How much do you need to know about computers to be able to put "computer savvy" on your resume?

I wouldn’t put “computer savvy” on a resume. I would go with “computer experience” or something like that.

As illustrated by your question, “computer savvy” probably isn’t explicit enough to be useful on a resumé.

You could organize it any way you like, but it’s better to list the programs you’re proficient in. On my resumé I have a skills section, and under that I put “Computers: Proficient on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Extremely skilled in Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. Proficient in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Adobe Bridge and the NCBI genome database. Some experience with GeneMapper, JMP…” etc. with all the programs I know how to use. I rank them since I’m going to be applying for technical jobs most likely, and don’t want to say I’m proficient in GeneMapper and then look like an ass. Plus I change it every time I apply for a different job and take out the programs that don’t relate to the job. Just use common sense for that part – if I want a summer job at Olive Garden they don’t care if I’m good at photoshop!

What loser said. Don’t write that. Mention software you are familiar with, operating systems and computer languages, and your prospective employer can make the assumption whether or not you’re savvy.

On a resume, instead of saying “computer savvy” list all the computer programs you are familiar with
If you know windows , office , and the other mainstream applications put those in.

Whatever you do don’t make yourself out as though you know more than you can demonstrate at any given moment.

Depending on how much experience you have you might have an skills section where you list programs/apps you are familiar with. For example if you just have summer retail jobs, you will have a skills space. If you have a couple of office jobs under your belt you might want to write as the job description “Used Microsoft Word to prepare file notes and correspondence for sales staff) Don’t say you are familiar with something that you just know a little about. If you say you used Excel on the job, they may ask exactly what you did with it in an interview Oops B-bye

What galileogirl said I agree with. Be careful when you say you “know” certain programs. Better to specify what you can do with those programs. I’ve had MANY an HR person send me someone who “knows Excel” when all they know about it is entering data into a spreadsheet someone ELSE created. In that case, it was better to say “familiarity with Excel data entry” or something like that. I’ve heard of horror stories where the manager himself hires someone who claims he/she knows Excel and when the person gets the job he can’t do the tasks the manager expected. Same with Access. The MANAGER didn’t know what to ask and the hired employee suffered for it.

It depends on the position, if it is for a secretary or similar, familiarity with word, excel, and outlook. If it were fo a position in finance, IT, HR, or anything else that uses a lot of specific computer stuff you would need to know those programs.