Your skills section is one of the most scanned parts of your resume — by humans and by applicant tracking systems. Here are the skills to put on your resume and how to choose the right ones for each job.
Hard skills vs. soft skills
- Hard skills are teachable and measurable: Excel, SQL, accounting, AWS, Spanish, forklift operation.
- Soft skills are interpersonal and behavioral: communication, leadership, adaptability.
Recruiters search primarily for hard skills, but soft skills matter in interviews and in your experience bullets. The best skills to put on resume depend on the exact job you want.
In-demand hard skills
- Data analysis (Excel, SQL, Python) When choosing skills to put on resume, prioritize hard skills recruiters search for.
- Cloud computing (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
- Cybersecurity
- Project management (Agile, Scrum)
- Digital marketing (SEO, Google Ads, analytics)
- CRM software (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- AI tools and prompt-based workflows
- Financial modeling and budgeting
- Foreign languages
- Technical writing
Top soft skills employers want
- Communication Soft skills are valuable skills to put on resume when you prove them with results.
- Problem solving
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Leadership
- Adaptability
- Time management
- Critical thinking
- Emotional intelligence
- Attention to detail
- Customer focus
How to choose which skills to list
- Start with the job description. Include the skills it asks for that you genuinely have. Start your list of skills to put on resume by highlighting the job description.
- Prioritize hard skills in the skills section; show soft skills through achievements.
- Keep it relevant — 8 to 15 skills is usually enough.
- Use the employer’s wording — see resume keywords.
How to format your skills section
Group skills for readability: Group your skills to put on resume into categories so they're easy to scan.
Technical: AWS, Terraform, Python, SQL, Power BI
Methods: Agile, Scrum, ITIL
Languages: English, Spanish (fluent)
Avoid skill bars or star ratings — they can’t be read by applicant tracking systems and don’t mean much to recruiters.
Prove skills in your experience section
“Excellent communicator” is weak. “Presented quarterly results to C-suite and secured $500K budget increase” proves it. Technical tools are often the most searched skills to put on resume.
Skills by job category
| Job category | Skills to consider |
|---|---|
| Administrative | Microsoft 365, scheduling, data entry, CRM, travel coordination |
| Customer service | Zendesk, conflict resolution, de-escalation, upselling, CSAT |
| Finance | Financial modeling, GAAP, reconciliations, forecasting, Excel |
| Marketing | SEO, Google Analytics, content strategy, HubSpot, A/B testing |
| IT / cloud | AWS, Azure, Linux, networking, Terraform, scripting |
| Healthcare | EHR/EMR, patient education, HIPAA, care coordination |
| Sales | Prospecting, Salesforce, negotiation, pipeline management |
Should you list skill levels?
Instead of ratings, show proficiency through context: “Advanced Excel (Power Query, macros)” or “Conversational Spanish.” For technical roles, years of experience with a tool can help AI matching tools and recruiters evaluate fit. Outdated tools are not good skills to put on resume unless the job asks for them.
Technical skills employers search for most
Technology appears in nearly every job today. Depending on your field, consider: Career changers should mix new and transferable skills to put on resume.
- Office and productivity: Microsoft 365 (Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Google Workspace, Teams, Slack, Zoom Use these examples as a model when you choose skills to put on resume for your field.
- Data: Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query), SQL, Python, Power BI, Tableau
- Cloud and IT: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Linux, Active Directory, networking, ServiceNow
- Development: JavaScript, Java, Python, Git, REST APIs, CI/CD
- Business systems: Salesforce, HubSpot, SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks, Workday
- Design: Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva
- Project tools: Jira, Asana, Monday.com, Smartsheet, MS Project
- AI tools: generative AI assistants, prompt writing, workflow automation (list specific tools you use)
Soft skills — and how to prove them
Listing soft skills is easy. Proving them is what makes a resume convincing:
| Soft skill | Proof on your resume |
|---|---|
| Leadership | Led a team of 12; promoted 3 direct reports |
| Communication | Presented quarterly results to the executive team |
| Problem solving | Identified root cause of recurring outages, cutting incidents 40% |
| Adaptability | Transitioned team to remote work in 2 weeks with no service disruption |
| Collaboration | Partnered with sales and engineering to launch a new product line |
| Time management | Managed 15 concurrent projects with a 98% on-time rate |
Skills section examples
Project manager:
Skills: Agile & Scrum · Stakeholder management · Risk management · Budgeting · Jira · MS Project · Vendor management · Change management · PMP
Customer service representative:
Skills: Zendesk · Salesforce Service Cloud · De-escalation · Bilingual English/Spanish · Order processing · CSAT improvement · 65 WPM typing
Data analyst:
Technical: SQL · Python (pandas) · Power BI · Tableau · Excel (Power Query) · Statistics
Business: Forecasting · KPI reporting · Data storytelling · Stakeholder communication
Registered nurse:
Clinical: Triage · IV therapy · Patient education · Wound care · Epic EHR
Certifications: BLS · ACLS · PALS
Skills to leave off your resume
- Outdated technologies (unless the job asks for them)
- Basic skills everyone is assumed to have (“email,” “internet”)
- Skills you can’t discuss confidently in an interview
- Generic personality traits without evidence
- Skills unrelated to the role, such as hobbies (unless they show relevant ability)
How AI recruiting tools read your skills
Recruiters increasingly use AI resume screening tools that pull skills from your resume and compare them to the job’s requirements. These tools often normalize synonyms and weigh must-have skills more heavily. To get credit:
- Use the standard name of each tool or skill (“Microsoft Power BI,” “Kubernetes”).
- Mention key skills in both the skills section and your experience bullets.
- Include years of experience for your most important skills when relevant.
- Keep the skills section updated as you learn — an outdated list costs you matches.
How often should you update your skills?
Review your skills section every time you complete a course, earn a certification or take on a new responsibility — and before every job search. Keep a “master” list of everything you can do, then choose the most relevant 8–15 for each application. Pair this with our guide to resume keywords for the best results.
Transferable skills for career changers
If you’re switching fields, your skills section is where you bridge the gap. Combine:
- New technical skills you’ve learned for the target role (e.g., SQL, Figma, AWS)
- Transferable strengths from your previous career that the new role needs (e.g., stakeholder management, training, budgeting)
- Industry knowledge that makes you uniquely valuable (e.g., clinical workflows, retail operations, financial regulations)
Read our full list of transferable skills for ideas.
Skills for entry-level candidates
With little work experience, skills from school, internships, volunteering and part-time jobs count. Strong entry-level skills include Microsoft Excel, customer service, research, writing, social media management, basic coding, foreign languages and any certifications you’ve earned. Pair each with a project or example in your experience or projects section.
Skills on your resume vs. in the interview
Every skill you list is fair game for interview questions. Before an interview, review your skills section and prepare a short example for each of your top five: when you used it, what you did, and what happened. If you can’t speak about a skill confidently, remove it or move it to a “familiar with” line.
Quick skills section checklist
- 8–15 skills relevant to this specific job
- Hard skills listed in the skills section; soft skills proven in bullets
- Standard names for tools and technologies
- Grouped into categories if you have many
- No skill bars, ratings or graphics
- Matches your LinkedIn skills
Skills that are rising in demand
Employer demand keeps shifting toward skills that help businesses work faster and safer. Skills seeing growing interest across many industries include:
- AI literacy: using generative AI tools responsibly to draft, summarize, analyze and automate
- Data literacy: reading dashboards, questioning numbers and making data-informed decisions
- Cloud fluency: understanding how cloud platforms, SaaS tools and integrations fit together
- Cybersecurity awareness: protecting data, spotting phishing and following security policies
- Change management: helping teams adopt new tools and processes
- Customer experience: improving retention and satisfaction in competitive markets
If you have any of these, make them visible — with a concrete example — on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
Putting it all together: example
Skills
Data & AI: SQL · Power BI · Python (pandas) · Generative AI tools for reporting automation
Business: Forecasting · Budget analysis · Stakeholder communication · Change management
Tools: Excel (Power Query, XLOOKUP) · Salesforce · Jira
This version is specific, grouped for skimming, and written in the same language employers use in their job descriptions.
Skills to put on resume: key takeaways
Here is a quick recap of skills to put on resume to save or share:
- Choose skills to put on resume directly from the job description.
- List hard skills; prove soft skills in your bullets.
- Use standard tool names so ATS and AI matching recognize them.
- Keep 8–15 relevant skills per application.
For official labor-market data and more career research, see the CareerOneStop (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor) and O*NET OnLine skills and occupation data. Ready to put this into practice? Make sure your resume matches every job you apply for with the HiReXL ATS Resume Optimizer.
Frequently asked questions
How many skills should I put on my resume?
Generally 8–15 relevant skills, prioritized by what the job description asks for.
Should soft skills be on a resume?
Yes, but they're more convincing when demonstrated in your experience bullets and summary rather than just listed.
What skills are most in demand right now?
Cloud computing, data analysis, cybersecurity, AI tool fluency, project management and communication are consistently in high demand.
Make your resume match the job — automatically
The HiReXL ATS Resume Optimizer aligns your resume with any job description’s keywords — truthfully — while keeping your original format and fonts.
