The Soft Skills CV

Paul Vance, Head of Resourcing at KPMG in Ireland, outlines how crucial soft skills are to a candidate’s CV, and what the benefits of emphasising them are. He has over 20 years of HR experience with the group, handling all aspects of recruitment and winning awards for their graduate recruitment programmes. 

Standing out in a crowded candidate marketplace is never an easy challenge. Now, with increasing use of technology and remote working, the competition to land that ideal job is more challenging than ever.
 
I am always fascinated at the approach some people take when it comes to their resumé. After years of hard effort in education and the workplace, the resumé is often the neglected link between the candidate and their ideal job. Spelling mistakes, poor formatting and omissions of crucial data are often the difference between an invite to that job interview and the rejection email. Let us take a moment to consider what a resumé is, its true meaning if you will. A resumé is your sales pitch to an employer. It is your written voice and it needs to speak your language so it can be heard by your next employer.
 
Many employers invest significantly in new graduate hiring programs or integration training plans for experienced recruits. Recruitment is an investment for the future, and getting it right benefits all parties. Getting it wrong can impact negatively on the individual, the team, and the organization. No employer wants to take a risk on a candidate. They want reassurance that the candidate has the technical ability and, most importantly, the necessary soft skills to integrate successfully to the benefit of all.  
 
Soft skills are the crucial, intangible pieces of information that reflect personality traits and can determine ‘right fit’ into an organization. Failure to land that job offer can be, in many cases, because of failure to convey the necessary soft skills for the role.
 
The “what” and the “how”
 
Most job specifications detail both the technical skills – the “what” – and the soft skills – the “how”. You will see these listed as: teamwork, resilience, problem solving, decision making and so on. These listed soft skills are not buzz words, or indeed accidental. They are often scientifically determined, based on the organization’s values, culture and aspirations.
 
Recruiters and interviewers are coached to seek out these skills. Soft skills (the how) determine suitability for an employer and suitability determines how long the candidate may stay with that employer. As mentioned before, recruitment is an investment and employers need to make an informed decision based on the examples you give of past behaviors.
 
A resumé is a written elevator pitch, while an interview is a verbal one. The resumé should be written with the employer in mind; what does this employer want to see and what is important to them? Soft skills can reflect you and your beliefs and therefore “how” you will carry out your role. For example, being involved in charitable activities can tell an employer that you have empathy and care about others; a sporting achievement can illustrate that you are determined, hard-working and resilient. Making the connection for the employer is key, so simply stating that you are resilient without evidence is not going to convince a recruiter either, so connect the dots without telling your life story. Pull the key soft skill requirements from the job spec and build them into your resumé, with evidence that they exist for you. Take time to focus on your soft skills and in doing so, an interview invitation may not be so far away.