What are the best skills to put on a resume?

The hard skills named in the job posting that you genuinely have: specific software, tools, methods, languages and certifications. Add two to four soft skills only if you can prove each one with a result in your experience section. There's no universal best list, because the right skills are the ones the specific job asks for.

How many skills should I list on my resume?

Between 8 and 15 for most resumes. Entry-level candidates usually list 6 to 10, and technical roles can go up to about 20 if the skills are grouped by category. Put the skills the posting mentions first at the top of the list.

Should I put soft skills on my resume?

Sparingly. A list of soft skills like communication or teamwork doesn't convince anyone because everyone claims them. Show soft skills through results in your bullets instead, and include an exact soft-skill phrase only if the job posting specifically asks for it.

Where should the skills section go on a resume?

Below work experience for most people, because experience is the evidence. Put skills above experience if you're in a technical role where the stack is the main qualification, or if you're changing careers and your transferable skills make a stronger case than your job titles.

Do ATS systems scan the skills section?

Yes. An applicant tracking system parses the whole resume into searchable text, and recruiters often filter by skills from the posting. Use the posting's exact wording, keep the section in plain text rather than a table or graphic, and repeat your key skills inside your experience bullets.

Should I rate my skill levels on a resume?

No. Skill bars, stars and percentages don't parse in most applicant tracking systems, and a rating like 3 out of 5 invites questions without adding information. If level matters, use plain words such as fluent, conversational, advanced or certified.

What skills can I put on a resume with no experience?

Software you use regularly, certifications like CPR or Google Analytics, transferable skills from part-time or volunteer work such as cash handling or scheduling, and languages with an honest level. Back one or two of them with a concrete result from a class project, club or job.

Is it OK to list skills I'm still learning?

Only if you can use them at a basic working level and you label them honestly, for example under a line like 'Currently learning: Python (pandas)'. Never list a skill you couldn't discuss in an interview, because every skill on the page is fair game for questions.

ATS Optimization

Skills to Put on a Resume: 80+ Examples by Job (and How ATS Reads Them)

By RoyOctober 9, 202610 min read

Tagsresume keywords ats resume resume tips resume formatting

Most "skills to put on a resume" lists hand you fifty generic words like communication, teamwork and problem-solving, and every one of them is already on the other 200 resumes in the pile. The skills that actually move a resume forward are narrower and more boring: the specific tools, methods and certifications the job posting names. Here is how to pick them, with examples by job.

What are good skills to put on a resume?

Good resume skills have three things in common: they're specific, they're requested by the job and you can prove them. A quick way to sort any skill you're considering:

Which skills earn a place on your resume

Type of skill	Examples	Put it on?
Hard skill named in the posting	SQL, Epic EHR, QuickBooks, forklift certification, Figma	Yes. List it in skills and use it in a bullet.
Hard skill relevant to the field, not named	Tableau for an analyst role that only lists Power BI	Yes, lower in the list. It shows range.
Soft skill you can prove with a result	Training new hires (trained 12 agents), de-escalation	Yes, but show it in a bullet rather than only listing it.
Generic soft skill	Hard-working, team player, detail-oriented	Usually no. It takes space and convinces nobody.
Basic software everyone has	Microsoft Word, email, internet research	Only if the posting explicitly asks for it.
Skill you've only read about	A framework you watched one tutorial on	No. It's the first thing an interviewer will ask about.

The point of the skills section is to make the match obvious. A recruiter, or the search filter inside an applicant tracking system, is checking whether you have the things on their list. Generic adjectives don't answer that question. Named tools and methods do.

Skills to put on a resume, by job

These are the hard and soft skills that show up most often in postings for each field. Treat them as a starting point, not a list to copy. Keep only the ones you have, and add whatever the specific posting names that isn't here.

Example resume skills by job

Job	Hard skills	Soft skills worth proving
Customer service	Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, live chat, ticket triage, CRM data entry, typing 60+ WPM	De-escalation, patience under volume, clear written communication
Retail / sales associate	POS systems, cash handling, inventory counts, merchandising, upselling, Shopify	Customer rapport, working under pressure, reliability
Sales (B2B)	Salesforce, HubSpot, pipeline management, cold outreach, discovery calls, contract negotiation	Persuasion, resilience, active listening
Administrative assistant	Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, calendar management, travel booking, minute-taking, QuickBooks	Organisation, discretion, prioritising
Data analyst	SQL, Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), Python (pandas), Tableau or Power BI, A/B testing, dbt	Explaining findings to non-technical teams, curiosity
Software engineer	A language stack (e.g. TypeScript, Python, Go), React, REST APIs, AWS, Docker, CI/CD, Git	Code review, written design docs, mentoring
Project manager	Jira, Asana, Agile/Scrum, budgeting, risk registers, stakeholder reporting, PMP	Leadership without authority, negotiation, conflict resolution
Marketing	Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, Meta Ads, SEO, HubSpot, email automation, copywriting	Creativity with data, cross-team collaboration
Registered nurse	Epic or Cerner EHR, medication administration, IV therapy, patient assessment, BLS/ACLS	Compassion, calm in emergencies, patient education
Medical assistant	Vital signs, phlebotomy, EHR charting, scheduling, ICD-10 coding, CPR certification	Bedside manner, attention to detail
Accountant	GAAP, account reconciliation, month-end close, NetSuite or SAP, Excel modelling, CPA	Accuracy, deadline management
Teacher	Lesson planning, differentiated instruction, Google Classroom, IEP support, classroom management	Patience, parent communication
Warehouse / logistics	Forklift certification, RF scanners, pick-and-pack, WMS software, OSHA safety, cycle counts	Reliability, teamwork on shift
Graphic designer	Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, brand guidelines, typography, motion basics	Taking feedback, presenting work

For deeper, role-specific lists, see our guides to data analyst resume skills, software engineer resume examples, nursing resume examples and customer service resume examples.

What's the difference between hard skills and soft skills?

Hard skills are teachable and checkable: a tool, a language, a certification, a procedure. You either know Excel pivot tables or you don't. Soft skills are behaviours: communication, leadership, adaptability. Everyone claims them and nobody can verify them from a list.

That's why the two belong in different places:

Hard skills go in the skills section and in your bullets. The section makes them easy to scan; the bullets prove you used them.
Soft skills go in your bullets, shown through results. "Strong communicator" in a list is invisible. "Rewrote the onboarding guide, cutting new-hire questions to the team lead by half" demonstrates communication without using the word.

If a posting explicitly lists a soft skill ("excellent written communication"), it's fine to include that exact phrase once, ideally in your summary or a bullet, so a recruiter searching for it finds it.

How many skills should you put on a resume?

8–15 is the right range for most resumes. Fewer than eight usually means you're underselling. More than 20 turns the section into a keyword dump that recruiters skip and that makes it harder to tell what you're actually strong at.

A few rules of thumb:

Entry-level: 6–10 skills, weighted toward tools and certifications from coursework, jobs and projects.
Mid-level: 10–15, grouped into two or three categories.
Technical roles: up to ~20 is normal if they're grouped (Languages / Frameworks / Cloud / Tools), because the stack is the qualification.

Order matters more than count. Put the skills the posting mentions first at the start of the list.

How should you format the skills section?

Keep it plain so both people and parsers can read it:

Use a standard heading. "Skills" or "Technical Skills" works. Creative labels like "My Toolbox" can confuse an applicant tracking system's section detection. See ATS resume section headings.
Use comma-separated lines or simple bullets, not a table or graphic. Skill bars, star ratings and icons don't parse into text, and a rating of "4/5 in Excel" raises more questions than it answers.
Group by type when you have more than ~10. For example: Software: Salesforce, HubSpot, Excel · Methods: pipeline forecasting, discovery calls · Languages: Spanish (fluent).
Spell it the way the posting does, and include the acronym. Write "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" once if the posting uses both forms, so either search finds you.
Put it where it helps. Below experience for most people; above experience for technical roles and career changers. Resume sections covers the order.

How do applicant tracking systems read your skills?

An applicant tracking system (ATS) like Workday, Greenhouse or iCIMS parses your resume into text and fields. Recruiters then search and filter that text, often by the skills in the posting. A few practical consequences:

Exact terms matter. If the posting says "Power BI" and you wrote "Microsoft BI dashboards", a keyword search for Power BI may miss you.
Context counts. Many systems and recruiters weight a skill that appears in an experience bullet more than one that appears only in a list, because it shows where and when you used it.
Stuffing doesn't work. Repeating a skill ten times or hiding white-text keywords gets you flagged by the human who reads the resume next.

The fastest way to find the right terms is to pull them from the posting itself. Paste a job description into our free resume keyword generator (no signup) to see which skills it emphasises, then check your resume against them with the free resume checker. More on the matching itself in ATS resume keywords.

What skills should you put on a resume with no experience?

Lean on skills you can prove from school, part-time work, volunteering or projects:

Software you actually use: Excel or Google Sheets, Canva, Google Workspace, a programming language from a class.
Certifications: CPR/First Aid, food handler, Google Analytics, forklift, language certificates.
Transferable work skills: cash handling, customer service, scheduling, inventory, social media management for a club.
Languages: list your level honestly (native, fluent, conversational).

Then prove one or two soft skills through a project or role: "Organised a 40-person fundraiser that raised $2,300" says more about organisation and initiative than either word could. Our guide to a resume with no experience covers the rest of the page.

Which skills should you leave off?

Skills older than the job's tech. Windows XP, Flash, or a tool the industry abandoned years ago dates you without helping.
Universal basics. Email, internet browsing and "Microsoft Office" (unless the posting asks for it) take space without adding information.
Anything you couldn't discuss for two minutes. Every listed skill is fair game in an interview.
Skill levels as graphics. Bars and percentages don't parse and invite awkward questions.
Personality traits as skills. "Hard-working" and "passionate" belong nowhere on a resume. Show them in results instead.

How do you tailor your skills to each job?

Reorder, don't rewrite. Keep a master list of every skill you could claim, and for each application:

Pull the skills the posting names (the keyword generator does this in seconds).
Move the matching ones to the front of your skills section, using the posting's spelling.
Make sure the top two or three also appear in an experience bullet.
Cut anything irrelevant that's pushing the list past ~15.

That takes about five minutes per application. If you'd rather not do it by hand, our resume optimizer reads the job description and rewrites your skills and bullets to match it, without inventing experience you don't have.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best skills to put on a resume?: The hard skills named in the job posting that you genuinely have: specific software, tools, methods, languages and certifications. Add two to four soft skills only if you can prove each one with a result in your experience section. There's no universal best list, because the right skills are the ones the specific job asks for.
How many skills should I list on my resume?: Between 8 and 15 for most resumes. Entry-level candidates usually list 6 to 10, and technical roles can go up to about 20 if the skills are grouped by category. Put the skills the posting mentions first at the top of the list.
Should I put soft skills on my resume?: Sparingly. A list of soft skills like communication or teamwork doesn't convince anyone because everyone claims them. Show soft skills through results in your bullets instead, and include an exact soft-skill phrase only if the job posting specifically asks for it.
Where should the skills section go on a resume?: Below work experience for most people, because experience is the evidence. Put skills above experience if you're in a technical role where the stack is the main qualification, or if you're changing careers and your transferable skills make a stronger case than your job titles.
Do ATS systems scan the skills section?: Yes. An applicant tracking system parses the whole resume into searchable text, and recruiters often filter by skills from the posting. Use the posting's exact wording, keep the section in plain text rather than a table or graphic, and repeat your key skills inside your experience bullets.
Should I rate my skill levels on a resume?: No. Skill bars, stars and percentages don't parse in most applicant tracking systems, and a rating like 3 out of 5 invites questions without adding information. If level matters, use plain words such as fluent, conversational, advanced or certified.
What skills can I put on a resume with no experience?: Software you use regularly, certifications like CPR or Google Analytics, transferable skills from part-time or volunteer work such as cash handling or scheduling, and languages with an honest level. Back one or two of them with a concrete result from a class project, club or job.
Is it OK to list skills I'm still learning?: Only if you can use them at a basic working level and you label them honestly, for example under a line like 'Currently learning: Python (pandas)'. Never list a skill you couldn't discuss in an interview, because every skill on the page is fair game for questions.