Skills over certificates: what employers say they're after

A BBC News piece rounds up expert opinion on what's likely to matter most for getting and keeping a job over the next decade: not just qualifications, but a set of core skills — things like communication, adaptability, problem-solving and working well with others. The idea isn't new, but it's a useful nudge, because most CVs still lead with job titles and dates and say almost nothing about how someone actually works.

Why this matters for your application

Qualifications tell an employer what you studied. Skills tell them what you can do with it. If two candidates have similar degrees or similar job histories, the one who can show evidence of adaptability, judgement, or working under pressure often has the edge — because those are the things that predict whether someone will actually perform well once they're hired, not just whether they were eligible to apply.

The problem is that skills like these are vague on their own. Writing "strong communicator" or "team player" on a CV is meaningless without proof. Employers aren't looking for the words — they're looking for evidence the words are true.

How to actually demonstrate it

• Pick 2-3 of the skills the employer seems to care about (check the job advert's language) and build them into your achievements, not a separate list.
• Use a short example instead of a label: not "good problem-solver" but a line describing a problem you solved and what happened as a result.
• Match the skill to the moment — adaptability might show up as changing approach mid-project, or picking up a new tool quickly under deadline.
• Keep it concrete. One well-described example beats five adjectives.

Where this fits alongside qualifications

None of this means qualifications stop mattering — they still get you past some filters and prove baseline competence. But if your CV is all quals and no substance underneath, you're relying on the paper to do work it was never designed to do. The skills are what convince someone you'll be good at the job, not just qualified for it.

A practical starting point: read the job description again and ask which of these softer skills it's actually asking for, even if it doesn't use the word. Then find a real example from your own work history that proves it, and put that on the CV instead of a vague claim.

FixMyCV tailors your CV to the specific role, pulling out the evidence that matches what the employer is actually looking for — without ever inventing experience you don't have.

Source: BBC News. FixMyCV summarises and comments; we never reproduce articles.