OBSOLETE SKILLS IN TODAY’S JOB MARKET

Looking for the next job or career takes a lot of energy and patience. Knowing which skills you definitely no longer need when applying for job posts can help you sharpen your focus and prioritize your time.

It is less about knowing which skills are not necessary anymore and more about knowing which abilities you don’t need to emphasize because they’re now so common that it is obvious to the authority that any modern job seeker will have them.

Removing certain unneeded or out-of-date skills in your resume can also make the hiring process much easier and help you stand out among a sea of applicants. A hiring manager would not want to swim through a list a mile long under the skills section of your resume to seek out the things that matter in the post that you are applying for.

Think of these as skills that are now sewn into our daily lives that they are expected of all applicants. Where knowing how to navigate Microsoft Office used to be a specialized workplace skill, it is now common knowledge for your average high school student.

The oft-quoted words of Bob Dylan ring true here — “The times, they are a-changing.’” Take a look at which talents you don’t need to waste any more time concentrating on throughout your job hunt.

1. Typing speed

While typing is still a skill you need to have, the speed at which you type doesn’t need to appear on your resume. Sure, the skill to type a certain amount of words per minute may be listed in some job postings, but that is typically for specific positions like court reporters or transcriptionists.

The higher your position will be in the corporation, the more that the speed and the accuracy in typing are going to be a skill that is assumed, rather than a question for job applicants. In using the functions for spell- checking and the predictive text function we now have within most computer applications, the quick speed in type is coming to be a lot more irrelevant in a way.

2. Microsoft Office (or other similar standard applications)

As mentioned previously, knowing how to operate a Word document or operate a spreadsheet is now more common knowledge than it is a specialized skill. It may be intriguing to extend the list of your proficiency in these computer applications on your resume, but it’s an old piece of information at this point.

3. Fax

Chances are, it has been a long time since you have had to send actual fax on a fax machine. With the arrival of digital faxes and the demand for document transfer by email, knowing how to send a fax is a pretty outdated skill.

Also, if the need to fax something is necessary to be done with a fax machine, you’re likely more than able of Googling how to do it and figuring it out.

4. Research

It used to be true that the ability to research something was a real skill, rather than something that was easily done by making a few clicks. The research involved perusing through books and knowing where to look for information and who to talk to.

Today, unless you are looking for a job that explicitly requires research above and beyond a simple web search, it is not deemed necessary to list research as a skill on your document when applying for jobs.

5. Telephone

Operating a multi-line telephone system used to be something that employers looked for. It was thought to be an actual skill to manage multiple lines and transfer calls.

Today, digital systems make this entire process much, much easier, and it is accepted generally that if you are applying for any sort of job posts, you know how to use a phone. This is definitely a skill that your resume can do without.

6. Email

This is another one of those skills that an employer will expect you to already possess. It is absolutely common for most people to have a personal email address and therefore, they would assume you are already knowledgeable on how to send and receive email communication.

You are likely using an email in some way for your application for the job anyway, whether by sending your resume directly or submitting your application in an online system that requires an email for use. With that being said, it would be quite repetitive, redundant, to put email as a skill on your resume.

7. Outdated Technology

Depending on what industry you are in, you might be tempted to add certain skills on your resume that you have expertise with which may actually be outdated.

Example of which, computer programmers who spent years mastering now-archaic coding languages should concentrate instead on only including tech skills on their resume that are appropriate to more modern and widely used coding languages.

8. Filing

Where many offices used to be filled with stacks upon stacks of paper records, filing documents electronically is a pretty simple, and not to mention, easier task and a commonly accepted practice.

Depending on the post you’re applying for, it might actually be necessary to know how to file certain types of paperwork like medical records, court documents, and other more. However, listing the word “filing” on the skills section of your resume is kind of outdated thanks to modern technology.

9. Word Processing

The term “word processing” used to reference a person’s ability to type words into a document on the computer, but it is now considered to be sorely outdated. It would be unusual for a person to get through high school in today’s era without having to utilize this skill.

Along those lines as not listing the fact that you do know how to type or operate Microsoft Office applications, if you are applying for a job today, it is generally known that you absolutely know how to open a word processing document and type in it.

10. Data Entry

Similar to word processing, data entry is one skill that is accepted in general as common knowledge for today’s modern job seekers. The capability to see a number on some sort of a report and enter the data into a spreadsheet is a basic skill that does not need to take up valuable space on your resume.

When you see “data entry” itself listed as a needed skill in job postings for certain positions, it will more than likely be industry-specific and it usually refers to the ability to write data into systems. In this case, you might want to list the specific data entry systems you are indeed familiar with on your resume and not just the skill “data entry” in general.