Top 10 skills to include in your IT CV

Software development

If you work in software development, you will know how important technical skills are. Any employer is going to want to know the exact stack you have been using to determine what kind of engineer you are.

Here are 10 common CV skills to include for software development:

• Android developer
• iOS developer
• C++
• PHP
• JavaScript
• WordPress
• HTML
• Quality assurance
• Scrum
• Agile

Software developers typically require the highest level of technical skills. Since software developers are hands-on engineers, the programming stack and tools used are highly relevant.

Technical support

Technical support staff are responsible for providing help with specific problems related to a product or service. They are the front line for any employee or customer issues. The skills required for technical support staff are more focused on customer service than programming.

Here are 10 common CV skills to include for technical support:

• Oral communication
• Written communication
• Customer service
• Windows/Mac
• Product knowledge
• Basic programming
• Linux/Unix
• NoSQL
• Call centre
• Support tickets

While technical support engineers should still have basic programming skills, the technical requirements are much less than those expected of software developers.

IT project management

IT project management professionals are essentially the middlemen and women between the business teams and the technical teams. Project managers are responsible for achieving goals and meeting project deadlines. In a technical setting, it’s common for project managers to work with software developers to achieve the company’s goals.

Here are 10 common CV skills to include for project management:

• Agile
• Scrum
• Leadership
• Project planning
• Scheduling
• Risk management
• Budgeting
• Communication
• Quality control
• Technical acumen

Project management skills are a mix of developer and upper management skills. A combination of leadership and technical skills are required to be a successful IT project manager.

Cyber security

Security for technology jobs is very different than security for non-technical jobs. Security professionals in IT are not big, strong men guarding an entrance. Not physically at least. IT security professionals are responsible for maintaining digital security, reducing cyber threats and ensuring data is secure at all times.

Here are 10 common CV skills to include for cyber security:

• CISM certification
• CISSP certification
• Malware analysis
• Programming
• Risk analysis
• Cloud security
• Security analysis
• Intrusion detection
• IP setup
• Ethical hacking

Cyber security professionals require a high level of technical knowledge and often certifications. The best cyber security professionals will be able to think like a hacker to prevent malicious attacks from ever occurring.

Executive IT leadership

Executive leaders who work in information technology often come from backgrounds in technical roles such as software development or cyber security. It’s extremely useful to have some technical knowledge to understand all the moving parts.

Here are 10 common CV skills to include for IT executives:

• Leadership
• Database management
• Innovation
• Programming languages
• Collaboration
• Mobile development
• Budgeting
• Network security
• Creativity
• SEO/SEM

Executive positions in IT require the lowest amount of technical skills to do the job. Information technology executives will need to highlight their leadership and management abilities more than their ability to code.

Where to include technical skills in your CV

Now that you know what technical skills you should be including on your CV, it’s important to know where to add them. There are a couple of key places to add skills to your CV.

Add skills to your “areas of expertise” section

We’ve included a sample below of an IT CV. Most professional CVs will have a “Skills” section. There are many different names for this section. It can be called “Key Skills”, “Areas of Excellence”, “Technical Skills”, or similar. 

It doesn’t matter what you call this section – what matters are the skills you list.

Add skills in your “professional experience” bullet points

Your professional experience or work experience is the section of your CV that talks all about your previous jobs. This is the meat of your CV. It’s crucial that you integrate relevant keywords for skills into the work experience section of your CV.

Below is a sample of how that might look. You’ll notice a variety of hard and soft technical skills such as Azure Data Lake, Microsoft Azure, Cloud, Data Strategy, Monitoring, and more.

Wrapping up

All-in-all, the key skills that you emphasise on your CV can make or break you.

Not only will hiring managers be quickly screening your CV looking for a very specific set of skills, but technology is being used for this as well.

The best thing you can do is read each job description thoroughly and highlight specific skills or keywords that are repeated in the job description.

If the job continuously mentions the need for experience in Python, then make sure your CV mentions Python at least a few times.

With just a few CV adjustments, you will be landing more IT interviews in no time.

Mike Podesto is CEO and founder of  CV writing and career coaching company Find My Profession. He is passionate about helping jobseekers find fulfilment in their careers by breaking down the tedious job search barriers.