-low. Technology changes by the day, and many great innovations have gone the way of the dinosaur.

Been out of the workforce for a while? Make sure the skills you list on your resume are still current and in-demand by employers.

(Related: How To Show That You Work Well Under Pressure On Your Resume).

3. Irrelevant Skills.

If the skills you have aren’t directly (or even remotely) related to the job you’re applying for, leave them off.

This may seem obvious, but it can sometimes be subtle.

Maybe you use a certain sport, workout or meditation technique to stay focused at work. And you feel it’s important for your future Australian employer to know how centered you are.

However, think twice before you waste a recruiter’s time citing your mindfulness practice, or your squash abilities. Save it for the interview.

4. Used and Abused Skills.

Every year, LinkedIn publishes a list of buzzwords that are overused in profiles.

This list is a good indicator of words to beware of when crafting skills for your resume:

  • Specialised.
  • Experienced.
  • Skilled.
  • Leadership.
  • Passionate.
  • Expert.
  • Motivated.
  • Creative.
  • Strategic.
  • Focused.

For the complete list of resume buzzwords, check out this post.

5. No-Brainer Skills.

LinkedIn’s list is also a poignant reminder that every employer already expects you to be ALL (or most) of those things.

So, why bother spelling them out?

Also, please don’t list “MS Office”, “email” or the “internet” as skills you possess. Now let’s move on to best practices for resume skills.

(Related Article: 7 Best Resume Builders In Australia).

How To Showcase Your Skills With Impact.

Remember this point above all else:

Skills don’t solve business problems; people do.

Two Australian candidates applying for the same role might possess identical education and training, yet have taken entirely different career paths based on how they’ve decided to apply their skills.

That said, the goal of your resume is to clearly communicate the commercially relevant business problems you can solve for a potential employer.

If a hiring manager happens to have a problem that you can uniquely solve, you’ll likely get a call for an interview.

Make sure your skills tell a clear, cohesive career narrative throughout your resume.

Correct Way Of Formatting Your Skills.

But how, you’re thinking. Should they be in list form, in a table format, or peppered throughout?

The answer is … it depends. On whom you are and what kind of a role you’re going for.

1. Subject Matter Expert / Specialist.

Let’s say you’re a software engineer.

Your next dream job is a Head of Engineering role at an Australian outpost of a global software company. Hello, Google. Hello, Microsoft.

Since you’re skilled at things not many other people are – and they are essential to qualifying you for the job you want – it makes great sense for you to showcase your skills and qualification in a simple list or table format.

In your case, your resume “skills” are tangible, practical, hands-on, real-world stuff you know how to use or do, such as:

“Proficient with JavaScript, Node.js/Express and HTML5”.
“Experience with UX design and open source development”.

And your qualifications might be:

“CSDP 2012”.
“BS in Computer Science, University of New South Wales, 2010”.

A note on placement:

Any recruiter screening for this role will scan the first page of your resume to confirm the above boxes are checked. In this case, your list or table should feature your qualifications first and skills second.

The same advice would apply for project managers, financial planners, cybersecurity and other IT professionals, medical professionals, etc.

You get the idea.

Basically, any specialty role where you need a specific set of skills and pieces of training to be competitive in the job market would follow this rule of thumb.

2. Associate / Career-Level Roles.

Follow the same guidelines above, with one possible exception.

Your education might be more appropriate to place below your list or table of skills. Unless you have a certification that’s essential for the job you want.

3. Senior Leadership / Executive Roles.

In the immortal words of John Cleese: And now for something completely different.

If you’re an executive, you’re the one exception to the “skills in a list or table” rule.

At your level, it’s incumbent upon you to prove you have what it takes to solve your desired employer’s biggest business challenges.

A simple table won’t get you there. But here’s what will: Core Assets (aka Key Accomplishments).

For senior-most candidates, we recommend showcasing your skills (both hard and soft) in a way that illustrates your personal value proposition – that is your unique ability to solve commercially relevant business problems.

Generally, these proof points take shape as achievements.

They land either in a section of your resume called Core (or Key) Assets or in a list of Key Achievements / Accomplishments. And, of course, your skills should be sprinkled throughout your Professional Experience section.

This is a fancy way of saying you need to tie your skills to tangible results. Without the results, your most coveted skills will end up sounding like fluff.

Baffled much? Read my post on how to write resume achievements.

However, on the topic of skills, I’ll also suggest an additional writing technique that isn’t included in my post on resume achievements.

Writing Resume Skills With The CAR Technique.

The CAR technique is an effective and straightforward way to translate your skills into accomplishments that are capable of capturing the hearts, minds and eyeballs of recruiters.

For each skill you’re seeking to highlight, begin by asking yourself these 3 questions:

  • Challenge: what big challenges have you faced relative to this skill? Remember to span your career versus just your most recent role.
  • Actions: what specific actions did you take to overcome those challenges? The key word here is specific.
  • Results: what was the impact of your work? Consider the frequency and scale of your impact.

Here are two examples of this technique in action:

1. You’re A CMO.

And you want to tout your change management skills.

  • A major challenge in your career involved a significant revenue shortfall at your company.
  • The action you took was to initiate a policy change that freed up funds for direct marketing.
  • The result was that you nearly eliminated the loss in less than a year.

It might turn out something like this:

“Proactively transformed a $30M revenue shortfall by creating a new approach to direct marketing that cut losses by 75% in 6 months’ time.”

That example would fit best in a list of achievements, even though it’s highlighting a skill.

2. You’re A VP of HR.

You want to emphasise your leadership skills.

  • Your action was to create a program that clearly delineated career paths for various roles.
  • In one of your roles, your company was suffering from crippling attrition due to lack of growth opportunities.
  • The result was reduced attrition for hard-to-fill roles.

It might read like this:

“Designed and championed career pathway program focused on reducing attrition in key talent areas. “

This would fit nicely in your Core Assets section, as it shows your leadership skills without having to say “leadership.”

By now, I trust you’re feeling a tad more grounded in the world of resume skill creation. Admittedly, though, this DIY approach to crafting skills for your Australian resume demands a great deal of time and energy.

– Irene

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