What Skills to Put on a Resume (and How to Choose Them)

The skills to put on a resume are the ones the job posting asks for that you can actually prove: the tools, methods, qualifications and ways of working named in the ad, backed up by a job, project or result on your resume. That usually means a short skills section of hard skills (software, languages, certifications, techniques) plus soft skills such as communication and problem-solving shown through your experience bullets rather than listed as single words. Below is how to pick your skills from a posting, examples by type, how to format the section and the mistakes to avoid.

This applies equally to a CV, which is what a résumé is called in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand.

Start with the job posting, not a list of “top skills”

Lists of the best skills to put on a resume are a useful source of ideas, but they cannot tell you what one employer wants. The posting can. Recruiters often search their applicant tracking system for the specific skills and tools a role needs, so the exact names in the ad matter. Our guide to how recruiters search an ATS explains why.

Go through the posting and pull out:

• Software, tools and platforms, spelled the way the employer spells them
• Methods and techniques, such as financial modeling, agile delivery or wound care
• Certifications and licenses, especially any marked as required
• Languages, both spoken and programming
• The soft skills they repeat, such as working with senior stakeholders or managing competing deadlines

Then mark each one: strong (you have clearly done it), partial (you have done something related) or gap (you have not done it). Strong matches go in your skills section and your first bullets. Partial matches get described accurately. Gaps stay off. If several must-haves are gaps, see our guide on applying when you don’t meet every requirement.

When you don’t have a posting in front of you

If you are building a base resume, look at several postings for the role you want and note the skills that come up again and again. The US Department of Labor’s O*NET OnLine is another good source: it describes more than 1,000 occupations, including their typical tasks, skills and “hot technologies,” the software that frequently appears in employer job postings.

Hard skills vs soft skills

Soft skills matter a great deal to employers. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2026 spring update, employers reviewing graduates’ resumes put teamwork, problem-solving and communication at the top of their list. NACE’s president, Shawn VanDerziel, says employers want to see examples, not just a list. Prove your soft skills; don’t just name them.

Examples of skills to put on a resume

Use these as prompts to jog your memory, not as a list to copy. Include a skill only if the job asks for it and you can back it up.

Technical and computer skills

• Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query), Google Sheets
• Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom
• CRM systems such as Salesforce or HubSpot
• Accounting software such as Xero, QuickBooks or Sage
• Programming languages and frameworks such as Python, JavaScript, React, SQL
• Design tools such as Figma, Canva, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Role-specific methods

• Project management: scheduling, budgeting, risk registers, agile or Scrum
• Marketing: keyword research, on-page SEO, paid social, email campaigns, A/B testing
• Finance: reconciliations, month-end close, forecasting, variance analysis
• Healthcare: patient assessment, medication administration, electronic health records
• Operations: inventory control, lean methods, health and safety procedures

Certifications, licenses and languages

• Professional certifications, such as PMP, CPA, SHRM-CP or AWS certifications
• Licenses, such as a nursing license, commercial driver’s license or forklift certification
• First aid, CPR, food safety or alcohol server certificates
• Spoken languages with an honest level, such as “Spanish (fluent)” or “German (conversational)”

Soft skills (to prove in your bullets)

• Communication, written and spoken
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Problem-solving and analytical thinking
• Leadership, coaching and mentoring
• Time management and prioritization
• Adaptability and learning quickly
• Customer focus and handling difficult conversations

How to prove soft skills in your experience section

Instead of writing “excellent communication skills,” describe a moment where your communication made a difference. A simple pattern:

[What you did] + [who it involved or the situation] + [what changed as a result]

Here are fictional examples of the same soft skills, first claimed and then proved:

The proved versions are more believable, and they give an interviewer something to ask about, which is where soft skills get tested anyway.

Transferable skills for a career change

If you are moving into a new field, your job titles will not match the posting, so your skills do more of the work. Look for requirements in the new role that you have met in a different setting. A teacher applying for training roles has planned sessions around learning objectives and presented to groups every day. A retail supervisor moving into operations has managed rosters, stock and targets. Name the skill the way the new field names it, then prove it with an example from your old one:

Example: “Planned and delivered 25 lessons a week around defined learning objectives, and redesigned the ninth-grade assessment to measure them” becomes evidence for “training design” and “learning objectives” in an instructional design posting.

Our career change resume guide covers the rest of the page.

How to format your skills section

Keep it short and scannable. Three common formats:

A single line

Good for most non-technical roles with a handful of key skills:

Skills: Xero, month-end close, bank reconciliations, accounts payable, Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP)

Grouped by category

Good for technical roles with many tools:

Languages: Python, TypeScript, SQL

Frameworks: React, Next.js, FastAPI

Cloud and tools: AWS (Lambda, S3), Docker, GitHub Actions

With levels

Useful for languages or skills you are still building. Be honest, because levels invite testing:

Languages: English (native), French (fluent), Mandarin (basic)

Avoid skill bars, star ratings and percentages. They are hard to interpret (what is 70% of Excel?), and graphics may not come through when an applicant tracking system reads your file as plain text.

Mistakes to avoid

• Listing everything you have ever touched. A skill you used once five years ago dilutes the ones that matter for this job.
• Listing skills you can’t back up. If it is in your skills section, it should appear again in a bullet, project or certification, and you should be ready to talk about it.
• Keeping the same list for every job. Reorder and trim the section for each application so the posting’s must-haves come first.
• Obvious filler. “Email” or “internet” add nothing for most office roles. Name the specific tool instead, such as Outlook or Google Workspace, only if the posting asks for it.
• Hiding keywords. Pasting skills in white text or tiny fonts to trick software can backfire when a person reads the file.

Check your skills against a job with Leepo

Leepo’s ATS fit score compares your resume with one job and shows which of the posting’s keywords you already match and which are missing. That makes the posting audit above much faster: you see the gaps, then decide which ones you genuinely have and forgot to mention. Paste any job link and Leepo imports the role and company; AI resume tailoring then suggests changes drawn from your own experience, and you accept only the ones that are true. Our guide to what counts as a good ATS score explains how to read the result, and you can start free.

Quick checklist

• Every skill on my resume is one the job asks for or clearly supports it
• I used the employer’s names for tools and methods
• Each hard skill appears again next to a job, project or certificate
• My soft skills are shown in bullets with a situation and result
• My skills section is short, scannable and free of rating bars