How To Present Your Skills In A CV & Cover Letter

Finding the best way to present your skills in a CV and cover letter can be a daunting task. For some, it’s difficult to self-evaluate and effectively communicate our strengths, especially in a way that will resonate with employers. 

How many skills do you write? How much detail do you include? How do you format your list?

These are questions which can make writing your CV feel like a minefield, but it’s simpler than you think. In this article, we’re going to explain the most effective way of communicating your skill set through both your CV and your cover letter in a way that sets you up for success in your interview. 

In this article we explore the following topics:

• How to list your skills on your CV
• Explaining your skills in your cover letter
• Expand on Your Skills in Your Interview

When writing out your skills, the best way to start is by defining your transferable skills from your hard skills. By beginning with your transferable skills, you’re able to give the employer an idea of your personality and ability. Your initial ‘employability’ skills are then reinforced by your hard skills which can show your proficiency in a specific role.

When creating your skills list, you want to lead with the ‘headline’ of the skills first and worry about the details later. Avoid writing a paragraph for each skill, as your list needs to be short and snappy. 

Here’s an example for a Teacher’s CV:

Reinforcing your skills with job experience

Now that you have your skills listed clearly and concisely, you can provide what is essentially the context for these skills through your work experience. List each place you have worked and explain your role whilst there, this will give you the chance to explain how you got these skills and detail your proficiency. 

If you find yourself wondering how to write a CV with no experience, don’t worry, everyone has to start somewhere. You can still list all of your transferable skills, qualifications, education and hobbies to offer your potential employer some context on you as a person. 

Tailor your listed skills to a specific job

Your CV shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all, instead, it should be specific to whichever role you’re going for. This will allow you to create a clear list of relevant skills whilst omitting anything irrelevant. Not only will this make it easier for the employer to read but it will highlight your suitability for the role.

Writing a CV for an apprenticeship

When creating a CV for an apprenticeship, the structure and general transferable skills which you include should follow the same format as if you were applying for a standard role. However, if this apprenticeship position will be your first working role and you don’t have any previous experience, it's a good idea to include a section on what you’d like to achieve as a result of this course/work experience and what your career aspirations will be.

This will ensure that your CV is relevant to the level of an apprenticeship whilst showcasing why you’d be a great fit for the position.

As your cover letter is essentially an overview of your CV, you don’t need to list or write out any paragraphs about your. Instead, you want to allude to your skills in a way that shows you have the relevant knowledge whilst encouraging the employer to read more in your full CV.

Always lead with your most impressive hard skills by writing out a paragraph which highlights these first, before touching on your transferable skills. This will explain straight away why you’re applying for the role without overloading with too much information. 

It’s always a good idea to use a template to help you layout your cover letter but your paragraph structure should look something like the following:

• Introduce yourself and why you’d like the job
• Back this up with your relevant hard skills
• Reinforce this with your transferable skills highlighting your employability
• Give an overview of your accomplishments and achievements

Cover letter length

The length of your cover letter can be completely dependent on your experience, but it’s advised to keep it under around 400 words. We’d recommend writing this out in three paragraphs at around 100 words each.

Use powerful language

As you’re not able to give a complete picture of your skills and work experience in your cover letter, you need to make sure that the information you do include is impactful. Use positive language coupled with ‘action words’, such as directed, managed and delegated. This will make your cover letter read much ‘punchier’ and leave a stronger impression.

If you’ve followed our expert advice (and are qualified for the role) the chances are you’ve bagged yourself an interview! This is where your CV will be extremely important and essentially become your script. Using your list of skills as prompts, you should explain how you developed them through your work experience, expanding on what’s been mentioned on your CV.

As the qualifications and experience in your CV will be top-level, the interview is your opportunity to provide more context to each of these points. But what’s the most effective way to do that?

The Star method

When explaining your work experience and skills, you want to do so in a way which is easily understandable and highlights all of the key points you need to make. The most effective way to do this is to use the STAR method and apply this when explaining your skills in an interview.

• Situation - the situation you were faced with
• Task - the task you had to complete
• Action - your action
• Result - what result came of your action (and what did you learn)

Mastering the art of presenting your skills in a CV and cover letter is a crucial step towards securing your desired job. Increase your chances of landing a new job by following these steps in this article. Don’t forget to cherry pick your skills to showcase your suitability for specific job requirements, strategically list your skills on your CV, and reinforce them through work experience and education or training.