I am applying anywhere and everywhere, what should I list in the "Skills" portion of my resume?

Since you have so many skills, I would tailor those you list to the type of job you are appying for and not just do a generic resume.

You can never go wrong listing excellent communication skills, problem solving skills, computer skills, and most of the time customer service skills.

I have a couple different formats for my resume depending on where I am applying. One of them has a heading titled “summary of skills”. Under that heading, I have a list of skills and then a short paragraph under each one describing my skills. Here is a short example of it:

Summary of Skills
Leadership – Received charge nurse training and performed duties of charge nurse as needed at both hospitals. Assisted with making assignments for oncoming shifts and making sure the oncoming shift is properly staffed according to the staffing matrix.

Accountability – Conducted narcotic inventories with 100% accuracy. Proficient in automated inventory scanning and manual inventory procedures. Coordinated resupply of necessary medications and equipment. Extremely effective in determining a plan of care according to physician’s orders.

Mentorship – Oriented new nurses and new employees at both hospitals. Acted as a role model and resource for others. Trained both new and existing users on McKesson EMR software.

I have other skills listed as well and a bit more information in the paragraphs, but just wanted to give you an example of what I was talking about. On the resume that has this section on it, that is the first section the potential employer would read.

As for your resume with applying for retail, I would think that accountability, responsibility, and customer service could be some skills you could describe with your previous work experience.

Maybe say:
·Ability to work well independently or as a proactive team member
·Accurate organizational and multi-tasking ability
-Flexible, dependable and able to learn new procedures quickly

I think that you best bet is to have a series of different resumes that you can tailor to different industries.

Then you can only list the appropriate skills.

In retail communication is paramount. I would focus on your people skills and your ability to work independently and to problem solve.

As to the skills you have, across a number of those jobs you would have developed the ability to problem solve, to resolve conflicts, As a journo, you would also most likely have excellent research, writing and analytical skills. These are generic skills that are valuable in many jobs.

You can probably use particular software too. Photoshop? Quark? Do you have desktop publishing skills? You definitely have editing and proofreading skills. Interviewing is a skill that carries across a range of jobs. You are creative and so can mention your creativity in some roles.

I agree with tailoring your resume to whatever job you are going for. A handy list of pre-thought out skills is a good idea though. You can then cherry pick depending on the specific role.

Good luck. Hope you find something soon.

Make a list of all the jobs you’ve done ( whether paid or not ), all the hobbies you’ve worked in, all the projects you’ve done, and all the things you may have been trained in but never had a chance to work in. List all the things you had to know, be, or do in each of those. This is your list of skills.

Take a few minutes to determine what skills are needed for each job for which you are applying. Then scan your list of skills to see which ones you have done, or know about. Take the best example from each relevant skill and write up the one thing of which you are most proud of doing in that skill area. These will be your examples of “I can do, because I have done.”

Whatever you do, be specific. If you have a skill, then describe something you did that illustrates the use of the skill. @Seaofclouds provides a good example of this. I would have one little quibble with her example in that I would be careful about saying “extremely effective.” I read that and I think, “says who?” If you get in to see me for an interview, you’ll be backing that up and also giving me a reference to back you up. If you are extremely effective, then say someone else told you that, not that it is your own assessment.

I am a big believer in the targeting job hunting approach, not in the shotgun approach. I had two graduate assistants over the years who illustrate the extremes here. One sent out hundreds of resumes all over the country to institutions where the jobs were not very closely related to her interests. The other researched the university departments carefully, and applied to maybe twenty or thirty.

The first got less than five interviews, and only one offered her a job—although it was a decent salary. It wasn’t at a research institution, and she was more interested in research than in teaching. The other had also about five interviews, but they were all interesting to her, and she got several job offers.

Two years later, the first called me and she was miserable and was looking for work again. She took a job just to have a job. She hated it. The second was pretty happy in her job. I haven’t kept in touch, but she’s probably still there.

I think it is far better to target your job search. Find a company. Find a position you are interested and then target you resume to that job. But don’t even send them the resume. Call them Ask to speak to someone just for informational purposes. Interview them. At the end of the interview, give them your resume and ask them to pass it on to a couple of other people. Also ask them to give you the names of two other people you should talk to.

Then build your network. You want to look for your job, not let an an employer catch you. When you drag a seine, you get a lot of junk fish as well as the good ones, and it’s not always easy to tell the difference. When you land yourself on a hook, you’re the only one they look at, and either they take you home, or they throw you back. But you don’t have to compete with all the other fish in the net.