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

Jeff Gillis 0 Comments

important skills for resume

By Jeff Gillis

Updated 6/4/2022.

important skills for resume

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.

important skills for resume

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.

' src=

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 .

Copyright © 2024 · TheInterviewguys.com · All Rights Reserved

  • Our Products
  • Case Studies
  • Interview Questions
  • Jobs Articles
  • Members Login

important skills for resume

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

Background Image

Skills make a huge chunk of a potential employer’s decision to hire you. 

You might think this section of your resume is easy - you just list your skills and you’re good to go.

But listing your skills the right way is a bit trickier.

How do you know if you’re mentioning the necessary skills for the job or if you’re just giving the hiring manager irrelevant information? 

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

In this guide, we’re going to walk you through the process of putting skills on your resume from start to finish.

You’re going to learn:

What Are the Different Types of Skills?

  • Why Should You List Your Skills on Your Resume?
  • How to List Skills on a Resume
  • 12 Best Skills to Put on Any Resume 
  • 400+ Skills to Put on a Resume for Different Professions

Let’s dive in!

Skills are the various abilities and attributes that you bring to the table when you’re applying for a job.

Your skills can be your ability to do a specific task or solve a problem with some level of proficiency, and they’re typically divided into hard skills and soft skills.

If you want to create an effective resume that catches the hiring manager’s attention, you need to mention both hard and soft skills.

Let’s break down what each means:

Hard Skills

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

While hard skills are essential for completing tasks in just about any job, they’re also teachable and easily measurable. 

For example: 

  • Machinery skills. Some fields require operating specialized machinery or equipment. (E.g., operating a road roller, pallet-stalker, forklift, or others.)
  • Software skills. Depending on the field, you need to know how to use different software, such as the Adobe Creative Suite for designers or the Ableton Live Suite if you’re a DJ.
  • Tools. If you’re a digital marketer , you’ll need to know how to use tools like Stethoscope, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and SEMrush.
  • Languages. Being able to communicate in more than one language is an extremely useful skill. The more customers or teams you can communicate with, the more valuable you are as an employee. Some of the most sought-after languages today include German, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic.
  • Computer skills. Most jobs will require that you have at least some basic computer knowledge in MS Office and G-Suite, emailing, and presentations. If you’re a web developer , your hard skills will likely include more specialized software knowledge or proficiency in coding languages such as Python, C++, or PHP.
  • Techniques. Different specialized techniques you’ve learned can be listed as individual skills. (E.g.: frequency analysis, crystallization, gamification, or even CPR and first aid.)
  • Mathematics. A lot of professions, such as accounting and finance, require mathematical skills. If you’re applying for a position in a field that uses advanced mathematics, such as a research assistant , you should be more specific with the types of mathematical skills you have. (E.g.: statistics, trigonometry, calculus, algebra, etc.)
  • Data analysis. Businesses are always looking for professionals who can gather and analyze data for various stakeholders and help make strategic decisions, making different types of data analysis a very in-demand hard skill.

…so, just about any field-specific skill is a hard skill you can list on your resume.

Soft Skills

The attributes and habits that describe how you work individually or with others are known as soft skills .

Generally speaking, soft skills aren’t job-specific, so they’re transferable skills that indirectly help you adapt to the work environment and company culture. 

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

  • Time management
  • Communication
  • Adaptability
  • Problem-solving
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Attention to detail
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Conflict resolution
  • Stress management
  • Critical thinking
  • Organization

Soft skills are essential for just about any job out there.

While some soft skills can be critical to doing your job well, such as communication with a customer support representative , others ensure that you get along with your coworkers and foster a positive work environment.

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

While you can acquire computer skills through a technical course, you’ll need to put in a lot more effort to develop your communication skills. 

For example, you would need to practice active listening in the workplace, learn how to notice nonverbal cues and practice your oral communication skills as much as possible to improve.

best soft skills

What’s the Difference Between Hard Skills and Soft Skills?

There are three main differences between hard skills and soft skills.

  • How you obtain them. You can obtain hard skills through work experience , education, training, and certifications. Soft skills, on the other hand, can be gained through life experience, both in and out of work.
  • How you use them. While you apply hard skills directly to the job, soft skills usually 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.
  • How you list them. Hard skills and soft skills should be listed separately on your resume, but unlike soft skills, hard skills can include your level of proficiency. You can say you’re an advanced user of Adobe Photoshop, but you can’t measure how creative you are in the same way.

When it comes to your employability, both sets of skills are crucial for your resume.

If a hiring manager is on the fence about two candidates with the same hard skills, it’s the soft skills that are going to tip the scales in someone’s favor.

Why Should You List Skills on Your Resume?

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

In fact, 41% of hiring managers notice skills on your resume first.

Let’s look at an example of a well-written skill section:

skills section in a resume

At first glance, listing some skills on your resume looks easy.

In reality, though, putting skills on your resume the right way is a bit more nuanced than that, and here’s why:

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

ats skills in a resume

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

For example, let’s say you’re applying for a job as a software engineer , and the job requires an expert level of proficiency in Javascript.

If you focus on other programming languages and don’t mention Java as a skill on your resume, the ATS will probably discard it immediately.

Resume statistics show that nearly 75% of resumes are rejected at this first screening stage, and they never make it to a hiring manager .

But let’s assume the company doesn’t use an ATS, and your resume ends up on a hiring manager’s desk.

There’s a good chance the hiring manager is only going to skim through your resume in less than six seconds , looking for the right set of skills.

So, regardless of whether you’ll need to breeze past the ATS or the hiring manager, you have to mention the right skills.

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

Now that you have a clear understanding of how important skills are, let’s talk about how you should list them on your resume.

We’ve divided the process into a step-by-step guide you can follow, starting with:

#1. Tailor Your Skills to the Job

The key to an effective skills section is making sure the skills you list are relevant to the job.

For example, if you’re applying for a job as a backend developer, the customer service skills you gained working as a server during college don’t belong on your resume.

So, only list skills that are useful for the job you are applying for.

Start by thoroughly reading the job advertisement to find out what skills to include on your resume.

Job ads usually list a set of requirements or skills they expect from candidates. Take note of which skills and experiences you have, and remember to write them down on your resume.

Let’s look at an example of a job ad for a line cook position in a restaurant:

At Restaurant X, we are dedicated to delivering an exceptional dining experience that reflects the heart of French cuisine. We are currently seeking a skilled Line Cook to join our team for the summer season. This is an exciting opportunity to work in a fast-paced, prestigious environment under the mentorship of our acclaimed chef.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Efficiently prep ingredients for service, ensuring high standards of quality and freshness.
  • Execute recipes to exact standards, contributing to the creation of signature dishes that delight our guests.
  • Maintain meticulous attention to detail in the plating and presentation of each dish.
  • Uphold the highest standards of cleanliness and sanitation in the kitchen before, during, and after service.

Requirements:

  • Proven experience as a line cook in a fast-paced kitchen environment.
  • A passion for French cuisine and a strong desire to learn and grow within the culinary field.
  • Excellent communication and teamwork skills, with the ability to work effectively under pressure.
  • Knowledge of best practices for food handling, safety, and sanitation.

From this job description, we can see that the restaurant is looking for someone who:

  • Is committed to excellence and is highly professional
  • Works well under supervision and as part of a team
  • Has experience working in a fast-paced kitchen environment
  • Pays great attention to detail when it comes to cooking and presentation

Based on this, some of the skills you should definitely mention in your resume include:

  • Culinary Expertise
  • Food Preparation
  • Knife Skills
  • Plating Techniques
  • Time Management
  • Attention to Detail
  • Safety and Sanitation
  • Stress Management

Don’t mention skills that aren’t directly related to the job. For example, a line cook doesn’t need to list computer skills on their resume, even if those skills are relevant for most other jobs.

#2. Create a Skills Section

Once you’ve identified all the right skills to add to your resume, create a dedicated “Skills” section to list them under.

A dedicated section will help you pass the ATS, and it makes it easier for hiring managers to find the skills they’re looking for.

Here’s an example of what a skills section can look like on a resume:

skills section in a resume template

We recommend keeping your resume skills section somewhere near the top of the page so that the hiring manager can see it quickly. Usually, they should go either next to or after the work experience section, depending on your resume layout .

Next, here are a few tips you should keep in mind when listing your skills:

  • Be specific. “Verbal and written communication” sounds significantly better than just “communication.” 
  • Sort your skills by relevance. Order your skills based on how crucial they are for the role. The more important skills should go at the top, and the nice-to-have ones should go after them.
  • Format skills accordingly. Not everyone has dozens of skills they can show off on their resume, and that’s okay. If you don’t have a lot of skills, you can list both your hard and soft skills in a single section, just like the example we used above.
  • Don’t lie or exaggerate. If you don’t have one of the required skills for the role or you’re not very experienced, just be honest. It goes without saying that you should never lie about what you can do. The employer will find out you lied eventually, your professional reputation will bear the consequences, and you could even lose your job.

#3. Match Each Skill With Your Proficiency Level

While some skills are hard to measure, others can be put on a proficiency scale .

We recommend only using a proficiency scale for some hard skills, such as specific tools or software programs. Soft skills are difficult to measure objectively, so there’s no point in putting them on a scale.

Here’s how to show your proficiency level:

Match Each Skill With Your Proficiency Level

  • Beginner. You are just starting to learn this skill, or you haven’t practiced the skill through experience. This usually applies to students with no experience who only understand concepts through theories or classroom experience.
  • Intermediate. You have applied this skill in practice, and you rarely need help with it, but you still have room to grow.
  • Advanced. At this level, you know your stuff. You don’t need help with this skill anymore, and you can teach beginners how to use it.
  • Expert. You’re a recognized authority when it comes to this skill, and you’re the go-to person if anyone has any questions.

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

Only listing your skills in their dedicated section will get you so far. After all, everyone else is doing the exact same thing. 

If you want to take your resume from good to great, you need your most critical skills to make an impression from the get-go.

This is where the resume headline and work experience sections come in.

Resume Headline

Your resume headline can be either a resume summary or a resume objective.

The resume summary is a short, two to four-sentence-long paragraph that summarizes your resume. When done right, it shows the hiring manager your strongest selling points as a candidate right from the start.

Here’s an example in action:

skills in the resume summary

But if you don’t have a lot of experience, you can use a resume objective instead.

The resume objective is a two to three-sentence statement of your career intent that goes at the top of your resume. It can include a snapshot of your professional experience, skills, achievements, and professional goals.

Here’s what it looks like:

skills in resume objective

Both the resume summary and resume objective go at the top of your resume, either before or after your contact information section .

Regardless of which resume headline you go for, the goal of this section is to pique the hiring manager’s curiosity and make them want to read your whole resume. You should always add one or two of the most necessary skills from the job description here.

Work Experience

Once you’ve mentioned some of your top skills in your resume headline, you have to prove you actually have them.

The best way to do that is by listing some impressive achievements in your work experience section and explaining how your skills helped you.

Let’s look at what the work experience section could look like for the data entry specialist from our resume summary example:

  • Achieve a 99% accuracy rate, surpassing departmental accuracy goals by 15%.
  • Leveraged advanced organizational abilities to streamline data entry processes, reducing task completion times by 20%.
  • Employed superior communication and interpersonal skills to resolve 95% of customer inquiries on the first contact, earning an Employee of the Month award.
  • Managed and maintained a complex database of over 10,000 records, ensuring data integrity and accuracy through effective office management practices.

Hobbies and Interests

Another section where you can back up your skills is your hobbies and interests section .

If you have leftover space on your resume, you can use this optional section to list a couple of hobbies or areas of interest that relate to your skills.

For example, let’s say you’re applying for a job as a writer, and the ad says you need to be creative, collaborative, and familiar with pop culture.

In that case, if one of your hobbies is playing a popular tabletop role-playing game with your friends, like Dungeons and Dragons, make sure to list it.

A hobby like that shows that you are genuinely creative, like writing for fun, and are capable of organizing with multiple people for a mutual goal.

#5. Put Transferable Skills to Use 

If you’re looking for your first job or if you’re making a career change , transferable skills are something you should make use of.

Transferable skills are skills that aren’t directly related to the job you are applying for, but they’re still useful and likely relevant for most jobs.

For example, if you're writing a career change resume and you’re going from a role as a sales associate to a copywriter, there are several transferable skills you can list on your resume.

Some of them include:

  • Written communication. Both roles involve communicating through text. A salesperson needs to send cold outreach 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 literacy. For a salesperson, that might mean using Customer Management Software, while for a copywriter, that’s publishing content online.

12 Best Skills to Put on Any Resume

Now that you know how to put skills on your resume, it’s time to talk about which skills you should add.

Every profession requires some role-specific hard skills. For example, a photographer needs to know how to use photo editing software like Photoshop. 

But when it comes to soft skills, a lot of them are universal across different industries.

Soft skills are the skills that define your approach to work, how well you cooperate with others, and if you can fit into a company’s culture.

And while the right soft skills for a job may be harder to point out, they’re just as essential in today’s job market. In fact, 93% of employers say that soft skills play a critical role in the hiring decision.

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

So, let’s look at some of the most highly valued skills for any resume:

#1. 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 employee who needs to communicate with a coworker 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. Problem-Solving

Problem-solving means you’re able to identify problems, 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.

Throughout your career, you might have to troubleshoot technical glitches, resolve customer complaints, streamline processes, or drive strategic initiatives. In any of these cases, strong problem-solving skills will be crucial to your success. 

But problem-solving is a broad set of skills that can include:

  • Analytical thinking
  • Root cause analysis
  • Data gathering and evaluation
  • Creative thinking
  • Decision making
  • Strategic planning
  • Risk assessment and management

Whether you’re an IT professional debugging code or a manager implementing operational improvements, problem-solving skills let you tackle challenges head-on.

#3. Conflict Resolution

When working with diverse groups, disagreements are bound to happen. So, having the skills to resolve conflicts in a constructive manner is extremely valuable in any organization.

Conflict resolution skills are essential for managers addressing performance issues, HR professionals mediating workplace disputes, sales teams negotiating contracts, or coworkers with clashing personalities.

This multifaceted skill involves:

  • Impartiality and objectivity
  • Assertive communication
  • Creative problem-solving
  • Persuasion and influence
  • Patience and composure

#4. Computer Literacy

Over 70% of jobs require 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. So, 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

#5. Research

Effective research abilities are essential for making informed decisions and driving successful outcomes across any industry.

Whether you’re conducting market research to identify consumer needs, gathering data to explore a scientific hypothesis, or investigating to build a legal case, strong research skills are invaluable.

Some research skills include:

  • Finding credible sources
  • Evaluating information objectively
  • Organizing data
  • Identifying patterns
  • Documenting and reporting findings

#6. Teamwork

Teamwork skills enable you to work effectively with others towards a common goal.

Since teams tend to drive most major projects and workplace initiatives, learning how to work well with others is essential to most jobs. You might be part of a project team, a committee, or just coordinate across departments someday.

What you need for strong teamwork skills is:

  • Active listening
  • Reliability
  • Flexibility
  • Motivating others

#7. Project Management

Project management skills are usually associated with dedicated project manager roles, but in reality, that's not usually the case. Any type of professional can benefit from strong project management skills.

In a nutshell, project management skills involve being able to effectively handle resources, timelines, deliverables, and processes for driving projects to successful completion.

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

  • Resource allocation and management
  • Project planning and scheduling
  • Risk identification and mitigation
  • Logistics and coordination
  • Action planning
  • Task planning and prioritization
  • Stakeholder management

#8. Leadership

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 are 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

#9. Organization

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

#10. Time Management

Time management is the ability to effectively prioritize and organize your tasks and responsibilities.

Needless to say, it’s a crucial skill in nearly every job, since being able to manage your time well allows you to increase productivity, meet deadlines, and maintain a healthy work-life balance .

Time management includes:

  • Task prioritization and planning
  • Task delegation
  • Avoiding and Ignoring distractions
  • Adapting to changing priorities

#11. Customer Service

A lot of the 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

#12. Networking

Networking skills refer to how well you can build professional relationships and connections.

It goes without saying that they're extremely useful for roles like sales, business development, or entrepreneurship, as a lot of the work involves meeting and engaging new people.

However, these skills are also useful for roles where you don't expect to rely on professional networking as much.

Take, for example, project managers. To be really effective, they need to:

  • Understand the needs of stakeholders
  • Collaborate with various teams across the organization
  • Build rapport with people at all levels

Just like most other skills on our list, networking skills are multi-faceted. They include:

400 Must-Have Skills for Different Professions

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. Retail and Sales Skills

Retail and sales are at the heart of successful business interactions.

Despite the rise of technology, the essence of sales hasn’t changed much . People still need contact with each other, and even with channels of communication becoming digital, communication skills and empathy still take top priority in this industry.

So, here’s a list of must-have skills for salespeople and retail workers :

  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
  • Cold-calling
  • Merchandising
  • Product demonstration
  • Public speaking
  • Inventory management
  • Lead generation
  • Buyer-Responsive selling
  • Buyer engagement
  • Point of Sale (POS) proficiency
  • Effective communication and sociability
  • Social media and digital communication
  • Listening skills
  • Personalized selling
  • Service-based selling
  • Follow-up techniques
  • Up-selling and cross-selling
  • Knowledge of return and exchange policies
  • Organizational skills
  • Multitasking capabilities

#2. Customer Service Skills

Customer service requires a specialized skill set centered around excellent communication and problem-solving. Success in this field relies on effectively managing various communication platforms and maintaining customer satisfaction through attentive service.

Some skills crucial for any customer service representative include:

  • Telephone etiquette
  • Data entry proficiency
  • Customer needs assessment
  • Crisis management
  • Multitasking
  • Ticket tracking systems
  • Scripted responses
  • Technical troubleshooting
  • Complaint resolution
  • Record-keeping
  • Team collaboration
  • Understanding of privacy and confidentiality
  • Customer education techniques
  • Feedback collection
  • Call center operations
  • Email Etiquette
  • Live chat management
  • Help desk support
  • Client retention strategies
  • Cultural sensitivity

#3. Hospitality Skills

Hospitality is all about making guests feel welcome and appreciated, no matter the setting - whether it’s a bustling hotel, a serene resort, or a cruise ship. Professionals in this field need to create memorable experiences for guests by providing impeccable service and making sure their every need is met with a smile.

Some of the most sought-after hospitality skills are:

  • Customer service excellence
  • Effective communication
  • Foreign languages
  • Reservation management
  • Event planning
  • Specialized software proficiency
  • Front desk operations
  • Tour and activity coordination
  • Guest Relations
  • Guest information management
  • Concierge services
  • Personalized guest experiences
  • Safety and security protocols
  • Marketing and upselling
  • Health and hygiene standards
  • Loyalty programs management
  • Quality control
  • Emergency response handling
  • Environmental sustainability practices
  • Check-in and check-out procedures

#4. Food and Beverage Skills

The food and beverage industry is one of the most dynamic and fast-paced environments you can work in. Here, professionals have to continually adapt to customers’ changing preferences, stay updated on culinary trends, and provide exceptional service.

Here are some skills that would look great on any food and beverage worker's resume:

  • Menu planning and design
  • Recipe development
  • Food safety and hygiene
  • Culinary arts
  • Plate presentation
  • Portion control
  • Cost control and budgeting
  • Wine pairing
  • Beverage service
  • Detailed menu knowledge
  • Order taking and processing
  • Table setting and arrangement
  • Food preparation techniques
  • Dietary restrictions and allergen awareness
  • Staff training
  • Quality assurance
  • Health and safety regulations compliance
  • Event catering management
  • Customer feedback management
  • Upselling techniques
  • Point of sale (POS) system operation
  • Kitchen equipment operation and maintenance
  • Communication skills

Looking for more skills? Check out our server resume example here.

#5. Marketing and Advertising Skills

With new technologies developing faster than ever, it’s essential to move beyond the basics of traditional marketing and advertising to succeed in the industry. New skills keep popping up, and even the biggest marketing executives out there need to stay up to date on the latest developments.

So, here are some  of the most important marketing and advertising skills for any level:

  • Data analysis
  • Web analytics 
  • Email marketing
  • Web scraping
  • CRO and A/B testing
  • Data visualization
  • Pattern-finding through critical thinking
  • Project/campaign management
  • Social media and mobile marketing 
  • Paid social media advertisements
  • B2B Marketing
  • The four P-s of Marketing
  • Consumer Behavior Drivers
  • Brand management
  • Copywriting
  • Storytelling
  • Digital advertising
  • Multichannel marketing
  • Public relations
  • Content strategy
  • Market research
  • Budget management
  • Compliance and legal considerations
  • Affiliate marketing

#6. Administrative Skills

If you work in an office setting, there are some skills you should know, regardless of your job. Whether you’re a secretary, office manager, or executive assistant , you can put these skills on your resume.

Some basic administrative skills include:

  • Microsoft Office
  • Google Suite
  • Filing and paper management
  • Bookkeeping
  • Research and data analysis
  • Office management
  • Technical writing
  • Cloud networking and file sharing
  • Prioritization and task management
  • Customer service skills
  • Meeting planning and coordination
  • Event management
  • Travel management
  • Document preparation
  • Confidentiality and data protection
  • Minute taking
  • Report generation
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Calendar management
  • Expense reports
  • Reception duties
  • Correspondence handling
  • Presentation skills
  • Project management skills

#7. Human Resources Skills

Human Resources is a field that needs a strategic blend of soft and hard skills.

HR specialists are essential for managing diverse workforce needs and enhancing employee and company productivity in the long run.

Here are some examples of HR skills that always come in handy:

  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Motivation techniques
  • Technological savviness
  • People management
  • Business development
  • Strategic management
  • Negotiation skills
  • Recruitment and selection
  • Training and development
  • Performance management
  • Knowledge of compensation and benefits
  • Employee relations
  • Labor law compliance
  • Succession planning
  • HR analytics
  • Diversity and inclusion initiatives
  • Change management
  • Employee engagement strategies
  • Workplace safety
  • Talent acquisition strategies
  • Policy formulation and implementation
  • Employee counseling and support
  • HR information systems (HRIS)
  • Cross-cultural communication

#8. Business Skills

Business professionals are increasingly vital to organizations since they offer operational support and strategic insights that can drive growth.

Experts in the business industry need a broad set of skills to analyze trends , optimize processes, and predict future outcomes so their companies remain competitive and responsive to changes in the market.

Here are some examples of skills any business professional could add to their resume:

  • Financial forecasting
  • Profit and loss management
  • Market analysis
  • Trend identification
  • Competitive analysis
  • Risk management
  • Project management
  • Operations management
  • Leadership and team building
  • Stakeholder engagement
  • Supply chain management
  • CRM software proficiency
  • ERP systems
  • Business reporting
  • Compliance and ethics
  • Sales and marketing strategies
  • Customer service
  • Business writing
  • Analytical reasoning
  • Cloud computing
  • E-commerce management
  • Social media strategy
  • Digital marketing
  • Innovation management

#9. Finance and Accounting Skills

The days of filing financial data and taxes by hand are long behind us, and now there are countless digital platforms and apps you can use instead.

So, it goes without saying that anyone working in finance or accounting should be familiar with the most popular skills and tools in the industry.

Some examples include:

  • Microsoft Excel
  • Enterprise Resource Planning 
  • Big Data Analysis
  • Know Your Customers (KYC)
  • Cognos Analytics (IBM)
  • Visual Basic
  • Accounting Software
  • Revenue recognition
  • Anti-money laundering
  • Clear communication
  • General business knowledge
  • Numerical competence
  • Financial reporting
  • Cost accounting
  • Tax preparation and planning
  • Financial modeling
  • Investment analysis
  • Credit analysis
  • Cash flow management
  • Portfolio management
  • Compliance and regulatory management
  • Audit coordination
  • Project financing
  • Mergers and acquisitions

#10. IT Skills

New technology is popping up every other day, and that’s a great reason for anyone working in IT to keep their skills updated.

That said, if you are proficient in a programming language or two, you pretty much have a leg up on the competition.

Here’s a list of some of the most useful skills for any IT professional out there:

  • Programming languages (Python, Java, C#)
  • Web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
  • Frameworks (React, Angular, Vue.js)
  • Mobile app development (iOS, Android)
  • Database management (SQL, NoSQL)
  • Cloud computing services (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
  • DevOps practices (CI/CD, automation)
  • Containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)
  • Network security protocols
  • Cybersecurity best practices
  • Data analysis and visualization
  • Machine learning and AI algorithms
  • Version control systems (Git, SVN)
  • Agile and Scrum methodologies
  • Software testing and debugging
  • System architecture design
  • API design and development
  • Performance optimization
  • IT project management
  • IT support and troubleshooting
  • Operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux)
  • Scripting (Bash, PowerShell)
  • IT infrastructure management
  • Virtualization technologies
  • IT compliance and governance
  • UX/UI design principles
  • SEO and web analytics
  • Blockchain technology

#11. Nursing and Healthcare Skills

More than any other profession, healthcare professionals need to stay updated on the latest technologies, medicines, and techniques.

While the skills a registered nurse or other healthcare professional needs are countless and can be extremely specific to their specialization, the most basic skills boil down to:

  • Mathematics
  • Paperwork/record-keeping abilities
  • Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
  • Physical endurance 
  • Infection control
  • Surgery preparation
  • Medication administration
  • Emergency room care
  • Psychiatric support
  • Geriatric health
  • Pediatric nursing
  • Oncology knowledge
  • Patient education
  • Medical software proficiency
  • Phlebotomy skills
  • Vital signs monitoring
  • Palliative care
  • Obstetric and neonatal care
  • Medical terminology
  • Ethical decision-making
  • Team coordination
  • Cultural competency

#12. Art and Design Skills

Today, knowing the basics of art and design isn’t enough. To get hired as part of a creative team, be it as a designer or illustrator , you need to know how to create content with different tools and for different channels, like the web and social media.

Some of the most important art and design skills for your resume include:

  • Graphic design
  • Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop)
  • Dreamweaver
  • Infographics
  • Web and app development (HTML, CSS, UX/UI)
  • 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 and aesthetics
  • Interactive media design
  • Color sense and theory
  • 3D modeling and animation (Blender, Autodesk Maya)
  • Video editing (Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro)
  • Motion graphics (Adobe After Effects)
  • Print design
  • Packaging design
  • Branding and identity design
  • Environmental graphic design
  • Exhibition design
  • Illustration
  • Sketching and conceptual visualization
  • User interface design
  • User experience design
  • Prototyping (digital and physical)
  • Content management systems (WordPress)
  • Accessibility standards for design
  • Composition
  • Crafting and use of traditional media
  • Client relations and communication
  • Augmented reality (AR) design
  • Virtual reality (VR) design

#13. Education Skills

You might have three PhDs and still struggle to get the latest educational programs to work in front of your classroom. You’re likely missing some crucial skills for your field.

Teaching methods have evolved, and so have the skills you need to be a teacher or professor at the top of your game. So, here are some essential skills if you want to work in education:

  • Updated curriculum knowledge
  • Educational platforms (Elearn)
  • Technological and digital literacy
  • Lesson planning
  • Classroom management
  • Student assessments
  • Differentiated instruction
  • Educational theory and practice
  • Parent and community engagement
  • Child psychology
  • Educational policy knowledge
  • Student safety and welfare
  • Career counseling
  • Technology integration in the classroom
  • Remote learning management
  • Curriculum adaptation
  • Educational software proficiency

Looking for a job in academia? Learn how to write an academic CV to get started.

Bonus Infographic: Skills to Put on a Resume

Skills to Put on a Resume Infographic

FAQs About Putting Skills on Your Resume

Do you still have some questions about what skills you should put on your resume and how? Check out the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions here:

#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, foreign languages, public speaking, and more.

Examples of soft skills include communication, creativity, leadership, teamwork, time management, and conflict resolution.

#2. What top skills do employers look for?

Currently, some of the top hard skills hiring managers 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 include creativity, collaboration, persuasion, adaptability, and emotional intelligence.

#3. How can I identify my skills?

If you want to identify your skills, start by considering your greatest accomplishments . Have you been recognized for a specific achievement? What skills helped you do it? You’re probably still skilled in those areas.

Next, consider asking friends and coworkers. Sometimes, it’s easier for others to recognize your strengths . If you’re new to the job market, you can ask former professors and classmates to give you some insight, too.

#4. Where do skills go on a resume?

Your skills should go under a separate ‘Skills’ section on your resume, typically placed right below or next to your work experience section.

That said, you should further prove that you have the skills you list in this section. Weave the most relevant skills for the job in other resume sections, such as the resume summary and your work experience sections, to show the hiring manager how those skills are put to use.

#5. How many skills should I 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 job-related skills, you should definitely include them 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 two .

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

If you’re a student with no experience and few job-specific skills, you can benefit from adding transferable skills to your resume. 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, and computer skills.

#7. What are the top 12 skills to put on your resume?

There are several skills that could go on just about any resume, regardless of your targeted job. These include both hard skills and soft skills that can be used in any industry.

We recommend including skills like communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution, computer literacy, research, teamwork, project management, leadership, organization, time management, customer service, and networking.

#9. Does a CV need skills?

There are a few differences between a CV and a resume . But for the most part, if you’re writing a CV for a job application, the structure should be similar to a resume.

So, you should add a skills section to your CV and list skills relevant to the job you’re applying for. The only exception to this rule is when you’re writing an academic CV, in which case skills are optional or even discouraged.

#10. 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 in your resume summary or resume objective, and using your achievements to explain exactly how you used your skills to your advantage.

Key Takeaways

And that’s all there is to putting skills on a resume!

By now, we’re sure you’re a pro and ready to impress the hiring manager with the skills on your resume.

But before you go, let’s sum up the most important things we mentioned in this article:

  • One of the most important sections on your resume is the skill section, and over 41% of hiring managers check it first.
  • The skill section is crucial for making it past the ATS because some of the most important resume keywords are skills you should list on your resume.
  • Skills are divided into hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are technical skills you can gain through experience, training, or education, while soft skills can be attributes or habits related to how you work.
  • Your resume should only list skills that are relevant to the job. Find out which skills these are by scanning through the job ad picking out the required skills that you have, and adding them to your resume.
  • Some skills are universally useful across different professions, like adaptability, communication, and teamwork.

cookies image

To provide a safer experience, the best content and great communication, we use cookies. Learn how we use them for non-authenticated users.

Register now

How it works

Transform your enterprise with the scalable mindsets, skills, & behavior change that drive performance.

Explore how BetterUp connects to your core business systems.

We pair AI with the latest in human-centered coaching to drive powerful, lasting learning and behavior change.

Build leaders that accelerate team performance and engagement.

Unlock performance potential at scale with AI-powered curated growth journeys.

Build resilience, well-being and agility to drive performance across your entire enterprise.

Transform your business, starting with your sales leaders.

Unlock business impact from the top with executive coaching.

Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Accelerate the performance and potential of your agencies and employees.

See how innovative organizations use BetterUp to build a thriving workforce.

Discover how BetterUp measurably impacts key business outcomes for organizations like yours.

A demo is the first step to transforming your business. Meet with us to develop a plan for attaining your goals.

Request a demo

  • What is coaching?

Learn how 1:1 coaching works, who its for, and if it's right for you.

Accelerate your personal and professional growth with the expert guidance of a BetterUp Coach.

Types of Coaching

Navigate career transitions, accelerate your professional growth, and achieve your career goals with expert coaching.

Enhance your communication skills for better personal and professional relationships, with tailored coaching that focuses on your needs.

Find balance, resilience, and well-being in all areas of your life with holistic coaching designed to empower you.

Discover your perfect match : Take our 5-minute assessment and let us pair you with one of our top Coaches tailored just for you.

Find your Coach

Research, expert insights, and resources to develop courageous leaders within your organization.

Best practices, research, and tools to fuel individual and business growth.

View on-demand BetterUp events and learn about upcoming live discussions.

The latest insights and ideas for building a high-performing workplace.

  • BetterUp Briefing

The online magazine that helps you understand tomorrow's workforce trends, today.

Innovative research featured in peer-reviewed journals, press, and more.

Founded in 2022 to deepen the understanding of the intersection of well-being, purpose, and performance

We're on a mission to help everyone live with clarity, purpose, and passion.

Join us and create impactful change.

Read the buzz about BetterUp.

Meet the leadership that's passionate about empowering your workforce.

Find your Coach

For Business

For Individuals

17 Best skills to put on your resume to stand out

woman-creating-a-resume

The best resume immediately answers a hiring manager's most pressing question: “Does this person have the necessary skills?” 

You don’t have much time to answer this question, either. Recruiters scan a resume in just seven seconds to form a first impression and decide whether they’ll offer an interview. 

You must understand the key skills for each job application and express your proficiency quickly to get ahead. We’ll discuss how to choose skills for a resume and add them effectively.

What is a resume skill?

A professional skill is a knowledge, ability, or competency to perform specific tasks or respond to challenges. Each skill is either a hard or soft skill . Hard skills or technical skills refer to our ability to perform knowledge-based tasks, like proficiency with a graphic design program. 

Interpersonal skills , or soft skills, refer to our interactions with others, like our ability to tap into our emotional intelligence to manage a team or our leadership communication skills . 

Learning new skills relevant to your job or reskilling to start a new career is crucial preparation. Every industry and job role requires proficiency in a wide range of job skills, so it's critical to know the most relevant ones for your profession and target the company and highlight them in your resume.

Hard skills for your resume

Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities or knowledge that are often quantifiable and job-specific. Hard skills are gained through experience, practice, and education. They can be measured straightforwardly by our ability to perform a technical task. Hard skills are crucial for performing tasks and functions within a particular field or industry. 

Here are a few hard skills you could include on your resume:

  • Foreign languages 
  • Project management 
  • Marketing fluency, like SEO or SEM
  • Computer skills
  • Software management, like CRM
  • Coding languages, like CSS or Python
  • Design, like Photoshop or Illustrator
  • Data analysis 

Soft skills for your resume

Soft skills are non-technical abilities that relate to how individuals interact with others and navigate social situations. These skills encompass qualities and attributes that shape one's emotional intelligence, communication style, and overall interpersonal effectiveness. They inform how we approach a task or challenge and are unique personal attributes that make us stand out and succeed as employees and leaders.

Unlike hard skills, soft skills are not job-specific but are universally valuable across various roles and industries. Soft skills play a critical role in building strong relationships, collaborating effectively with colleagues, and enhancing overall workplace dynamics.

Here are a few soft skills you could include on your resume:

  • Problem-solving
  • Communication
  • Time management
  • Attention to detail
  • Collaboration

Soft and hard skills often complement one another. Speaking a foreign language is a hard skill requiring specific vocabulary, diction, and grammar knowledge. The communication skills needed to speak this language effectively — knowing how to work through a concept, tell a story, and keep an audience engaged — are soft skills.

How many skills should you add to a resume?

In general you'll want to have 10 to 15 skills listed on you resume. But this varies depending on your level of experience, the specific job you're applying for, and the resume format you're using . Here are some general guidelines to help you determine how many skills to include:

  • Relevance : Focus on skills that are directly relevant to the job you're applying for. Tailor your resume by carefully reviewing the job description and identifying the skills and qualifications the employer is seeking. Highlight the skills that align with the job requirements.
  • Balance : While it's important to include relevant skills, it's equally important not to overwhelm your resume with an excessively long list of skills. Aim for a balance that showcases your key strengths without making your resume too lengthy .
  • Prioritization : Prioritize the most important and sought-after skills . Place the most relevant and impressive skills towards the top of your resume, particularly in the skills section. This ensures that the hiring manager sees your strongest qualifications early in the document.
  • Quantify : Where possible, quantify your skills or provide context. For example, if you are proficient in a programming language, you can mention the number of years of experience you have with it or highlight specific projects where you applied that skill.
  • Quality over quantity : It's better to emphasize a few highly relevant and valuable skills rather than listing a wide range of skills that may not be as important for the job. Hiring managers often appreciate depth and expertise in key areas.
  • Consider resume length : If you have many years of experience and a lot of relevant skills, you may have a longer resume. However, for most applicants, a one-page or two-page resume is typically sufficient. Ensure that your skills section doesn't dominate the entire document.
  • Group skills : You can group similar skills together to save space. For example, you might create categories like "Technical Skills" and "Soft Skills" to organize your skills more effectively.
  • Keep it honest : Only list skills that you genuinely possess and can confidently discuss in an interview. Exaggerating or fabricating skills can lead to problems during the hiring process.

businessman-checking-his-watch-resume-skills-for-resume

Types of skills to add to your resume and cover letter

To show your versatility, try including a diverse set of skills on your resume. Choose a couple from each of the three main categories below:

1. Transferable or functional skills

This covers your competency to perform an action and apply that skill to different tasks, job roles, and industries. Your aptitude to perform a transferable or functional skill is measured by your ability to optimize this skill to various situations.

Transferable or functional skills include:

  • Organization and time management skills
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving skills
  • Writing 
  • Project management
  • Active listening and communication
  • Customer service skills

2. Personal skills

This covers personality traits, behaviors, or perspectives that guide your approach to a task or situation. These are likely interpersoanl skills you’ve developed since childhood through different life experiences.

Personality skills include:

  • Assertiveness
  • Independence
  • Detail-orientedness
  • Strong emotional intelligence
  • Ability to perform under pressure
  • Relationahip-building skills

3. Knowledge-based skills

This includes a theoretical or practical understanding of a specific task or process learned through consistent work experience or education. These are often industry or career-specific and, depending on the expertise required for a particular position, the most in-demand.

Knowledge-based skills include: 

  • Computer skills, including programming languages, web development, or experience with specific programs like Microsoft Office, Excel, or Quickbooks
  • Analytical skills, including data analysis, strategy, or economic forecasting
  • Industry-specific skills, including a content creator with social media apps or marketing skills or a software engineer with specific expertise in Python or HTML

Top 3 skills to put on a resume

We recommend choosing transferable, knowledge-based, and personal skills relevant to the job description and the company’s values. When in doubt, you can’t go wrong using these three top skills on your resume:

1. Managerial skills

If you have any managerial experience, add it to the relevant job description. Good managers can see the bigger picture, organize their teams around a common goal, and demonstrate effective communication techniques.

This experience also shows you’re willing to take on more responsibility and can handle different personalities. 

Expressing your management skills might look like this:

  • 15 years of experience developing multiple teams to [name accomplishment]
  • Ideated and managed [project] and increased revenue by [percentage]
  • Certified in Conflict Resolution from [institution's name]

2. Communication skills

Strong communication skills are essential at every professional level. These skills include actively listening, speaking effectively, observing people and situations, and empathizing and supporting our co-workers, colleagues, and managers.

Expressing your communication skills might look like this:

  • Thrives on constructive criticism
  • Four years of public speaking experience
  • Certified in Non-Verbal Communication at [institute name]

3. Computer skills

Expertise in various technologies or the ability to learn new ones are great hard skills to advertise. These include knowledge of hardware, software, work platforms, or coding languages.

Computer skills might include:

  • Type 145 words per minute
  • Fluency in CRM and CSM
  • Knowledge of Python, Javascript, and HTML
  • Experience with project management softwares like Monday, ClickUp, and Notion
  • Adobe Photoshop

businesswoman-working-with-important-document-resume-skills-for-resume

17 of the best skills to add to your resume

In addition to the three above, here are some of the most important skills to add to your resume skills section. When updating your resume, be sure to include the most relevant skills for the job you're applying to. Social media marketing, for instance, is more of a must-have skill across various marketing roles but fewer project management roles.

1. Conflict resolution

Conflict resolution involves mediating disputes and finding mutually acceptable solutions. This skill is crucial for maintaining a harmonious work environment and productive relationships among team members.

2. Adaptability

Adaptability is the ability to adjust to new circumstances and challenges. In today's rapidly changing world, individuals who can quickly learn and adapt to new technologies, work processes, or environments are highly valuable.

3. Negotiation

Negotiation skills are essential for reaching agreements that benefit all parties involved. Whether in salary negotiations or business deals, effective negotiation can lead to favorable outcomes.

4. Creativity

Creativity involves thinking outside the box to generate innovative ideas and solutions. It's particularly valuable in roles that require problem-solving and innovation, such as marketing or product design.

5. Strategic planning

Strategic planning is the process of setting long-term goals and developing a roadmap to achieve them. This skill is crucial for leaders and managers responsible for guiding an organization's direction.

6. Public speaking

Public speaking is essential for presentations, pitches, and effective communication with large audiences. Confidence and clarity in public speaking can enhance your professional image.

7. Mentoring and coaching

The ability to mentor and coach others in their professional development is valuable for leadership roles and fostering a positive workplace culture.

8. Crisis management

Crisis management involves responding effectively to unexpected and high-pressure situations, minimizing damage, and maintaining business continuity.

9. Risk management

Identifying and mitigating risks is vital in fields such as finance, insurance, and project management to protect against potential losses.

group-of-colleagues-in-a-meeting-resume-skills-for-resume

10. Data privacy and security

With increasing concerns about data breaches and privacy, knowledge of data security measures and compliance with regulations is essential, especially in IT and healthcare industries.

11. Foreign language proficiency

Proficiency in a foreign language can open up opportunities in international business, diplomacy, and global organizations, enhancing your marketability.

12. Sales and marketing

Sales and marketing skills involve promoting products or services and persuading customers to make purchases. These skills are vital in sales and business development roles.

13. Conflict management

Conflict management focuses on identifying, addressing, and resolving conflicts within teams or organizations to maintain a productive and harmonious work environment.

14. Research and data analysis

Strong research and data analysis skills are valuable in fields like market research, academia, and policy analysis, enabling evidence-based decision-making.

15. Digital Marketing

Digital marketing skills, including SEO, social media management, and online advertising, are crucial for businesses looking to expand their online presence and reach.

16. Problem-solving skills

Problem-solving skills are vital for identifying, analyzing, and creatively resolving challenges. They enable individuals to make informed decisions, find innovative solutions, and adapt to changing circumstances. 

17. Project management skills

Project management skills involve planning, organizing, and coordinating resources and teams to achieve specific goals within set constraints. Effective project managers excel at goal-setting, task breakdown, and timeline management. They ensure projects stay on track, meet deadlines, and stay within budget, making them highly sought after across industries.

man-sitting-with-laptop-an-a-dog-resume-skills-for-resume

How to add skills to your resume 

There are endless resume templates to choose from when designing your resume, and most offer a skills section. We’ve outlined four tips for adding skills to catch a recruiter's attention with resume skills examples to help you get started.

1. Choose wisely

Study the company by visiting its website, LinkedIn profile , and other public sources. What values do they promote? Which team members do they highlight and why? 

Read through the job ad and take note of the responsibilities, job requirements, and skills listed by the employer. Use this research to choose skills for your resume. It’s a good idea to list skills the job posting specifically seeks. 

Here’s an example of how to translate a job responsibility into skills when describing work experience on your resume:

Responsibility: Fact-check, proofread, and edit content for accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

Skill on resume: 

  • Eight years of copy and content writing experience with brands and PR agencies
  • Wrote objective-oriented, SEO-driven content for brands
  • Versed in workflow apps, Google Office, and grammar platforms

2. Include a skills section

If a hiring manager spends just seven seconds on a resume, make sure yours is readable. Design the resume to direct the reader's eye to critical information, and include a skills section close to the start. Use relevant action verbs to sell your experience and describe your skills from the beginning.

Don't over-clutter — insufficient white space will deflect the eye rather than attract it. This section should include bullet points with concise information.

3. Subtly mention skills in other sections

Sneak skills throughout your resume, including in the summary and work experience sections. Frequently referencing them will help show the hiring manager you really do possess the skills. 

Here are two examples of a writer's position:

Resume summary with a mixture of transferable and personal skills:

  • Curious, creative, and self-motivated journalist and content writer with six years of experience working independently for agencies and publications.

Work experience section with a mixture of technical and interpersonal skills:

Digital Content Writer, [Company name], [time frame]

  • Experience in Google Workspace, Surfer SEO, and workflow platforms
  • Responsible for writing 10 1500-word SEO and keyword-driven articles weekly
  • Detail-oriented and personable — never missed a deadline and facilitated feedback calls with clients directly

4. Be specific about your proficiency level

Always be clear about your level of expertise. You’ll likely be asked to showcase some of your skills in an interview, so it’s best to be upfront. 

Here are a few examples:

Languages spoken: 

  • English, native
  • Spanish, fluent
  • Japanese, intermediate conversation and listening comprehension, beginner written
  • High-level expertise in Python and Java
  • Mid-level expertise in CSS

Feel confident about the skills on your resume

Building a good resume takes a lot of work. You have to read through the job description and tailor resumes to each post to make sure your profile best aligns with what the recruiter is looking for.

But the effort is worth it. You've spent your entire career learning and nurturing new skills — show them off in your resume and you'll be one step closer to getting the job. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, and listing the right skills will help hiring managers see that.

Ace your job search

Explore effective job search techniques, interview strategies, and ways to overcome job-related challenges. Our coaches specialize in helping you land your dream job.

Maggie Wooll, MBA

Maggie Wooll is a researcher, author, and speaker focused on the evolving future of work. Formerly the lead researcher at the Deloitte Center for the Edge, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Maggie is passionate about creating better work and greater opportunities for all.

How and when to write a functional resume (with examples)

How to put babysitting on a resume: 6 skills to highlight, resume best practices: how far back should a resume go, best work accomplishments to list on your resume (with examples), a quick guide on how to list references on a resume, 7 types of resumes to suit various scenarios, unique skills for resumes to attract attention, use professional reference templates to make hiring smoother, resume dos and don’ts: 29 tips for writing your best resume, similar articles, hard skills versus soft skills and which to use on your resume, all eyes on it: how to make a page-turning portfolio, use these honors and awards resume examples to land your next job, what are professional skills, and which should you add to your resume, 7 tips to make your resume stand out and get that job, 20 marketing skills professionals should have in 2023, what are hard skills & examples for your resume, 17 essential transferable skills to boost your job search, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

3100 E 5th Street, Suite 350 Austin, TX 78702

  • Platform Overview
  • Integrations
  • Powered by AI
  • BetterUp Lead™
  • BetterUp Manage™
  • BetterUp Care®
  • Sales Performance
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Case Studies
  • Why BetterUp?
  • About Coaching
  • Find your Coach
  • Career Coaching
  • Communication Coaching
  • Life Coaching
  • News and Press
  • Leadership Team
  • Become a BetterUp Coach
  • BetterUp Labs
  • Center for Purpose & Performance
  • Leadership Training
  • Business Coaching
  • Contact Support
  • Contact Sales
  • Privacy Policy
  • Acceptable Use Policy
  • Trust & Security
  • Cookie Preferences

important skills for resume

Build my resume

important skills for resume

  • Build a better resume in minutes
  • Resume examples
  • 2,000+ examples that work in 2024
  • Resume templates
  • Free templates for all levels
  • Cover letters
  • Cover letter generator
  • It's like magic, we promise
  • Cover letter examples
  • Free downloads in Word & Docs

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

Stephen Greet

  • 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

Software engineer resume example with 12 years experience

20 Good Skills to Put on a Resume

Young man in front of his laptop reading his 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

A PC monitor and laptop showing well written resumes.

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

Young man sitting behind his computer screen happily typing away.

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.

important skills for resume

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).

Data analyst skills be different facets

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:

Resume skills organized by proficiency

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

Resume skills without categories

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.

Software engineer resume skills example

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.

Software engineer skills in resume work experience

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.).

important skills for resume

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

Digital marketing manager resume with 8 years experience

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

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.

important skills for resume

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.

Open URL icon

Top web developer skills

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

important skills for resume

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)

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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)

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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)

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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

important skills for resume

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!

Create my free resume now

Protect your data

This site uses cookies and related technologies for site operation, and analytics as described in our Privacy Policy . You may choose to consent to our use of these technologies, reject non-essential technologies, or further manage your preferences.

  • Resume and Cover Letter
  • 17 Best Skills to Put on Your...

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

20 min read · Updated on June 13, 2024

Marsha Hebert

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. 

important skills for resume

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

See how your resume stacks up.

Career Advice Newsletter

Our experts gather the best career & resume tips weekly. Delivered weekly, always free.

Thanks! Career advice is on its way.

Share this article:

Let's stay in touch.

Subscribe today to get job tips and career advice that will come in handy.

Your information is secure. Please read our privacy policy for more information.

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:

Statistics Computer Programming Accounting
Carpentry Teaching Mechanical Engineering
Yoga Digital Marketing Sales

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:

Punctual Hardworking Sociable
Ethical Process-Oriented Strong Communication
Leadership Time Management Positive Attitude

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:

Microsoft Word Customer Service Phone Etiquette
Organization Professionalism Attention-To-Detail

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:

Java Programming Excel Pivot Tables Project Management Lifecycle
Basic Life Support Fine Dining Table Service Retail POS Systems

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: 

skills in resume header example

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:

resume example of skills in professional summary

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) :

resume example of skills in summary of skills

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

professional skills resume example

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 in work experience resume example

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: 

how to find relevant skills in job posting for resume

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.

Problem Solving Customer Assistance Trust
Teamwork Positive Team Relationships Relationship Building
MS Windows Operating System iOS Android Operating System
Communication Interpersonal Skills Multi-Tasking
Accountability Initiative Ownership

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

Communication Organization Time Management
Punctuality Attention To Detail Persuasive
Strong Work Ethic Team Player Analytical

Basic Computer Skills

MS Word MS Excel MS PowerPoint
MS Outlook Document Editing Typing
Online Scheduling Video Conferencing Electronic File Management

Customer Service

Phone Support Telephone Etiquette Technical Support
Retail Customer Service Payment Processing
Guest Satisfaction Front-Desk Assistance Reception
Team Management Professional Development Cross-Functional Collaboration
Team Building Resource Allocation Performance Reviews
Public Speaking Media Engagements Interviewing
Budgeting Business Planning Roadmapping
Contract Management Partnership Agreements Risk Assessments
Process Improvement Change Management Best Practice Development
Software Development Quality Assurance SDLC
CAD Data Analytics ERP Systems
Operating Systems Network Administration Information Security
Forecasting Investment Management Accounting
Bookkeeping QuickBooks Expense Reports
Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Financial Projections
Digital Marketing Social Media Marketing Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Graphic Design UI/UX Design Adobe Creative Suite
Branding Marketing Plan Development Gorilla Marketing
Contract Negotiations Relationship Building Client Management
Opportunity Analysis Market Research Competitor Research
Product Development Customer Success Sales Pipelining

Project Management

Waterfall Methodology Agile Methodology Budgeting
Timelines Scheduling Meeting Minutes
Persuasion Accountability Executive Updates

Art & Design

Studio Arts Fashion Design Interior Design
Creative Direction Trend Research Cataloguing
Gallery Management Artist Relationships Photography

Human Resources

Talent Acquisition Workforce Planning Compensation Plans
Benefits Administration Work Culture Organizational Structures
Learning & Development Brand Management Team Structures

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)

Easy Resume Logo

100+ Key Skills for a Resume in 2024 (Examples for any Job)

Learn how to professionally and efficiently list your skills on a resume.

Katerina Frye

How to List Skills on a Resume 

Your skills are just as important as your work experiences. Skills show a recruiter what you can do for the company -- without taking up too much space in your resume. 

Skills can be anything from “creativity” (a soft skill) to “JavaScript” (a hard skill). It’s important to include a mix of both on your resume.

Don’t know what skills you have? Read on to learn the difference between “soft” and “hard” skills, or skim our 250+ skills for each industry to jump right into the resume writing process. 

Beautiful resume templates to land your dream job

Graphic Designer

Soft Skills vs Hard Skills

“Soft” skills are those that are not quantifiable, such as leadership. These skills also cannot be learned, but  are rather a facet of your personality. Nevertheless, soft skills are still critical to have, for they demonstrate that you are personable and competent.

Top Soft Skills to include on your resume

‍ Tip: Use some of the soft skills as adjectives when writing your profile summary . For example, try “enthusiastic entrepreneur,” “empathic childcare worker,” “organized nurses’ aid,” “supportive administration assistant” or “detail-oriented sales associate.”

The resume below is for a Childcare Worker and includes many soft skills that companies look for, including Creativity and Organizational skills.

Childcare Worker

In contrast, “Hard” skills are those that are learned -- either in school or through a certification program. These skills are quantifiable and can be continuously expanded upon through further education. Today, most hard skills have to do with computer technology, such as SEO, CSS/HTML, or Microsoft Suite. Even if you aren’t tech-savvy, chances are you still have a few hard skills.

Top Hard Skills to include on your resume

Tip: Be specific about your hard skills. Instead of listing “Programming Languages,” specify which ones you know -- Python, Java, C, etc. Same with photo editing software and any other platforms you are familiar with.

The resume below is for a Content Marketing Associate, and includes manyhard skills that companies in the marketing industry look for, including experience with Social Media tools. Remember, it's important to be specific in terms of defining and listing what softwares you know.

Content Marketing Associate

How to List Your Skills

Whether you’re a jack of all trades or a master of one, you absolutely must list some skills on your resume. Skills offer additional insight into what you can offer the company as an employee, and may just push your resume over the edge and into the interview pile. 

  • Only list relevant skills . If you’re applying for a position as an engineer, don’t brag about your marketing abilities. Instead, save the space to list the software and programming languages that you know. 
  • List around 5 Skills . Writing too many skills on your resume can be an overwhelming experience for the recruiter. He or she may not fully register your skills, and instead just blankly skim the long list. Conversely, listing too few skills is only selling yourself short. You definitely have more than two skills -- no matter your experience level! So shoot for around 5 skills, with a little wriggle room. 
  • Include both hard and soft skills . Even if your profession seems to rely on soft skills more than hard skills -- or vice versa -- including both makes your resume stronger. For example, if you’re applying to work as a laboratory assistant, list soft skills such as “teamwork,” “problem-solving,” “time management,” or “organization.” If you’re in a more creative field, hard skills include softwares such as “Adobe Creative Suite” and talents such as “photography,” “writing & editing,” or “videography.” 
  • Note your experience level . With each skill, specify whether you are a “beginner,” “expert,” or somewhere in between (using words like “intermediate” and “moderate”). Our resume templates have bars beneath each skill that you can toggle to reflect your expertise. 

The resume below is for a Human Resources Manager, and includes all of the above tips.

Human Resources Manager

250+ Skills for Each Industry  

Although we’ve split these skills up by industry, please note that many skills are applicable to a variety of careers. For example, someone working in marketing might find knowledge of JavaScript just as useful as someone working in the computer science field. 

Let’s jump in!

100+ Key Skills to include on your resume infographic

Office and Administrative Job Skills

  • Answering Phones
  • Bookkeeping (Excel, Turbotax)
  • Office Equipment
  • Welcoming Visitors
  • Calendar Management
  • Organization 
  • Time Management 
  • Problem Solving
  • Attention To Detail
  • Adaptability 
  • Written Communication 
  • Email Platforms (E.G., Gmail And iCloud Mail)
  • Word Processing Software (E.G., Google Docs)
  • Spreadsheet Software
  • Digital Calendars
  • Prioritization 

Sales, Retail, and Customer Service Job Skills

  • Product Knowledge
  • Lead Qualification
  • Lead Prospecting 
  • Customer Needs Analysis
  • Referral Marketing
  • Contract Negotiation
  • Self Motivation
  • Increasing Customer Lifetime Value (Clv)
  • Reducing Customer Acquisition Cost (Cac)
  • CRM Software (Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho, Freshsales)
  • Cashier Skills
  • Knowledge Of Products And Services 
  • Customer Service
  • Communication (More Specifically -- Verbal Communication Skills, Listening Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Written Communication Skills, Public Speaking Skills, Presentation Skills)
  • Math Skills
  • Negotiation 
  • Persuasion  
  • Diplomacy  
  • Cold Calling
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
  • Lead Generation
  • Buyer-responsive Selling
  • Buyer Engagement

Nursing and Healthcare Job Skills

  • Patient Assessment
  • Taking Vital Signs
  • Patient Care
  • Recording Patient Medical History
  • Wound Dressing And Care
  • Urgent And Emergency Care
  • Record-keeping
  • Patient Education
  • NIH Stroke Scale Patient Assessment
  • Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
  • Medicine Administration
  • Blood Pressure Monitoring
  • Rehabilitation Therapy
  • Hygiene Assistance
  • Use Of X-ray, MRI, Cat Scans
  • Glucose Checks
  • Electronic Heart Record (EHR)
  • Decision-Making Ability 
  • Critical Thinking
  • Leadership 
  • Thorough Understanding Of HIPPA And Privacy Policies
  • Ability To Take And Record Vital Signs
  • CPR And First-Aid Certifications
  • Perform And Evaluate Diagnostic Tests
  • Maintain Patient Charts

IT Job Skills

  • Programming Languages
  • Web Development
  • Data Structures
  • Open Source Experience
  • Machine Learning
  • Front-End & Back-End Development
  • Cloud Management
  • Agile Development
  • 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
  • Mobile and Web Development (e.g. iOS, Android)

Engineering & Technical Job Skills

  • STEM Skills
  • Prototyping
  • Troubleshooting
  • Project Launch
  • Lean Manufacturing
  • Workflow Development
  • Computer Skills
  • Technical Report Writing
  • Programming Languages HTML, CSS, CRM tools

Advertising & Marketing Job Skills

  • SEO (SEMRush, WordPress, and Ahrefs)
  • SEM (i.e., Google Adwords)
  • CRO and A/B Testing
  • Social Media Marketing and Paid Social Media Advertising
  • Sales Funnel Management
  • CMS Tools (WordPress, Weebly)
  • Graphic Design Skills (Adobe Creative Suite)
  • Email Marketing (MailChimp, Constant Contact)
  • Email Automation
  • Data Visualization
  • Print Design
  • Photography and Branding
  • Communication 
  • Creativity 
  • Data Analytics (Google Analytics )
  • Web Analytics
  • Email Writing 
  • Google Adwords
  • Social Media And Mobile Marketing 
  • Paid Social Media Advertisements
  • Consumer Behavior Drivers
  • Brand Management
  • B2b Marketing
  •  Writing Advertising Copy
  • Soliciting Feedback From Customers
  • Cutting Costs
  • Leadership skills
  • Task Delegation 
  • Strategic Management
  • Proposal writing
  • Problem-solving
  • Problem solving
  • Website Management
  • Social Media Outreach
  • Video Production
  • Campaign Management
  • Photo Editing
  • Logo Creation
  • Digital Printing
  • Interactive Media Design 
  • Color Sense & Theory
  • Social Media Publishing
  • Storytelling
  • Financial Analysis
  • Consumer Research
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Videography 
  • Technical Writing 

General Management and Project Management Job Skills

  • Agile Project Management (Kanban)
  • Managing Cross-Functional Teams
  • Scrum Management
  • Performance Tracking
  • Financial Modelling
  • Ideation Leadership
  • Feature Definition
  • Forecasting
  • Profit and Loss
  • Scope Management
  • Project Lifecycle Management 
  • Meeting Facilitation
  • Risk Management 
  • Cost Management 
  • Data Analysis 
  • Collaborative 
  • Collaborative Programs (Slack, WhatsApp, Dropbox)
  • Adobe Creative Suite

Browse more resume templates that fit your role

Katerina Frye

Get inspired with more resume examples

Read our how-to guides on making your resume perfect, how to list education on a resume in 2024 (with examples & tips).

Not sure what degree to list? If you should include a GPA? It just so happens that there's a variety of ways to effectively list your eduction.

How to Write Your Resume in Reverse-Chronological Order

When setting out to write the perfect resume, choosing a format is an important decision. Reverse-chronological resumes are the standard format, so knowing how to craft one is key! This guide will teach you how to write the best reverse chronological resumes.

How to Write a Resume Header

Your resume header is the very first thing an employer will see. Not only does it need to contain the correct information, but it needs to stand out as well! In this guide, we will teach you how to write the ideal header for your resume.

How to List References on a Resume in 2024 (with Examples & Tips)

In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about including references on a resume, from how to format them to how to know when they should be included at all.

More advice that will accelerate your career path

See how this college student landed 5 internships.

Learn essential strategies to land your first, second, or even fifth internship as a college student.

How Long Should A Resume Be in 2024? (With Tips to Fit on One Page)

Keeping your resume on a single page keeps it focused and straight to the point. But sometimes it might not be easy to fit it all on one page. When should you use two pages versus trying to fit it all on a single page?

15+ IT Skills to List on Your Resume in 2024 (With Examples)

IT is a massively growing industry with tons of potential for professional growth. It’s no wonder why so many applicants are flocking to these jobs! In this guide, we will cover what IT skills are and offer you examples of some of the top skills to include on your resume.

What is the Difference Between a CV and a Resume in 2024?

If you’ve done any research into the different types of resumes, you’ve likely heard the term CV before. A CV is a type of document with a much more specific purpose than your standard resume. In this article, we will cover exactly what a CV is, how it differs from a resume, and when to consider using one.

Professional resume templates to help land your next dream job.

Riverdale

Facebook • Twitter • Linkedin • Pinterest • Crunchbase

important skills for resume

important skills for resume

20 good skills to put on resume for new grads

Looking for the top skills to include on your resume as a new grad? This guide highlights 20 essential skills to showcase your value to employers.

As a new graduate, it can be challenging to know which skills to highlight on your resume. Employers are looking for candidates who can bring a diverse set of skills to the table, and it's essential to show that you have the skills that are in demand in today's job market. Here are the top 20 skills that new grads should consider including on their resumes:

1. Critical thinking

Employers expect candidates to have strong critical thinking skills to solve problems and make informed decisions. Demonstrate your ability to analyze complex situations, evaluate different perspectives, and develop creative solutions that meet business goals. Provide examples of how you have used critical thinking to improve processes, increase efficiency, or solve complex problems.

2. Creativity

Employers appreciate candidates who can bring fresh ideas to the table and find innovative solutions. Highlight your creativity by sharing examples of how you have solved problems in unconventional ways or how you have introduced new processes that have led to positive results. Provide specific examples of how your creative approach has positively impacted your previous roles or projects.

3. Leadership

Leadership skills are highly sought-after by employers as they demonstrate the ability to motivate and manage others effectively. Highlight your experience in leading teams or projects, and provide examples of how you have inspired team members to achieve common goals. Share specific examples of how you have created a positive work environment, delegated tasks, and provided constructive feedback to team members.

4. Teamwork

Employers value team players who can collaborate, communicate effectively, and support their colleagues. Highlight your ability to work in a team by sharing examples of how you have contributed to a team's success and how you have handled conflicts or disagreements. Demonstrate how you have actively participated in team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and collaborative projects.

5. Time management

Effective time management is crucial in the workplace, and employers look for candidates who can manage their workload efficiently. Demonstrate your ability to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and handle multiple projects simultaneously. Share specific examples of how you have managed your time effectively to complete projects on time and handle unexpected challenges.

6. Organization

Employers seek candidates who are organized and can manage multiple tasks and projects effectively. Highlight your organizational skills by providing examples of how you have kept track of details, managed projects, and met deadlines consistently. Share specific examples of how you have organized your workday, kept track of project timelines, and prioritized tasks to meet deadlines.

7. Attention to detail

Employers look for candidates who pay attention to detail, especially in industries such as healthcare, finance, and law. Showcase your ability to catch errors, maintain accuracy, and deliver high-quality work. Highlight specific instances where your attention to detail has resulted in positive outcomes, such as catching errors before they become costly mistakes, ensuring compliance with regulations, or improving the quality of deliverables.

8. Adaptability

The job market is constantly evolving, and employers want candidates who can adapt to new situations and challenges. Highlight your flexibility by sharing examples of how you have adjusted to changes in your previous roles or how you have learned new skills quickly. Demonstrate your ability to be open to new ideas, take on new responsibilities, and adjust your approach to achieve results in a changing environment.

9. Customer service

Employers want candidates who can provide exceptional customer service to build strong relationships with clients. Highlight your experience in providing customer service and showcase how you have handled challenging situations to ensure customer satisfaction. Share specific examples of how you have handled difficult customers, resolved complaints, and exceeded customer expectations.

10. Communication

As a new graduate, it's essential to showcase your communication skills through your resume and interview. Employers seek candidates who can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, to convey ideas, collaborate with team members, and interact with clients. Highlight your ability to tailor your communication style to different audiences, use active listening skills, and convey complex information in an easy-to-understand manner. Share specific examples of how you have effectively communicated in your previous roles or projects.

11. Data analysis

Data analysis is becoming increasingly important in many industries. Highlight your ability to collect and analyze data by showcasing your experience in data analysis tools and techniques. Share specific examples of how you have used data analysis to inform decision-making, identify trends, and solve complex problems.

12. Technical skills

Depending on your field, you may need to have technical skills, such as coding or proficiency in specific software programs. Highlight your technical skills by providing examples of how you have used them in previous roles or projects. Showcase your ability to learn new technical skills quickly and adapt to changes in technology.

13. Project management

If you've managed projects in the past, be sure to highlight your experience. Employers want candidates who can manage projects from start to finish. Showcase your project management skills by sharing specific examples of how you have planned, executed, and monitored projects, managed resources, and delivered successful outcomes. Highlight your ability to collaborate with stakeholders and communicate project progress effectively.

If you've worked in sales, highlight your experience. Sales skills are valuable in many industries. Showcase your sales skills by providing examples of how you have achieved sales targets, built relationships with customers, and closed deals. Highlight your ability to prospect, negotiate, and communicate effectively with clients.

15. Marketing

If you've worked in marketing, highlight your experience. Marketing skills are valuable in many industries. Showcase your marketing skills by providing examples of how you have developed and executed marketing campaigns, managed social media platforms, and analyzed market trends. Highlight your ability to create compelling content, work with cross-functional teams, and measure the success of marketing initiatives.

16. Public speaking

Public speaking is a valuable skill that requires confidence, preparation, and effective communication. Showcase your ability to speak in front of an audience by highlighting your experience in delivering presentations, leading discussions, or participating in public speaking events. Emphasize your ability to connect with the audience, deliver messages with impact, and handle questions and feedback.

17. Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills are essential in the workplace and involve communication, collaboration, and relationship-building. Highlight your ability to build positive relationships with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders by providing examples of how you have worked with diverse teams, managed conflicts, and demonstrated empathy and respect. Emphasize your ability to listen actively, provide feedback constructively, and communicate effectively in different settings.

18. Research

Research skills are valuable in many industries and involve gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data to inform decisions and solve problems. Highlight your ability to conduct research by showcasing your experience in designing and implementing research studies, collecting and analyzing data, and synthesizing information. Emphasize your ability to use various research methods, tools, and technologies, and to present findings in a clear and compelling way.

19. Writing

Writing skills are essential in many industries and involve communicating ideas, information, and messages through various media. Highlight your ability to write by showcasing your experience in writing different types of documents, such as reports, proposals, emails, or social media posts. Emphasize your ability to write clearly and concisely, adapt to different audiences and purposes, and use correct grammar, syntax, and punctuation.

20. Presentation skills

If you've given presentations in the past, highlight your experience in delivering effective and engaging presentations. Emphasize your ability to plan and prepare presentations, use visual aids and multimedia effectively, and deliver messages with clarity and impact. Provide examples of how you have adapted your presentation style to different audiences, managed time effectively, and received positive feedback.

Hard Skills vs soft skills

When crafting your resume or preparing for an interview, it's important to understand the difference between hard skills and soft skills. Both types of skills are valuable, but they serve different purposes in the workplace. Here's a breakdown of hard skills vs. soft skills and how to showcase them effectively:

Hard Skills:

Hard skills are specific, technical skills that can be taught and measured. Examples of hard skills include programming, data analysis, or graphic design. These skills are typically learned through formal education, training programs, or on-the-job experience. Hard skills are often used to demonstrate proficiency in a particular area or to qualify for a specific job.

To showcase your hard skills, it's important to be specific and provide concrete examples of how you have used these skills in past roles or projects. Use relevant keywords and include any certifications or training programs you have completed to demonstrate your expertise in these areas. You can also highlight any technical tools or software programs you are proficient in.

Soft Skills:

Soft skills, on the other hand, are personal attributes that are often harder to measure or quantify. Examples of soft skills include communication, teamwork, and leadership. Soft skills are often considered to be just as important as hard skills because they can affect how well you work with others and adapt to new situations.

To showcase your soft skills, provide examples of how you have used them to achieve specific goals or overcome challenges. Use specific examples to demonstrate your ability to work well with others, communicate effectively, or lead a team. Soft skills can also be highlighted in your cover letter or personal statement, where you can discuss your personal values and work ethic.

Common Questions

What skills should i include on my resume.

It depends on the job you are applying for and the industry you want to work in. Generally, you should include skills that are relevant to the job and showcase your strengths and abilities.

How many skills should I include on my resume?

You should include the skills that are most relevant to the job, but try to keep it to around 10-15 skills. Including too many skills can make your resume look cluttered and unfocused.

Should I include soft skills on my resume?

Yes, soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and time management are highly valued by employers. These skills can demonstrate your ability to work well with others and adapt to new situations.

How should I format my skills section on my resume?

You can format your skills section as a bullet list or a table. Use bullet points to list your skills and highlight the ones that are most relevant to the job. You can also group similar skills together and use subheadings to make the section more organized.

How can I showcase my skills on my resume?

You can showcase your skills by providing examples of how you have used them in past roles or projects. Use action verbs and specific examples to demonstrate your achievements and show how your skills can benefit the company.

Can I include skills that I don't have much experience in?

It's okay to include skills that you are still developing, but make sure to be honest about your level of experience. You can also highlight your willingness to learn and improve in these areas.

Should I customize my skills section for each job application?

Yes, you should customize your skills section for each job application to highlight the skills that are most relevant to the job. Use keywords from the job description to ensure that your resume passes the initial screening process.

Should I include certifications or training in my skills section?

Yes, you can include relevant certifications or training in your skills section to demonstrate your expertise in a particular area. This can also show that you are committed to continuous learning and professional development.

In conclusion, as a new graduate, it's essential to highlight the skills that are in demand in today's job market. By including the skills listed above on your resume, you'll be able to show employers that you have the skills and abilities they're looking for in a candidate. Good luck with your job search!

Find the right jobs for you. Get hired.

Related stories, most recent stories.

The Ultimate Guide to Hard Skills for the Workplace and Your Resume

man sitting at a table looking at an open laptop while writing notes, with large plants visible in the background

Your car is making that weird noise again and you want to get it fixed. What are you going to look for in a mechanic? Someone who knows how to diagnose and fix the type of issue you’re facing and has some good reviews showing their past performance, right? You’re not going to leave your car at a computer repair shop, or at a place that only does tire changes, or with a mechanic who says they don’t know what they’re doing but they promise they’re really nice. 

Now apply that to your own job search—employers are looking for people who have the skills to complete the job duties for the role and who can show how they’ve used these skills in the past. These black-and-white, objective skills are known as hard skills, and they’re one of the most important pieces of your background to show off in any job search. 

What are hard skills?

Most in-demand hard skills for 2023, 80+ hard skills to add to your resume, how to put hard skills on your resume.

Simply put, hard skills are the specific knowledge or abilities needed to do a job, says Muse career coach Jennifer Smith , founder of Flourish Careers . Hard skills can include knowing how to use specific tools, platforms, or computer programs as well as how to perform certain tasks and processes needed to do your job.

For example, a designer might need to know how to use Photoshop and design infographics; a financial analyst may be expected to know how to use Microsoft Excel as well as analyze, visualize, and present data; and a music teacher might need to know how to play piano and be familiar with certain teaching methods.

Hard skills are often contrasted with soft skills , which are the qualities and abilities that speak to how a person will do their job and relate to others in their workplace, such as strong work ethic, dependability, empathy, creativity, and communication with coworkers and clients. (Read more about the differences between hard and soft skills .)

So what hard skills are the most important? Which will make it easiest for you to get hired? The answers change all the time and are very specific to the job you’re applying for, but as of May 2022, ZipRecruiter identified these 10 hard skills as the most commonly mentioned across all their job descriptions:

  • Customer relationship management (CRM) software
  • Management skills
  • Sales experience
  • Software development
  • Software engineering
  • Computer science
  • Basic life support
  • Budget management
  • Advanced cardiac life support

An important subset of hard skills are technical skills , which are hard skills that require you to use a specific piece of technology or particular technique. According to O*Net , a site from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), these are currently the most in-demand technical skills across all employer job postings:

  • Microsoft Office software (Microsoft Excel ranks first, followed by all Office software, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word)
  • Oracle Java
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) software
  • SAP software
  • Microsoft Azure software
  • Microsoft Access
  • Atlassian JIRA

If you don’t have any of these in-demand skills, though, that doesn’t mean you’re destined for permanent unemployment. With the exception of Microsoft Word, hard skills are often very specific to your career or job function, so the most in-demand ones at any given time are going to be either very broad (like Microsoft Office or management skills) or reflective of the most in-demand jobs or careers at the time (software development and engineering or healthcare at the moment).

Here’s a longer list of hard skills that you might need in your job divided into categories. Note that many skills could fit into more than one category and that this is far from exhaustive. But it should help you get started thinking about what types of hard skills might be relevant for the kind of job you have or want. 

Read More:  The Right Way to Add Skills to Your Resume in 2023 (With 250+ Example Skills)

Data and analytical skills

Data and analytical skills might be the core of your ability to do your job if you’re in a field like research, data science, or financial analysis. Or they might be how you quantify and evaluate your success and plan for the future if you work in marketing, sales, or any other field where processing information is important.

Some examples are:

  • Business analysis
  • Customer analysis
  • Data analysis
  • Data engineering
  • Data mining
  • Data reporting
  • Data presentation
  • Data visualization
  • Financial analysis
  • Forecasting
  • Market analysis
  • Statistical tests
  • SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis
  • Web analytics

Read More: No, Analytical Skills Aren’t Just for Analysts—Here’s How to Show Yours Off in a Job Search  

Hard communication skills

Communication skills might be the first thing you think of when naming soft skills—maybe because I mentioned them earlier in the article. But communication skills can be hard skills when they’re very specific tasks and/or require a knowledge base to do them, says Muse career coach Emily Liou , founder of Cultivitae . The ability to speak another language is also considered a hard skill, and it’s one of the few skills you might consider listing no matter what job you apply for.

Some examples of hard communication skills are:

  • Academic writing
  • Blog writing
  • Content writing
  • Copywriting
  • Editing and proofreading
  • Grant writing
  • Press Release writing
  • Proposal writing
  • Research and reporting
  • Technical report writing
  • Translation
  • Transcription

Read More: Why Writing Skills Are Important for Every Job—and How to Improve Yours

Task-oriented skills

These skills describe the tasks you know how to do to fulfill the responsibilities, or perform the function, of your job. Every job requires task-oriented (a.k.a., functional) skills, but which ones you need vary widely.

  • A/B testing
  • Ability/license to drive a certain type or class of vehicle
  • Account management
  • Calendaring
  • Classroom management
  • Conversion rate optimization
  • Creating slide decks
  • Database administration
  • IV insertion
  • Lead generation
  • Market research
  • Recruitment
  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Social media management
  • Tax preparation
  • User experience (UX) research
  • Website design

Methodologies

Methodologies are set processes for completing tasks, or a series of tasks, within a job. If a job description mentions that the organization uses a certain methodology, framework, strategy, style, or other set standards or principles to accomplish tasks, it’s worth noting when you have experience in it, even if it’s not one of the job requirements.

  • Account-based marketing (ABM)
  • Design sprint
  • Inbound marketing
  • Inquiry-based learning
  • Kinesthetic learning
  • Project management or software development methodologies (such as Agile, Kanban, Scrum, or Waterfall)
  • Style guides—such as AP (Associated Press), APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago, Merriam-Webster, or USGPO (United States Government Publishing Office)

Programming skills/languages

Programming skills—including coding languages—help you build new pieces of technology. They’re a must for anyone in software or web development and related fields, but can also be useful in jobs where you work with tech. For example, if you use a content management system (CMS), knowing HTML might be useful.

  • ADA accessible development
  • API development
  • Application development and scaling
  • Version Control

Programs/tools/software-related skills

This category encompasses the programs and applications you have experience using to accomplish tasks or any part of your job (including communicating with colleagues).  Some examples are:

  • Accounting software (such as Sage 50 Accounting or QuickBooks)
  • Adobe Creative Cloud (After Effects, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop)
  • CMSs (such as WordPress, Drupal, or Squarespace)
  • Customer relationship management (CRM) software (such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or NetSuite)
  • Data software (such as Looker, QlikView, or Tableau)
  • Google Analytics or Search Console
  • Google Workspace (Docs, Drive, Forms, Meet, Sheets, Slides)
  • Learning management systems (such as Blackboard, Canvas, or Google Classroom)
  • Microsoft365 (Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, Word)
  • Project management and collaboration software (such as Airtable, Asana, Jira, or Trello)
  • Social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, or Twitter)
  • Video and remote meeting software (such as Zoom, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, or Microsoft Teams)

The goal of your resume is simple: to show potential employers that you’re the right person for a job. And to be the right person, you have to have the right hard skills and show them off on your resume.

1. Choose which hard skills to highlight.

First, you need to figure out which hard skills are most important for a given role. You should always tailor your resume for each job application and emphasize the relevant experiences and abilities for that position. The ultimate source of truth here is always the job description. So give it a very close read. 

“Generally speaking, when analyzing a job description, you will have a sense of what technical skills or domain knowledge is required or preferred in the role,” Liou says. As you read through the job posting, you should highlight any technologies, tasks, or methodologies you come across. They often appear as “required” or “preferred” skills, qualifications, or experience, but you should also note any hard skills you’d need to perform the job duties or responsibilities listed.

If you want additional ideas, you can also talk with or research the LinkedIn profiles of people who have done the job you want and see which hard skills they mention, Smith says. This is especially valuable if you can find people who have held the position you want at the company you want to work for.

When listing software or other technologies, whatever the company mentions in the job description or is widely used in your field is most helpful. But you can also list similar software to show that you have a basis to learn a tool you’ll need. For example, if a company uses Trello for project management and you have experience with Airtable, you can include Airtable on your resume. 

If a program has a wide variety of uses, consider highlighting the specific tasks you can do within it. For example, if a job listing mentions building pivot tables in Excel as a job duty, simply writing “Microsoft Excel” on your resume isn’t enough.

Once you have the list of hard skills a company is looking for when hiring for a given job, note which ones you have: These are the hard skills that you should highlight on your resume. But be honest with yourself. If you can’t talk about how you’ve used a skill and/or how you learned it, you probably shouldn’t list it.

2. Add your hard skills to a skills section. 

Putting your hard skills in a skills section will ensure they’re easily seen by anyone reading your resume. You might place your skills section at the bottom of the page or you might put it before your work experience, depending on your situation. If you’re an entry-level candidate or you’re changing careers, for example, leading with your skills might make it more clear how you’re qualified for the job in question. And in some fields—like product management —skills sections are more often placed at the top of the page.

Most people use a chronological format in which you simply list your skills in your skills section without explanation, though you might consider dividing your skills into categories like “design” or “writing” to make them easier to read.

Here’s an example of how a skills section might look for someone applying for an in-house accounting and payroll position:

  • Accounting skills: Budget analysis, cash flow analysis, tax preparation, payroll management, invoice processing
  • Technical skills: ADP Workforce Now, QuickBooks, Oracle ERP, Salesforce, Microsoft Excel (VLOOKUP, pivot tables, formulas)
  • Language skills: Native Spanish speaker (written and verbal)

3. Show how you’ve used your hard skills.

W ork your hard skills into the bullet points that describe your past experiences—previous jobs, volunteer positions , activities , projects , and more—and highlight the outcomes, Smith says. You should also quantify the use and results of your skills by incorporating numbers whenever possible.

For example, if you wanted to show your experience with SEO and related hard skills, you might write a bullet point like this:

  • Updated up to 5 old articles a month per SEO best practices using Google Analytics, Search Console, and SEMrush, resulting in an average UV increase of 25% MoM and approximately 50% of updated articles appearing in the top 5 results for targeted keywords.

You might also list related certifications or online courses and, particularly if you’re early in your career, you could work your hard skills into your education section . 

If a certain hard skill is emphasized in the job description or otherwise seems especially valuable to an employer, you might consider including it in a resume summary or headline as well, Smith says.

4. Don’t forget about the ATS .

As you add hard skills to your resume, keep in mind that it will likely need to pass through an applicant tracking system (ATS) , a program that scans and organizes applications. These systems also make it possible to search large batches of resumes for keywords, and “recruiters will type in specific hard skills to find the best qualified matches,” Liou says. So be sure to phrase your hard skills the same way the job description does—don’t just say you’ve managed social media for a company if they’re looking for someone who’s run a Twitter account, for example.

Whatever field or industry you’re in, hard skills are key to landing your next gig. After all, they show employers that you can actually do the job they’re hiring for.

important skills for resume

Jobscan > Resume Formats

Resume Formats That Help Get You Job Interviews

Find out how to choose the best resume format to showcase your skills, experience, and achievements.

author image

Trusted by:

company logo

A good resume format organizes your skills, experience, and achievements. It tells hiring managers what they need to know.

Having a good resume format is important for another reason. It helps applicant tracking systems (ATS) read and understand your resume.

ATS is a computer software that most companies use today to help them hire employees. One of the main jobs of ATS is to screen the hundreds of resumes that come in for every job opening.

If your resume isn’t formatted the right way, the ATS will have trouble reading it. This makes it far less likely that a hiring manager will see your resume.

Don’t worry! Choosing a resume format isn’t as hard as it sounds. This article will guide you through the process.

By the end of it, you’ll know which resume format is best for your situation.

The 3 basic resume formats

There are three basic resume formats to choose from. They are:

  • Chronological – Lists your work history in order, starting with your most recent job first.
  • Functional – Focuses on your skills and accomplishments instead of your work history.
  • Hybrid – Places your skills and accomplishments at the top, before your work history.

It’s important to understand the pros and cons of each format. This allows you to choose the one that best suits your specific situation and career goals.

After choosing a format, consider using a resume template to help create your resume. A template is a pre-designed layout that provides a structured framework for presenting your skills and experience. All you have to do is fill in your information.

Jobscan has a variety of free resume templates you can use. Our templates come in all three resume formats and each one is ATS-friendly.

Chronological

Chronological

Functional

The chronological resume format

Also known as the “reverse chronological” resume, this is the most common type of format. You’re most likely already familiar with it.

As the name suggests, this format lists your most recent job first. Then your second-most recent job, your third-most recent job, etc…

Why do hiring managers like the chronological resume?

Hiring managers often prefer the chronological resume format for several reasons:

  • It’s easy to follow – Recruiters can scan through your resume. It’s easy for them to find the companies you’ve worked for and the positions you’ve held.
  • It’s the most traditional – Hiring managers are very familiar with this format. It won’t confuse them.
  • It shows your career growth – Your work history makes it easy for recruiters to see how your career is going.

resume-formats

Who should use the chronological resume format?

Because this resume format focuses on work experience, it’s often used by job seekers who:

Have a strong work history

This format is ideal for job seekers who have lots of relevant work experience. It allows recruiters to see your career trajectory at a glance. They can get a good sense of the breadth and depth of your expertise.

Work in traditional industries

Many traditional industries prefer the chronological format. These industries include finance, engineering, healthcare, and legal professions. These sectors generally place a strong emphasis on a candidate’s work history.

Have a stable career path

The chronological resume is good at showing steady career growth within an industry. Hiring managers like to see this because it shows commitment.

How to set up a chronological resume

The reverse chronological resume contains the following sections, from top to bottom:

  • Contact Information : Begin your resume with your name, phone number, and email address. You can also include a professional website or LinkedIn profile (if applicable).
  • Resume Summary : This is a short statement about your goals, qualifications, and experience. It should provide a snapshot of your professional profile.
  • Work Experience : This is the heart of the chronological resume. List your jobs in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent position. Include the company name, job title, and dates of employment. Add a brief description of your responsibilities and accomplishments for each role.
  • Education : This section should also be in reverse chronological order. List degrees earned, school names, and graduation dates. You may also want to list academic honors or certifications relevant to your field.
  • Skills : This section allows you to highlight relevant skills. Include both hard and soft skills.
  • Additional Sections : Depending on your background, you may choose to include more sections. These could include volunteer work, hobbies, publications, or foreign languages.

You don’t have to create your resume from scratch. You can use a resume template. This is a pre-designed layout that includes all the sections listed above. All you have to do is fill in your information.

Jobscan has free resume templates . Each one is ATS-friendly and can be easily customized to suit your needs.

Pros and cons of the chronological resume format

  • Draws attention to employment gaps – Shows if you’ve had periods of unemployment or job breaks.
  • Not ideal for career changers – Does not highlight your transferable skills. These are important if you are making a significant career change.
  • Less focus on skills – Does not immediately highlight your specific skills. These are listed later in a separate skills section.
  • Emphasizes career progression – Highlights promotions, increased responsibilities, and relevant experience.
  • Preferred by recruiters – This makes it easy for them to assess your work history.
  • Shows career stability – A stable career shows commitment to a job or industry.
  • ATS-friendly – Applicant tracking systems are familiar with this format. They should have no problem reading and understanding your information.

Functional resume format

This is also known as the skills-based resume format. It’s quite different from the chronological resume format.

The chronological format focuses on your work history. The functional format focuses on your skills and achievements. It minimizes your work experience.

This has several advantages:

  • Focusing on your skills helps recruiters see if you can do the job.
  • This format downplays negatives like employment gaps, career changes, and limited work experience. Instead, it focuses on positives, such as your transferable skills.
  • This format also focuses on achievements that are relevant to the job you’re applying to. This makes it easier for recruiters to assess your capabilities.

Why do hiring managers like the functional format?

Actually, hiring managers don’t like the functional resume format!

This is because the lack of work experience makes it hard for them to understand your career. The functional format can also hide periods of unemployment. Hiring managers prefer transparency.

Another big reason why you shouldn’t use the functional resume format is that it’s not ATS-friendly.

ATS scan resumes for specific keywords, job titles, and dates. They use this information to assess an applicant’s qualifications for a specific job.

But functional resumes don’t focus on job titles and dates. So the ATS might have trouble reading and understanding them. As a result, functional resumes may not receive high rankings from an ATS.

resume-formats

Who should use the functional resume format?

While we don’t recommend using a functional resume, it can help certain job seekers. Especially those who:

Have transferable skills

Are you considering a career change? The functional format might be for you. It emphasizes your transferable skills that are relevant to the desired role.

Transferable skills are abilities that you can use in any job in any field or industry. They include things like communication, problem-solving, leadership, time management, organization, and adaptability.

Have limited work experience

The functional resume is for recent graduates or people with limited work experience. This is because it highlights things like your school achievements, hobbies, and volunteering.

Have employment gaps

The functional format downplays gaps in your work history. It redirects the focus of hiring managers toward your skills.

How to set up a functional resume

When creating a functional resume, follow this structure:

  • Contact Information: This is the same regardless of which resume format you choose. Include your name, phone number, email address, and location.
  • Resume Summary: The resume summary provides a concise snapshot of your qualifications. It should touch upon your unique skills, expertise, and accomplishments. The goal is to attract the reader’s interest.
  • Skills Section : This is the heart of your functional (or skills-based) resume. This section should include a combination of hard skills (technical abilities specific to the job) and soft skills (transferable skills like communication , leadership , problem-solving , etc.).
  • Use bullet points when creating your skills section. List your most relevant skills first. Whenever possible, try to include achievements that display relevant skills.
  • Work Experience: Whatever work experience you have should come after your skills section. Don’t list detailed job descriptions. Instead, focus on the accomplishments, projects, and experiences that show your skills.
  • Education : Include information about your educational background. This includes degrees earned, institution names, and graduation dates. Also include relevant coursework, certifications , or academic achievements.

If you don’t want to build your functional resume from scratch, try Jobscan’s free resume templates . They’re easy to customize and each one is ATS-friendly.

Pros and cons of the functional resume format

  • Lack of detailed work history – Employers often want to see your work experience to see if you can do the job.
  • No career timeline – Recruiters may find it hard to grasp the chronology of your work experience. This is because the focus is on your skills.
  • Less suitable for established industries – Some industries focus more on work history.
  • Highlights skills and achievements – This shows employers that you have what it takes to do the job.
  • Good for career changers – This format focuses on your transferable skills. These give recruiters a good idea of your potential.
  • Hides employment gaps – This format can lessen concerns about gaps in your work history.

Hybrid resume format

The hybrid resume format is becoming more popular. It combines the best aspects of the chronological and functional resume formats.

That’s why it’s called a hybrid .

The hybrid resume emphasizes both skills and work history. It features a dedicated skills section at the top of the resume. Below that is a chronological work experience section.

This format is especially helpful when you have lots of work experience but also want to show off your skills and accomplishments.

Why do hiring managers like the hybrid format?

Hiring managers appreciate the hybrid resume format for several reasons:

  • It strikes a balance – Recruiters can see your skills and your work experience.
  • It focuses on key skills – Sometimes recruiters want to make sure you have the skills to do the job. This resume format tells them immediately.
  • It shows career progression – The hybrid resume provides a clear overview of your career path.

resume-formats

Who should use the hybrid resume format?

Anyone can use the hybrid resume format to great advantage. It’s especially suited to job seekers who:

Have a diverse skill set

You might have the perfect skills for the job. But your work experience is a little weak. This format allows you to feature your skills while downplaying your work experience.

Want to emphasize achievements

The hybrid format allows you to showcase achievements as well as skills at the top of your resume.

Are changing careers

The hybrid is good if you are transitioning to a new field. It focuses more on your transferable skills and slightly less on your work history.

How to set up a hybrid resume

When creating a hybrid resume, follow this structure:

  • Contact Information : Begin with your name, contact details, phone number, and email address. You can also include your professional website or LinkedIn profile (if applicable).
  • Resume Summary: Try to distill your entire resume into a short, easy-to-read blurb. Summaries can help career changers who need a place to explain a shift in career trajectory.
  • Skills Section : Use bullet points to list your skills and achievements. Include both hard skills and soft skills.
  • Work Experience: List your jobs in reverse chronological order. Start with your most recent or current position. Include the company name, job title, and dates of employment. Also, include a brief description of your responsibilities and accomplishments for each role.
  • Education : List your education as you would on a chronological resume. Include degrees earned, school names, and graduation dates. You may also want to list academic honors or certifications relevant to your field.

If you don’t want to build your hybrid resume from scratch, try Jobscan’s free resume templates . They’re easy to customize and each one is ATS-friendly.

Pros and cons of the hybrid resume format

  • Can result in a longer resume – The hybrid format may result in a longer resume. This is due to the inclusion of both a skills section and a detailed work history. But this shouldn’t be a problem as long as your resume isn’t more than two pages.
  • Requires more thought – It can be hard to achieve the right balance between skills and work history. It requires thoughtful consideration and planning.
  • Highlights your skills – By showing your skills first, this format captures the attention of hiring managers who are looking for them.
  • Showcases your career progression – This format includes a chronological work experience section. This gives employers a good sense of your professional background and experience.
  • Adaptable – The hybrid resume is flexible and easy to customize for specific jobs.
  • ATS-friendly – ATS should have no problem reading this type of resume format.

If you’re still not sure which format to use for your resume, follow this flowchart to help you decide based on your situation.

How to format your resume so an ATS can read it

It’s important to choose the right resume format. But it’s also important to optimize your resume layout and content for an ATS.

If your resume is not optimized for an ATS, it’s less likely to make it into the hands of a hiring manager. Even if you have relevant skills and experience.

Here are some tips for creating a resume that will get past the initial screening of an ATS.

  • Use standard fonts – Stick to common fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Avoid fancy or decorative fonts. The ATS may not recognize them.
  • Keep it simple – Avoid excessive formattings, such as tables, images, or graphics, as they may confuse the ATS.
  • Use simple headings – Use headings like “Work Experience,” “Education,” and “Skills”. The ATS can read these without a problem.
  • Use plain text – Stick to basic formatting like bullet points and simple indentation. Avoid using headers or footers, text boxes, columns, or special characters.
  • Use a font size that is easy to read – The recommended font size is 11-12 pt for regular text and 14-16 pt for section titles.
  • Use the right margin – Make sure that the margins on all sides of your resume are 1 inch so that it doesn’t look too crowded.
  • Include relevant keywords – Read the job description and pick out prominent keywords. Incorporate these keywords throughout your resume. This helps the ATS recognize your qualifications. It will then rank your resume higher in the search results.
  • Use standard file formats – Save your resume as a .docx or .pdf file. These formats are widely compatible with most ATS systems.
  • Avoid abbreviations and acronyms – Spell out acronyms and avoid excessive abbreviations. The ATS may not recognize uncommon abbreviations.
  • Keep the file name simple – When saving your resume, use a simple file name. You could use the word “resume” for example. This makes it easier for the ATS and hiring managers to identify and organize your file.

Pro Tip : Use Jobscan’s free resume templates to start building your resume. All our templates are ATS-friendly and easy to customize.

5 tips for writing a resume that will get you interviews

Here are some additional tips that will help you create an effective resume:

Tailor each resume to the job you are applying for

Don’t make the mistake of sending out the exact same resume with every application. Yes, it’s easy. It’s also ineffective.

Instead, read the job description to find out which skills and qualifications are most important. Then try to include those skills on your resume.

When you use the same language on your resume that’s found in the job description, you increase your chances of getting an interview.

Highlight achievements as well as responsibilities

While it’s important to list your job responsibilities on your resume, you also want to highlight accomplishments .

Responsibilities are what you did. Accomplishments are how well you did it.

For example, if you increased sales or reduced costs, be sure to mention these accomplishments.

Use action verbs

Action verbs paint a clearer picture of your qualifications. They increase the overall impact of your resume.

Instead of simply stating that you were “responsible for” a certain task or project, explain how you took charge and made it happen.

For example, you could say that you “spearheaded a new initiative” or “coordinated a complex team effort.”

Use numbers

Try to use numbers whenever possible. Numbers show the true scope of your accomplishments to hiring managers.

Instead of saying that you “Created marketing campaigns” you could say that you “Created 10 successful marketing campaigns that generated a 20% increase in leads.”

Use active voice, not passive

Always try to use active voice instead of passive voice when writing your resume. Active voice is more direct, concise, and easier to read.

In active voice, the subject of the sentence is doing the verb. In passive voice, the subject is being acted upon by the verb.

If you’re not sure whether your resume is using active or passive voice, try running it through the Hemingway editor . It’s free and will tell you if you’re using passive voice.

Additional resume resources

Selecting the right resume format is the first step to creating an impactful resume. To learn more about how to create a resume that will stand out, check out these additional resources:

  • How to Write a Resume That Recruiters Will Really Love – This step-by-step resume guide will teach you how to write a resume that stands out.
  • How to Add Work Experience to Your Resume – Learn how to create a work experience section that will grab the attention of hiring managers.
  • 8 Things You Need to Know About Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) – Here’s everything you need to know about ATS. What they are, how they work, and especially how you can “beat” them!
  • How to Write a Strong Resume Skills Section – Here are the top resume skills employers are looking for. Learn how to list them on your resume.
  • Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills – Learn the difference between hard and soft skills and why you need both on your resume.
  • Free Professional Resume Templates – These ATS-friendly resume templates feature sleek, minimalist designs.

FAQs about resume formats

What does ats-friendly resume format mean.

An ATS-friendly resume format is one that can be read by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Employers use these systems to manage and filter large volumes of resumes.

When you use an ATS-friendly format , it increases the chances that a hiring manager will find your resume.

Is a resume format the same as a resume template?

No, they are two different things.

Resume format refers to the structure and organization of the content in a resume. A resume template refers to a pre-designed layout you can use to create a resume.

Is there a separate student resume format?

There isn’t a specific “student resume format” per se. Students generally use the same resume formats as other job seekers. But they may emphasize different sections or information.

A student’s resume highlights coursework, internships, part-time jobs, extracurricular activities, and academic achievements.

What is the best resume format for 2023?

The best resume format for you depends on your specific circumstances. This includes your work experience, career goals, and the industry you’re targeting.

Having said that, we like the hybrid resume format .

Employers are looking for job candidates who have the right skills. And the hybrid resume features skills right at the top of the resume. Employers also want to see a work experience section on a resume. The hybrid has that as well.

This powerful combination of skills and experiences makes the hybrid resume our top choice for 2023 and beyond.

Free Professional Resume Templates

Jobscan’s free Microsoft Word compatible resume templates feature sleek, minimalist designs and are formatted for the applicant tracking systems that virtually all major companies use.

Computer with resume

Explore more resume resources

icons_resources

How to write a resume

icons_resources

Resume Templates

icons_resources

Resume Examples

icons_resources

Resume Builder

Explore Jobs

  • Jobs Near Me
  • Remote Jobs
  • Full Time Jobs
  • Part Time Jobs
  • Entry Level Jobs
  • Work From Home Jobs

Find Specific Jobs

  • $15 Per Hour Jobs
  • $20 Per Hour Jobs
  • Hiring Immediately Jobs
  • High School Jobs
  • H1b Visa Jobs

Explore Careers

  • Business And Financial
  • Architecture And Engineering
  • Computer And Mathematical

Explore Professions

  • What They Do
  • Certifications
  • Demographics

Best Companies

  • Health Care
  • Fortune 500

Explore Companies

  • CEO And Executies
  • Resume Builder
  • Career Advice
  • Explore Majors
  • Questions And Answers
  • Interview Questions

The Most Important Social Media Skills (With Examples + Definitions)

  • What Are Hard Skills?
  • What Are Technical Skills?
  • What Are What Are Life Skills?
  • What Are Social Media Skills Resume?
  • What Are Administrative Skills?
  • What Are Analytical Skills?
  • What Are Research Skills?
  • What Are Transferable Skills?
  • What Are Microsoft Office Skills?
  • What Are Clerical Skills?
  • What Are Computer Skills?
  • What Are Core Competencies?
  • What Are Collaboration Skills?
  • What Are Conflict Resolution Skills?
  • What Are Mathematical Skills?
  • How To Delegate

Find a Job You Really Want In

Social media skills like writing, graphic design, and data analysis are important to have for a wide variety of jobs. To make yourself a more valuable employee, work on improving these skills and then highlight them on your resume.

So, if you’re a job seeker who wants to know more about social media skills, you’re in luck. Here are some social media skills examples that you should make sure you have when applying for a job, as well as instances of social media skills on resumes.

Key Takeaways:

The social media industry is always changing, so it’s important to keep your qualifications up to date.

Social media skills are more than just using Facebook: Writing, graphic design, and community management are key social media skills.

Hiring managers and recruiters are looking for certain keywords on resumes , so it is important to highlight them properly there.

The Most Important Social Media Skills with Examples and Definitions.

What are social media skills?

Types of social media skills, how to highlight your social media skills, examples of how to include social media skills on resume, how to improve your social media skills, social media resume skills faq.

  • Sign Up For More Advice and Jobs

Social media skills are traits and abilities to create and convey marketing material on social media platforms to achieve a business goal. People who thrive in these positions normally understand how social media platforms work, are creative, and enjoy creating written or visual content.

Social media skills extend beyond just posting content to Facebook. Really good social media marketers understand the larger business objectives and have the skills to communicate effectively . Writing, graphic design, and community management are key social media skills.

Social media skills comes in many shapes and forms. Here’s an extensive list of the most important skills for a social media marketer :

Writing. It may sound obvious, but social media managers need to know how to write well . his doesn’t just mean being able to craft clever and concise captions, though.

It means knowing how to write with the voice of the organization while still adjusting it to fit each platform. Your posts on Facebook will sound different than what you put on Twitter, but both should sound like they came from the same person or company.

Your ability to learn and reflect the voice of the organization you work for and then adapt it to different platforms is something to hone and then highlight when you’re applying for a job.

Graphic design. You don’t need to be a professional graphic designer in order to be an effective social media manager , but you do need to at least know some basics.

Find an online course on design principles, or find websites like Canva that offer templates for amateurs to use. Whether you prefer these or more complex software like Adobe Photoshop, becoming proficient with a design tool will make your job easier and help you become a more valuable asset to businesses.

Data analysis. A large part of effective social media marketing is analyzing data. Whether it’s identifying your most active audience or figuring out why some posts perform better than others, it’s important that you know what works well and what doesn’t.

Employers want to see that you can identify best practices and implement them in the future. If you can, get certified for individual analytics platforms like Google Analytics and Facebook Business Manager. These classes are usually free when you do them through the platform itself, and they’re a great way to brush up on your skills and have additional credentials to put on your resume.

Marketing strategy. Even though you may not be the one coming up with the company’s marketing strategy, you will need to be able to help further it through social media.

Whether that’s keeping branding consistent, increasing brand awareness, or creating strategies to get customers to your website, you’re a key element in making the marketing strategy happen.

Companies want to know that you’ll be able to effectively work with the marketing team or even add to it with ideas of your own. This often comes from experience, so make sure you mention that in your resume and cover letter . If you need some help in this area, you might consider taking a class at your local college to help build the foundation you need.

Social media management software. Whether you’re managing social media for one company or several, you probably know that scheduling posts in advance are one of the most effective strategies you can have.

While you can usually do this from the platforms themselves, most businesses want to use third-party tools to help keep the content and analytics all in one place.

While you don’t necessarily need to have used every management software out there, being familiar with one or two of the most popular ones like Hootsuite and Sprout Social will show potential employers that you know the basics and can figure out the software they prefer you use.

Digital media. While different companies have different expectations for how much actual content curation you’ll do for them, it’s important that you’re able to cut together a simple video and take a well-framed photo.

You’ll also become more valuable if you can do a quick touch-up on your photos and format files correctly for easy sharing and viewing without having to contact the IT or graphic design teams.

Content management. While many larger companies may not require you to do much with their websites, smaller companies often have their social media managers handle tasks like putting videos and blog posts on web pages as well as on social media. If this is the case, they’ll want to know that you’re familiar with using systems like WordPress.

If you’re going to be doing a lot of this work, learning basic HTML can also be helpful for troubleshooting and formatting. Plus, it’ll help you get into your IT department’s good graces, since they won’t have to help you every time you want to post something.

Law and ethics. There’s no need for you to become a lawyer or even take law classes, but having a basic understanding of the rules 一 both written and unwritten 一 that govern social media is necessary to keep you and your company out of hot water.

Every action, from sharing photos of employees and customers to handling nasty comments, requires some level of understanding about the ethical implications that come with it.

Making sure you’re up to date in this arena is always a good idea, especially if you’re working for organizations that are government-run or deal with minors or sensitive data.

Customer service . One of the biggest benefits of businesses having social media presences is that it allows customers to reach them more easily. This also means that it’s easier for them to post complaints and questions, however.

As the social media manager , you’ll need to be able to demonstrate your ability to handle these issues. If you don’t have a system in place for taking care of these questions and comments, it’s a good idea to do some research on best practices and make one, especially before a job interview.

Flexibility. Being able to turn on a dime and rework your social media strategy is an important skill to have, since this field works directly with people and technology, two factors that create ever-changing and ever-challenging work.

In addition to these external influences, you also need to be ready to adjust to internal company changes.

Whether it’s a crisis or a new marketing strategy, being able to rethink your entire plan at a moment’s notice and still keep a smile on your face is a skill that will make you a highly valuable asset to your employer.

Problem-solving . In addition to being flexible, the best social media managers are able to think quickly on their feet and come up with effective and creative solutions.

Whether it’s handling an incorrect post, finding ways to increase engagement or simply filling your calendar with content, having effective problem-solving skills is vital for anyone working with social media. This means being able to come up with your own ideas as well as knowing how to quickly research reputable tips and ideas.

Time management. As with any job, knowing how to effectively manage your time and energy is important when dealing with social media.

In this case, though, it includes setting time aside for batching your posts, knowing when you need to check your analytics, and scheduling time for strategic planning, whether that’s once a month, quarter or year.

This skill is especially valuable if the company wants you to handle responsibilities beyond managing social media as well.

Research and development. Because the world of social media is always changing, it’s important that you keep up with the current trends and best practices. Hiring managers will want to know that you can do this effectively.

If you haven’t already, find a few publications or forums that are designed to update you as the industry changes and follow them closely. Check in regularly with each of the platforms to see what metrics they’ve added or adjusted, and then figure out how that affects you.

This is not an industry where you can set it and forget it, so you need to be constantly improving and fine-tuning your work.

Community management. One of the main reasons companies are on social media is to connect with their current and future customers.

This means they want to know that the person speaking on their behalf is good at building and maintaining relationships. You’ll have your own way of doing this, but you should be able to identify specific steps you take to relate to your audience.

It may be that you share the content you know your followers want to see, promptly respond to every comment and message, or interact with other pages and influencers. When your customers feel connected to you as an organization, they’re more willing to trust and buy from you, which is, after all, the end goal.

Knowing what social media skills to put on resume, or to talk about in an interview is valuable when you’re searching for a job in social media management.

Hiring managers and recruiters are looking for certain keywords, as well as a certain type of person, to run their company’s social media pages.

Let’s cover the best way to showcase your social media skills:

On your resume. The best way to optimize your resume skills for a specific position is to borrow language from the job description.

Highlight adjectives and soft skills in one color, and job-specific nouns and hard skills in another color. Then, look for ways to honestly and naturally incorporate those words into your resume.

You can work your social media skills into your resume’s summary statement (e.g., “Dedicated social media manager with 3+ years experience driving engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter”), in your work experience section , and in your skills section .

When writing about your professional history, be sure to focus on accomplishments rather than duties. Think about the metrics that matter to a company: conversion rates and engagement. If you can, use numbers to describe your past results more accurately. Hiring managers and recruiters love to see what your direct impact was on projects.

In your skills section, simply use any of the above skills we mentioned above that also come up in the job description. Be sure to specifically name which platforms you have experience with.

In your cover letter. Cover letters for social media positions should be highly engaging. Your whole job revolves around getting people’s attention quickly, and your cover letter is the ultimate test of getting a hiring manager’s attention.

Open strong — ditch the standard “I am writing to apply to…” starter and lead with a bang that makes sense for the industry. Then, go into the details of one or two of your major social media-related accomplishments.

Remember to talk about things from a big-picture angle so you show that you understand social media is just one part of a company’s marketing puzzle.

During the job interview. Getting your social media skills in a job interview involves speaking the lingo confidently and being personable. Be ready with a few stories for any behavioral interview questions that come your way. Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to organize your stories into coherent narratives.

Be sure to follow up with an email after the interview , to express your gratitude and perhaps rehash your most relevant skills and experience.

Social media skills don’t do you any good if you can’t show potential employers that you have them, so here’s a sample resume to help you see how to emphasize these key skills. You don’t need to include all of them, but be sure to highlight the ones you’re strongest in.

You should also tailor your resume and cover letter to feature skills specifically listed in the job posting and be ready to provide anecdotes about them in an interview.

Social Media Skills Example Resume Angela Martin Chicago, IL [email protected] 222-333-4444 Summary I love creating strategies to better reach and connect with new audiences. I’m always looking for opportunities to improve my skills and use them to further an organization. Experience Communications and Marketing Specialist – August 2018-Present – Hanson Technology, Inc. – Chicago, IL Curated social media content for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn Created and implemented new digital marketing campaign strategies, including Google ads and Facebook retargeted ad campaigns Interpreted social media analytics reports and used them to develop best practices Responded to approximately 25 customer questions on social media daily Photographed events and campus activities for use in marketing materials, press releases, and social media Worked with emergency response team to develop crisis communication plan for social media Researched and wrote bi-monthly blog posts and shared them across social media channels Maintained and updated website content and SEO Social Media Manager – January-April 2018 – World Charity – Chicago, IL Planned and wrote social media content, monitored and responded to comments Created text and concept for highest-performing social media and online ad the organization had seen Collaborated with marketing team on strategy for finding new donors Produced marketing videos and ran video ad campaigns on social media platforms Skills WordPress; SproutSocial; Facebook Ads Manager; Google Analytics; WordPress; Basic HTML; Basic Adobe CC Photoshop, PremierPro; MS Office suite Certifications and Training Media Law and Ethics; Google Analytics Academy; SEO; Principles of Graphic Design Education Bachelor of Arts in Communications – May 2018 – University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (Summa Cum Laude)

You can always improve your social media skills, regardless of whether you’re a seasoned professional or just getting your start in social media management.

Here are a few ways to up your game:

Take a course. In today’s world, e-learning is easier than ever. There are plenty of free options for courses on sites like edX, Coursera, and Udemy. You can also pay to receive a certification and get a more hands-on learning experience.

Diversify. You might be really good at generating engagement on Facebook, but struggle to achieve results with Twitter. Identify your weak areas so that you know where you’ll get the best bang for your buck in upping your skills.

Market yourself. One of the best ways to sell yourself to employers (while also gaining real-world experience) is by promoting yourself. Create a personal webpage and used social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to drive visitors and potential clients onto it.

Understand your niche. Being good at social media means knowing your community well. It’s best to take on clients where you understand the needs of their customer base. After all, it’s hard to talk to people about the solutions you offer unless you know what problems they need help with.

How do you describe social media skills on a resume?

To describe social media skills on a resume, incorporate them into your work history, summary statement, and skills sections. If you have any accomplishments or major responsibilities that included social media, detail those in your work history section.

If you’re applying for a position that involves a lot of social media use, highlight your top qualifications in this area in your summary statement.

Is social media a hard or soft skill?

Social media is a hard skill since it doesn’t necessarily apply to any job. However, many of the skills you need to have in order to be successful in social media are soft skills. These include communication, customer service, and problem-solving.

How important is social media in the workplace?

Social media is very important in the modern workplace. This is because it’s been suggested by previous research that social media usage can improve employee productivity and communication.

In an age when 99.8% of Fortune 500 companies are using at least one form of social media to represent their brand and improve communication, understanding the benefits and drawbacks of its use in the workplace is crucial.

It’s important for organizations to clearly define their stance on the topic of social media. Having no regulations about their employee’s usage of social media can have dire impacts on success because it can harm their brand image online if their staff makes inappropriate posts.

Additionally, companies without social media policies are more likely to find that their employees are using social media unproductively during work hours.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Career Outlook: Social Media Specialist

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating / 5. Vote count:

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

' src=

Abby is a writer who is passionate about the power of story. Whether it’s communicating complicated topics in a clear way or helping readers connect with another person or place from the comfort of their couch. Abby attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she earned a degree in writing with concentrations in journalism and business.

Recent Job Searches

  • Registered Nurse Jobs Resume Location
  • Truck Driver Jobs Resume Location
  • Call Center Representative Jobs Resume Location
  • Customer Service Representative Jobs Resume
  • Delivery Driver Jobs Resume Location
  • Warehouse Worker Jobs Resume Location
  • Account Executive Jobs Resume Location
  • Sales Associate Jobs Resume Location
  • Licensed Practical Nurse Jobs Resume Location
  • Company Driver Jobs Resume

Related posts

important skills for resume

What Is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)? (With Examples)

important skills for resume

Creative Thinking Skills (Definitions, Examples, And How To Improve)

important skills for resume

The Most Important Transferable Skills (With Examples)

important skills for resume

Most Important Administrative Skills (With Examples)

  • Career Advice >
  • Hard Skills >
  • Social Media Skills

IMAGES

  1. 30 Leading Abilities for a Resume (With Examples).

    important skills for resume

  2. Are Soft Skills Important On A Resume

    important skills for resume

  3. How to list special skills on your resume (100+ skills) · Resume.io

    important skills for resume

  4. 42++ Skills to write in resume for internship For Your Learning Needs

    important skills for resume

  5. Important Business Skills For Resume

    important skills for resume

  6. Key Skills And Qualities For Cv Examples

    important skills for resume

VIDEO

  1. Employability skills / Resume making skills ( module 2 ) / 2nd year / Answers #naanmudhalvan

  2. Soft Skills = Communication?! 🗣️🤔| Sidd Ahmed

  3. How to Update Your Resume Skills Section

  4. Five Important Skills Of A Business Analyst

  5. Get IT Job easily by adding this Soft Skills💯| Freshers must add this skills| Resume format in tamil

  6. 5 Skills You Can Add to Get Your Resume Shortlisted

COMMENTS

  1. Skills Resume Template

    Browse 100s of Eye-Catching Resume Templates & Format Them in Minutes!

  2. Free Resume Skill List

    Build Your Perfect Resume for Free! Choose from Hundreds of Designs.

  3. 10 Best Skills To Put On Your Resume (With Examples and FAQ)

    Learn how to showcase your skills on a resume with examples and tips for different roles. Find out the difference between hard skills and soft skills, and how to highlight your transferable skills for any job.

  4. 120 Essential Skills To List on a Resume

    Learn about different types of skills employers value and how to highlight them on your resume. Find examples of hard skills, soft skills, technical skills, language skills, design skills and more.

  5. 100 Good Skills to Put on a Resume [Complete Guide]

    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.

  6. 101 Essential Skills to Put on a Resume in 2024 [For Most Jobs]

    Learn how to identify and list the right skills for your resume, whether they are hard or soft, technical or transferable. Find out the best skills for different fields and how to format them for maximum impact.

  7. 250+ Skills for Your Resume (and How to Add Them)

    10. Decision-making skills. Many jobs require you to make choices all the time. For example, picking a new vendor for office supplies, making cuts to a budget, deciding to bring other people in to solve an issue, or prioritizing work tasks on your to-do list all require decision-making skills.

  8. 20 Best Skills to Put on Your Resume (With Examples)

    Learn how to list the best skills for your resume, including soft skills and hard skills, for different types of jobs. Find out what employers love to see on your resume and how to showcase your skills effectively.

  9. 200+ Best Skills To List on Your Resume in 2024

    Learn the difference between hard skills and soft skills, and how to showcase them on your resume. Find examples of industry-specific hard skills and soft skills for various jobs and careers.

  10. 15 Best Skills for a Resume in 2024 + How-To Guide

    2. Include Relevant Skills in a Separate Skills Section. Help recruiters spot strengths on your resume in a flash by creating a standalone skills section where you put your most important qualifications. Make sure to: Be precise ("Written and verbal communication," instead of "good communicator").

  11. 17 Best Resume Skills to Land Your Dream Job in 2024

    When in doubt, you can't go wrong using these three top skills on your resume: 1. Managerial skills. If you have any managerial experience, add it to the relevant job description. Good managers can see the bigger picture, organize their teams around a common goal, and demonstrate effective communication techniques.

  12. 150 Top Skills for Your Resume + How to List Skills in 2024

    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).

  13. 17 Best Skills to Put on Your Resume (with Examples)

    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.

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

    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.

  15. 100+ Key Skills for a Resume in 2024 (Examples for any Job)

    Learn how to list your skills on a resume, whether they are soft or hard, and how to customize them for different industries. Find 250+ skills for office, sales, nursing, IT, engineering and more.

  16. Best Skills for a Resume in 2024 (Resume Skills Examples)

    Companies require hard skills to demonstrate your ability to perform job duties effectively. Top-10 hard skills examples: 1 Computer skills. 2 Research. 3 Data mining. 4 Database management. 5 Creative thinking. 6 Resource management. 7 Marketing.

  17. 250+ Most In-Demand Skills to Put on a Resume [Examples & Tips]

    Agile Development. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) 26 Finance & Accounting Skills to Put on a Resume. The following skills—which include both hard and soft skills—are crucial for those working in a variety of financial professions, including accounting, investing, and finance management. Soft Skills.

  18. The Top 10 Best Skills to Feature on Your Resume

    Our data revealed that 11 percent of jobs required professional skills. Professionalism is important because it fosters trust and promotes a positive work environment. 7. Customer service skills. Customer service is the ability to deal with customers by providing help, answering queries, and resolving issues.

  19. Skills for Resume: Essential Examples Across Professions

    Companies have a high need for polished design work, from multimedia to website layouts. Important skills to put on a resume for this type of job include: Knowledge of security across different platforms. Computer forensics skills. Risk identification and management. Scripting.

  20. 11 Key Skills for Your Resume That Can Help You Get Employed

    11 key skills to include on your resume Here's a list of key skills employers often look for on resumes: 1. Communication skills Communication skills include written, verbal and nonverbal abilities that professionals use to work with colleagues, clients and other businesses. They describe a candidate's ability to receive information through active listening and interpretation and respond ...

  21. 10 Best Skills to Include on a Resume (2024)

    Software. Foreign languages. Operating certain equipment or machinery. Soft skills, on the other hand, are abilities that can be applied in any job. Often, soft skills may be referred to as "people skills" or "social skills" and include proficiency in things like: Communication. Customer service. Problem-solving.

  22. 20 good skills to put on resume for new grads

    10. Communication. As a new graduate, it's essential to showcase your communication skills through your resume and interview. Employers seek candidates who can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, to convey ideas, collaborate with team members, and interact with clients. Highlight your ability to tailor your communication ...

  23. Soft Skills for Your Resume: List & 100+ Examples for 2024

    Soft skills are essential to success in the workplace, especially in roles where you work on a team or interact with customers frequently. Resume Genius recently conducted its Hiring Trends Survey and found that out of 625 hiring managers:. 54% believe soft skills are highly important; 48% have opted not to hire a candidate because they were lacking soft skills

  24. What Are Hard Skills? (With 50+ Examples)

    Sales experience. Recruiting. Software development. Software engineering. Computer science. Basic life support. Budget management. Advanced cardiac life support. An important subset of hard skills are technical skills, which are hard skills that require you to use a specific piece of technology or particular technique.

  25. The 14 Most Important Soft Skills for Your Resume

    An essential soft skill is the ability to produce typo-free, well-written, well-formatted email communications throughout the hiring process. We have a high bar in terms of what we expect from our ...

  26. What Are Job Skills and Why Do They Matter?

    Job skills for resumes Job skills—both workplace and technical—are very important to employers looking to fill positions. Many employers are increasingly concerned with finding applicants with relevant skills rather than those that simply possess credentials . It's important to showcase your unique talents on your resume. Let's review one ...

  27. Resume Formats That Help Get You Job Interviews

    Employers are looking for job candidates who have the right skills. And the hybrid resume features skills right at the top of the resume. Employers also want to see a work experience section on a resume. The hybrid has that as well. This powerful combination of skills and experiences makes the hybrid resume our top choice for 2023 and beyond.

  28. 82 Examples of Hard Skills To Boost Your Resume (Plus Tips)

    Examples of hard skills. Here are some common hard skills across various industries, along with explanations of what they are and how they help in a professional setting: 1. Automotive servicing. Automotive servicing skills are the abilities to perform maintenance on a car, truck, SUV or similar vehicle.

  29. The Most Important Social Media Skills (With Examples

    Then, look for ways to honestly and naturally incorporate those words into your resume. You can work your social media skills into your resume's summary statement (e.g., "Dedicated social media manager with 3+ years experience driving engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter"), in your work experience section, and in your skills ...

  30. What Are Program Associate Skills: A Comprehensive Guide

    It is extremely important to effectively communicate your skills to your potential employer. Here are some points to consider while highlighting your skills. On your resume Understand the job description and tailor your resume to highlight the relevant skills you possess. Use quantifiable achievements to validate these skills.

  31. What are Lighting Technician Skills?

    Read more: Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills: Understanding the Difference Lighting technician hard skills Just as important as soft skills are to a lighting technician's role, so are the hard skills. These are more technical, concrete and easier to quantify. Below is a list of essential lighting technician hard skills: Knowledge of lighting equipment

  32. Industrial Mechanic Skills

    Effectively highlighting your industrial mechanic skills could help you stand out to potential employers. Here are some ways to showcase your skills during a job search: On your resume Tailor your resume according to the job description. Highlight relevant hard and soft skills in your resume, especially those that match the job requirements.