Difference between hard and soft skills in resume – When appearing for an interview, the employers focus on the candidate with the perfect balance of hard and soft skills. One of the main reasons an employer asks for a resume is to notice your skills, especially the ones you have mastered.
However, employers have relaxed their guidelines regarding hiring a felon over the years. Understanding the situation of the prisons, employers know it might be hard for convicts to learn new skills. Therefore, felons have fewer skills and experience than general candidates.
Hard and Soft Skills in Resume – The Major Differences
Soft and hard skills go hand in hand. While hiring a candidate, the employer has to look for a perfect combination of both skills.
Soft skills are known as people’s skills and willingness to complete their tasks. These are refer to your socializing skills, personal qualities, holistic skills, & more. The keynotes of the soft skills are to test how a person will perform in a team, as an individual, and check their work ethics.
On the other hand, hard skills are the skills you gain with your education and work experience. These include the expertise that is required for a particular job role. The hard skills allow you to learn new things and test your knowledge.
Let’s look at some of the top hard skills a person needs for a job.
7 Hard Skills that Ex-felons Need for an Impressive Resume
1. Technical Skills
Technical skills are needed to succeed in fields that include IT, engineering, science, etc. These technical skills come in handy when you are working on specialized software. The technical skills include learning skills such as STEM skills, CRM platforms, HTML, Prototyping, etc.
2. Computer Skills
In today’s tech-savvy world, an employee or aspirant must know the basics of computer skills. With the advancement in technology, several prisons provide the facility to learn computer skills.
Let’s look at the computer skills that are easier to learn. Here are some software-
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Spreadsheets
- SQL
- Microsoft PowerPoint Outlook
3. Importance of Marketing Skills
Marketing your business is an essential part of growing your business. Learning marketing skills for general knowledge to increase your customer reach while in prison looks good on a felon’s resume.
Here is a list of the courses a person can do to improve their resume-
- SEO/SEM
- Content writing
- PPC
- Social media marketing
- Email brand promotion
- AdWords, Facebook Paid Ads
4. Presentation Skills
Presentation skills are an essential part of an ex-felons life. A presentation allows the employer to be a better judge of the character. It is also an excellent opportunity for felons to express their story and reality.
Here are the things you can do to improve your presentation:
- Slide shows
- Visual communication
- Data Analysis
- Research
5. Project Management Skills
A routine in prison helps the convicts become disciplined in their regular life and life after prison. The sense of discipline allows the person to keep the job on time and within budget. The skills included in this are:
- Project scheduling
- Strategic Planning
- Forecasting
- Financial
- Budgeting
- Performance tracking
6. Content Writing Skills
If you’ve had a good command of the written language, you can get a kickstart for your career. You have to brush up on your skills a little bit, and you’ll have a great time.
Here are the key pointers for a person trying to become a content writer:
- Note-taking
- Basic grammar understanding
- Writing a letter, email., business writing reports, etc
- Data Visualization
- Writing articles, proposals, presentations for meetings, and so on.
7. Design Skills
Prisons do not have many facilities for people willing to get out of there and start a new life. However, you can be an illustrated graphic designer. Creating visual content is an absolute asset to the work environment in a company.
Here are the skills you need to learn to be a graphic designer:
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- InDesign
- UX Research
- UX/UI design
Conclusion
It is challenging to build the perfect resume with the best combination of hard skills and soft skills. However, it is not impossible to do so. If you’re not confident and need the help of a professional, reach out to our team of experts today.
