Do you still put key skills on a CV?

[HuntD]

Do you still put key skills on a CV? There is a lot of conflicting information online.

Personally I think its a given that anyone with experience in role A with have skills B,C & D, however I just want to be sure.

I'm applying for IT roles if that makes any difference.

[rog007]

If the role advertised requires certain skills (often described as essential or desirable), then you should ensure that your CV clearly shows that you have them. If you do not show them, you may not get shortlisted to interview, whereas others who have made it clear may.

Showing skills that are not required for the role is more tricky; by doing so you can use up valuable space and add more text to an already congested CV. By not doing so, you may miss an opportunity to impress or highlight a more rounded skill set. On balance, many would omit non essential skills in order to present a more aesthetically pleasing (i.e. easy to read) CV.

[Monty Python]

I would always focus on skills that are relevant to the role you're applying for, then add any others that you think are useful after those.

[monoloco]

Definitely put them on the CV. Most recruiters are dimwits (I know I've worked with loads of them) so their search string when they trawl through CV databases will involve them bunging in just the basic skills the client has asked for. They don't have the knowledge/ability to add variations or alternative descriptions of those skills. Result is if your CV doesn't have that exact word match on it then you won't even appear in the search results so they won't even know you exist let alone read the CV. So, moral is 'play the search engine game' -include all your skills and ensure you use any variations of terminology that might be used to describe those same skills. (For the record, I'm an Engineering Recruiter with 25 years experience -and I'm NOT one of the dimwits!)

[SAS Tom]

I would if they are actual skills. I've been recruiting for a basic job and about 95% of applicants have all been hard working, honest and trustworthy. That's not worth mentioning but seems to be a job centre favourite.