This section of your resume needs to be carefully tailored so that you are writing about attributes the employer is wanting to see in applicants.

A list of your strengths will usually include some transferrable skills e.g. communication skills, team work, planning and organising, attention to detail etc. It will often include reference to relevant clinical skills, experience or knowledge that you might have.

Some guidelines for writing about your key strengths:

• Use dot points to provide a short list – no more than 7 or 8 points if at all possible
• Really sell your strengths – experiment with the language you use, include adverbs and adjectives to bring your key strengths
• Avoid a detailed itemised list of clinical skills if possible – instead refer to skills in broad areas like acute care etc
• Think carefully about which items you place at the top of the list – put your strongest skills first. Note that the items at the bottom of your list are often overlooked by the reader.

Avoid underselling, or understating. For example here’s some people list their strengths:

• Good communication skills
• Planning and organising
• Computer skills

If you were an employer reading this, would this influence you to want to meet that candidate? For example can you think of a better way to express that you are a ‘good’ communicator?

Try also to show when you write about a particular skill or attribute that you understand its relevance or importance to the job.

Here’s an alternative, which tends to show you have thought about your suitability for the position:

• A confident, friendly communicator who is able to quickly develop rapport and form effective working relationships with a broad range of people
• Enjoys working collaboratively with others in team situations, is an energetic team member
• Has well developed planning and organising skills, but is flexible and adaptable in responding to unforeseen events
• Competent in using a broad range of computer applications

See the difference? Which person do you think the employer is likely to want to interview?

Combined Profile and Key Strengths Summary

Instead of having a separate heading for the Profile and Key Strengths Summary, another approach is to combine your profile and key strengths summary. We’ll use the previous two examples to demonstrate this, as follows:

Key strengths include

• A confident, friendly communicator who is able to quickly develop rapport and form effective working relationships with a broad range of people
• Enjoys working collaboratively with others in team situations, is an energetic team member
• Has well developed planning and organising skills, but is flexible and adaptable in responding to unforeseen events
• Competent in using a broad range of computer applications”