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You’re updating your resume. You get to the skills section. You want the reader to know everything about you, so you start typing every professional-sounding thing you can think of.

Leadership. Communication. Problem-solving. Adaptability. Strategic planning. Collaboration. Relationship management.

For all that is good and holy, stop.

When you list 25 vague skills, the reader learns almost nothing about you.

Why This Matters to You

Your skills section is not where you prove you are a nice, capable, hard-working person.

I know you are. Believe me, I truly do. But hiring teams do not search resumes for “nice.”

They search for tools. Systems. Platforms. They search for the actual technology used in the job.

Common Solutions and Why They Won't Work

That ubiquitous skills section is where people usually shoot themselves in the foot.

They try to show their value by packing the skills section with traits.

But traits are not skills.

“Strong communication” is not a skill for this section. It is a claim.
"Adaptable" is not a skill for this section. It is a claim.
"Flexible" is not a skill for this section. It is a claim. (Unless you're trying out for a gymnastics team. Then it's a fairly basic skill.)

“Canvas LMS” is a skill. 
“Salesforce” is a skill.
“Google Classroom” is a skill.
“PowerSchool” is a skill.
“Clever” is a skill.
“Schoology” is a skill.
“Nearpod” is a skill.
“Tableau” is a skill.
“HubSpot” is a skill.

See the difference?

One makes you sound like everyone else.

The other helps a hiring system and a human reader understand what you have used AND your capacity for learning more.

Your skills section should be boring in the best possible way. It should be full of real tools.

A Better Approach for You

Start with every platform your school paid for.

Yes. Literally.

Think about everything you touched on a computer that was not just Word or Excel.

What did you use for attendance? Grades? Parent messages? Lesson delivery? Student data? Assessments? How about video calls? What did you use for forms? Was there a separate tool for scheduling? What did you use for reports?

Find the actual name of the tool. Then list it.

A better skills section might look like this:

Learning Management Systems: Canvas, Schoology, Google Classroom
Student Information Systems: PowerSchool, Infinite Campus
Assessment & Data Tools: i-Ready, NWEA MAP, Renaissance, Illuminate
Communication Tools: ParentSquare, Remind, ClassDojo, Zoom
Productivity: Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Canva, Notion
Training & Content Tools: Nearpod, Pear Deck, Loom, Edpuzzle

Now we're getting somewhere.

This tells me what kind of systems you know. It gives hiring teams actual keywords. 

One warning, though.

Please do not write “CRM Systems” unless you have actually used a CRM. Client tracking in a school system is not always the same as a corporate CRM. But here’s the good news. Instead of stuffing “CRM” into your skills section, you might add an experience bullet that give context to your skills like this: “Used PowerSchool and ParentSquare to document progress, track family communication and support follow-up across teaching/counseling/ administrative teams.”

That is clearer + believable. 

TL;DR:

• Your skills section should not be a list of values or soft skills. It should not be a dumping ground for every nice thing you want employers to know about you. 
• It should be a clean list of
  • tools
  • systems
  • platforms
  • and technical skills you actually used.

Your Next Steps

Make a list of every tool, platform, system, and app you used at work. Search your school website if you forgot the official names. Check your old tabs. Check your bookmarks. Check your inbox. Look for the names of the tools you logged into every week.

Then rebuild your skills section with real technology.

Here’s the quick rule:

If the skill sounds like something a parent would compliment you on at open house, it probably does not belong in your skills section. 

If it is something you logged into with a password, it probably does.

P.s.

The goal is simple: make it easy for the hiring team to see what you can use on day one. Want more help making your resume sound corporate without making it sound fake? Start here: Career Change Accelerator™

Steph Yesil

Find me on LinkedIn, Get My Career Change Kit, 
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