The highlights of qualifications section is the pivot of a resumé. It can turn the tide of all the other sections of the document. Mastering how to handle this pivot shows you know how to write a targeted resumé, shows that you understand what the employer needs, and shows you are confident that you’re a great fit even before you walk through the door for an interview.

Many Canadian employers prefer a highlights section, and the equivalent on a U.S. resumé is the profile and skills. The biggest difference is the format, the latter is a paragraph, whereas the former is in bullets. Content may vary, but both sections use keywords the same way. Though this article focuses more on expectations in Canada, considerations for expectations in the U.S. are made.

Let's start by examining why the highlights section is pivotal.

So, make it easy for them to make the right choice. And it begins with the highlights section. It is often the first place the employer gravitates to. And it entices them to delve into other sections of the resumé.

Your resumé is read twice during the initial stages of candidate screening. The first time is often by the employer’s applicant tracking software, which matches keywords on the job posting to those you included on your resumé and the second time is by a human who is trying to figure out if you’re a fit for their team based on how you sound on your written material.

To satisfy both the software (the bouncer) and the human (the hiring manager, or the department manager), write for both. And you’re in luck because the easiest way to do this is also the most effective way to do this. And the easiest way is to focus on the job requirements.

If the highlights have one job, that’s it. These questions in the requirements section of a job posting might not be complete sentences or even have question marks. But you can get the gist of what the employer is asking for, hence questions.

Here are three steps to writing your highlights so you get this section to work for you.

1. Identify keywords

Keywords can be words or phrases that can boost your resumé. 

When you use keywords, you show the employer that you understand their language. 

Study the entire posting and research the organization online. Zero in especially on the requirements section of the posting, and the values the organization boasts. Select keywords to mention in your highlights section.

If their website says they value integrity and excellence in service, those are keywords. If the posting is looking for someone with experience with client-facing customer service, that’s a keyword.

2. Organize the content of the highlights

Organizing the highlights is just as important as figuring out its contents. How so? Because doing this is a test of your prioritization skills. You can do this two-fold if you have a framework or order.  

Organizing the content of the highlights shows you understand what the employer finds is important for the job, which gives them confidence that you can apply this understanding on the job. 

Highlights often go in a specific order. This of course is with relevance to the posting. If the posting is not prioritizing certain requirements like years of experience in a particular field, or certain post-secondary education, you don’t need to elaborate on them in your highlights, and if you don’t, these things take up less space on your resumé. Here are the bullets in order:

1. Years of experience: Number the years of experience and also specify years of experience in the specific industry.
2. Education and training: Summarize the relevant education they ask for, which will be further specified in the education and professional development section.
3. Hard skills: These are skills pertaining to the job title. Detail them in one or two lines with qualifiers, e.g., “excellent at”, “proficient with”, “familiar with”, etc., or with examples, e.g., “operated heavy machinery including fork-lift and scissor lift”.
4. Soft skills: A.k.a. transferable skills. These are skills that can be transferred from one job to another, across industries. These skills can be self-management skills, e.g., time management, prioritization, punctuality, organizational skills, being detail-oriented, and having the ability to work individually as well as in teams,nd they can be interpersonal skills, e.g., communication skills (oral and written), conflict resolution, negotiation, customer service, etc.
5. Other qualifications: E.g., language skills (state the language and the proficiency (oral and written)), having a Driver’s License,  ability to carry 20 to 50 lbs. of equipment on site, ability to work outdoors summer through winter, etc.

You will notice that this order tends to match the order the job requirements are written. The requirements section of a job posting tends to prioritize the most important things at the top. So, arrange your highlights accordingly, while using this order as a framework. You can group similar skills, e.g., organization skills and being detail-oriented in one line and having strong communication skills and good customer service skills in another line.

3. Match the requirements

Match the requirements by using their keywords and other industry keywords to illustrate that you are what they’re looking.  The majority of these keywords are in the job requirements anyway, namely skills. 

But matching the requirements goes beyond peppering your resumé with keywords.  This only might get you past the bouncer (the applicant tracking software).  Now you'll need to address the human behind the desk (the hiring manager or department manager).  This comes with using appropriate detail in your resumé. 

Your study of the organization and the job posting comes in handy here. Even a brief study of the posting will give you a feel of what the employer thinks makes for a strong candidate. Let them know that you have these strengths by elaborating on them in the highlights. But don't overkill this section. Detail the rest of the sections appropriately on the resumé, especially your experience (write accomplishment statements) and your education (you can detail your capstone project, or mention key courses).

You might be asking… Why include a sampler? It’s such a waste of paper space! And you only have two pages of real estate (three, if you count the cover letter) to work with.

But the sampler does it's job.  If you’ve ever seen a paper or a report with an executive summary as one of the first pages, that’s the sampler. It includes the core details of the background of a project, its results and recommendations. It is designed especially for executives to read and not spend time thumbing through a heavy report to find out what happened. And when you make things easier for them, you make things easier for you.

Does this mean then that since highlights are a form of summary, it should not include any new information that was not included in the rest of the resumé? Not really. The skills can be a separate section, especially for U.S. resumés, located right under the profile, leaving the profile freer. For Canadian resumés however, the skills being incorporated into the highlights section is acceptable, and often even preferred.

Many job search experts say that candidates who detail their skills land in more interview seats than those who don't.

The benefits detailed skills[i] bring to a resume are two-fold. First, they address the requirements in a direct and tidy way, and second, even though it looks like more writing because you’re detailing skills instead of simply listing them, it saves space, because you won’t be repeating the skills you used on every line of your experience. Instead, you match the skills you have to the ones the employer is looking for right where their eyes gravitate toward first, the highlights.

After all, the highlights section, your sampler, is all about matching you to the job’s requirements. If it doesn’t do this, no matter how much of a strong fit you are, it’s poorly written and you risk losing the employer’s attention.

Now you know how to make the most of your highlights section.  Examples are found in this article.  As for concluding this one, here's a recap!

Summary

The highlights section of your resumé primarily answers the questions the employer asks in the requirements section of their job posting.  Three steps to write this section are:

• Identify keywords: Identify keywords from the posting and the organization’s website and use them in your highlights.
• Organize the content of the highlights: Organize the content highlights in a specific order, usually: years of experience (in the industry), a summary of relevant education, hard skills (skills pertaining to the job title), soft skills (transferable skills, including self-management and interpersonal skills), and other qualifications (languages, Driver’s License, etc.).
• Match the requirements: Use the keywords in your highlights and detail appropriately so your highlights section acts as a sampler or executive summary of the resumé.

Notes

This article contains no text pictures to ensure that every word can be read aloud by a text-to-speech application. And was tested using Google Chrome’s “Read Aloud” add-on.

Resources

Check out my other articles for help in building your targeted resumé. And if you're looking for a resumé writing guide to land that dream job, book me to help. Rates apply.

Bio

Tiffany Persaud is a freelance writer who has written for clients and organizations in Canada and the USA, on topics ranging from books, films and media, to health and employment skills. She has her website (https://tiffany-persaud.writing.io/) where she publishes many pieces just like these each week.

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