How to Guide: Building a Skills-Focused Resume

At least 75% of Canadian jobs will require a significant change to the skills.

You are entering the world of work just as it is being transformed. In fact, at least 75% of Canadian jobs will require a significant change to the skills needed to do them and more than 25% will be heavily disrupted by technology. But the age of automation doesn’t need to be a threat. The Canadian economy is expected to add 2.4 million jobs over the next four years, all of which will require a new mix of skills.

One way you can stay ahead of disruption is to focus on and sell skills that are in high demand. A recent RBC assessment of 20,000 skills rankings, across 300 occupations, shows an increasing demand for fundamentally human skills. These skills include critical thinking, co-ordination, social perceptiveness, active listening, and complex problem solving.

When crafting a skills-focused resume, be sure to back up your skills with tangible examples.

Why Skills Focused Resume?
A skills-focused resume can help you promote your qualifications in terms of the skills and competencies you’ve gained from past experiences, rather than just listing work experiences in reverse chronological order. You may have experiences outside the workplace including volunteering, or building a project for school –a skills-focused resume allows you to unpack those experiences and translate the skills you’ve obtained from those experiences.

This template allows you to focus on the high-demand or most relevant skills. By emphasizing different combinations of skills, you can easily tailor your resume towards the job you are applying for. A skills-focused resume will help you illustrate not just what you’ve done, but also what you’re capable of contributing.

The skills focused-resume is becoming increasingly relevant for job applicants including who are:

• Early-in career or just starting their career journey
• Looking to pivot into a new sector or industry
• Interested in exploring or testing out a new type of work
• Have diverse experiences and need to connect the dots

Ready to start building your resume? Download one of the templates below to get started. But remember, this is just a jumping off point –you can build on this template to make it your own!