what to put under skills in a resume

How to List Skills on a Resume (Real Skill Examples)

This essential resume writing article is about how to list skills on a resume. For more resume writing help, visit our job seeker resource center .

EdgeWater Pharmacy just posted an opening for a Sales Associate right down the street from your home. You think you are the perfect fit for the job, so you submit your resume, but so do 30 other candidates.

Do you know who is going to get called in for an interview? 

The job seeker who looks like they have the most relevant skills for the job.

Make sure you’re getting the callback for an interview from a hiring manager by reading how to list your skills on a resume.

This essential job seekers’ guide will walk you through how to add the skills a hiring manager wants to see on your resume, along with 50+ real resume examples of skills you can use.

This article on how to include key skills on a resume covers:

• What are professional skills?
• Why are skills important on resumes?
• Different types of skills for job seekers
• Where and how to incorporate skills on a job application
• Top 50+ skills hiring managers want to see on your resume
• Fastest ways to gain new skills to get hired

What Are Skills? Why Are Skills Important?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a skill is:

“the ability to use one’s knowledge effectively and readily in execution or performance”

“a learned power of doing something competently : a developed aptitude or ability”

When it comes to job hunting, your skills are what set you apart. Every human on earth has a set of skills that is unique to them. Likewise, every professional position has a unique set of skills that is required for performing the job.

Finding the perfect alignment between these two ideas is the key goal for every hiring manager.

If a hiring manager finds someone that already possesses the skills needed for their job, they won’t have to spend so much time and money on training. It also means that their new employee will be able to pull their own weight more quickly, providing a quicker return on their hiring investment.

But how do hiring managers know who has what it takes to perform well on the job?

The first and most important place hiring managers look is at your resume. On average, a hiring manager spends 6 seconds reviewing a resume and during that time they are scanning the pages to see if the skills required for the job jump out at them.

If they find what they are looking for, you get called in for an interview. If they don’t quickly see what they are looking for, your resume will most likely be discarded.

As a job seeker, it is your responsibility to make sure you know what skills hiring managers are looking for.

Once you identify those skills, it is also your responsibility to make sure those relevant skills are incorporated into your resume in a way that stands out.

If you do these two things accurately, you will be the one getting called in for an interview and will be that much closer to landing a new job.

Types of Professional Skills (Real Resume Examples)

Skills can be broken down into four main categories:

• Hard skills
• Soft skills
• Transferable skills
• Job-related skills.

Before you start writing your own list of skills, let’s go through each of these skill categories to see what the difference between them is.

Hard Skills vs Soft Skills

Hard skills are specific, teachable, and tangible. They can be measured and tested using assignments and assessments. Hard skills are learned, either through on-the-job training or through school, rather than coming naturally.

Examples of hard skills for a resume:

Soft skills are intangible and are harder to measure. They are personality traits and interpersonal skills that come naturally to humans, rather than being learned through school.

People are born with soft skills. These soft skills grow and develop over time from your upbringing, education, and experiences.   

Examples of soft skills:

Contrary to popular belief, hiring managers often care more about soft skills than hard skills, though both hard and soft skills contribute to your appeal as a candidate.

Hard skills, such as computer programming or accounting, can be taught using a combination of curriculum and hands-on practice. Whereas soft skills, such as a positive attitude or punctuality, are harder to teach.

Regardless of your background, hiring managers are usually flexible with teaching you the hard skills needed for their job, as long as you already have the right attitude along with the aptitude to learn.

Transferable Skills vs Job-Related Skills

Transferable skills can be carried with you from one job to the other. These skills can be a hard skill or soft skill, as long as they can be used in any type of role, regardless of the industry, company, or position.

Examples of transferable skills:

Job-related skills are usually always hard skills.  These job-related skills are specific to a certain type of role or position.

Examples of job-related skills:

How And Where To List Skills On Your Resume

Skills should be included throughout your resume, rather than confined to one area.

While scanning your resume, hiring managers will be looking over each resume section, starting with the top. Because of how people read resumes, you need to make sure they see your skills immediately.

Guarantee hiring managers will see your skills by listing them in four key areas of your resume:

• Resume header
• Professional summary
• Summary of skills
• Work Experience section

If you are writing a resume from scratch, try using this free and easy-to-use resume builder from Resume.com. The sections and formatting are already created for you, so all you need to worry about is filling in the blanks to finish a free printable resume.

1. Resume Header

At the top of your resume, directly below your name, write your job title along with the three most relevant skills you have as a candidate.

This is the first section hiring managers will be reading, so it is important to draw their attention using bold and large lettering.

If you’re using this resume builder , the ‘ Blue Skies ’, ‘ Three Blocks Digital ’, and ‘ van Deco ’ resume templates already have a header section included, which will make finishing your resume easier.

When writing your header, it is crucial that you customize the job title and skills to each job you’re applying for. Your job application needs to be consistent – you can read more about consistency in this article .

For example, if you write Java Developer in your resume header, but are applying for a .NET Developer position, a huge red flag will go up for the hiring manager.

When writing your top three skills in your header, make sure they align with the required skills listed in the job posting.

If you’re applying for a job at a large company or corporation, or you’re applying through a job board, it’s helpful to keep applicant tracking systems (ATS) in mind. Make sure your resume makes it past ATS software by listing your skills using the same wording as the job posting.  

Example of skills in the resume header: 

2. Professional Summary

Below your header and contact information, you will have a professional summary section. A professional summary used to be called an ‘objective’, but the modern resume writing approach is to replace your objective with a professional summary section.

Your professional summary should give an overview of your background, years of experience, and the top skills that set you apart. The skills in your professional summary should be written in sentence form, rather than listed out.

If using the resume builder , the ‘ My Employment ’, ‘ Apple Green ’, and ‘ Side Panel ’ resume templates have professional summary sections that are sure to draw attention to your most relevant skills.

Example of skills in the professional summary of a resume:

3. Summary of Skills

Below your professional summary, include a ‘summary of skills’ section. Alternative titles for this section could be ‘core competencies’, ‘key skills’, ‘professional skills’, or ‘relevant skills’.

If you have less than 10 skills, you can list them out in columns. 

Summary of skills resume example (less than 10 professional skills) :

Summary of skills resume example (more than 10 professional skills) :

For your skills section, your skills should be listed, rather than written out in sentence form. This formatting choice helps hiring managers to pick out the key words quickly, which they can read about in more detail in the experience section after.

4. Experience Section

The ‘experience’ section usually comes after your summary of skills on a resume. Depending on your background, this could also be called ‘professional experience’, ‘work experience’, or ‘relevant experience’.

Your experience section is the perfect place to back your skills up with real-life examples of when you have used your skills, in addition to the results you have achieved.

When writing your experience section, give specific details about where, when, and with whom you have used your skills. When possible, use numbers and metrics to quantify your achievements.

Example of how to list skills in the experience section of a resume:

How to List Skills On A Resume – Finding Relevant Skills For You

To figure out what skills you should include on your resume, follow these three simple steps.

Step #1: Create a master list of skills

Go through each category and create a master list of the skills in your toolbox. Don’t be afraid to list things that seem obvious, like computer skills or customer service.

Although they might seem like a given in your profession, many hiring managers still want to see these skills listed.

Never include skills that you are no longer familiar with. If you write a skill on your resume, hiring managers will be expecting that you can deliver on that activity.

If you are worried that a hiring manager will over or underestimate your level of proficiency, feel free to write ‘beginner’, ‘intermediate’, or ‘proficient’ next to each skill listed.

Step #2: Figure out the skills needed for the job

When applying for jobs, it is important to identify the set of skills that are needed. Picking out the needed skills will help you determine if you are a good fit for the role. It will also help you tailor your resume skills to the specific job you are applying for.

There are two main ways to determine the skills needed for a job.

The first is to dissect job descriptions and job postings that are posted on career websites and job boards. To do this, go through a job description and highlight each quality that describes the candidate the company is looking for.

For example, here is a job posting for a cashier position: 

Then create a list of all the qualities described, making sure to write each skill using the same wording that is used in the job posting.

The second way to figure out what skills are needed for a job is to search for people on LinkedIn who are already performing the role.

By searching for a certain job title in the search bar, you can find a list of professionals who are already in that job and then search through their profile to see what skills they have listed, both in their summary and experience sections.

Step #3: Match your master list with the skills needed for a job

The skills you write on your resume should be whatever overlaps between your master list and the list of skills you created from researching jobs.

By using this technique, you will be making sure that the skills you have listed on your resume are relevant to the jobs you are applying for.

A general rule of thumb is to never include skills that aren’t important for the job you are applying for.

For example, if you are applying for a project manager position, there is no need to list that you know yoga or CPR.

Top 50+ Skills Hiring Managers Look For On Resumes

A lot of research has been done as to what hiring managers look for on a resume. Many of the skills they seek are job-specific, while others are transferable.

To increase your chances of getting called in for an interview, include these top skills throughout your resume.

These professional skills are divided by category to help you find the skills that are relevant to you.

Soft Skills

Basic computer skills, customer service, project management, art & design, human resources, fastest ways to obtain new skills.

Are you looking for your first job? Are you missing some of the required skills on a job posting? If so, don’t worry. There are a range of ways for you to obtain the needed skills quickly.

If you are in need of a hard skill, this task is much easier. Hard skills are learned, so you can typically find an online resource, school, or curriculum to pick up the needed skills.

If you don’t have enough time to attend class in person, there are a number of online learning platforms with courses that you can take online, in your spare time. Some examples of popular eLearning platforms include Lynda, Udemy, and Skillshare.

Learning soft skills are a little trickier. These interpersonal and personality traits are hardwired into humans, so the only way to get better at them is to practice, practice, practice.

If you can’t practice soft skills while on a job, try to find some day-to-day activities that you can practice these skills during.

For example, if you need to work on punctuality, set a goal to arrive 5 minutes early wherever you need to be, no matter if it is for class or for coffee. Or if you need to work on your professionalism, pick up a volunteer job based in a professional, office setting.

More Skill-Related Articles For Resume Writing:

• How To List Hard Skills On A Resume (50+ Technical Skill Examples)
• How to List Computer Skills on a Resume (50+ Computer Skill Examples)

100 Good Skills to Put on a Resume [Complete Guide]

Jeff Gillis 0 Comments

By Jeff Gillis

Updated 6/4/2022.

When you’re adding skills to a resume, you don’t just want to focus on what you’re good at. Instead, relevancy has to be part of the equation. After all, every job you’re trying to land requires a very specific skill set, one that you need to show that you have.

Choosing the skills to put on a resume when you’re applying to a role isn’t something you should do haphazardly. Instead, you want to use the job description, company mission, and company values as a guide, creating a sense of alignment.

Additionally, it never hurts to have a handy list of skills by your side, making it easier to explore your options. So, if you’re on the hunt for good skills to put on a resume, here’s what you need to know.

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills

There are two basic types of skillsets that a job seeker can have and include on their resume: hard skills or soft skills.

Hard skills are the skills or abilities for a resume that are easily quantifiable…that can be learned through classroom work, apprenticeships, or other forms of learning. These include things like operating tools, computer programming, speaking foreign languages, or different kinds of technical prowess.

Soft skills are more subjective and harder to quantify and are often grouped together by what we know as “people skills.” Some examples of soft skills include communication, relationship building, self-awareness, and patience.

Which Skills Are More Important?

The debate rages on about which of these two types of skills is more important.

According to executive consultant and Forbes contributor Naz Beheshti , “…There is an ongoing debate about the relative importance of soft and hard skills that imply a competition between the two. However, they are both necessary and complementary to one another.”

On the one hand, job seekers with proficiency in a specific hard skill may get hired more quickly. Many employers want to hire people that can deliver value with fewer resources (ex., the need for training, etc.), making hard skills their priority.

However, we are also seeing that many hiring managers are choosing to hire candidates with highly developed soft skills.

In the end, as Indeed puts it, “soft skills are necessary to create a positive and functional work environment.” Plus, hiring managers feel that they can always train the candidate in the hard skill that is required to complete the job, but soft skills are often skills that cannot necessarily be taught.

So, what does this mean for you? Mainly that you can’t simply just pick one or the other and cross your fingers. Instead, the best strategy is to take a balanced approach and make sure that your resume contains both hard and soft skills.

How Do You Choose the Skills to List on a Resume?

Here’s the deal; there’s a good chance you know what you’re good at in a professional sense. Often, you can use your experience, duties, training, and education as a guide, giving you a strong foundation. Then, it’s about diving a bit deeper, looking at traits that could help you stand out, and comparing it all to the job description.

By using a simple process, you can make progress faster. Here’s a quick way to get started.

1. Make a List of the Skills You Know You Have

As mentioned above, the easiest way to get a grip on your current skills is to reflect on your academic and professional experiences. Consider the tasks you’ve taken on, the training you’ve completed, and the courses you had in school. In most cases, that’ll give you some solid ideas about your hard skills.

After that, it’s time for soft skills. Here, you want to think of traits or capabilities that help you engage with others and navigate professional relationships. Often, these are reflections of your personality, so use that as a jumping-off point.

2. “Mine” the Job Descriptions for Must-Have Skills

The next step is to take a look at the job description for the position you are applying for and make a list of the required skills it includes. Then, compare it to your capabilities. Are any of the skills on both of the lists you just created? If so, these are must-haves for your resume.

Now, notice if there are any skills on the job description that you don’t have. If there aren’t any, great!

But if there are…don’t panic. There are things you can do, which we’ll dig into shortly.

If you’re dealing with a vague job description, you aren’t stuck either. Here is a link to a ton of job descriptions that can give you an idea of the skills needed.

3. Tailor Your Skills to the Company/Position

As you may have read in our other blog articles, it is always very important to “tailor” your resume to the company and position you want to land. For an in-depth look into how to make that happen, check out our Tailoring Method article. 

If you want a quick overview, the idea is to focus on capabilities the company wants to find. Every job requires a unique skill set, and you want to show you have it. As a result, it is absolutely essential that skills from the job description make an appearance on your resume.

However, you also want to dig deeper. Spend some more time researching the company, including going through all of their various web properties, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages.

Why? Because they will leave clues about the types of people they hire. That gives you more ideas about the best skills to put on a resume to land a job there, particularly when it comes to soft skills you may not find in a job description.

100 Resume Skills Examples

If you’re struggling with coming up with a list of skills based on your past experience, it can be easier if you have existing resume skills lists to work with. You don’t have to think up every possible skill; you can simply review the list and find the matches.

Here is a list of resume skills examples, divided into hard skills and soft skills, that you can use when applying for a job.

Hard Skills for a Resume

• Advanced Bookkeeping
• Appointment Setting
• Automotive Repair
• Cold Calling
• Computer Programming
• Conversion Testing
• Copywriting
• Customer Engagement
• Customer Service
• Data Analysis
• Digital Marketing
• Electrical Engineering
• Environmental Cleanup
• Forklift Operating
• Graphic Design
• Heavy Machinery Operation
• Installation
• Landscaping
• Mathematics
• Medical Coding
• Paid Online Traffic
• Patient Care
• Photo Editing
• Picking and Packing
• Project Management
• Schedule Management
• Search Engine Optimization
• Server Maintenance
• Social Media
• Spanish Fluency
• Statistical Analysis
• Systems Analysis
• Technical Support
• Telecommunications Systems
• Travel Booking
• Video Editing
• Website Design
• Word Processing

Soft Skills for a Resume

• Accountability
• Active Listening
• Adaptability
• Brainstorming
• Business Etiquette
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Conflict Resolution
• Contextualizing
• Critical Thinking
• Decision Making
• Emotional Intelligence
• Flexibility
• Goal-Setting
• Handling Pressure
• Influencing
• Insightfulness
• Interpreting
• Negotiation
• Open-Mindedness
• Organization
• Prioritization
• Problem Solving
• Relationship Building
• Reliability
• Resource Management
• Responsibility
• Self-Confidence
• Strategical Thinking
• Strong Work Ethic
• Time Management

What If I Don’t Have the Required Skill?

Whether you need to possess a specific skill depends on the job and the skill in question. Usually, here’s where you have to be honest with yourself. If the skills required are part of the core competencies of doing the job, you may want to reconsider your application.

For example, if a golf course posts a job posting for a golf pro, you probably shouldn’t apply if you’ve never swung a golf club.

However, you will come across situations where what you bring to the table is close. In this case, moving forward might be okay.

You need to be able to demonstrate, using examples from your past, that you are capable of doing the required skill, even if you haven’t specially done it. So, go over your work history with a fine-tooth comb and try to come up with a few examples of you doing something in the right ballpark.

They are going to ask about it in your interview, so don’t think you can just wing it, and everything will be fine.

Also, many job descriptions have “nice-to-have” skills on the list. If you happen to possess them, great. But if not, don’t assume you shouldn’t apply if you have the must-have skills. In the end, those capabilities aren’t outright requirements, so don’t screen yourself out based on them.

How To List Skills on a Resume

There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to deciding where to put (or how to list) the skills on your resume.

According to our friends over at online resume-builder Zety.com , “…skills are so very, very important that they should show up all over your resume. Not just in the resume skills section.” In other words, it is imperative that there are elements of your skills throughout your resume, including your resume objective/summary and experience sections.

In addition, there isn’t one right answer for where to include your skill section because that depends on the industry, company, and position you’re trying to land. For example, for a job where technical competencies are of the utmost importance, it is often beneficial to list the skills closer to the top of the resume, right underneath the resume objective or resume summary statement.

However, if through your research you determine that the hiring manager will put more weight into your experience, you may want to lead with your experience. Then, put the skills section further down your resume.

At the end of the day, the selection of the skills themselves is the most important thing. After all, most hiring managers will easily find your skill section regardless of where it is on your resume.

What About Skills for My Job Application?

When you’re looking for skills to put on a job application, you do have to treat it a little differently than skills for a resume. Usually, you’re working with a finite amount of space on an application, not just in an overall sense but in each applicable section.

Since that’s the case, you need to lean heavily on the job description. Look for any capabilities that are listed as must-haves or that are repeated through the job ad. Then, make sure those skills are featured prominently in several areas, including in work history descriptions and skills areas.

If you have to answer essay questions, discuss those skills there, too, whenever possible. Use any other relevant capability as a supplement, treating it as supporting information instead of the primary point you’re sharing.

However, if an essay question asks about a skill that’s not in the job description, feel free to dig in a bit. It’s a capability that’s clearly on the hiring manager’s mind, so touch on it occasionally to show you shine in that area.

Putting It All Together

If you were wondering, “What are some good skills to put on a resume?” you should now have a solid answer. The most important thing to remember is to select skills that are relevant to the position you are interviewing for and, more important than that, skills that your company puts a tremendous amount of value in.

Once you get your skills straightened out, you should make sure that the rest of your resume is congruent with the skills you just selected, namely, that your experience shows that you both used those skills in a work environment and developed the skill with on-the-job tasks.

Co-founder and CTO of TheInterviewGuys.com. Jeff is a featured contributor delivering advice on job search, job interviews and career advancement, having published more than 50 pieces of unique content on the site , with his work being featured in top publications such as INC , ZDnet , MSN and more.

Learn more about The Interview Guys on our About Us page .

About The Author

Jeff gillis.

Co-founder and CTO of TheInterviewGuys.com. Jeff is a featured contributor delivering advice on job search, job interviews and career advancement, having published more than 50 pieces of unique content on the site , with his work being featured in top publications such as INC , ZDnet , MSN and more. Learn more about The Interview Guys on our About Us page .

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• 17 Best Skills to Put on Your...

17 Best Skills to Put on Your Resume (with Examples)

20 min read · Updated on March 27, 2024

Everything you need to know about adding the right skills to your resume

Whether your resume has been through 19 revisions lately or you're just revisiting it for the first time in years, spending some time taking stock of your skills section can generate more interest in your candidacy and be the key to winning interviews. 

However, there's a lot of conflicting information online and in books about maximizing the effectiveness of this section. 

Do you simply list all of your key skills on the resume? 

What are the right skills to put on a resume? 

What order is best? 

How will a jumble of technical qualifications help you stand out? 

And what about those  soft skills ?

Let's tackle those questions one at a time and learn the 17 best skills to put on your resume – starting at the beginning. 

Why is the resume skills section there in the first place?

The number one reason to spend a fair amount of time crafting your skills list is employability. Being employable means that you have the right skills – academic skills, applied knowledge, technology skills, vertical and lateral thinking abilities, and interpersonal skills – that employers value and are willing to pay you for. 

When the hiring manager picks up your resume to determine whether you're a fit for the role they have open, one of the first things they'll look at is your skill level. Having the right skills on your resume is also important to ensure your CV pops up in recruiter searches. 

There are three key reasons to include the skills section in your resume and to organize it well:

To list your skills and abilities in one place for easy reference and scanning

To highlight the match between your background and the job requirements for the position you're interested in

To get your well-crafted resume through keyword screening by applicant tracking systems

The right mix of resume skills will get you past the first hurdle and towards a conversation. Here's a blueprint for making the most out of your skills section:

Relevancy is critical

Including a jumble of skills on your resume, beefed up with some basics that pretty much everyone knows (like Microsoft Office, as an example) won't help you to stand out. In fact, listing out skills that are considered to be a common baseline can actually hurt your candidacy by making you look like you're scrambling to establish credibility. 

PRO TIP: As a general rule, basic user-level proficiency with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and email applications is  assumed to be a given . However, if you have advanced Excel skills (expert-level proficiency with macros and advanced analysis capabilities, for example), you should list those.  

Rather than go back to basics, you'll want to focus only on skills that look good on a resume.

So how can you tell that a skill is relevant? That's easy! Read the  job description . 

Interpret the job description

As you dissect the job description to learn what will be required of you if you're hired for the position, pay special attention to the “requirements” and “qualifications” bullets, as that's where you'll find the majority of the keywords your resume will need. Again, the goal is to ensure that your resume speaks to that particular job so you can impress the hiring manager. 

Let's say you're applying for a job as an Account Manager. You may see these bullets under the “requirements” part of the job description:

Build lasting relationships with new and existing clients

Maintain client records, including contract renewals 

Develop sales plans to meet key performance indicators

Understand product offerings to meet customer needs and upsell when available

The keywords you need to focus on in each bullet are:

Client relationships

Client records and contract renewals

Sales plans and KPIs

Product offerings, customer needs, and upsell

The question you then need to ask yourself is, “Do I have the skills to back up these keywords?” If the answer is “Yes,” then these skills should appear on your resume. 

This is called  tailoring your resume  and should be done with every job that you apply to. For example, if you are applying to be a Floor Manager at a store that sells musical instruments, your proficiency with inventory management and your ability to play guitar would both be relevant for the job.

The four main types of skills for your resume

As a human being, you have technical and interpersonal skills in a broad range of areas. You might be an expert whitewater rafter, or maybe you have advanced a World of Warcraft character all the way to level 80. Both of those accomplishments require dedication, practice, and technical proficiency, but they're probably not going to help you land a job. 

The general recommendation on standout skills for a resume is to only list skills that will, directly or indirectly, help you to be more effective in your job. 

To do this, you have to understand the different types of skills that employers look for. 

1. Hard skills for a resume

These are learned abilities that you've picked up during your career, either through education, training, or experience. They can be honed over time. When you add hard skills to your resume, you'll want to include numbers –   measurable accomplishments  – as often as possible. 

2. Soft skills for a resume

Soft skills are characteristics you possess that improve your ability to get along with others, solve problems, and communicate effectively. You'll find that hiring managers love soft skills. 

No matter how technical your position is, it will require interacting with people, dealing with deadlines, and adapting to change. It's not as easy to quantify soft skills as it is hard skills, but employers still want you to prove that you possess these traits.

While most skills can be categorized as hard or soft skills, there are other types of skills, too!

3. Transferable skills for a resume

In addition to hard and soft skills, you might consider whether you have any transferable skills. This becomes especially important if you're changing careers, as they allow you to provide tangible proof of your ability to adapt to new circumstances and use lateral or vertical thinking to apply knowledge about one thing to something else. 

When you're leaning on  transferable skills to sell your qualifications  to the hiring manager, you must take the time to relay how those skills will benefit them and their new team. So, rather than saying that you have good time management skills, prove it by demonstrating what you do to manage time and how this has benefitted previous employers. 

4. Adaptive skills for a resume

You can also show resiliency through skills in your resume if you're not changing careers. Let's face it, if there's one thing that's certain in life and work, it's that things change. If you're the type of person to leverage change as a learning opportunity, then you should definitely be highlighting your adaptability on your resume. 

When you talk about adaptive skills on your resume, be sure to provide specific examples as they can be the powerhouse statements that  win you an interview .

The 17 best skills to put on your resume

Now that we've defined what types of skills you can use on your resume, let's explore some specific examples of different skills you can include.

1. Computer skills and programming languages

When the job description wants you to prove that you possess programming skills, you can add “ Proficiency in Python, Java, or HTML, ” for example. This signals to employers that you can do everything from coding to automation and makes you a valuable candidate in the tech space.

Some roles that require an understanding of computer languages include:

Software Engineer

Computer Scientist

2. Data analysis

Saying that you possess data analysis skills allows you to demonstrate that you can interpret raw data and draw actionable insights to fuel change. It's adaptable across industries and can be easily backed by quantifiable data. 

Some roles that require an understanding of data analysis include:

Data Scientist

Marketing Consultant

Senior Accountant

3. Project management

You don't have to be a Certified Project Management Professional to include an ability to manage projects on your resume. If you're good at leading, organizing, and delivering successful outcomes, then you should add that you know how to manage projects. 

Some roles that require an understanding of project management include:

Construction Contractor

Industrial Engineer

IT Project Manager

4. Creativity

Creativity is one of the most highly sought-after skill sets. Not only can you leverage it to create tangible marketing pieces that connect with target audiences, but it can also be used to solve problems and bring fresh perspectives to projects. Creativity also signals that you're adaptable to dynamic environments. 

Some roles that require you to be creative include:

Graphic Designer

Digital Marketing Manager

Brand Manager

5. Languages

The world gets smaller every day, so being able to speak more than one language is a skill that you should definitely include on your resume. Adding multiple languages to your application makes you highly valuable in a globalized, connected working world.

Some roles that require you to be speak other languages include:

International  HR Director

Foreign Exchange  Investment Banker

Some  Teacher  roles

6. Communication

Every job everywhere requires employees to have good communication skills. But instead of simply saying that you are a good communicator, be prepared to demonstrate that you understand the value of everything from active listening to properly articulating complex concepts. 

Some roles that require great communication include:

Sales Representative

Public Relations

Nurse Practitioner

7. Teamwork

A lot of people will throw the word “teamwork” into the skills list on their resume without giving it much thought. However, given the vast amount of hybrid and remote working environments, teamwork is more important than ever. A happy team that works together reduces burnout and increases morale. 

Some roles that require good teamwork include:

Sports Fitness Coach

Product Manager

Scrum Master

8. Leadership

If you're applying for a role that will involve guiding others, then including leadership skills is a must. When you add leadership to your resume, you highlight that you're not afraid to take the initiative to make decisions that drive outcomes. 

Some roles that require you to be a leader include:

Director of IT

Sales Manager

9. Critical thinking

When you're known for making well-informed decisions by analyzing information and evaluating situations objectively, you possess critical thinking skills. You may see this pop up in job descriptions where the employer is seeking someone with high emotional intelligence. Basically, if you can navigate your way logically through problems, then critical thinking is probably something you should add to your resume.

Some roles that require critical thinking include:

Data Engineer

Telecommunications Professional

10. Cultural competence

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become buzzwords in today's workforce. People want a voice and value having a psychologically safe place in which to get things done. This is even more true when you have people coming together from different cultures. 

Some roles that require you to have cultural competence include:

Military-to-Civilian

11. Quality assurance

Quality assurance has implications across a number of fields, including software development and cybersecurity. There is an emphasis on quality assurance in roles that require you to maintain compliance with regulations or particular guidelines and best practices. 

Some roles that require an understanding of quality assurance include:

Aviation Mechanic

Cyber Security Specialist

12. Time management

Ranking right up there with creativity as far as top-rated skills go, being able to properly manage time is critical in today's workforce. It's not only something that's found in professional settings, but across industries and jobs worldwide. A simple search of job descriptions will reveal that the majority of them want people who can meet deadlines, at the minimum. 

Some roles that require good time management include:

Administrative Office Assistant

Finance Director

Project Manager

13. Conflict resolution

Being able to de-escalate situations with irate clients by demonstrating empathy and clearly defining options for a resolution means you're probably good at conflict management. However, conflict management isn't only demonstrated in client interactions. You may also be able to showcase conflict resolution skills if you've solved problems within team environments, too. 

Some roles that require conflict resolution skills include:

Retail Merchandising

Insurance Agent

Information Technology

14. Sales and upselling

Sales is all about employing active listening to ascertain customers' needs, to sell the right product or service at the right time. Whether you're connecting with target audiences to get them to buy something through a digital marketing campaign or you're trying to sell someone a product, meeting client needs is critical to demonstrating that you're good at sales and upselling. 

Some roles that require you to be able to sell and upsell include:

Marketing Manager

Consulting Manager

Real Estate Manager

15. Data entry

As you progress in your career, showcasing that you're good at data entry will become less and less important, however, there are still some roles that value candidates who can quickly and accurately input data into a system. 

Some roles that require data entry include:

Recent Graduate

Mid-Career Professionals

16. Tech-savviness 

Being tech–savvy means that you're always on the cutting edge and consistently keep up with emerging technologies. It helps you to deliver innovative solutions that help your company remain competitive in the ever-changing IT landscape.

Some roles that require candidates to be tech-savvy include:

DevOps Engineer

Technical Project Manager

Senior Software Engineer

17. Continuous learning

Today's employers value job seekers and employees who are fastidiously committed to ongoing education and skill development. Most even provide some sort of knowledge bank or in-house professional development courses to allow you to engage in continuous learning. 

Some roles that value a commitment to continuous learning include:

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Electrical Engineer

Mechanical Engineer

How to add skills to your resume

Keep your skills specific and clear.

A common pitfall when it comes to resume skills is to list broad categories of abilities without going into sufficient detail. The problem with that approach is that it won't get your resume found in keyword searches, because they are looking for specific proficiency statements.

So, instead of writing “familiarity with accounting software,” list “Quickbooks, Quicken, Sage, and Xero.” 

Use numbers and descriptive words where appropriate – 

How many projects have you managed using Teamwork Projects? 

How many people have you trained to use Salesforce? 

A few well-placed quantifiers can position you as a serious candidate with supported qualifications.

Organize your skills list

When creating a long list of skills for a resume, consider how you organize everything. Ordering your skills strategically will make your resume easier to read and call the right attention to the right skills in the right place. 

This is especially true considering that our brains look for patterns. A well-organized skill section on your resume will improve the aesthetics and help the hiring manager to skim through it to find just what they're looking for. 

PRO TIP: There isn't a hiring manager alive who is reading your resume. They're  scanning through it in just a few seconds . This makes keeping things organized all the more important.

Another organizing tip is to list the most important skills for the job first. Specifics will vary by industry, but think through the critical technical skills that will drive your effectiveness and success in the role and put them at the top.

When you're starting to group your skills list together, deciding which is most important depends on the job description. While most employers want employees who are good communicators and can solve problems, you have to take the industry and employer preferences into consideration. 

Job relevance: This goes back to tearing the job description apart to find the relevant keywords

Industry trends: Stay on top of things that may be changing in your industry and highlight any new skills that come into demand

Employer preferences: Take some time to research the company and learn what they do, why they do it, and for whom – this will help you to get a feel for their company culture, so you'll know which soft skills will impress them the most

The best place to put skills on your resume

The placement of the resume skills section itself on the page is up to you. Many people prefer to have it positioned near the top of their resume, but it works at the bottom too.

PRO TIP: If you have a lot of skills to list, consider breaking them up (for example, technical skills at the top and additional skills at the bottom).

No matter where you place the skills section, the layout is critical in catching the eye of hiring managers and showcasing your qualifications in a way that helps you to stand out from the crowd. 

At the top of your resume

Technically speaking, your skills list shouldn't be at the top. The first things on your resume should be your  contact information ,  headline , and  summary paragraph . So, when we say “at the top of your resume,” we mean beneath the summary paragraph. 

When you put your skills list at the top of your resume, you call immediate attention to some key selling points. It's an effective technique if you have a strong set of skills that directly align with the job requirements. 

Here's what a skills list at the top of your resume would look like:

FIRST NAME, LAST NAME

City, ST 12345 • LinkedIn URL • [email protected] • 111-222-3333

REGIONAL MANAGER

Operations Management | Project Management | Sales Management | Business Analysis

Innovative and ambitious executive-level management professional offering extensive experience and an accomplishments-driven career in sales, marketing and operations, and key account management. Leverages an entrepreneurial spirit to orchestrate tactical business plans that challenge the status quo, allowing for reformation of process. Intuitive business acumen and skilled strategist who uses the most up-to-date business practices to create, implement, and oversee business continuity. Naturally assumes leadership roles to oversee and achieve organizational success.

Business Development • Executive Leadership • Strategic Business Planning • Data Analysis • Team Training & Development • Policy & Procedure Development • Marketing & Territory Expansion • Procurement, Sourcing, & Negotiation • Relationship-Selling • Customer Relations

This resume example actually has two skills lists. One just beneath the title and then the regular one beneath the summary paragraph. It's an effective way to separate out the skills that are most important – the specialized abilities that you want to call immediate attention to. However, if you do it like this on your resume, the skills listed beneath the title should only be one to two lines max!

At the bottom of the resume

If you've reached a point in your career where your work history and career achievements outshine your skills, then it's a good idea to place the skills list at the bottom of your resume. 

Here's what your skills could look like at the bottom of your resume:

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

[List your career history in reverse-chronological order, starting with the most recent and working backward about 10 years]

[List the degrees you've earned and the schools where you obtained your degrees. You can also mention any professional development classes you've taken and certifications or licenses you possess]

Core proficiencies:

Project Management | Lean Management | Change Management | Operations Management | 3PL | Inventory Management | Inventory Control | Inventory Planning | Logistics Management | Distribution & Processing | Budgeting | Procurement | Purchase Orders

Soft skills:

Team Leadership | Coaching | Persuasion | Creative Problem Solving | Negotiation

Technical skills:

Epicor | PeopleSoft | XAL(Concorde) | HighStage | Deltek (Costpoint) | KBM | Syteline | Kinaxis | Glovia (Oracle-based) | Oracle | Adept | Workflow | Data Vault (Oracle-based) | Intralink

English |  Spanish |  French

Throughout your resume

Since your resume is more than a list of skills, you should know that your master list of abilities and the keywords you've culled from the job description aren't limited to being placed only in a skills list. You can – and should – include hard, soft, adaptive, and transferable skills throughout your entire resume. 

After your contact information, the first thing that should appear on your resume is a headline. A lot of people will simply put a title, but if you take a moment to spruce it up and turn it into a headline, you'll be able to inject a few keywords on the top line of your resume. 

For example, if you're applying for a role as a Real Estate Broker, here's the difference between a title and a headline:

Title: Real Estate Broker

Headline: Real Estate Broker with Expertise in Property Valuation and Team Management

Put yourself into the shoes of a hiring manager and ask yourself, which of those would give you more information about the job seeker? The headline not only indicates which role you want, but also includes two keywords – property valuation and team management. 

Summary paragraph

As you move on to write your career summary, that appears just beneath the headline, you'll want to continue adding relevant skills from your career that are mirrored in the job description. Doing this will ensure that your resume presents a cohesive and powerful message that your experience and achievements will serve the new company well. 

In sticking with the example of Real Estate Broker, perhaps you find that the new company wants you to coordinate marketing events and client activities, write weekly reports, and have a solid understanding of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) platform for listing properties. 

The keywords to include in your profile paragraph would be:

Marketing events

Client activities

Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

Thus, your profile paragraph could look like this:

Veteran real estate professional with a strong background in orchestrating impactful marketing events for single and multi-family residences. Specializes in managing client activities that turn passive consumers into active clientele. Proficient in maximizing MLS to enhance property visibility and streamlining documentation and reporting processes. Known for creating a culture of excellence and client satisfaction by maintaining an open-door policy that encourages communication among team members.

As you can see, the profile paragraph isn't a long and drawn-out diatribe of things you've done in your career. Rather, it's a short paragraph that matches your skills to the job you're applying for. 

Work experience

Let's move on to the meat of your resume - the part the hiring manager is going to spend the most time on – your  career history . You may be wondering how you can put future-facing keywords into the historical part of your resume, but all it takes is a bit of finesse. 

For example, if you have a history of closing multi-million-dollar deals in high-end neighborhoods, you could work a few keywords into an achievement bullet like this:

• Closed 5 multi-million-dollar property sales per month by leveraging MLS for property exposure

While you could stop after you say how many multi-million-dollar deals you closed, because that's a great achievement statement, expanding the bullet to include a keyword makes your overall resume all the more compelling. 

TopResume wants to do more than write your resume. We want to give you the tools you need to succeed in your job search and career. Click on the following link for more  resume and career advice .

Stand out from the crowd

When you master including the best skills in your resume, you reach a level of job search preparedness that propels your resume to the top of the pile. The whole idea is to make it easy for potential employers to see how you'll fit within the folds of their organization and team. That's where tailoring the skills on your resume comes in – wherever you include them. 

Want to see how your resume stacks up? Try out our  free resume review  today!

Recommended reading:

How to Write a Powerful LinkedIn Summary

How to Format a Resume for Multiple Jobs at One Company

The Best Resume Format to Get Hired  

Related Articles:

7 Signs Your Resume is Making You Look Old

Don't “Snowplow” Your Kids' Job Search — Set Them Up for Success Instead

Why a Simple Resume Layout is a Successful Resume

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101 Essential Skills to Put on a Resume in 2024 [For Most Jobs]

Listing skills on your resume is fairly easy. 

Listing the right skills in the right way is a little bit trickier.  

Are you mentioning the right skills for the job, or are you boring the HR manager with irrelevant information? 

The hiring manager for the software development team couldn’t care less about your expertise in marketing. What they’re dying to know, though, is your skill level in Python and how you get along with the team.

In this guide, we’re going to walk you through the process of putting skills on your resume from start to finish. We’ll explain how to identify the right skills and how to list them in a way that catches the hiring manager’s attention!

Here’s what you’re going to learn:

Hard Skills Vs Soft Skills - What’s the Difference?

• Why Should You List Your Skills on a Resume? 
• 8 Best Skills to Put on a Resume 
• How to List Skills on a Resume 
• 120+ Skills to Put on Your Resume (For 10+ Fields)

New to resume-making? Give our resumes 101 video a watch before diving into the article!

Skills are divided into hard skills and soft skills .

To create an effective job application, catch the hiring manager’s attention, and land your next job, you should mention both hard and soft skills in your resume.

But what exactly is the difference?

Hard skills involve the technical knowledge or know-how one can gain through experience, training, or education. For example: 

• Machinery skills. E.g., operating a road roller, pallet-stalker, forklift, etc.
• Software skills. Depending on the field, you need to know how to use different software, such as the Adobe Creative Suite for graphic designers or the Ableton Live Suite if you’re a DJ.
• Tools. Say you’re a digital marketer . You’ll need to know how to use tools like Stethoscope, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and the sorts.
• Multilingualism. The more customers you can communicate with, the more valuable you are as an employee. Some sought-after languages today include German, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic.
• Computer skills . If you’re a web developer, your hard skills will likely include coding languages such as Python, C++, etc. Even if you’re not though, most jobs will require that you have at least some basic computer knowledge in MS Office and G-Suite, emailing and presentations, etc.
• Techniques. E.g. frequency analysis, Crystallization.
• Mathematics. Many professions, such as accounting and finance, require mathematical skills.
• Data analysis. Businesses are always looking for professionals who can gather and analyze data for various stakeholders, which makes data analysis a very in-demand hard skill.

…and just about any field-specific skill. While hard skills are essential to complete tasks in about any job, they’re also teachable and easily measurable.

Soft skills , on the other hand, are attributes and habits that describe how you work individually or with others. They are typically not job-specific but rather transferable skills that indirectly help you adapt to the work environment and company culture. 

Some examples of the most in-demand soft skills include: 

• Communication
• Problem-solving
• Organization
• Adaptability

Like hard skills, you can also learn how to develop soft skills, although it’s significantly harder. 

While you can acquire computer skills through a technical course, you’ll need to work much harder to develop, say, your communication skills. 

In the workplace, for example, you’d need to practice active listening , learn how to notice nonverbal cues, and practice your oral communication skills as much as possible.

What’s the Difference Between Hard Skills and Soft Skills

Here are the two main differences between hard skills and soft skills: 

• How you obtain them. You can obtain hard skills through work experience , education, training, and certification. Soft skills, on the other hand, can be gained through life experience, both on and off work.
• How you use them. You apply hard skills directly to the job, whereas soft skills come into play indirectly and may often complement your hard skills. For example, you may be a communicative marketer or an office manager with great leadership qualities.

Why Should You List Skills on Your Resume?

The skills section is one of the 3 most important resume sections , with the other two being work experience and education sections. 

If written correctly, the skills section looks something like this:

By now, you’re probably thinking “ how hard can this be, right? All I have to do is list all my skills and call it a day! ”

Well, not exactly. The process of putting skills on your resume is a bit more nuanced than that, and we’re going to tell you why.

Most companies nowadays use Applicant Tracking Systems to help them go through the hundreds and thousands of resumes they receive every day.

This software scans your resume for keywords relevant to the job you’re applying for, and if it doesn’t find them, the software automatically rejects the resume.

Say, for example, the job you’re applying to requires an Expert level in Java. If you haven’t mentioned Java as a skill on your resume, your resume can automatically get discarded.

In fact, 70%+ of resumes are rejected at this stage, never having even been seen by an HR professional. 

And, even if the company doesn’t use an ATS, there’s a good chance that the HR manager is going to skim through your resume looking for the right skill set.

So, whether you’re doing this for the ATS or the HR, it’s important to mention the right skills .

Below, we’re going to explain just how to do this in the best way possible. 

But first, let’s cover some of the best skills to mention in any resume, regardless of your profession. 

8 Best Skills to Put on a Resume

Every profession requires some role-specific hard skills if you want to do it properly. An accountant, for example, needs to know math to do their job right, just like a photographer needs to know how to use photo editing software like Photoshop. 

In most cases, it’s easy to identify such skills and understand whether you’re qualified enough for the job. 

The right soft skills for a job may be harder to point out, but they’re just as essential in today’s job market - 93% of employers say “ soft skills play a critical role in their decision about whom they want to hire. ” 

To give you an example, if you’re a project manager, you will need to have excellent organizational skills in addition to your project management skills. Or, if you’re a developer, you need to also be an apt problem solver. 

You can find lists of field-related, relevant soft and hard skills later in the article, but for now, here are the top soft and hard skills valued by hiring managers in most professions : 

#1. Communication skills

There are very few, if any, jobs out there that don’t require at least some level of communication skills.

Whether you’re a writer who needs to communicate a message to your readers, a marketing specialist who needs to communicate an advertising campaign to your client, or an office worker who must communicate with a colleague to complete a task, communication skills are vital. 

Communication is a multi-faceted skill that includes several skills, such as: 

• Oral and written communication
• Non-verbal communication
• Active Listening
• Presentation
• Public-speaking
• Negotiation

#2. Computer skills

By 2016, over 70% of US jobs required medium-to-high-level digital skills.  

This means that computer and technical skills are priceless assets even if your job isn’t centered around technology. As such, computer skills are almost always a great addition to any resume.

Here are some valuable computer skills for every professional: 

• Office suites (MS Office, iWork)
• Social media
• Database management
• Web (Internet savviness, basic HTML, CMS)
• Troubleshooting
• Equipment installation and configuration
• Fast Typing

#3. Management skills

Management skills are usually associated with management positions, but in reality, that’s not usually the case. Any type of professional can benefit from strong management skills. 

In a nutshell, management skills involve being able to effectively handle people, resources, and processes, including your time, plans, projects, and so on.

Here are some of the most in-demand management skills: 

• People management
• Project management
• Time management
• Risk management
• Action planning
• Conflict Resolution

#4. Problem-solving skills

Problem-solving means you’re able to identify problems successfully, find the root cause behind them, and come up with creative solutions.

Considering there isn’t a single job where you won’t face problems in one way or another, problem-solving skills are a great asset to have. When it comes to managerial, professional, and technical positions , problem-solving skills are essential. 

Problem-solving is a set of skills that includes: 

• Research skills
• Analytical skills
• Critical thinking
• Decision-making skills
• Attention to detail

#5. Organizational skills

Organizational skills are a set of soft skills that help you keep track of information, materials, and even your time in such a way that you can tackle short and long-term tasks efficiently.

Organizational skills are among the top skills recruiters are looking for in 2022, primarily because they help employees be more productive, save companies time and money, and facilitate a more positive work environment. 

Here is what organizational skills consist of: 

• Physical organization
• Prioritization
• Goal setting

#6. Leadership skills 

Leadership includes both the ability to manage and inspire others. Managers are not always great leaders, but leaders almost always make good managers. 

People who’re good at leading are emotionally intelligent, good communicators, and natural-born influencers. They can motivate others to reach their full potential and work together towards common goals. This makes leadership another great skill to have for many professions out there. 

Some important soft skills related to leadership include: 

• Relationship-building
• Strategic thinking

#7. Customer service skills

A big part of jobs out there involve dealing with customers. 

From customer support representatives to cashiers, customer service skills are a great asset to have in 2024. Particularly, that’s because it encompasses a number of other valuable skills, such as:

• Persuasion skills
• Product knowledge

#8. Interpersonal skills 

Interpersonal skills refer to how well you can understand and get along with other people. 

It goes without saying that they’re extremely useful for team-oriented or customer-facing roles, as a big chunk of the work involves communicating with other people.

Such skills, however, are also useful for roles where you don’t get to interact as much with people.

Take, for example, writers. To be a really good writer, you need to be able to:

• Understand and communicate with your audience
• Collaborate with your publishing team
• Understand what people are like

Just like most other transferable skills on our list, interpersonal skills are multi-faceted. Here is what they consist of: 

How to List Skills on a Resume (And Stand Out)

Now that you have a clear understanding of how important skills are - and how some are more relevant than others - let’s talk about how you should list them on your resume. 

There are several things you need to do to stand out: 

#1. Tailor Your Skills to the Job

Relevance is key; the customer service skills you acquired working as a server during college won’t come in too handy when you start work as, say, a data analyst . 

So, the first thing you should remember is to only list skills that are useful for the job you are applying for . To find out what these skills are, you should scan the job listing.

Job ads usually list a set of requirements or skills they expect a good candidate to have. Make sure you don’t leave any of those out on your resume.

For example, imagine you are applying for a line cook position in a restaurant:

• “Here at ‘ABCD’ we are committed to creating a one-of-a-kind experience for our guests . Our French restaurant is looking for a professional line cook for the summer season to work directly under the supervision of our chef. Responsibilities include prepping and cleaning food, creating and cooking meals, and cleaning up the working area . Impeccable attention to detail in food cooking and presentation is needed.”

The underlined bits in this job description are the role’s responsibilities. By paying a closer look, you can understand that ABCD is looking for someone who:

• Is committed to excellence and is highly professional
• Works well under supervision, and with others
• Can prep, clean, and cook food
• Pays great attention to detail in cooking and presentation

Based on this, some of the skills you should definitely mention in your resume can include teamwork, attention to detail, communication, food prepping, and culinary skills. 

As a given, you wouldn’t mention anything that isn’t directly related to the job. As a line cook, you’re not going to be using a lot of tech, so you wouldn’t include your computer skills in your resume (even though such skills are relevant for a ton of other jobs).

#2. Create a Skills Section

Once you’ve identified all the right skills to add to your resume, create a “Skills” section to list them under. This way, the hiring manager will be able to check whether you have the right skills more easily and the ATS software won’t disqualify your resume. 

Here’s what you should remember while making this section:

• Be specific. “Verbal and written communication” sounds significantly better than “communication.” 
• Sort your skills by relevance. Order your skills based on how critical they are for the role. More important skills go on top, and the nice-to-have ones go on the bottom.
• Don’t lie or exaggerate. It goes without saying that you should never, ever, lie about your skills. The employer will know you lied the moment you have to work on a task that requires that very skill.

#3. Match Each Skill With Your Proficiency Level

For each skill that you list on your resume, use the competencies proficiency scale to show your proficiency level:

• Beginner. You are just starting to learn or have not practiced the skill through experience (usually fresh graduates that only understand concepts through theories or classroom experience).
• Intermediate. You have applied the skill in practice, and require assistance with it on rare or special occasions. You still have room to grow.
• Advanced. You know your stuff! You don’t need help with the skill anymore. You can also teach beginners how to use it.
• Expert. You are a recognized authority on this skill, the go-to person if anyone has any questions. You have consistently proved to be excellent in this skill. You could even write a whole book about it!

#4. Back-Up Your Skills in Other Resume Sections

Listing your skills in a separate section will only get you so far. After all, everyone else is also doing exactly the same thing. 

To take your resume from good to great, you want your most critical skills to “pop” from the get-go and to prove to the hiring manager that you actually possess them.

Here is where the resume summary and work experience sections come in. 

The resume summary is a short, 2-3 sentence-long summary of your resume that, done right, shows hiring managers your strongest points as a candidate the moment they lay eyes on your resume. 

Positioned right under your contact information section , this is the first place where you can mention that you possess one or two of the most role-critical skills listed in the job description. 

Here’s how the resume summary of the line cook example we mentioned above would look in practice: 

• Detail-oriented line cook with over 5 years of experience prepping and cooking over 200 Mediterranean cuisine recipes. Collaborative professional who puts the needs of the team first. In my last position, was able to help the chef handle rush hour work of over 100 tables with 100% accuracy and approval rate from our customers. 

Once you’ve grabbed the hiring manager’s attention by including your top skills on your resume summary, it’s time to prove that you have them . 

The best way to do that? List some accomplishments in your work experience section and explain how utilizing a particular skill helped you achieve them. 

Here’s how that would look like in practice: 

• Prepped and helped cook food for over 500 customers in the past two years, receiving high praise and positive recommendations for the restaurant continuously. 
• Helped restaurant to receive positive reviews for 3 years in a row from Gastronomica magazine for attention to detail and food aesthetics and presentation.

#5. Put Transferable Skills to Use 

If you’re an entry-level candidate or if you’re switching careers , you should definitely put transferable skills to use. Transferable skills are not directly related to the job you are applying to but are still useful, as well as relevant to most jobs. 

Let’s say, for example, that you’re going for a career change from sales to copywriting. You can benefit from listing at least some of the skills acquired in sales in your copywriter resume , such as: 

• Written communication. Both roles involve communication via text. A salesperson needs to send cold emails, while a copywriter has to write newsletter emails.
• Persuasion. A copywriter needs to create copy that drives sales, while a salesperson needs to be persuasive in person.
• Computer skills. Both jobs require some degree of computer knowledge. For a salesperson, that’s using Customer Management Software, while for a copywriter, that’s publishing content online.

150+ Must-Have Skills (for Every Field)

Are you still not sure which skills to mention in your resume? We’ve got you covered.

We compiled a list of some of the most relevant skills on the market in 2024, for all sorts of different fields!

If you happen to possess some of these skills, make sure to mention them in your resume. If not, it’s never too late to learn something new!

#1. Soft Skills 

Soft skills are essential for just about any job out there. While they’re not necessarily critical to doing your job well, they ensure that you get along with your coworkers and foster a positive work environment.

When evaluating two candidates with equal hard skills, the hiring manager is always going to pick the one that has better soft skills.

So, it’s very important to mention your soft skills in your resume.

Here are some of the most in-demand soft skills today:

• Effective communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Conflict management
• Teamwork skills
• Stress management
• Productivity & Organization

#2. Marketing Skills

With new technologies developing faster than ever, it becomes essential to move beyond the basics of traditional marketing. Here are some of the most relevant marketing skills these days, including both cutting-edge online tools, as well as classic marketing skills:

• Data analysis
• Web analytics 
• Email marketing
• Web scraping
• CRO and A/B Testing
• Data visualization & pattern-finding through critical thinking
• Search Engine and Keyword Optimization
• Project/campaign management
• Social media and mobile marketing 
• Paid social media advertisements
• B2B Marketing
• The 4 P-s of Marketing
• Consumer Behavior Drivers
• Brand management
• Copywriting
• Storytelling

#3. Management Skills

As a manager , you need to have the right mix of soft and hard skills.

Below are the management skills needed to not only get the job but to also enhance employee and company productivity in the long run.

• Six Sigma techniques
• The McKinsey 7s Framework
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Emotional Intelligence
• Dealing with work-related stress
• Task delegation
• Technological savviness
• Business Development
• Strategic Management
• Negotiation 
• Proposal writing

#4. Sales Skills

The art of selling has stayed the same despite technological advancements. Humans still strive for contact with other humans. Despite channels of communication becoming digital, communication and empathetic skills take priority in the sales industry. 

A comprehensive must-have skill list for salespeople includes:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Cold-calling
• Public speaking
• Lead generation
• Buyer-Responsive selling
• Buyer engagement
• Effective communication and sociability
• Social media/digital communication

#5. Design Skills

Today, knowing the basics of design does not suffice anymore. To get hired as a designer, you must know how to create killer branded content for the web and for social media channels. 

Some of the most important design skills for your resume are:

• Adobe Creative Suite: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop
• Dreamweaver
• Infographics
• Photo Editing 
• Typography: spacing, line height, layout, choosing fonts
• Storyboarding
• Targeting and marketing through visual communications
• Logo creation
• Digital printing
• Integration of visual communication in social media platforms
• Attention to detail & aesthetics
• Interactive media design
• Color sense & theory
• Active listening

#6. Basic Technical Skills

These are skills that almost everyone working in an office should know. You can put these skills on your resume if you are applying as a secretary, office clerk, or any other type of office employee.

The basic technical office skills include:

• Microsoft Office Pack: Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Outlook, Powerpoint
• Filing and paper management
• Bookkeeping through Excel or TurboTax
• Research and data analysis
• Basic knowledge of user interface communication
• Technical writing
• Cloud networking and file sharing

#7. Accounting & Finance Skills

Goodbye, filing by hand. Hello, countless platforms and apps. Accountants and financial specialists should familiarize themselves with these skills in order to have a successful career:

• Microsoft Excel (Advanced)
• Enterprise Resource Planning 
• Big Data Analysis & SQL
• Know Your Customers (KYC)
• Cognos Analytics (IBM)
• Visual Basic
• Accounting Software
• Revenue recognition
• Anti Money Laundering
• Clear communication
• General business knowledge
• Numerical competence

#8. Education Skills

How many times have you witnessed a 50-year-old honorary doctor with three PhDs struggle to play a YouTube video during undergrad or grad school? Teaching methods have evolved, and so have the required skills to be part of the education industry.

Some of the most essential educational skills are:

• Updated curriculum knowledge
• Research & Data analysis
• Educational platforms (software like Elearn)
• Technological & digital literacy

#9. Web Development Skills

It seems like there’s new technology popping up every other second now, a good enough reason for web developers to keep updating their skills. 

That said, if you are proficient in HTML, CSS, and Java, you pretty much have a leg up on the competition. All other skills on this list derive from or build upon the three basic programming languages. You can learn or improve your web development skills here.

• CSS preprocessors
• Graphic User Interfaces (GUI)
• Git/Version control (Github, GitLab)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Application Programming Interface (API)
• Adobe Photoshop, InDesign
• Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Testing/Debugging
• Responsive design principles

#10. Business Analytics

BAs are very in demand right now by businesses, and for a good reason! They perform an almost magical task of analyzing past and present data to give future predictions. To perform their magic, they need some analytical spells:

• SQL (a must) and Hive (optional)
• Programming language (R, Python, Scala, Matlab)
• STATA, SPSS, SAS 
• Data Mapping
• Entity Relationship Diagrams
• Big Data tools 
• Microsoft Visio
• Agile Business Analysis
• Machine learning 
• System Context Diagrams
• Business Process Modeling
• Technical and non-technical communication

#11. Nursing & Healthcare Skills

More than any other profession, healthcare professionals need to stay constantly updated with new technologies, medicine, and techniques. The skills nursing requires are countless and specific, but the most basic ones boil down to:

• Mathematics
• Patient care and assistance
• Paperwork/record-keeping abilities
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
• Physical endurance 
• Infection control
• Surgery preparation

Bonus Infographic: Skills to Put on a Resume

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you still have some questions about what skills you should put on your resume (and how)? Check out the answers below:

1. What kind of skills should I include in my resume?

Your resume should include a combination of two types of skills: hard skills and soft skills .

Hard skills involve job-specific skills that are acquired through education, training, or work experience, while soft skills involve personality traits that can be indirectly useful at the workplace and help you adapt to the company culture better.

Depending on your industry, some examples of hard skills you can list on your resume include copywriting, database management, graphic design, multilingualism, public speaking, SEO, etc.

Meanwhile, examples of soft skills are communication, creativity, leadership, teamwork, time management, conflict resolution, etc.  

2. What top skills do employers look for?

The top hard skills recruiters are on the lookout for include blockchain development, SEO, virtual reality development, data analysis, artificial intelligence, business analysis, Java development, affiliate marketing, UX design, machine learning, project management, video production and editing, sales, and business development. 

The top soft skills hiring managers are looking for , on the other hand, are creativity, collaboration, persuasion, adaptability, and emotional intelligence.

3. How can I identify my skills?

Some effective ways to identify your skills before adding them to your resume include:

• Consider your achievements. Did you ever get recognized for a specific achievement? What skills helped you do it? You are probably still skilled in those areas.   
• Ask friends and coworkers. Sometimes, it’s easier for others to recognize the strengths that you don't see. Colleagues can definitely be of help but if you’re fresh into the professional world, former professors and classmates can also give you some insight.

4. Where do skills go on a resume?

Skills go under a separate ‘Skills’ section on a resume, typically placed right below, or on the side, of the work experience section.

That said, you can further prove that you possess the skills you list in this section, by weaving the most relevant skills for the job in other resume sections, such as the resume summary and the work experience sections. 

5. How many skills to include in my resume?

The number of skills to add to your resume depends on the job you’re applying for, as well as your level of expertise and work history.

If you’re a seasoned professional with plenty of work-related skills, you should definitely include them in your resume. Also, if the job you’re applying for requires a number of skills you possess, it’s safe to include them all in your resume. 

As a rule of thumb, listing up to ten skills on your resume is typically a safe choice, as long as they don’t make your resume spill over to page 2 .

6. What are the best skills for a candidate with no experience?

Candidates with no experience and few job-specific skills can benefit from adding transferable skills to their resumes. These are skills that can be applied to many jobs across several industries.

Some examples of good skills for a no-experience resume include communication, organization, problem-solving, teamwork, adaptability, work ethic, and computer skills. 

7. What’s the best way to list skills on a resume in 2024?

To really impress with your skills in 2024, don’t just list some random skills under a separate section and call it a day! Instead, make them more credible by:

• Finding out more about the company culture.
• Tailoring your skills to the job description.
• Mentioning the most critical skills on your resume summary or resume objective .
• Using your achievements to explain exactly how you used your skills to your advantage.

Key Takeaways

Let’s sum up everything we’ve learned about putting skills in your resume:

• You must have a section in your resume devoted entirely to your skills. This helps you pass through applicant tracking systems and get noticed by the HR manager.
• The differences between hard skills and soft skills are in the way they are applied (directly vs. indirectly) and the way they are obtained (through education and practice vs. personality traits and experience)
• On your resume, list only skills that are relevant to the job, scan the job listing for must-have skills and list those (if you have them), pair each skill with a responding proficiency level, back up your skills with other resume sections, and mention transferable and universal skills.

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150 Top Skills for Your Resume + How to List Skills in 2024

• Best General Skills

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills

• How to Include Skills on Your Resume
• Job-Specific Skills
• Skills FAQs

When it comes to your resume skills, the more specific you can get, the better. That’s why we broke down the  most in-demand job skills by career type .

Still, it can be helpful to start by looking at the skills employers generally might be wanting right now.

We analyzed countless job descriptions across all careers and identified 150 of the most sought-after and widely applicable skills you can put on your resume (like this one) in 2024.

Software Engineer Resume

or download as PDF

20 Good Skills to Put on a Resume

While we’re going to give you plenty of job-specific resume skills you can add to your AI cover letter and resume, there are some that work across just about any field. These can add value for candidates who either lack work history or are creating an  entry-level resume .

• Data Analysis
• Problem-solving
• Collaborative
• Detail-oriented
• Written Communication
• Public Speaking
• Critical Thinking
• Multi-tasking
• Interpersonal Skills
• Time Management
• Accountable
• Results-oriented
• Project Management
• Compassionate/ Empathetic

Before we jump into which skills to put on your resume, we need to get some definitions out of the way:

• Hard skills  are the tools and software you use to get your job done. Excel and QuickBooks are examples of hard skills.
• Soft skills  are those that are hard to measure or prove expertise in. “Communication” is a textbook example of a soft skill.

Quickly distinguish between hard and soft skills by asking, “Is there a specific tool or software associated with the skill?” If “yes,” you’re likely dealing with a hard skill. If not, you’re talking about a soft skill.

As we explained earlier, companies often use an ATS to filter out job applicants based on whether they include the right skills on their resumes.

The ATS filters are looking primarily for hard skills; they want to be sure the people they end up hiring know the right tools and software needed to succeed.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you should exclude soft skills from your resume. Why? After the ATS approves your resume, it’s passed on to the human hiring manager. They’ll likely want to see soft skills depending on the kind of industry and role you’re applying to.

Try out this quick guide to determine whether to put soft skills on your resume:

Should I include soft skills on my resume?

If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you should likely include soft skills on your resume (we’ll detail how in the next section). 

• Technical roles are those primarily dominated by hard skills (software engineering, data science, accounting, etc.)
• Just listing soft skills on your resume isn’t as impactful as  showing how you used them to do your job .
• For example, if you’re in sales or customer service, you need the ability to communicate persuasively with customers!

Examples of hard skills according to industry

• Predictive Modeling (Finance)
• eQUEST (Energy)
• Crop Rotation (Agriculture)
• eZee Frontdesk (Hospitality)
• Google Classroom (Education)
• X-ray Diagnostics (Healthcare)
• Mailchimp (Marketing)
• AutoCAD (Engineering)

Examples of soft skills

• Self-starter
• Conflict Resolution
• Attentive to Details

How to List Skills on Your Resume

Now that you know whether you should put hard skills, soft skills, or a combination on your resume, how do you actually include them?

• When it comes to your resume skills, the presentation can matter just as much as the content! 
• Before we get to structure,  a word of warning :

Don’t list too many skills  in your skills section! While it’s all right to dump all sorts of skills into your  resume outline , it’s a big red flag to the hiring manager if they see a resume where an applicant lists 15+ skills.

First, it might mean the applicant is exaggerating their skillset (a big no-no). Second, a hiring manager would rather hire someone who’s a master of a few skills than a novice in many.

Different  resume formats  may display your skills in various ways, but regardless of the layout you choose,  there are three places you should mention your most important skills : 

• In your resume objective or resume summary (if you include this section)
• In a dedicated “skills” section on your resume
• In your work experience or projects ( show how you used your skills to do your job)

Your resume objective should only be two to three sentences , so you should include your top one to two skills most relevant to the job you’re applying for here. In addition to our objective sample below, we’ve got plenty more great examples of how to mention your best skills in your  resume objective  or  resume summary .

Organized, considerate administrative assistant with a history of remaining cool under high-pressure situations where multiple priorities are managed. Genoa Telepsychiatry is doing invaluable work for underserved housing populations, and I would be an asset in enabling Ms. Garcia to focus on that mission by alleviating her organizational burden.

How to organize skills on your resume

When it comes to skills for a resume, there are a couple of ways you can structure them:

• By skill category (technology type, soft skills vs. hard skills)
• Experience level

These kinds of breakdowns aren’t mandatory. You can just list all of your skills in your skills section, provided you keep the number to under 10.

First,  you can break up your skills by category . This is most appropriate if you’re applying for a technical role since you can group different technologies you use by type.

For example, as a data analyst, you might want to divide your skills by the different facets of your job (programming, modeling, and data visualization).

This breakdown of your skills can also work well if soft skills are your biggest strength. For example, you can chunk your soft skills into categories like leadership, customer service, communication, etc.

Another way to classify your skills on your resume is by your experience level . Convey your expertise either in terms of years of expertise with that skill or by a rating you choose (beginner, intermediate, expert, for instance).

Here’s an example of this skills breakdown in action:

And again, you can also just list all of your skills without categories like the example below if there are fewer than 10:

Let your work experience vouch for your job skills

Now that you’ve got your top one to two skills in your resume objective and a dedicated skills section, it’s time to talk about how you’ve used your skills in your previous roles and projects.

This is especially important for soft skills.  Put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager .

Does seeing that someone described themselves as “attentive to detail” in their skills section mean much without seeing that skill in action?

It’s much more valuable if you highlight a time you were attentive to detail in a previous job. So, if you’re an administrative assistant, you might say you “re-organized thousands of customer contacts in HubSpot without losing any customer data.”

Remember, it’s one thing to say you have a skill, but  showing your knowledge of that skill in a work or personal project carries far more weight  in the eyes of the hiring manager.

Let’s make this practical with an example: This software engineer lists NodeJS and Django in her resume skills list.

This won’t be the last we see of these skills, though. Take a look at this job seeker’s work experience at MarketSmart. For instance, see how she weaves NodeJS into improving CTR? And even her intern experience shows how Django played a role in increasing reporting speed.

Pro tip: Try starting with specific work experience and then work backward to determine which skills you used instead of the other way around.

Regarding technical skills, try to be specific about what you did with the tool/ software you’re describing. Microsoft Excel is a program that can be used for many different applications, for example. Discuss specifically which functionality you used to accomplish your task (pivot tables, vlookups, etc.).

Match your resume skills to the job description

How can you identify the most common skills for the industry or role you’re applying for? The best way is to look at job ads for positions that grab your attention.

Try this two-step process to list skills on your resume:

• Look across 5-10 different job descriptions for roles you’re interested in and identify the 10-15 most common skills in those job listings.
• For each specific role you apply to, choose the 5-7 skills from your list that are most relevant to that job .

Yup, this means you’ll have to  customize your resume  for each role. Customizing your skills section, however, will vault you into the top five percent of applicants and is the quickest way to increase the number of interviews you get!

Let’s walk through an example of how to customize your skills for a specific job.

Say you’re looking for a position as a digital marketer, and after looking at some job descriptions, you notice the most common skills employers are looking for are the following:

• CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive
• Web Analytics: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Heap
• General Tools: Microsoft Excel/ Word/ PowerPoint, Google Sheets/ Docs/ Slides
• Optimization: A/B testing, customer segmentation, attribution modeling
• Paid Ads: Facebook, AdWords, LinkedIn, Google Display Network, retargeting
• Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
• Email Marketing: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Drip
• SEO: Content creation, keyword research, backlink building

Now, you’re specifically interested in a digital marketing role at Barnes and Noble with the following job description:

Digital marketing manager

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Develop and execute data-driven marketing strategies and campaigns with a strong focus on driving acquisition, engagement, and retention across multiple channels (e.g., SMS, mobile, email, social media, etc.) on time and on budget.
• Aim to generate revenue and deliver on key business objectives, ROI, and KPI targets.
• Own, measure, deliver, and optimize key metrics and reporting on marketing activities across channels and platforms.
• Identify trends and insights, optimize segments, spend, and performance based on data.
• Utilize strong analytical ability to evaluate end-to-end customer experience across multiple channels and customer touchpoints and work cross-functionally to drive qualified traffic, improve conversion, and identify new opportunities to boost user engagement and retention through A/B and multivariate testing.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Minimum 5-7 years of digital marketing experience with a minimum of 3 years demonstrated success in mobile, email, social media, PPC, and SEM marketing from concept to completion with a proven track record of success.
• Results-driven mentality with exceptional detail orientation and knowledge of metrics, A/B testing, and ROI analysis.
• Experience with testing and optimization platforms.
• Strong track record of distilling actionable insights from data to improve multi-channel marketing strategies.
• In-depth familiarity with email service providers and knowledge of marketing automation platforms.
• Solid understanding of website analytics tools (Google Analytics, Amplitude, Appsflyer), email systems (Sailthru, Salesforce Marketing Cloud), and ad-serving tools (Adroll, Facebook.)

Finally, we cross-reference our list of 10-15 skills with the skills this specific job is looking for (underlined above). This leaves us with the remaining five key skills:

• Optimization: A/B Testing, Segmentation
• CRM: Salesforce
• Web Analytics: Google Analytics
• Paid Ads: Facebook
• Social Media: Email Marketing

There you have it! These skills are what will make up your skills list for this specific role. Don’t forget to include the seemingly most essential skills in your resume objective (for this position, we’d say those are optimization and A/B testing) and mention relevant work experience where you used some of these skills.

Remember, it’s important to be truthful about which skills you know and which you don’t. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether you’d be comfortable being interviewed about a skill. If the answer is “yes,” then include it. Otherwise, it’s best to leave it off your resume. 

And for the grand finale to this digital marketing example: Check out how this resume integrates key skills into the career objective, skills section, and work experience.

Digital Marketing Manager Resume

Why this resume works

• Starting with the most obvious section—the skills section—Giselle lists skills important to Barnes & Noble, grouping them in easy-to-read categories.
• Don’t be deterred, even if you lack experience in an area or two! Demonstrating a willingness to learn is highly valuable.
• The work experience section is a prime opportunity to showcase skills in action. Like Giselle, start with active verbs to show how you used skills, software, and tools to impact the company positively. 

Job-Specific Resume Skills

We promised an extensive list of resume skills, organized by profession, and we’re not ones to break our promises!

Below, you’ll find countless role-related skills you can put on your resume, along with informational tidbits for each profession.

Remember that honesty is critical when you  build a resume , so we stand behind a shorter list of genuine skills rather than a slew of half-truths you’ll blush over later in an interview.

Web developer skills for your resume

Web developers build the web apps we interact with in our everyday lives. From banking to transportation to Netflix, it’s hard to find a facet of life that isn’t touched by web development.

We did an  extensive analysis of the top web developer skills  employers are looking for in 2024, and below are the results in order of those most in demand.

Top web developer skills

• JavaScript (React, Angular, Vue)
• SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle)
• Cloud Storage (GCP, AWS, Azure)

Data analyst skills for resume

Companies are currently swimming in large pools of data. Marketing, product, engineering, and executive teams all rely on data to make the most effective decisions in the face of uncertainty.

That’s where data analysts come in. To be a successful data analyst, you need the right skills to clean, organize, visualize, and make actionable recommendations from data.

We analyzed over 100 job openings and determined the  most in-demand data analyst skills  needed to get a data analyst position in 2024. Below are the results in order of the most popular skills.

Top data analyst skills

• Business Intelligence Tools (Tableau, PowerBI, Qlik, Looker)
• Excel/ Google Sheets
• Python (Pandas, Matplotlib, Scikit-learn, Numpy)
• R (Dplyr, ggplot2)

Marketing skills for resume

No matter how great a product or website—unless a successful marketing campaign drives customers to that product, it won’t succeed.

Marketers must strike a balance between creativity and science to reach the right people at the right time to make them customers.

To do this successfully, marketers need a wide range of skills.

Top marketing skills

• CRM: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive, HubSpot
• Web Analytics: Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Heap, Google Analytics
• General Tools: Google Sheets/ Docs/ Slides, Microsoft Excel/ Word/ PowerPoint
• Optimization: Customer Segmentation, Attribution Modeling, A/B Testing
• Paid Ads: AdWords, LinkedIn, Google Display Network, Retargeting, Facebook
• Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
• Email Marketing: ConvertKit, Drip, Mailchimp
• SEO: Keyword Research, Backlink Building, Content Creation
• Direct Mail

Customer service skills for resume

When a customer has a problem or a question, they need to get a prompt and accurate answer to ensure they remain a customer.

More than that, a strong customer service representative will build relationships with customers to help identify potential new features or directions to take a product.

To do this successfully, you need a potent blend of people skills while also knowing the tools of the trade.

Top customer service skills

• Strong Communication & Interpersonal Skills
• Curious, Empathetic, and Professional
• Willing to Learn
• Goal-oriented
• Enterprise Software
• Experience with Business Processes
• Microsoft Excel
• Zendesk, HubSpot, Helpscout

Management skills for resume

No matter how effective a person is as an individual contributor, management is an entirely different job that requires an altogether different skill set.

To be an effective manager, you must first understand and relate to your employees while ensuring company initiatives are hit on time. To get this done, you need a mix of different skills.

Top management skills

• Financial Analysis
• Self-motivation
• Conflict Resolution & Management
• Managing Career Growth
• Performance Reviews
• Ability to Motivate
• Foster Team Environment
• Ability to Work Under Pressure
• Result-driven

Accounting skills for resume

Accountants are the unsung heroes of any well-oiled company. A company is only as successful as it can demonstrate through its financial reports.

Accountants need to be wizards with reporting and data while maintaining a culture of rigorous organization. Accounting is a field that requires knowledge of particular hard skills.

Top accounting skills

• Financial Reporting
• General Ledger Accounting
• Quarterly Close Processes
• Quarterly Financial Statements
• Tax Accounting
• GAAP Accounting Principles
• Expense Reporting
• Accounts Payable & Receivable
• Account Reconciliation

Project manager skills for resume

Project managers keep the trains on the rails. To be a successful project manager, you must know how to ensure deadlines are met on time and on budget.

In this role, you’ll need the ability to communicate with diverse teams and technical knowledge to help engineers remove roadblocks they encounter that will prevent them from getting their job done.

Top project manager skills

• Project Management Software (Jira, Trello)
• Microsoft Office/Google Suite (Excel/Google Sheets, PowerPoint/Slides)
• Project Management Frameworks and Methodologies (Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Kanban)
• Programming Languages and Frameworks (JavaScript, Node.js, Python, Django)
• CRM Experience (HubSpot, Salesforce)
• Digital Marketing

Sales skills for resume

An effective salesperson can form meaningful relationships with new sales prospects very quickly.

To be able to sell a new customer on your product or tool, you first need to intimately understand their pain points and what they’re trying to solve.

In addition to solid soft skills, you need to know the technical tools to track and manage prospects through the sales pipeline.

Top sales skills

• Strong Communication
• Negotiation
• CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce)
• Presentation Skills
• Lead Generation (LinkedIn, Email)
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Administrative assistant skills for resume

When it comes to a career as an administrative assistant, there’s no skill more valuable than organization. How can you help others be at their best without ensuring all ducks are in a row?

Of course, other skills are needed to succeed as an administrative assistant, and we’ve analyzed numerous administrative assistant job openings to determine the most in-demand skills for this career.

Top administrative assistant skills

• Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets
• Microsoft Word/Google Docs
• Microsoft PowerPoint/Google Slides
• Scheduling (Microsoft Outlook/Google Calendar)
• Words per Minute you Type
• Languages you Speak
• Database Management
• CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot)
• Personable and Welcoming

Nursing skills for resume

The value of nurses in our society has never been more apparent than during the COVID-19 crisis.

A good nurse must have a rigorous understanding of the medical procedures and documentation they need to complete while also maintaining the soft skills necessary to build trust and understanding with patients.

It’s a very tricky balance to strike. To help you pursue a new job in nursing, we compiled the most popular skills employers are looking for across a wide range of nursing disciplines.

Top nursing skills

• EMR Systems
• Ambulatory Care
• Emergency Care
• CPR Certified
• Best Practices
• Long-term Patient Care
• Compassionate
• Organized & Reliable
• Infant & Child Care
• Medical Documentation

Teacher skills for resume

With the shift to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the skills required to be an effective teacher from afar are also changing.

Teachers now need to be more in tune with the technologies used for remote learning to reach students.

Still, there are some skills required to be a great teacher that haven’t changed. Based on our analysis, here are the top skills schools want when they hire teachers.

Top teacher skills

• Lesson Planning
• Blackboard/Moodle
• Google Apps (Gmail, Sheets, Slides)
• SMART Boards
• Remote Teaching (Zoom)
• Safe, Supportive Classrooms
• Accountability
• Communication with Parents and Students
• Organization
• Focused on Student Performance

Software engineer skills for resume

Software engineer is a broad, all-encompassing term. There are hundreds of specific disciplines within this umbrella that require different skills.

Still, there are fundamental and common skills that all developers must have. First and foremost, you need to be able to program! 

We collected the most in-demand skills for software developers to help you make the best resume possible.

Top software engineer skills

• Python (Django)
• Java (Spring)
• Ruby (Ruby on Rails)
• PHP (Laravel)
• JavaScript (Node, React, Vue, jQuery)
• SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, NoSQL)
• AWS, GCS, Azure

Business analyst (BA) skills for resume

Business analysts combine skills from many areas to help drive outcomes that materially improve a customer’s core metrics.

A BA is a great communicator, a robust data analyst, and an effective project manager. After a project is complete, the BA then has to be able to communicate the outcomes to the executive team.

Top business analyst skills

• SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server)
• Excel, Google Sheets
• PowerPoint, Google Slides
• Tableau, Looker, Chartio
• Salesforce, NetSuite, HubSpot, Pipedrive
• A/B testing, Linear Regression, Logistic Regression
• Project Management (JIRA, Trello)

Student skills for resume

When you’re a student, it can be challenging to know which of your skills you should highlight when applying for your first job or internship.

It varies depending on the position, but at this point in your career, hiring managers don’t expect you to be an expert in all the tools you’ll need for the job.

The key is to mention which skills you have some familiarity with and express an openness to learning on the job.

Top student skills

• Microsoft Outlook/Gmail
• Hard-working
• Social Media
• Collaboration

Data scientist skills for resume

Data scientists are hybrid programmers and statisticians. It can be tough to figure out which of your technical skill sets should be the focus of your resume.

Touch on your primary programming language and put context around the modeling techniques you use regularly.

After studying over 100 data scientist job openings, here are the top skills employers are looking for in these roles.

Top data scientist skills

• Python (Numpy, Pandas, Scikit-learn, Keras, Flask)
• R (Dplyr, Shiny)
• SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle)
• AWS (Redshift)
• Supervised Learning (Linear and Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Support Vector Machines, Recommendation Engines)
• Unsupervised Learning (K-Means Clustering, Principal Component Analysis)
• Customer Segmentation, Price Optimization

Human resources (HR) skills for resume

When it comes to the skills you need to get your next job as a human resources manager, it’s important to demonstrate a combination of people skills (it’s in the job title, after all), but you also have to show command of the tools needed to get the job done.

You should demonstrate which phases of HR you have experience in. Whether that’s recruiting, benefits, compensation, or a combination thereof, these should be clear.

Top human resources skills

• ATS (Workday, Jobvite, Greenhouse)
• Compensation & Benefits
• Performance Management
• Recruiting (Sourcing & Interviewing)
• Employee Onboarding
• Benefits Planning & Administration
• Employee Coaching
• LOA, FMLA, PLOA, Disability
• Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint
• Recruiting Coordination
• Compliance (OFFCP, FLSA, Unemployment)
• Employee Retention
• Organizational Strategy
• Labor Relations
• Succession Planning
• HR Analytics

Product manager skills for resume

Product managers help steer the direction of a company by working to understand new features and products customers are looking for.

A successful PM should have the technical skills to communicate fluently with engineers. They also need strong data analysis skills to determine whether new feature launches are working.

Top product manager skills

• Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel
• Google Tag Manager
• A/B Testing
• Optimizely, Google Optimize
• Basic Python scripting, APIs
• Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Kaban
• Jira, Github, Confluence
• Google Analytics, Microsoft Excel

Recruiter skills for resume

Since recruiters are the first people prospective employees interact with in a company, they must have strong people skills.

Outside of that, a recruiter needs to be familiar with using an ATS to keep track of candidates as they go through the application funnel.

In addition, they need to know various tools to effectively source prospective candidates for a job opening.

Top recruiter skills

• Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word
• HR Information Systems (Workday, Oracle HCM, Zoho, SAP)
• ATS (Greenhouse, Lever, Workable, Breezy HR, BambooHR)
• Sourcing Tools (LinkedIn Recruiter, TalentNest, Connectifier)
• Full Cycle Recruiting, Intakes, Sourcing, Screening, Evaluating Talent
• CRM (HubSpot, Marketo, Hootsuite)

Scrum Master skills for resume

As a Scrum Master, it’s vital you demonstrate which project management frameworks you have experience in on your resume.

Scrum Masters help ensure project deadlines are hit by establishing and monitoring incremental goals along the way.

Communication and management skills are must-haves, in addition to a few technical tools.

Top Scrum Master skills

• Agile Development & Best Practices
• Agile Frameworks—Scrum, Kanban, XP
• JIRA & JIRA Portfolio
• Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Visio
• User Stories, ATDD, TDD, Continuous Integration, Automated Testing
• Project Planning & Scoping

Social media manager skills for resume

As the name implies, a social media manager must show prospective employers they can use social media to drive customers toward a business.

It’s not enough, however, to demonstrate experience with various social media platforms. You must also clearly understand data and analytics to prove that your campaigns can and will work for a business.

Top social media manager skills

• Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok
• Sprout Social, Hootsuite
• Google Analytics
• Google Docs/Microsoft Word
• Google Sheets/Microsoft Excel
• Paid Social Media Advertising
• Data Analytics

IT manager skills for resume

IT managers need to possess razor-sharp technical skills while demonstrating the ability to mentor and guide employees under their leadership.

Since the number of potential technical skills an IT manager can have is vast, you must demonstrate a firm command of at least a few skills.

On your resume, it’s much better to demonstrate expertise in a few skills than a weak command of a large number of tools.

Top IT manager skills

• Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• Agile/Lean Methodologies
• Network Infrastructure (DNS, DHCP, SSL)
• Linux/ Unix

Design skills for resume

As you might imagine, designers need to convince the hiring manager reviewing their resume of their creative ability. This is usually done via a portfolio.

Outside of your creativity, you also need to quickly and effectively communicate which tools you use to complete your design work. One of the first things a prospective employer will check is whether you have the technical skills they’re looking for in a designer.

Top design skills

• Design Principles
• Color Theory
• Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
• Storytelling
• Canva, Vectr
• Print Design
• Photography

Your skills should directly correlate with the job you’re applying for so recruiters can tell what makes you special at a glance. Refer to the job description for keywords or mission statements that show what the organization values and what the job role emphasizes. Prioritize skills that relate directly to your profession over those that could enhance your qualifications for other fields.

Try to limit your array of abilities to just 6 to 10 skills per resume. If you have more to choose from, choose to meet the optimal resume skill range with abilities that specifically answer the call of the job description. You don’t want a skills list that looks too “hodgepodge,” so hone your skills to a trade-specific edge that demonstrates your expertise.

Soft skills are the tools you use to socially function with grace and efficiency. They refer to your interpersonal abilities like negotiation, communication, and team delegation (just to name a few!). Keep in mind that you don’t want to overdo your skills list and appear disorganized, so select only the most relevant soft skills to list. You can use them as context for your professional experiences.

Technical skills, or hard skills, can refer to anything from software proficiency to specialized actions or tasks you can perform that relate to your job. Physical technology or machinery, digital meeting programs, and the ability to interpret industry-specific data all count! These important skills show off your specialties and highlight your unique candidacy for the job role.

Every skills list should be technical, but yours especially so: This is your opportunity to demonstrate your expertise instantly. By naming precisely which software programs you use (think: Adobe Photoshop, AutoCAD, or Salesforce to name a few) instead of generalizing, you effectively spotlight your skills ahead of time. Recruiters often skim the skills list first since they move fast, so seize the chance to align yourself with the job!

Honestly, that depends on you! Which of your resume sections is the strongest: skills, experience, internships, or stuff like your degree and academic achievements? Resume layouts with a side column can put your skills list in a highly visible space. If your experiences are super strong, you can also list your skills at the bottom of the page. Just make sure your best qualities are the most eye-catching!

Top 14 Resume Skills to add on your Resume + Examples

By Biron Clark

Published: December 18, 2023

Biron Clark

Writer & Career Coach

Putting skills on a resume is a great way to show hiring managers what you can do for them, while also including relevant keywords on your resume. However, there’s one BIG mistake that I’ve seen many job seekers make with their skills section on a resume… and it can cost them the interview.

So in this article, we’re going to look at real-life examples of resume skills sections, how to write this section and come up with ideas of skills to list, and the biggest mistake to avoid if you want to get the interview.

What Skills Should you add on your resume?

Your resume is essentially your first impression to a potential employer, so it must showcase your skills in the best possible light. Hence, it’s important to understand that there are two types of skills: hard skills and soft skills . 

Hard skills are those that are specifically related to the job at hand, such as technical skills like programming or accounting.

Examples of Hard Skills: 

• Proficiencies with tools or software.
• Hands-on work experience or degrees and certifications.
• Proficiencies in languages.

Meanwhile, soft skills are more personal traits such as interpersonal skills like communication, EQ, teamwork and problem-solving abilities. Additionally, transferable skills are those that can be used across different industries and job types, such as leadership, time management, computer skills and adaptability. Usually, job postings include a bullet list of role requirements that each feature a certain skill, skill set, aptitude, or ability.

Examples of Soft Skills:

• Active listening
• Problem-solving

Essentially, the skills, competencies, or core competencies section of your resume will give hiring managers a quick-glance guide to how closely your abilities match the role requirements.

With this in-mind, let’s take a closer look at each of those hard and soft transferable skills I mentioned above, to see why they really are the best skills to put on your resume. Let’s start with the soft skills because, even if you’ve never had a job or skills training, there’s a good chance you already have many of these skills.

Best Soft Skills to add on your resume:

1. communication skills.

These skills are essential to almost all roles because they allow you to receive and share ideas effectively. These skills are applied through a range of channels and may include both soft skills (like active listening) and hard skills (like social media writing). Communication skills include listening skills, verbal skills, body-language skills, visual skills, and contextual (or versatility) skills like cross-cultural, academic, crisis, professional, and online communication skills.

2. Problem-solving skills

Most roles will see you encountering problems at some point, that’s one of the reasons work can be stressful. Some roles are all about finding and making innovative solutions to problems. Problem-solving skills may include methodologies and various hard skills, but they’re also about the soft skills of defining problems, prioritizing issues, determining causes, brainstorming solutions, considering alternatives, and implementing solutions.

3. Creativity skills

These skills come naturally to some but, in general, can be learned by simply applying yourself to creative pursuits. Aside from the artistic side, however, creativity is a thinking skill that allows you to think outside the box, innovate solutions, imagine new concepts and ideas, and generally do things in an open-minded, original way. This is highly prized by employers who are trying to set their brand apart through creative, innovative products and services.

4. Organizational skills

Organizational skills refer to your ability to manage yourself, your time, and your productivity efficiently and effectively. They’re vital to employers because they indicate that you have a systematic, goal-oriented approach to working. Unless you have the ability to manage your calendar, your time, your thoughts, and your duties in a functional and efficient manner, you will be difficult to manage or rely on, and you certainly won’t be able to manage others.

5. Leadership skills

Some simply have a natural tendency to lead, while others seem ready to follow them–this is important to employers, as few things are more costly than an ineffective leader. Leadership skills, however, can be learned over time, and include a range of other hard and soft skills like communication, critical thinking, versatility, conflict management, relationship building, decisiveness, delegation, project management, and more.

6. Teamwork skills

Teamwork skills are vital to all interactive and collaborative job roles, as they allow you to work efficiently and effectively with others. Teamwork skills are very much a blend of communication and interpersonal skills, but there are specific soft skills, like collaboration, empathy, honesty, and integrity that will determine whether you can thrive in a team setting.

Best Hard Skills to add on your resume:

1. digital skills:.

In 2023 and beyond, you’d be hard-pressed to find a business that doesn’t rely largely on digital interaction and processes to get their products and services to market. So, adding digital skills means that employers will know that you can use a tablet, computer, mobile phone, and the internet to communicate, research, transact, manage tasks, and create. Examples of hard digital skills include market research, social media marketing, SEO, email marketing, digital project management, software development, and much more.

2. Design skills

Design skills start with foresight and imagination, and the ability to envision things that aren’t yet made. In that way, they are similar to creative skills. Other than that, design skills include a range of hard skills that depend on your profession, including coding abilities, branding skills, typography skills, architectural software skills, Adobe apps skills, Illustration skills, physics and engineering skills, and more. Design skills are vital to jobs that involve product innovation, marketing, and more.

3. Project management skills

Whether you’re applying for a post in marketing, product or service development, or something like events planning, project management skills are those skills that allow you to take a project (often requiring numerous employees and teams) all the way from ideation to completion. There are a range of factors involved and a number of hard and soft skills. Examples of PM skills include budgeting, scope planning, risk assessment stakeholder communication, problem-solving, team leadership, delegation, digital project management administration, and more.

4. Data analysis skills

Data analysis skills are important because they allow you to absorb, quantify, categorize, analyze, collate, and draw conclusions from data such as statistics , sales figures, customer queries and complaints, product tests, and more. Data analysis skills are essential to a range of roles and include hard and soft skills such as math, statistics , calculus, linear algebra, detail orientation, logical thought, troubleshooting, speed reading, database management, data mining, and more.

5. Customer service skills

Customer service skills are your ability to offer knowledge and support to prospective and existing customers and to act as the face of a business. As such, these are essential skills for a range of businesses. Core customer service skills include soft skills like discernment and emotional intelligence, communications skills, and persuasion skills, and hard skills like SaaS support, POS skills, FOH skills, outbound call skills, product/industry knowledge skills, and more.

6. Language skills

Language skills include proficiency in native and foreign language reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and they can be included among communication skills as well. In today’s globalized world and online marketplace, multilingual skills are in high demand. Employers are often willing to pay more for multilingual candidates, especially in fields like international business, hospitality, tourism, human resources , and more. Language skills are, however, largely made up of hard skills because language proficiency is a technical and measurable skill set. Correct use and grasp of grammar, syntax, tone, diction, vocabulary, and contextual language are essential in the professional world because they allow you to absorb and offer information in a way that is more accurate, conclusive, concise, and business-like.

7. Content writing skills

Incorporating many of the language skills mentioned above, content writing includes knowledge of formats, annotation systems, referencing skills, and tonal parameters that apply to all different types of business, sales, and marketing content. Companies value content writing skills because, using hard skills like knowledge of online content formats, research and referencing, SEO, and sales funneling, a content writer can target, engage, and convert new customers while retaining existing ones with regular, high-value content.

8. Marketing skills

Marketing is a powerful skill set that incorporates other skills like content writing, customer service, data analysis, communication, creativity, and problem-solving. Marketing allows businesses to target markets, figure out how to appeal to and reach those markets, and then effectively (and in conjunction with content writers, web designers, and other key members) funnel clients down the path to conversion. Marketing includes a broad range of highly technical hard skills as well, including UX design, CRM, CMS, CRO, marketing automation, social media and ad marketing, PPC, SEO, SEM, and more.

How Many Resume Skills Should You Put?

The number of skills to include on your resume will depend on the job you’re applying for, your industry, and your experience level. For example, an experienced software engineer may list 20 skills. However, for an entry-level job seeker, 8-10 skills are sufficient, and any more than that will be unlikely to be read by a hiring manager or recruiter .

Also, someone in a less technical field (like sales or customer service) might only need 8-10 skills on their resume, even if they have a few years of experience.

Overall, my recommendation as a recruiter is that you should have somewhere between 8 and 20 skills on your resume. You should list both hard and soft skills, but it’s more important to include hard skills. These are the skills that hiring managers look for first and foremost on your resume; soft skills are secondary.

Resume Skills Section Guide With Examples

Let’s look at some good examples of resume Skills sections (which you can also name “Core Competencies,” “Professional Skills,” etc.) Your goal when writing this resume section is to highlight your most relevant skills for the job, all in one place. So you want the list to be easy to read. I suggest one or two columns. 

And you don’t just want to list random skills. And you don’t want to list the same skills for every job! You really want to research the job and company (starting with the job description) and put the skills and keywords THEY mention. This is called “tailoring” your resume and will immediately boost the number of interviews you receive. I wrote a guide on the easiest way to do this HERE . (It’s much easier than people think).

So you really need to be looking at the specific job description for keywords.

Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to put together your Skills section. Here are some sample skills sections so you can see what it might look like:

Resume Skills Section Example #1 – Bullet Point format:

This resume skills section example is for a salesperson. You can see it contains a lot of keywords, and also highlights what this person is best at. That’s what you should aim to do.

Remember, don’t just guess which skills and keywords the employer wants. Study the job description.

Resume Skills Section Example #2:

This is another example of a simple layout for this section on your resume, this time using two columns.

Choose a format that is simple and not distracting. You want the employer’s attention to be on your skills and qualifications, not on your resume’s formatting.

If you take one idea away from these sample skill sections of a resume, it should be that the section is meant to be simple and clutter-free, and should only feature your top relevant skills for the jobs you’re pursuing now. It’s not a place to list every single skill you’ve ever used, and it shouldn’t have as much content as other, more important, sections like your resume work experience.

Resume Skills Section Example #3 – Skills Matrix Format:

Communication | Problem-Solving | Time Management | Teamwork | Technical Skills

Excellent verbal and written communication skills | Strong analytical and creative problem-solving abilities | Proficient in prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines | Collaborative and able to work effectively in team settings | Proficient in MS Office and Google Workspace

Now, let’s look at examples of resume skills sections for popular professions:

1. Software Developer:

• Programming Languages: Java, Python, C++
• Web Development: HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Database Management: SQL, MySQL
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical and debugging skills
• Collaboration: Experienced in working in Agile development teams

2. Marketing Coordinator:

• Digital Marketing: SEO, SEM, PPC
• Social Media Management: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
• Content Creation: Copywriting, blogging, content strategy
• Analytics: Google Analytics, data analysis
• Project Management: Organizing campaigns, coordinating with stakeholders

3. Registered Nurse:

• Patient Care: Assessing, planning, and implementing patient care
• Medical Procedures: IV insertion, wound care, medication administration
• Communication: Effective patient and family communication
• Critical Thinking: Rapid decision-making in emergency situations
• Team Collaboration: Working closely with doctors and healthcare professionals

4. Sales Representative:

• Relationship Building: Cultivating and maintaining client relationships
• Negotiation: Effective in closing deals and achieving sales targets
• Presentation Skills: Delivering persuasive sales presentations
• CRM Software: Proficient in Salesforce or other CRM platforms
• Prospecting: Identifying and pursuing new sales opportunities

5. Graphic Designer:

• Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
• Typography: Knowledge of various typefaces and layout design
• Branding: Creating visually consistent brand identities
• User Experience (UX): Designing intuitive user interfaces
• Attention to Detail: Ensuring accuracy and precision in design wor

More Ideas of Skills to Include

If you’ve read the tips above and are still thinking, “I don’t have enough key skills to put on my resume,” here are a few ideas to help you… Along with looking at the job description for the role you’re applying for, you can also look at job descriptions for roles you’ve previously held. Which skills did you use most?

Look at current or most recent work, too. What did your typical week look like? Sit down and think about which skills you used the most throughout a normal week. Remember to think about hard skills and soft skills. That should help you come up with more ideas.

You can also look at LinkedIn’s list of skills that are available for your LinkedIn profile . (LinkedIn suggests skills when you go edit this section of your profile).

You can look at peers/colleagues on LinkedIn, too, to see which skills they’ve chosen! Look at a few current coworkers, for example. Which skills are they mentioning? Those are good skills to list on your LinkedIn and your resume, too. The LinkedIn skills section is a great way to get resume ideas overall.

You can also learn something new that will make you more attractive to employers…

I recommend doing this by taking a course via LinkedIn Learning and then adding it to your resume Skills section). This is a great option if you’re job searching after being unemployed because it shows employers you’re keeping your skills current and staying active.

You can learn soft skills like body language (this could help you if you’re in sales, customer service, etc.) or hard skills like front-end web development, social media management, and more.

Tip: Employers Want to See Where You Used Each Skill, Too

In general, employers want to see where and when you used each skill (especially for hard skills). So don’t just rely on a Skills section. You should put equal (or more) time into writing your work experience section and your resume bullets ).

Also, put effort into your resume summary paragraph.

I typically read those sections first as a recruiter. That’s where I can see which key skills you’ve used most in your career. In fact, even if you put your skills section very high up on a resume, I usually skip it and only return to read it AFTER I check out your recent work experience and bullets!

The bottom line is: Recruiters and hiring managers don’t want to see a big list of skills with no reference to where each skill was used… at least not at first. And they especially do not want to see a long list of soft skills. They’re mostly looking for hard skills and key skills from the job posting when they first glance at your resume.

So keep this in mind when writing your skills list. The hiring manager might skip it and look for your experience section first.

This resume section still has value – as a secondary place to show off your abilities and core competencies, and as a place to fill your resume with great keywords so you can get past the ATS (applicant tracking system). But the biggest mistake I see job seekers making is relying on the skills section too much to get interviews or get the employer’s attention.

Be Prepared to Answer Interview Questions About the Skills You’ve Listed

If you say you’re an expert in Phone Sales, Digital Marketing , Social Media Marketing, Customer Service, or any other hard skill… you need to be ready to defend this in an interview. If you say you’ve done a lot of time management, be prepared with examples. If you say problem-solving is one of your strengths , be ready to back it up with a success story!

They will want to know where you used that skill and details about how you used it and what results you got in recent jobs. And if you say you’re an “expert” at something, they might ask what makes you an expert. So if you’re not an expert or highly proficient, don’t say you are. You can still list the skill, but don’t exaggerate and go overboard by saying “expert.”

I made this mistake early in my career, costing me the job! I said the word “expert” when describing my Microsoft Excel skills, and they asked me about it in an interview and I completely crumbled. I wasn’t an expert and I wasn’t ready to defend why I had said that on my skills list.

Also, don’t list skills you’ve never used. Even if they do hire you, you could immediately be fired if they discover you lied about your skills in your interview. Lying in your job search is usually not a good tactic. So be honest when listing skills on your resume, and review your own resume as you prepare for the interview so you’re not caught off-guard by the interview questions they ask .

You should be ready to answer questions related to any or all skills mentioned in your resume skills section – both soft and hard skills.

What Not to Include in Your Resume Skills Section

Quality over quantity always wins, and this applies while listing resume skills. Highlighting the most relevant skills in your resume is important. Otherwise, your resume may look disorganized and unfocused. Therefore, avoid listing every skill you possess, and follow these tips to ensure your skills align with the job posting. 

1. Irrelevant Skills : Only include skills directly related to the job you’re applying for. Avoid listing unrelated or outdated skills, as they can take up valuable space on your resume and distract from your qualifications.

2. Generic Skills : Avoid using overly broad or generic skills that are not specific or actionable. Instead, highlight skills specific to the job and industry you’re targeting.

3. Obvious Skills : Skip listing skills considered basic or commonly expected in the industry. For example, including “proficient in Microsoft Office Suite” may not be necessary, as it is generally expected in most professional roles.

4. False or Exaggerated Skills : Be honest about your skills and avoid exaggerating or fabricating information. Employers may verify your skills during hiring, and misrepresenting your abilities can have negative consequences.

Recap: Putting the Right Skills in a Resume

• Choose 8-20 skills, depending on your industry and level of experience
• Put mostly hard skills and skills that relate directly to the employer’s job
• Avoid putting too many soft skills; employers will judge this primarily in the interview and aren’t looking for soft skills as much on your resume
• Whenever listing a hard skill, make sure also to mention it on your work experience; employers want to see where you used each skill, too, and this is how to show them
• Use the job description to identify important skills for this position
• Include exact phrases from the job description to improve your chances of getting past automated job application systems
• If you need more ideas for which skills to put, review past jobs you’ve held and/or look at peers on LinkedIn to see skills they’ve chosen
• Use one or two columns and simple formatting to make your Skills section easy to read
• Never put your Skills section before your Employment History section on your resume
• If you’re an entry-level job seeker, never put your Skills section before your Education section
• Be prepared to answer interview questions about any skills listed on your resume
• Avoid including irrelevant or generic skills, obvious skills, and false or exaggerated skills in the skills section. 

If you read the tips above, you now know how to write a great skills section of a resume, including examples of what it should look like.

You also know the other important pieces to focus on, like your resume work experience . If you follow these guidelines that I shared, you’ll get more interviews and get noticed by better employers in your job search.

About the Author

Read more articles by Biron Clark

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Dive Into Expert Guides to Enhance your Resume

The Skills Section on a Resume

What skills to include, where to place them on your resume, and how to write them.

The skills you put on your resume are  vital for showing employers your knowledge  quickly. Knowing how to write one also helps incorporate vital keywords into your resume naturally and organically.

The following guide explains the  difference between hard and soft skills . It also includes tips on how to write a skills section, what to avoid, and examples of meaningful skills to include on your resume that will help you land your dream job.

Keep reading!

Example of a Skills Section in a Resume

Let’s start with the basics. Take a look at the following skills section of a resume to get an idea.

Technical Skills:

• Proficient in Python, Java, and JavaScript
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Experienced in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign)
• Skilled in using project management tools like Trello and Asana
• Fluent in English and Spanish
• Basic proficiency in French

Soft Skills:

• Strong verbal and written communication
• Team player and ability to collaborate effectively
• Proven adaptability and problem-solving abilities
• Resilient organization and time management skills
• Excellent customer service and client relations

Industry-Specific Skills: (Tailor according to the job role)

• Experience with CRM software, such as Salesforce
• Knowledge of digital marketing tools, such as Google Analytics, for marketing jobs
• Familiarity with editing software, such as Final Cut Pro
• Proficiency with AutoCAD and SketchUp

Hard skills vs. soft skills

Skills are typically categorized into two different types: soft and hard. Both categories encompass the broad range of technical or social abilities that are relevant to a working environment.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are capabilities that are either  naturally present in people  or are developed over time through relations and experience, but hey can also be learned. As stated by MIT Management, the  return on soft skill training  is roughly 250%. Don’t hesitate to get training if you need it. The payback is well worth it.

Also known as social skills, these abilities are considered personal attributes which are positive for jobseekers to bring to a professional situation.

Think of your character and choose some of your best personal traits. Consider how these attributes have either helped you to achieve something or have benefited your career in some way.

• Are you a people person?
• Have colleagues or friends described you as having great social skills?
• Are you able to mediate conflict or conversations between groups?
• Are you a natural-born leader?

Soft skills are advantageous in a wide variety of professions regardless of the industry or level of position.

Now that you have an idea of how important soft skills are, follow and  study professionals in your desired industry  to pinpoint skills they possess, or check out a similar job posting and take note of the desired or emphasized soft skills mentioned in the ad.

How to Identify Soft Skills

Soft skills are often  inherent or cultivated over time  and experiences. They are your  interpersonal skills , your ability to lead, adapt, cooperate, and communicate well with others.

To identify these, introspect about times you’ve found success in team projects, received praise for your communication skills, or leaned on your organization abilities to sail through a challenge. All these situations imply invaluable soft skills.

Hard Skills

Hard skills refer to  more technical , accumulative abilities specific to certain positions or industries. These skills are tangible and usually developed through studies, courses, or on-the-job experience. Hard skills can be qualified (or proven) via a certificate, diploma, or demonstration.

Good examples of hard skills for your resume are IT skills or the ability to speak a foreign language . Think about what skills are needed to do your job effectively and your level of proficiency for each.

• Do you have any specific computing abilities?
• Can you create a project budget or write up bidding contracts?
• Are you bilingual or proficient in a second language?

Hard skills can be quantified by your level of expertise in the subject or years of experience using a certain technique or program. It is important to use a common,  general range for measuring  your level that all employers understand such as  basic ,  intermediate , or  advanced .

Make your resume stand out by using an  online resume builder  to help you with the skills section of your resume.

How to Identify Hard Skills

They are the skills you’ve acquired and  sharpened through formal education ,  professional courses, or on-the-job experiences .

Have proficiency in a foreign language? Can you code fluently in Java or Python? Are you skilled in using Photoshop or Excel? Each of these denotes a hard skill— concrete, demonstrable, and indispensable.

Reflect on your education, past jobs, and certifications to identify these skills.

The Importance of Balance Between Hard and Soft Skills

When it comes to skills for a resume, achieving a fine balance between hard and soft skills is crucial.

In the vast professional landscape, we find that technical proficiency (hard skills) works in harmony with interpersonal aptitude (soft skills) to paint the most  holistic picture of an individual . This magical combination of know-how and know-when ensures you bring value to any role, blending technical mastery with social savvyness.

Personal Skills Vs Professional Skills

Personal skills are also referred to as “soft skills . As mentioned previously, these are generally innate or acquired through one’s experiences and include abilities such as problem-solving, adaptability, and interpersonal communication.

These skills are critical for successful interactions on a day-to-day basis, regardless of the specific professional context. They provide the groundwork for effective team collaboration in the workplace.

On the other hand,  professional skills, often called “hard skills”,  are more industry-specific and job-related. These skills are usually developed through formal training, education, and on-the-job experience.

As long as they’re relevant and can be  proven using real-life examples , most skills can be considered  work-related skills .

Examples of skills not to be included on a resume may come from hobbies or activities that are  not relevant to the sector or position  available.

On a different note,  a LinkedIn survey shows  that  nearly 80% of employers search for mostly personal skills  over more technical  professional skills .  This is especially important on  student resumes  and  entry-level resumes  and includes such skills as  leadership  and the  ability to work in a team .

The reason for this is that many applicants are likely to have the same professional skills if they’re applying for the same job and coming from similar academic or career backgrounds.

How to Present Your Skills Effectively

The skills section of a resume is more than just a list— It’s a snapshot of your talents. Presenting it effectively requires thought, precision, and a sprinkle of strategy.

Essentially, the key is to  emphasize relevance . This begins with a keen study of the job description. It’s there where you’ll find a dictionary of keywords that should resonate through your skills section.

The idea is not to echo these skills verbatim but to  filter them through your own experiences and proficiency . Each skill should reflect a facet of the job role.

The more precise your skills are, the more they resonate with employers.

How Many Skills Should I Include on My Resume?

Finding the perfect balance is key. Too few skills could appear unimpressive, while an abundance of skills might overwhelm the recruiter.

The objective is to feature your most relevant skills tailored to the job you’re targeting. For most job seekers,  listing 10-15 skills is generally adequate .

Where to List Skills on Your Resume

Listing skills on your resume strategically grants potential employers insight into your assets at the right time.

Placing the skills section after the resume summary or objective and  before the work experience section  is deemed effective. This placement ensures employers can swiftly acknowledge your skills at a glance.

If you’re just embarking on your career journey or transitioning industries, including the skills section before your work experience may emphasize your relevant skill set and also diminish the focus on the lack of directly related experience.

In addition to a dedicated skills section, weaving in your skills alongside your experiences or achievements can accentuate the practical application of these abilities.

The key is not to merely list your skills in a dedicated section but to  substantiate them through real-life examples and scenarios  throughout your experience section and professional objective or summary.

Skills for Different Job Roles

First and foremost, start by  carefully studying the job description . Chase the keywords you find there and modify your skills section to resonate with the job.

For instance, if you’re applying for a graphic design role, emphasize your proficiency in Photoshop, Illustrator, and layout design, alongside soft skills like attention to detail and effective communication.

The secret ingredient to making your skills section shine when addressing different job roles is  specificity and relevance . For every job you apply to, let your skills section speak the language of the role, echoing its unique keywords and requirements.

What Not To Do When Writing Skills For Your Resume

Certain pitfalls must be dodged to present a stellar skills profile:

• Avoid vagueness and ambiguity : The skills section of your resume is no place for generalities or undecipherable jargon. For instance, don’t state you’re ‘good with computers.’ Specify if this means you’re proficient in a particular software or IT concept.
• Don’t present an exhaustive list of skills : Ensure the skills you list are pertinent to the job description. Keep the list concise and focused, preventing it from becoming a bloated endorsement of every single skill you’ve ever acquired.
• Keep a balance between hard skills and soft skills : While hard skills demonstrate your technical prowess, soft skills are often the deciding factor for recruiters. It’s crucial not to neglect either.

By steering clear of these, you can craft a skills section that not only accurately represents your abilities but also resonates with potential employers. Make sure you avoid errors by generating useful suggestions with our AI-powered resume builder to help you come up with the best skills for your application. 

70+ example skills to add to your resume

It is important to include a range of abilities into your resume that encompass general skills as well job-specific skills or sector-specific skills.

The following is a list of skills that are general and transferable. Use this list as inspiration to write your own skills section, but be sure to tailor your list according to your career goals and your professional experience.

IT skills or computer-based program knowledge are highly favorable among employers today and they should be listed prominently in your resume .  Examples of technical skills to include on your resume are:

• Microsoft Office
• Social media management software
• Graphic design software
• iOS / Android
• Google Drive

Also, any languages you speak, write, and read are an essential aspect to include in your resume skills section. Remember, to indicate the level or any qualifications you have to support your claim of a second language.

You can use the  ResumeCoach  online resume maker to optimize your resume and tailor it for each vacancy using examples of job-specific and general skills, as well as advice on how to complete each resume section according to your background and experience.

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Every Question You Have About Putting Skills on Your Resume, Answered

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by Lily Zhang, originally published at TheMuse

When you’re trying to keep your resume length down to accommodate that  one-page limit , it’s easy to want to put your skills section on the chopping block. You might wonder why you ever included one in the first place. After all, it’s full of information that can be gleaned from other parts of your application, right?

Not so fast! Before you axe your resume skills section to make more space, read on to get the full picture of what you’d be giving up. And once you’re convinced not to scrap it, find out what types of skills you should include on a resume, how you should format a dedicated skills section, and how to figure the right skills for each job application. Plus, see a list of skills for your resume depending on what type of job you’re after.

Why Do I Need a Skills Section?

The whole point of keeping your resume concise is to allow for a recruiter or hiring manager to figure out the value you could create for the company after just a quick skim. With that in mind, having a section that basically spells out your  hard skills  makes a lot of sense,

Your skills section should actually be rather redundant. Ideally, a close read of your experience section should get across all your  soft and hard skills . But the reason the skills section exists is because a resume so rarely gets a close read on a first pass. Considering the limited amount of time recruiters typically spend on a resume—about six seconds—a bit of repetition might actually be good. So cover your bases and put your skills in your bullet points  and  in a skills section. You never know what kind of reader you’re going to get.

Another reality of the job application process that this section addresses is the ubiquity of  applicant tracking systems (ATS) . Keyword scanning is one way an ATS flags resumes for closer review, and a skills section, conveniently, can serve as an extra block of relevant keywords.

Overall, your resume skills section gives your application a nice optimization bump for both the human and digital review process.

What Are Hiring Managers Looking for in My Resume Skills?

For certain roles, it can be a nonstarter for a candidate to not have specific skills. You can’t be a ballerina if you don’t know how to dance, obviously, just like you won’t get a front-end developer role if you don’t know HTML. By and large, though, the hiring managers I’ve spoken to are looking at the big picture. They’re trying to connect the dots, and skills help fill in the gaps a bit.

Hiring managers are trying to pull together a story about you, so list skills that match the experience you’ve written about in your resume. One hiring manager I know in tech finds it interesting and noteworthy to see skills that are kind of esoteric, but still relevant. Functional programming languages in particular always catch his eye. To him, it indicates that the candidate has a keen interest in programming and possibly went out of their way to learn it on their own. That’s a pretty efficient way to show your enthusiasm—listing a juicy, related, but kind of obscure skill.

Monica Orta, a hiring manager at the MIT Media Lab, says the skills section gives her “a sense of the  suite  of skills a person has—it’s another way to look at their experience and helps paint a fuller picture.”

What Can I Include in a Skills Section?

Your resume skills section should mainly be reserved for your hard skills. Think programming languages, business or design software, analytics programs, subject-matter expertise, or even carpentry skills—anything that can be taught, defined, and measured.

Keywords are important, but that doesn’t mean you should cram every last thing in here. Pay particular attention to skills that are relevant, but haven’t necessarily been part of your daily job. Perhaps you took an  online course  on how to use InDesign or independently studied web design and HTML for your personal website. These skills will be absent from your experience section, which means the skills section is the only chance you get to highlight them.

Just a word of warning: Listing skills on a resume implies you’re confident in your abilities. So leave off anything that you’re still working on or don’t feel comfortable training someone else in (like foreign languages you haven’t spoken since high school).

What Skills Should I  Not  Include at All?

For people who are pivoting to another career, it can be a good branding move to  not  include the skills you don’t want to use anymore, especially if they are not relevant or inherently interesting. For example, if you’re an executive assistant who wants to move into diversity and inclusion work, you probably don’t want to list all the flight booking and calendaring tools you’re familiar with. If you must include these skills in your experience section to accurately describe your previous roles, that’s fine, but don’t reiterate them in your skills section.

Skills that are a bit obvious can also be scrapped. There’s generally no need to put “Microsoft Word” on your resume, unless the job description specifically lists this skill. And avoid anything that is completely unrelated to the position you’re applying for. You might be an amazing knitter, but that probably doesn’t belong in your skills section if you’re applying to be a social media manager for a hotel chain. (You can always include these kinds of hobbies under “Interests,” of course.)

Should I Include Soft Skills in My Skills Section?

Hiring managers often consider  soft skills  (like teamwork, communication, time management, and leadership) to be just as important as hard skills, if not more so. That said, these skills are not often included in a separate skills section since they are usually intangible and harder to evaluate. While your soft skills are incredibly important, they’re better portrayed (and more believable) if you give them some context. In other words, tell a story.

To include soft skills in your resume, tuck them into your bullets. Making the first word relate to your soft skills is particularly effective. For example, instead of, “Assisted with annual corporate retreat,” you could write, “Collaborated in a group of four to plan and facilitate annual corporate retreat for 200 employees.” While both bullets describe the same task, only the second one shows that you’re a team player. Instead of, “Attended monthly sales meetings,” you could write, “Presented product insights to 12 clients in monthly sales meetings,” to demonstrate strong communication skills.

What Are the Biggest Mistakes I Can Make With Skills on My Resume?

Now that you have a sense of what you  should  be doing, here are a few mistakes you want to avoid:

• Underselling your proficiency:  Downplaying your abilities is a big one. A hiring manager in the finance industry once told me he hated it when people listed skills in their resume and then added the word “basic” in parenthesis next to it. If you only have a basic understanding of something, it may not belong in your skills section. Or if you’re just being modest, maybe don’t be.
• Overselling your skills:  On the other hand, another hiring manager uses the skills section to judge how truthful a candidate has been in their application. If a candidate lists a string of 20 programming languages, but only has done projects in one, it’s not a good look. In general, a good rule of thumb is to only include skills you’re comfortable talking about in an interview.
• Hiding skills in your experience section:  Don’t assume recruiters or hiring managers will necessarily find your skills stashed away in the bullets of your experience section. If you’re applying for one of those roles where a certain skill is absolutely  required  for consideration, it would be a huge mistake to not list it in the skills section, even if you go into more detail elsewhere. For these roles, it’s not unusual for the reader to take a little shortcut and scan the skills section of all the resumes to figure out which ones to look at more intently.
• Using the skills section as a catch-all:  Don’t use the skills section as a catch-all. You might  really  want to mention that one time you were an extra in a movie or the fact that you’ve run five marathons, but don’t put it in the skills section.  If  you include them, these things would go under “Additional,” “Activities,” or “Interests.”

How Should I Format a Skills Section?

Hopefully, at this point you’ve been convinced to keep your skills section intact and perhaps even to add a couple things you hadn’t thought of before. But how do you best present all this important information in a way that isn’t just a jumble of keywords? That might be okay for an ATS, but no human being wants to read that.

If you have a long list of skills, think of subheadings as beautiful things that make even the most unruly mess of words look sleek and organized. Group your skills into reasonable categories, then name each group of skills something appropriate. For example, if you happen to be multilingual, a good subheading for all the languages you speak would be, unsurprisingly, “Languages.” Or if you’re a designer who also codes, label your sections “Design” and “ Technical .” Start each category on a new line with the subheading in bold at the beginning of the list. That’s it!

If your skills only fill one to two lines, you can change the section to “Skills and Interests” or “Skills and Certifications” and add the appropriate additional subheadings for interests, certifications, awards, and the like.

So What Does This All Actually Look Like?

Here’s an example of a good skills section for someone who is looking for work as a designer:

Visual Design:   InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, XD, Animate, Lightroom 3D Modeling & 2D Drafting:   Rhino, VRay, AutoCAD, Vectorworks, Autodesk Fusion 360 Programming:   Grasshopper, Processing, HTML, CSS Interests:   Sailing, running, cooperative board games

And here is one that is  less  good:

InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom, Quark, Rhino, Grasshopper, VRay, AutoCAD, After Effects, Premiere, XD, Vectorworks, Processing, Animate, Autodesk Fusion 360, HTML, CSS, Microsoft Office, typography, teamwork, creativity, multitasking, sailing, running, cooperative board games

The difference, as you can see, is all about pulling out relevant hard skills and breaking them up into relevant subheadings. Even though this section is short, it still needs to be easy to skim (because no human will make it to the third, or even second, line of skills in the second example). Bullets and subheadings prompt the reader to start reading again. And as a bonus, they cue the reader on what broad skills the candidate has.

Where on the Page Should My Skills Section Go?

Generally a skills section lives at the bottom of a resume. It’s meant to reiterate or summarize what the reader learned from your experience section. There are some exceptions though.

If you’re a career changer who’s been slowly accumulating the necessary skills for a shift, for example, it might make sense to move this section up to a more prominent spot—possibly even the top to create a  hybrid ,  functional , or  skills-based  resume. Listing your skills before your experience section will color the way your whole resume is reviewed and help tell your career story. If you work in a technical field where hard skills are paramount, you might also want to put your skills section at the top.

How Do I Figure Out the Right Combination of Skills to Include on My Resume for a Particular Job Application?

Check the answer key! That is, print out the job description of the role you’re interested in and take a highlighter to it (or copy and paste it into a doc and highlight there), marking any skills you see listed that you have. Then, make sure these skills are listed on your resume. 

What Are Some Examples of Skills for a Resume?

It all depends on your industry and role. Scuba diving is a hard skill, but only relevant to very specific jobs. Remember, hiring managers are reviewing your resume with the job you applied for in mind, so keep your skills section at least tangentially relevant to avoid the dreaded “Why did they apply for this?” reaction.

Below are some examples of specific roles you might be applying for and skills that could be appropriate to list, but remember that a job posting is always the best place to find the skills you need for a specific role. To get a more robust list for your specific industry, you can check out  O*NET , a resource developed by the U.S. Department of Labor that breaks down occupations by skills, tasks, and activities.

For a robust list of skills broken down by job title/function, visit: 250+ Skills for Your Resume and How to Show Them Off | The Muse