The most in-demand job skills and how to include them in your resume

The job market is always evolving. Societal changes and emerging technologies continue to give rise to new areas of career development and new post-graduate studies. What’s in store for 2023? We explore the most in-demand skills right now and how to write a resume that secures an interview whether for an internship/post-graduate internship or a job.

The top skill sets employers are looking for

According to a recent report, the fastest-growing and most in-demand skill sets are artificial intelligence/machine learning, cloud computing, product management, and social media. Companies are requesting these skills for the following types of positions, including internships and post-graduate internships:

• Data scientist
• Computer scientist
• Data engineer
• Database architect
• Product manager
• Project manager
• IT project manager
• Social media strategist
• Social media manager
• Search engine optimization manager

For those interested in pursuing a career in one of these areas or simply gaining experience now would be a great time to apply. Let’s take a look at how!

Making sure your skills get noticed

It’s important to clearly and effectively communicate your skills within your resume. This is because more companies are using an applicant tracking system during their recruitment process.

When you apply for an internship/post-graduate internship or a job online, your resume passes through one of these systems before it reaches the eyes of recruiters. The applicant tracking system will scan your resume for keywords that align with the phrases in the job description.

This means the words and phrases you use to describe your skills will determine whether or not your resume makes it through the system to be reviewed by HR.

Which words and phrases should I use?

When applying, look at the requirements section for a list of desirable skills, experience, and technology/software. The words and phrases that appear in that section are likely in the list of keywords the applicant tracking system is scanning resumes for.

What other phrases does the job description include? For example, do they reference soft skills like “attention to detail” or “project management”? These are worthwhile noting as well.

Verify your findings! Make sure to look at other similar jobs and internships posted online. Do they list the same required skills and experience? Identifying overlap in words or phrases between job descriptions will give you a better idea of accepted terminology usage across HR teams…and systems.

How to incorporate keywords and phrases in your resume

Incorporating keywords and phrases in your resume is all about tweaking your existing language to mirror the way the employer is speaking about the same thing. For example, instead of describing how you can juggle multiple tasks and stay on top of things, use the phrase “project management”.

As a tip, avoid language that may be specific to a previous employer or school project and instead use industry language.

Here’s an example of resume do’s and don’ts if applying for a social media role:

To learn about how to format your resume template so that it’s ATS-compatible, make sure to check out this article on how to create an ATS-Friendly resume.

While it’s tempting to sprinkle every keyword from the description into your resume, ensure you’re being honest. Including skills or experience you don’t have will make it difficult for you to answer questions during an interview and could hurt your reputation in cases where you may wish to apply again in the future.

Keywords and phrases for each in-demand skill set

Ready to write your resume? We’ve researched the most in-demand skill sets to give you an idea of which keywords and phrases you might want to consider including. Take a look!

Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning

Data Science Internship / Data Scientist:

For a data science internship/post-graduate internship or job, it’s worth highlighting soft skills such as “problem-solving”, being “analytical”, and using “creative thinking”.

Keywords and phrases to consider using in your resume:

• Data preparation and/or analysis
• Developing and/or deploying data science models
• Customer feedback and satisfaction survey analysis
• Understanding of machine learning techniques
• Experience processing large-size data
• Python, Java, and/or Scala knowledge or experience (as applicable)

Cloud Computing

Cloud Developer Internship / Cloud Developer:

Have you “contributed to open source projects” or have a Github account to link to? If you’re applying to a cloud developer position, that would be great to include in your resume.

Keywords and phrases to consider using in your resume:

• Creating and maintaining software documentation
• Understanding of agile programming practices
• Familiarity with SQL and NoSQL databases
• Knowledgeable of cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, GCE, CloudStack, OpenStack and container technologies: Docker, Kubernetes, Rancher, OpenShift (as applicable)
• JavaScript and MySQL knowledge or experience (as applicable)

Product Management

Product Analyst Internship / Product Analyst:

For product analytics internships and jobs, consider highlighting soft skills such as “project management”, “organization”, and “attention to detail”.

Keywords and phrases to consider using in your resume:

• Maintaining price lists, data sheets, and product reference guides
• Analyzing product trends
• Data analysis/analytics and data visualization
• Cloud computing experience
• Experience with SQL

Social Media

Social Media Internship / Social Media Strategist

For social media positions, many HR teams will be looking for applicants with strong “project management” and familiarity or understanding of marketing and/or “social strategies”.

Keywords and phrases to consider using in your resume:

• Creating and executing organic social campaigns and/or contests
• Experience or familiarity with paid social media campaigns
• Tracking and analyzing page and/or account performance
• Understanding of how to optimize distribution strategies
• Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest knowledge or experience (as applicable)

Interested in learning more about how to land an interview? Take a look at our article on how to score a job interview like a pro!