A few decades ago, people thought PowerPoint would be a flash in the pan, but today, they’re considered the most effective tool for delivering key information in a cohesive and memorable manner.

PowerPoint enables you to include more content in your resume.

PowerPoint is a software program that allows users to create slideshows, presentations and spreadsheets that are shareable. You can create digital slideshows or printable display materials with it.

PowerPoint has become a very popular program for business professionals to prepare and present information in a format that is always changing with regards to the information.

There are many different versions of PowerPoint which offer people with different levels of ability to work with it, as well as give different things to enjoy such as free-form authoring, collaboration in PowerPoint, creation of animations and more.

There are different styles of presentations that people can create with PowerPoint. Each style has its own touch screen software, animations, transitions and such formats.

If you’re applying for a role that requires extensive travel, it’s essential to include your various and extensive research methods on your resume. You’ll be able to quickly showcase your abilities as a problem solver and the experience you’ve gained from hundreds of tasks that will give your resume a more holistic look.

It’s all about the content. You want your resume to convey your interest, dedication, and passion for your work. Here’s why you should include your PowerPoint skills on your resume.

How To Make The Most Of Your PowerPoint Skills On Your Resume

First, take a moment to review these steps for effective PowerPoint presentations and use them in your own presentations.

Preparing for your presentation

Step 1: Research. Whether you plan to prepare a report or present a technical topic, prepare for a presentation by taking a moment to read and gather background information on the subject you’re going to speak about.

Step 2: Prepare. Learn as much as possible about your topic and prepare a few slides to support your main message.

What do you need to know about PowerPoint?

What the employer wants to see: Organize your information into lists and bullet points.

Organize your information into lists and bullet points. What the employer doesn’t want to see: Too many text boxes. (Overly long form can cause organizational issues.)

What you need to know: Make sure that the information is displayed using correct formatting, such as headings, subheadings, and bullet points.

How to make presentations: Use keywords and general keywords to search for the right information.

Presentation skills that will help you succeed

• Professional speaking is a crucial component of any job, and creating a persuasive and memorable presentation helps to stand out. That’s why hiring managers prefer skilled professionals who can communicate well in front of others, and for that reason, your ability to develop presentation skills should be considered a major part of your professional development.

Recognizing the demand for presentation skills, there are a few important strategies you can take to learn those skills, whether you’re looking for a new job or are an existing employee looking to expand your repertoire.

• Create three-minute, time-sensitive presentations – Keeping your presentation crisp and concise ensures you present only the most important aspects to the audience during the meeting. Time check is a great way to ensure the presentation does not become verbose and yet the desired communication is achieved.

Plan your presentation

Keep a list of talking points handy and make sure they are spelled out in advance so you don’t get stuck on the fly. Make sure the presentation covers the three P’s: purpose, objectives, and priorities. (A PowerPoint presentation is always three pages in length, so you can decide the focus of your points as you go along.) Choose the main points you’ll include in your presentation.

Make sure your PowerPoint software has sufficient memory and/or storage. It may even help to increase it. If your slide deck is only 10 MB, that may be adequate for your small team of the three or four people you need to review it for content. But a 20 MB deck could be a problem for executives and any media organization.

Make sure that you have enough room on your slides.

Presentation Software

Without the right technology, you could miss a good idea because you did not have the right presentation software to get the data you need in the right format. You may need to spend a little more money to buy better software, but it will be worth it.

You do not want to make a decision during your presentation, because that could result in your having to send a tech guy out to your presentation that nobody can understand.

Critical Thinking

As you prepare your presentations, you need to have an eye for detail, being able to detect what is not working and fixing it. At the same time, you need to be able to talk in an easy, natural way. Many presenters who spend too much time rehearsing with slides do not make the connection between what is in their head and what comes out of their mouth.

Deliver with confidence

Follow up with evidence and data that shows you’ve done what you said you would do.

The three phases of the delivery are a set of skills that every great presentation expert should have.2 What follows are 10 critical presentation skills that will help you shine in any role that requires you to communicate.

1. Preparation.

Research your topic. Create the content. Write a script. Nail your resume and pitch.

2. Delivery.

Write a script. Use verbal and visual cues to enhance your delivery. Assess your level of knowledge.

3. Follow-up with evidence and data.

Learn more about the audience. Demonstrate how your message has influenced your audience.

4. Use visuals.

Design visual elements that support your message.

5. Be clear.

Follow up with a written summary

After the presentation, follow up with a written summary.

Getting good at PowerPoint

Most organizations use PowerPoint, so you’ll need to learn how to use it to your advantage if you want to make a good impression. The following is a handy primer to help you get started.

When creating your presentation, keep the following principles in mind.

1. When picking a format, pick one that works for you.

Most professionals prefer PowerPoint, as it allows you to easily show and explain information. As long as your presentation covers the basics, you don’t need to be too detailed. Although if your goal is to give a more complex explanation, including the subtleties of your subject, consider doing so on slides. It’s also easy to modify slides to show longer, more in-depth information.

How To Make The Most Of Your Skills

There are a few ways to highlight your powerful skills.

Place all of your accomplishments in your resume in the same order

The first thing a recruiter will want to see is how well you can answer the first question a recruiter has when doing an interview:

What are your top 5 skills and how have you used them in your work? Be able to demonstrate that you’ve used your skill set over and over again. For instance, if you were hired as a project manager, you’ll want to highlight any projects you’ve successfully completed with results.

Add a section at the end for showing your top 10 skills

This is typically the section that resumes use to showcase your unique talents and accomplishments. Add your top 10 skills.

Key Tips For Effective PowerPoint Skills On Your Resume

It’s easy to get lost in all the bells and whistles on a PowerPoint presentation, especially if you aren’t familiar with the software. Don’t panic, though! You don’t need to master it in order to be effective.

Next, we’ll go through how to write an effective resume that highlights your top-notch PowerPoint skills.

“Get your resume updated”.

Demonstrating Your Skills

Go through the list of your “skills” on your resume and highlight the skills that are most valuable to your target companies. You may be able to fit your career into a specific position, but not all companies will be looking for that particular skill set. If you find a skill on your list that’s not applicable to the role you’re applying for, check if there’s a tutorial online that explains how to do it. You can also test out a few different positions to see if you’ll be able to do the tasks that are required.

You can also bring a video with you to the interview or on your resume if you have the video skills for the position.

Listing your skills

Typically, a resume does not have an additional section that lists skills. If you have been working in a professional field, then your employer will have considered what skills you bring to the table already.

But, it’s always a good idea to make a special section for skills that you want to show off. For example, you might want to mention any other types of PowerPoint skills that you may have that are outside of what we just discussed. In this section you could discuss things like how you’ve designed a presentation to educate an executive about data in the cloud, or how you produced a video presentation for the company.

While talking to recruiters you can tell them a little bit about your expertise in your field. Here’s a quick exercise you can do to highlight your skills.

Formatting your skills list for readability

Don’t make your skills list too long — recruiters will likely spend less than two minutes on your resume, so keep your skills concise. Presentation skills are valuable, but too long of a list can turn readers off.

Make sure your skills are listed in an organized, chronological order to show that you were able to get the job done.

Remember: You want recruiters to click on your resume, not scroll through it.

The skill isn’t necessarily a flashy one. But it’s a part of any business professional’s skill set, and is a vital skill for many professionals today.

Including your design portfolio in your resume

Presentation design is an opportunity to display your personal creativity. While creating project presentations isn’t as complicated as designing software, it’s a skill that’s certainly worth highlighting. A short yet thoughtful proposal for one such project would showcase your attention to detail and attention to the end user. Your job responsibilities should align with this, or another similar job title, in addition to your experience.

You might already have developed a portfolio of design work, but you might not be showing it off to recruiters. For a quick way to jump start the process, include a recent portfolio, with examples of how you used your skills to address challenges and provide solutions to your clients’ challenges.

Tips for making the most of your resume

Share your stories: Find a way to show how you have been an asset to your company, not just your job title. That way, you have both a chance to stand out from the crowd and show what makes you a unique individual.

Write on a higher-level than your job title: In other words, don’t talk about the company in the first paragraph of your resume. Then write the information on a job-specific level. Use this general statement to find the highest level for your resume: “Manager, [insert company name here].”

Know your audience: Another reason to make your resume more comprehensive? Many employers use resume comparison services to scan for weak or inaccurate information. When you make your resume more comprehensive, there’s less room for those errors to creep in.

Conclusion

Making your presentation skills standout from the competition will help you rise up the career ladder. Using the power of presentation skills on your resume will add value to your profile and position you for leadership positions. Consider adding this type of skill to your interview wardrobe so that it isn’t a surprise at all when you find yourself seated in a decision-making position. You’ll have the right skills to make the best impressions, and you’ll walk away from your interview with a solid introduction to the company.