CourseToJob guide · content date . Tool instructions reflect the CourseToJob service. Editorial method.
Quick answer
List eight to twelve skills the advert actually uses, in words a parser can read. Prove the important ones again in bullets. Skip this page if your skills list is already a copy of the job description you do not possess — cutting it is the fix, not a nicer layout.
Other situations: Skip a long skills block on academic CVs where the committee wants methods and publications, not a cloud of adjectives.
What should go in a skills section?
Tools, methods, languages and registrations the job names. Hard skills first. Soft skills only with proof elsewhere. Drop “Microsoft Office” unless the advert is admin-heavy and names it. Drop skill bars and star ratings — they do not parse and they look like self-scoring.
Example for a data analyst: SQL, Python, dbt, Tableau, A/B testing, stakeholder reporting. Not: hard-working, team player, proficient in computers.
Industry lists: CV examples.
Where should skills sit on the page?
After the profile and before experience for most professionals, so a skim hits them. Students can put skills after education if the degree is the main proof. Do not hide them in a sidebar if you are applying through an ATS form — use a single-column list.
Sidebar templates look neat and can scramble parse order. See ATS-friendly CV.
How do you match skills to a job description?
Highlight repeated phrases in the advert, keep the ones you truly have, and put those first. Do not add Salesforce because it appeared twice if you have never logged in. A matcher score that requires lying is a signal to skip the vacancy.
Keyword method: CV keywords. Builder: paste the advert into the matcher on the builder and treat gaps as go/no-go, not as copy prompts.
When should you drop the skills section?
Drop it when every item is already obvious from job titles (a “Python developer” listing Python twelve times) or when the list is generic adjectives. A short, specific list is better than none. An honest empty state — no list — beats a fake cloud.
If you delete the section, make sure the first two experience bullets still name the tools.
How should hard skills and soft skills share the page?
Hard skills (tools, methods, registrations) belong in the list. Soft skills belong in bullets with scope. “Leadership” in a list with no team size is a slogan. “Led six staff across two sites through a rota change” is evidence, after which “team leadership” can sit once in the list. Skip skill bars. They do not parse and they look like self-scoring.
| Weak list item | Better home |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Office | Name Excel or PowerPoint only if the advert does, then prove it in a bullet |
| Excellent communicator | A bullet with audience size or a document you shipped |
| Python ★★★★☆ | The word Python, plus a project with data size or production use |
| Team player | Delete, or a bullet with the team’s actual job |
Role-shaped lists live on CV examples. Do not copy a nurse list onto a developer file.
In what order should the skills appear?
Advertised skills first, then the rest you truly have. Recency beats nostalgia: a tool you used last month outranks a language from 2014 unless the advert names the old one. Students can lead with methods from the dissertation if that is the proof. A random alphabetised dump hides the match.
Worked method: paste the advert, highlight repeated nouns, put those first if they are yours, delete the ones that are not. The builder matcher is a second pair of eyes — a gap list, not a grade. Open the builder.
If the list and the latest job bullets disagree (skills say Salesforce, bullets never mention it), the list is fiction. Align them or cut the word.