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Computer Skills for a CV in 2023 [+ Top Software Skills]
Everybody knows that putting computer skills on a CV is a must these days. But very few know how to put them to good use on their CVs. Do you?
Land of the brave, home of the free. You’re free to do as you like here! Apart from the US CV format. Turns out Americans are pretty attached to it.
Do you think life would taste better if you were allowed to carry a Colt .45 on your belt at all times? Or perhaps you can’t live without the NYC pizza slice, or the LA traffic? All valid reasons to move to America.
The American resume format doesn’t differ that much from CVs around the world, so—alright, this is America, time is money.
In this guide:
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932 Hickory Heights Drive
Baltimore, MD 21234
443-885-1957
CarolJGrier@dayrep.com
Personable waitress with 3+ years of fine dining experience in a dynamic Baltimore location. Used to handling 300+ orders a shift with 100% accuracy, managed to maintain a 99.8% guest satisfaction score and win Waiter of the Month four times in a row. Looking to apply proven skills and friendly persona to provide world-class service at Gaucho’s.
Work Experience
Waitress
The Lobster, Baltimore
May 2017—Present
Skills
Education
BA in Food and Nutrition, 2015-2017
University of Maryland, University Park, US
Languages
Certifications
Seems easy enough. Let’s start your own. Here’s how to write an American CV:
Most American resume templates order your experience in the reverse-chronological CV format. This brings the most recent stuff to the top, and creates an easily skimmable structure.
If you’re undergoing a career change, or you are at the very beginning of your career, you could opt for a skills-based CV, also called a functional CV format. This will shift the spotlight to your chosen skills and will help justify any employment gaps or other positions.
Now let’s run through all the relevant US CV sections.
Of course, you don’t need to be told that you need to include a CV header, however, it’s important you check you haven’t missed anything important. It should include your address, phone number you can always be reached on, and email address, at the very least.
For office and corporate jobs (careers), most people add a LinkedIn profile. This allows you more depth and information (if they want it), without exceeding acceptable CV length (more about that later).
For specialist jobs, portfolio links are needed, for example, Behance for graphic designers, GitHub for programmers, etc.
Carol J. Grier
932 Hickory Heights Drive
Baltimore, MD 21234
443-885-1957
CarolJGrier@dayrep.com
After all the organisational details comes the CV profile. This is a 4-8 line paragraph outlining who you are and why you are applying for the job—the ‘why’ being your 2-3 biggest achievements, not ‘because I have rent to pay and 2 kids’!
For someone with substantial experience and some achievements, a CV summary is best. If you’re early in your career, and you want to focus on your transferable skills and ambition, you should use a CV objective.
When thinking what to include on your CV, obviously work experience is the first thing that comes to mind. However, recording it correctly can be tricky.
Every work experience section should be structured with your job title, the name of the company you worked for, and the employment dates for each entry. Each of those should contain a list of bullet points describing your responsibilities.
However, the perfect CV for America will follow this job description:
Avoid discussing boring responsibilities—they know what the job entails. At least 75% of your bullet points should contain achievements or numbers to back yourself up.
More job description for US CV tips:
Waitress
The Lobster, Baltimore
May 2017—Present
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The importance of the education section on your CV will differ depending on your industry and amount of experience.
Starting from your highest qualification, list the degree or diploma name, and below, school name and location. List a graduation date. If you have a degree, skip the high school stuff.
If you don’t have much work experience and this is one of your first jobs, you can list some academic achievements in bullet points below, such as scholarships. If that’s not going to fill much space, you can list coursework that is relevant to your new job.
Education
BA in Food and Nutrition, 2015-2017
University of Maryland, University Park, US
You will notice that most modern CVs look similar, and contain a skills section, if not fully fledged, then at least in a tab on the side.
Do you have skills that you want to highlight for your employer? Or perhaps you have some skills that don’t warrant a full bullet point elsewhere, but you’d still like to include? This is where it goes.
This will help pass through the ATS systems. Tip: ATS systems don’t look for ‘punctuality’. Focus on real, specialist skills. According to LinkedIn, these are the skills in demand:
Soft Skills
Hard Skills
And this is how this section should be formatted on your CV:
Skills
Most CVs will contain a confusing, irrelevant mishmash of stuff in a badly structured ‘Additional Info’ section. It’s one of the most common CV mistakes.
Everything should be clearly structured, so include bonus CV sections under these clear headings:
Languages
Certifications
Expert Hint: Only include relevant things—remember your US CV is a picture of you as a perfect candidate, not the fullest possible picture of your person.
Your CV needs to look the part, too. This why you should follow these US CV format rules:
These tips will get you a job:
Make sure you don’t include the following on your US CV:
One last thing. Write a cover letter. There’s no better way to get your foot in the door at a target company.
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Want to try a different look? There’s 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
For a US resume that gets interviews:
Did we answer all your questions on the American CV format? Was our US CV template helpful? Leave a comment. We’ll be happy to reply.
Everybody knows that putting computer skills on a CV is a must these days. But very few know how to put them to good use on their CVs. Do you?
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