Take action now!

Open your word processor and begin to make lists of your acquired IT skills.

Create your initial categories and add skills as they come to mind.

Most people surprise themselves with what skills they have acquired but have forgotten … especially if you have been working and acquiring new skills for more than 5 years. 10 years or more.

I have found it useful to first make a list of all the employers that I have work for and the technical environment.

All of this information can of course be used when you begin work on your resume.

Write everyting down!

Make lists.

Start with a separate page for each company, school, college or university. Don’t forget to include courses.

Everything counts. Write down every course.

Table of Contents

• 01. IT Technical Skills Summary – effectively present your skills
• 02. IT Technical Skills Summary: The basics
• 03. IT Technical Skills Summary: Take action!

The IT Technical Skills Summary contains two main areas:

1. Heading on every page
    
2. A complete list of all your acquired skills

Heading

The Heading on every page contains three items:

1. Your name
2. Your telephone number or a number where messages can be left for you
3. Your e-mail address – just one not 2 or 3.

Complete list of all your acquired skills

Include all acquired IT skills and group them together in categories, listed alphabetically, for easy reference. Every IT professional will have a different set, or list, of acquired skills. Following is a suggested way of creating categories:

SOFTWARE:

• Applications Software
• Databases
• Graphic Development Tools
• HTML Editors
• Internet
• Operating Systems
• Programming Languages

HARDWARE:

• Computers
• Modems
• Routers/Switches
• Telephone Systems

Anything else that you have acquired, even if you have not used the skill for years.

As discussed on the previous page, a four column layout is used, as in the following example:

A more detailed example can seen here.

You are unique

Remember – YOU ARE UNIQUE. Your acquired IT skills are part of what make you unique and of potential value to an employer, so differentiate yourself.

And you can only differentiate yourself by presenting all of your skills. The list will be as long as necessary to list your all of your acquired skills over the length of your career.

All my skills?

It will be too long.

It cannot be too long if it includes the skills that you have acquired. Skills that you have learned and then applied at work.

You need to present your skills so that employers and recruiters know that you have them. You have worked hard and made a large investment of time and money to acquire your skills.

Think about this! If you leave a skill, acquired 10 years ago, off your IT Technical Skills Summary, then how will a recruiter find it when they do a keyword search of the resume database containing your resume? They won’t find it and you will have missed an opportunity!

Table of Contents

• 01. IT Technical Skills Summary – effectively present your skills
• 02. IT Technical Skills Summary: The basics
• 03. IT Technical Skills Summary: Take action!

The IT Technical Skills Summary is an exceptionally powerful document that should form part of every resume submitted. It ensures that every IT skill you have acquired – computer software, computer hardware, applications software, and so on, will be indexed or viewed. It will prove to be a valuable tool in helping you to get the interview that will lead to the right job.

Easy for the eye to read summary

The layout uses 4-columns to allow you to effectively present a complete, quantified, qualified, very easy to read, summary of the IT technical skills and experience that you have acquired over the course of your career.

Scan in seconds

The 4-column layout enables an employer to quickly scan, in a matter of seconds, the complete document to see if you have the technical skills and experience that they need.

Database ready

Databases are used by IT HeadHunter, and more and more employers. Every word – every skill – in a resume is indexed when your resume is added to the database.

The IT Technical Skills Summary ensures that your resume is database ready. Each and every skill that you have included will be indexed when your resume is entered.

When is searched is done for a required skill, or set of skills, your name will be part of the top search listings – if your skills match the skill-set needed.

You are unique

Your acquired skills are what make you unique and of potential value to an employer. Differentiate yourself.

What is considered an acquired skill?

Just reading a book about something does not count as an acquired skill.

Generally, to be considered “acquired” the skill has been used in a work environment, in unpaid work done for a volunteer organization or learned through formal instruction in a school, college, university or on-the-job training. Of course, there are always exceptions and the skill could have been acquired through self-study and work.

Anything else that you have acquired, even if you have not used the skill for years.

How many pages?

The number of pages required will depend on how long you have been working and how many skills you have acquired. The greater the number of years worked and the greater the number of skills acquired, the more pages required.

It cannot be too long if the IT Technical Skills Summary includes the skills that you have acquired over the course of your career.

You need to present your skills so that employers and recruiters know that you have them. You have worked hard and made a large investment of time and money to acquire your skills.

Table of Contents

• 01. IT Technical Skills Summary – effectively present your skills
• 02. IT Technical Skills Summary: The basics
• 03. IT Technical Skills Summary: Take action!