The Most Important Computer Skills for a Resume

The number of resumes written in the world over the last twenty years probably exceeds the number of people on the planet! Why? Because, no matter how hard we try, it always seems that we’re writing yet another resume to improve on the last one so that we can get that perfect job.

The process of writing a resume has changed considerably over the years now, with lots of tutorials online and resume experts willing to write a resume for you. In all of this, people need to know if they have the computer skills to write a resume themselves on the computer. Here are the most important skills to have:

Know Your Word Processor

First of all, keep in mind that not everyone is cut out for creating their own resume on a PC or a laptop. Designing a proper resume takes time and some level of expertise. If this doesn’t sound like you, don’t fret, there are plenty of resume preparation services out there to do the job for you. All they need is your job history and a few other details to get started.

For those who don’t quite remember what a word processor is, it’s an old-fashioned term for the software a computer uses to create any kind of document, including a book, an essay, or yes, a resume. Many people try to get by on simply opening it up and typing, but a CV has to have a particular look to it.

If you’re not very familiar with your word processor, then get to know it better. There are many tutorials online where you can learn a bit more on Word or WordPerfect, which will help to get proficient on it and be able to create a more effective resume.

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Be a Good Typist

This doesn’t mean that you have to compete professionally in the World Typist Races, but try to develop your typing skills as it will make the creation of a resume a faster process. If that’s simply not in the realm of possibilities for your poor fingers, then get someone with those skills to type up your resume for you.

Don’t Settle for an Inferior Font

Word processors include a multitude of computer fonts now that allow for any person to get the font they want to represent them on paper. A good tip for beginners is to use one font for the heading of your resume, and a second for the body. When doing so, find ones that complement each other. Having a good contrast is one thing; having a glaring one is another.

A great idea for anyone looking for a unique CV to hand into a potential employer is to look into an online glossary of fonts and choose one that’s not typically included with word processing software. You want your resume to stand out and having a nice, sharp font that a potential employer has never seen before accomplishes just that.

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Use an Attractive Structure

The header of a good CV always has the expected information like the name of the applicant, their cell-phone number, e-mail, etc., but items like the job history, job attributes, and skills are not so set in stone. A quick look online will reveal that there is an infinite number of templates available, and they can be drastically different from each other.

A psychotherapist resume, for instance, will look completely different from an engineer’s CV because the great difference in the fields should be reflected in the look and feel of it.

So, for the job history, find an attractive and appropriate layout that will be appealing to a prospective employer. How do you know that it’s appropriate? Think of the information that business wants to see first and what it wants to see last in each listing on a job history. Would they want to see who the business is in bold or do they want to see the job title first?

Be Aware of Your Online Options

Part of good computer skills is to know how to use them online. There are many people who use professional sites now, and choosing a few to show your profile and CV on never hurts. What is a new market that’s heating up now is the blockchain resume.

If that’s a new term to digest, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. A traditional paper resume has information on it that the employer usually doesn’t check on and there has been more than one news story on angry businesses finding out that the person they hired didn’t, in fact, go to the university they said they did, or they didn’t go at all!

These accidental discoveries have also resulted in employers discovering that people they hired never worked at the organizations they claimed they did. Blockchain resumes have a digital signature on job histories and education, guaranteeing their accuracy.

Although this approach is still fairly new, it isn’t a bad idea to have one available as an interesting item to include on one’s CV. It can be an interesting topic of conversation and might just engender trust for the applicant.

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