For the near future, remote work is here to continue.
This is not just a phase, with many firms confirming the continuation of their work from home practices to at least the end of 2021. There are some qualities that become much more important as a professional in order to excel and thrive in a remote job environment, and that can be best demonstrated in your resume to increase your chances of receiving an interview and, eventually, getting hired.
In this article, we’re breaking down what are these top skills to include, and how to do it.
Soft and hard skills:
Soft skills:
Soft skills are the abilities that, whether individually or as part of a team, shape the way you work. They are strongly valued because, while they can be learned, they are more linked to the person's personality and character. Due to the nature of remote jobs, there are also certain soft skills that become much more important and become necessary. If you have them, incorporating them as key characteristics in a category of skills at the top of your resume will help you stand out. You can include lots of soft skills on your resume, but how do you decide which ones you actually mention?
1. Active Listening
Active listening is an ability that you need to improve on and develop. It is the act of paying attention to the words, breaking down, and reacting thoughtfully to the message. Responsive listeners are more likely to follow directions and effectively contribute.
Pay careful attention to the job description to prove to your future boss you are an engaged listener. Job advertisements come with the company's list of skills it needs.
2. Strong communication skills:
You need to have excellent listening skills as a remote employee. There is more space for misunderstanding without physical cues and responses in remote work environments, where many conversations are over text, emails, or phone calls, this problem is extremely common.
The better you are at it, the better you will achieve results.
Try to be as descriptive as possible when referencing your strong communication ability.
if your work needs writing productive emails, use terms like report writing or copywriting if your work needs writing productive emails. And learn about your public speaking experience while you are working with customers.
3. Organization and time management:
Time management is important when working remotely, as it’s easy to lose track of time.
You are responsible for setting your own schedule because you do not have to go to an office, which means it is all on you for caffeine and food breaks, or even anything as easy as waking up on time.
An important skill for a remote employee is the opportunity to handle your time well, on your own. Describe how you have been able to set your own career goals and plan your everyday activities on schedule and within the defined timeline to develop them.
Also, it is important to note it if you have not done some time or productivity management training in the past.
4. Dependability and Responsibility:
Taking responsibility for your roles and even facing up to faults is part of being a good employee.
In order to ensure that every part of their work is completed, most supervisors do not want to have to check in with their workers.
Responsibility requires doing what you need to do to finish your assignments. Will the workload be addressed? Are you prepared to take the initiative when it is necessary? These are the traits companies tend to see.
Confidence-building takes time. And you will have to convince your employers that, once you are hired, they can count on you to do your work. But, on your resume, you will need to show a sign of your reliability.
The way that companies judge this is by looking at how long you have been working in your past positions. Did you stick to one particular place? Or would you be a work hopper? The worst thing you can do is to list several different jobs at small periods of time.
Take note of what you put on there and the feeling it sends when you are crafting your resume. Only add appropriate, long-term experiences while demonstrating your commitment to your position within the business.
5. Problem-solving
Eventually, something can go wrong no matter what the work is, and managers want to ensure if you are willing to come up with a quick and reliable solution. There are actually jobs that are literally nothing but solving problems for the business, the consumers, or both.
Show future employers that, even in difficult situations you will find answers to questions yourself. Take care of your analysis skills first. Then, include your prior experience of working in a high-pressure or dynamic situation, explaining how you navigated around it in a confident way to find the necessary solutions. Include testimonials or advice from former managers mentioning this trait, if you can.
6. Critical thinking
The essence of logical thinking is to be able to reason rationally and thoughtfully. The ability to use rational reasoning, particularly in some positions of authority, is a must-have skill.
So, you need your resume to prove that you can break down issues to their major principles, isolate and evaluate the challenges at hand strategically, and address the issues efficiently.
In the skills category of your resume, add previous cases where you used your critical thinking skills. So, any jobs or internships where you have had to deal with disagreements or ongoing concerns. Showcase suggestions that reference this trait.
7. Attention to detail
It is a must to show prospective employers that you pay great attention to detail, especially when you are not physically employed in the same place, and paying attention to orders becomes even more fundamental. If done right, it is indeed one of the easiest things to show on your resume. It is more likely that someone who picks up information is resistant to perfection. So, a person with this performance is likely to deliver high-quality work.
The easiest way to illustrate this potential in real-time is to break away from the list of jobs. Pay careful attention to all the abilities and specifications the company has posted. As well as any other material accessible online about the company. According to this information, adjust your resume, so the person reading your resume understands you paid attention to each detail.
8. Proactivity
In any role, thinking outside the box and coming up with new ideas can be a real advantage.
The textbook can be practiced by most people and do as they are told. If you want to stand out, you need to prove that when seeking ideas, you will still be constructive and creative. You might be good at thinking about something in a way that has not been done before.
In your resume, creativity can be demonstrated by an issue that you solved or by a technical talent.
Emphasize your interest in taking action and pursue new solutions to challenges and respond to circumstances. By adding an example where you have done things on your own initiative, or to reach a goal in a prior position or learning experience.
Hard skills.
Hard skills are the actual abilities you need to do the particular job, they tend to be more technical, they are the ones you need to prepare for, whether it is at school, at college, or a workshop or course: knowledge of a programming language or certain equipment, for example.
It is necessary to explain why you have a qualification or degree to show that you have this experience, and where you have acquired it, in the case of hard skills. However, it is fair to assume that you have the necessary skills to do the job if you are applying for a certain position.
Organization of the skills Section:
1. Relevance
Emphasize the experiences that might be relevant to the position you are applying for. If you do not have the background, however, look through your current roles for key skills that might be applicable.
2. A highlighted section
Modern resumes are designed to be value-oriented and allow more achievement-based content to be given as opposed to task-based. If you’ve had several positions of different goals pick the top four you are most proud of and add them into a Career Highlights section.
3. Categorize by Skill
You will categorize the information into categories with either your task-based knowledge or achievements to explain the diversity of your roles.
If you can strategically write your resume, you can have a greater chance of getting the position you are applying for. Be sure that you specifically mention your skill. It is time to refresh your resume to boost your chances of being hired when you apply for a remote job next time!