Skills to put on a resume
The best skills to put on a resume are the ones the posting asks for that you can prove. A long list of every program you have opened, or traits such as hard working and team player, makes the section easy to skip. A short list matched to the job, with each skill backed by something in your experience, gets read.
Start from the posting
Read the posting and mark every skill it mentions: tools, methods, certifications, and the kinds of work it describes. Then cross out the ones you could not talk about in an interview. What is left is your starting list.
Use the posting's own words where they are true for you. If it says customer relationship management software and you have used one, name it the way they do. The free keyword checker can show which of the posting's terms your resume already uses.
Hard skills and soft skills
Hard skills are things you can be tested on: a language, a program, a machine, a method, a license. Soft skills are how you work: communication, organization, handling pressure. Readers weigh hard skills in the skills section and look for soft skills in your experience bullets.
So list hard skills plainly, and show soft skills instead of naming them. Trained four new hires shows communication. Kept a three shift schedule current shows organization.
Where skills go on the page
Most resumes have a short skills section near the bottom, or near the top for technical roles where the stack matters. Keep it to one to three lines, grouped if it helps, such as languages, tools, and certifications.
The most important skills should also appear in your summary and your bullets, attached to real work. A skill that appears only in the skills list carries less weight than one shown in a job.
Skills to leave off
Leave off skills everyone is assumed to have for the role, such as basic email for an office job, unless the posting names them. Leave off skill meters and percentages, which say nothing a reader can trust. And leave off anything you could not use on your first day without help.
If you are learning a skill the posting wants, you can list it as in progress or name the course, which is honest and still shows direction.
Changing fields
If you are moving into a new field, look for skills that carry over: scheduling, budgeting, training, handling complaints, writing reports, and working with data. Name them in the new field's words and back each one with an example from your old work.
A short highlights section at the top can point the reader to these before they reach a job title from a different field.
Choose the skills for your resume
Mark the skills in the posting
Tools, methods, certifications, and kinds of work.
Keep only what you can prove
Cross out anything you could not discuss in an interview.
Use the posting's words
Name each skill the way the employer does, where true.
Show soft skills in bullets
Describe what you did instead of naming the trait.
Keep the section short
One to three lines, grouped if it helps.
Skills to put on a resume, by job
Starting points by job, then three sample skills sections and soft skills shown the right way. Keep the ones the posting asks for and you can prove, and add the specific tools the employer uses.
Customer service
Handling complaints and refunds, ticketing or help desk software, live chat and phone support, product knowledge, de-escalation techniques you were trained in, a second language if you speak one.
Retail and cashier
Cash handling and register balancing, point-of-sale systems, stocking and inventory counts, merchandising, opening and closing procedures.
Office and administrative
Calendar management, scheduling, spreadsheets, document preparation, data entry, travel booking, front desk and phone coverage.
Nursing and healthcare
License and life support certifications, electronic health records, medication administration, patient assessment, the specific unit or setting you know.
Software and data
Languages and frameworks you have shipped with, SQL, version control, testing, cloud platforms you have deployed to, data visualization tools.
Warehouse and logistics
Picking and packing, inventory systems, equipment you are trained on, shipping and receiving, safety procedures, scanning devices.
Sales
Prospecting, customer relationship management software, product demos, negotiation, pipeline tracking, the kind of buyer you sold to.
Trades
Licenses and certifications, the systems or equipment you install and repair, code knowledge, blueprint reading, safety training, power and hand tools.
Sample skills section: customer service
SKILLS Support tools: help desk ticketing, live chat, phone queue software Customer care: refunds and exchanges, order tracking, complaint handling Languages: English, Spanish (conversational)
Sample skills section: data analyst
SKILLS Analysis: SQL, Excel (pivot tables, lookups), Python for data cleaning Reporting: dashboard tools, weekly and monthly reporting Methods: A/B test analysis, data quality checks
Sample skills section: electrician
LICENSE AND CERTIFICATIONS [License], [issuing state]; safety training, [year] SKILLS Residential and light commercial wiring, conduit bending, panel upgrades, troubleshooting, blueprint reading, National Electrical Code compliance
Soft skills shown in bullets (invented, replace with your own)
Communication: Trained new hires on the order system and wrote the checklist the team still uses. Organization: Kept the dock schedule current for a three shift warehouse. Problem solving: Found that most late orders started at receiving and changed the staffing plan. Teamwork: Covered shifts across two stores during the holiday season. Calm under pressure: Handled the front desk alone during a power outage and rebooked the day's appointments.
Related reading
Questions
- What skills should I put on my resume?
- The skills the posting asks for that you can prove, named the way the employer names them. Back the most important ones with an example in your experience.
- Should I list soft skills on a resume?
- Show them in your experience bullets rather than listing them. A sentence about training new hires says more than the word communication.
- How many skills should be on a resume?
- Enough to fill one to three lines, matched to the job. A short, relevant list is read more closely than a long one.
Where ApplyASAP fits
ApplyASAP tailors your resume to each posting you apply to, using only what your history supports.
ApplyASAP is one option when you want the sending done for you. It finds openings for the titles and places you name, tailors your resume to each posting, and does not invent employers, dates, degrees, titles, numbers, certifications, or people you managed. It answers the application questions, and the team sends and tracks each application. Skills it adds are ones your role and level usually carry, and you can take any of them off. The resume still has to be true.
Want to see how one resume lines up with one posting? Try the free resume keyword checker. It runs in your browser and saves nothing.