RedPill Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 What do you all think about including a technical skills section on a CV? Like the objective section on a CV, I feel it's a little dated. I see few if any faculty members with skills listed on their CVs. However, for students, I feel it might be just that thing to land you that acceptance or internship. Especially for me, having come from a STEM background, I would like to show that I was active in the sciences before transitioning over to the social sciences. A technical skills section is usually used in STEM fields. You write things like "acid/base titrations or gas chromatography or R or STATA." Whatever skill you feel is noteworthy, you write down. This is an example for a job, but the same notion applies. http://executive-action.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Skills-CV.bmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I'm in a STEM field, but I do not currently have a "technical skills" section in my current CV. I do agree that it is important to communicate what skills I do have though, but I incorporate this in my "Research Experience" section. For example, one of my entries might look like: 2010-2012 Graduate Research Assistant at University X, Supervisor: Prof. Y - [Project Title/Description] - Used [software package name] or [Method/Algorithm name] or [Programming language name] etc. (but worded better?) My reasoning is that if I am using my CV to apply for a job in academia to do a particular project (e.g. numerical integration), then when a potential employer reads that I have worked on (e.g. a certain numerical integration package), then they know what kind of background/skills I have. That is, I think that my skills is implied by the list of projects I have completed. Furthermore, this allows me to show how I have gained each skill and what I have accomplished with it, instead of just simply listing the skills. However, if the audience of my CV is someone who isn't in my field, then I would reconsider this (I haven't written a CV for things outside of my field for a long time!). A "non-expert" audience (e.g. non-academic employers, or academics in a different field) won't be able to infer your skills and abilities from your experience and it might be a good thing for you to explicitly state them. I think if/when I eventually write a CV for someone outside of my field, I would probably include something like a technical skills section. If I do, I think I would want to carefully tailor this section to each specific audience to demonstrate how my skills in my field might be useful for whatever purpose I am applying to. I might also want to word/explain each skill in a way that demonstrate its relevance, because, for example, it might not be very meaningful to a non-chemist how the skill of "acid-base titrations" would help in a non-chemistry field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzylogician Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 If you think adding this section might help you get a job, do it. In most cases, though, I don't think that's the case and therefore I would not add it. You want your CV to be concise and do a good job representing you - that is, you don't want the good stuff to be swallowed up by unimportant details. If all it's doing is adding a few lines, it'll be seen as padding and it is not going to help. However, if it's relevant for a job, I'd put it there. In the CV you linked to, I assume the skills section is going to be directly relevant for the jobs this person will be applying to - not only is it present, it's front and center. I think this is different from most academic CVs, so I'm not sure it's a good example to go off of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBums1028 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 From what I've been taught recently is that in general, both the objective section and the skills sections on a resume or CV are considered outdated. Or they're a sign that the applicant is trying to fill space on a resume. However, I can see how in some fields (especially STEM) highlighting certain specific skills would be helpful. I would say that you should include a skills section only if it's relevant to the circumstances you are crafting a CV for and you haven't already mentioned those abilities in a cover letter or in the description for a particular position you held. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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