So at what point do you put a skill on a resume?

[Chaotic42]

I was recently asked to do a resume at work (no I'm not getting laid off) and I had trouble deciding what I was going to put on it. It got me to thinking about what putting a skill on a resume really means. At what point can you say, "Yes, I know *this*"?

As an example, if you take two semesters of C++ in college, can you really put that down as a skill? If so, couldn't someone spend a few weeks cranking away at several popular languages and create a golden resume claiming to know Python, C, JCL, and everything in between? Is there some fixed number of hours of use where you can say that you know some skill? And if you've been doing the same little subset of that skill for years, is it really fair to say that you have years of experience in it?

I'm sure you guys have seen people who throw buzzwords onto their resumes and don't know their stuff. I certainly have. Is it really honest to put a bunch of little things all over your resume just so that you can get past the HR gatekeepers?

I know this is a weird question, I'm just thinking about stuff since I'm up with the flu.

 

[wirednuts]

if you have good general knowledge of said language, list it. it wont hurt unless you get asked an easy question you cant answer. dont explain it or anything, just list it like you said- "Python, C, JCL" and so forth. they wont be trying to look at paperwork that says you took those classes, at least in my experience i never get asked that. at worst i get a small test thats easy if you know the gist of it.

 

[KaOTiK]

If you are a guild leader in an mmo you can use that as a bullet point

 

[postmortemIA]

you can subtly point out in resume that you are familiar with said programming language, but not expert in it. Saves time to both parties.

 

[Chaotic42]

you can subtly point out in resume that you are familiar with said programming language, but not expert in it. Saves time to both parties.

Okay, but at what point do you cross the line from familiar with to expert? I'm just using programming languages as an example, it could be anything.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i put "familiar with" a particular topic - i'm certainly no expert, and it takes me a little to get up and running, but i'm not completely starting from scratch either.

 

[phucheneh]

Granted, I don't speak managerial retardese, so take this with a grain of salt (but you're not gonna get any advice from the retards that will be reviewing your resume, so...):

'Familiar with' is probably not a good phrase. I'm 'familiar with' lots of things that I suck at.

'Experienced in' sounds a little better. Something that implies you've utilized the skill at hand, but do not claim to be some kind of trained jedi-master at it.

Frankly, though, if it's not directly related to your job, skip it. I never got any callbacks for mechanic jobs because I was proficient with computers and could type 80wpm (even though said skills are extremely useful in that environment). At best, it could be taken as, 'hey, someone that will do the work of our incompetent IT department without being paid for it!' (...done that). List experience, list certifications, skip everything else. If the person reading your resume was skilled at critical analysis...they wouldn't be reading your resume.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If you are a guild leader in an mmo you can use that as a bullet point

Definitely. It shows leadership experience and ability to manage others. Something you'd want to put if applying for a management position.

True story: on my resume I actually have a bullet for running and maintaining a MMO game server. :biggrin: Fit in nicely for when I applied for a server admin position. I got it.


Really anything you feel comfortable working with, I'd put on. Don't go "learning" a bunch of languages overnight just so you can put it on, but if say, you've written several C++ programs in your time (real programs, not hello world stuff) then you can put that. If you read a Python book and wrote a single python script based mostly on examples, I would not count that.

 

[Kadarin]

If you put something down as a skill on your resume, you had damned well better be able to discuss it in a meaningful way during the interview or you're going to look like an idiot.

You'd be amazed at how many times people miss this point.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

If you are looking for a job as programmer then having no actual experience coding in C++ isn't a useful skill, even with those 2 semesters of hibernating in the back of a class.

If you are looking for a job as system administrator for example then you can mention it as having some knowledge of/experience with C++, but I'd still not advertise it as a main skill as you risk being asked questions on it.

So ask yourself whether it may be a skill required for the job or whether it's a nice plus but not something you'll need extensive knowledge of. You don't want to be hired for a job you can't do as being fired for incompetence doesn't look nice on your resume either.

 

[slugg]

I put down anything I've done any significant projects in. Then when they ask, I can explain what I did with it. This usually avoids any other specific questions, because then they already assume I can use said skill. It demonstrates your ability to do work, as opposed to memorize trivia. It's common to get questions like "I see you listed PASCAL in your skill set. What can you tell me about your experience with it?" And that's when you share about the really cool problem you solved that you happened to implement in pascal, but that you could just as easily have implemented in <insert another skill here> if there was a particular constraint to do so.

One issue I had yesterday in a tech interview is intermixing Java and C# terminology. It's not that I don't know it, it's that I've used both to solve similar problems, so they get jumbled up in my head some times. Then we just focused on problem solving, so then the ball was back in my court. Technical skills (i.e. specific programming languages, technologies, etc) usually have little to nothing to do with problem solving. Keep the focus there.

If the person interviewing you isn't an idiot, then they will acknowledge your problem solving skills and won't care too much about the list of technical skills you put down. It's kind of like an 80%/20% weight on the importance of problem solving versus knowing a particular implementation. That being said, if you're good with the tools they want you to use, then obviously that's in your favor. Definitely don't lie, though. If you've used Matlab, for example, but you're not an expert, feel free to mention it, but don't you dare say you're an expert. Be prepared to talk for at least two minutes about how you've used any skill you put down. They aren't stupid; they know there's no way to master all knowledge. They're interested in your breadth and depth.

edit: As far as being a jack of all trades and a master of none, some positions really do call for that. Generalists are pretty damn useful in some projects. So on those people's resumes, you might see more listed skills, even though they may only have basic to intermediate knowledge.