Skills to Put on a Resume (and How to List Them)
A skills section helps both people and applicant tracking systems. The trick is choosing skills that match the job and that you can prove, rather than listing everything.
Download Free →How to choose which skills to list
- Read the job post and mark every skill or tool it names.
- Keep the ones you can use confidently today.
- Write them the way the posting does, such as "Microsoft Excel" rather than "spreadsheets".
- Order them by relevance.
Hard skills versus soft skills
| Type | Examples | Where to show |
|---|---|---|
| Hard skills | SQL, QuickBooks, forklift operation, Spanish, Figma | Skills section and bullets |
| Soft skills | Communication, leadership, problem solving | Mostly in bullets, as results |
Soft skills read as empty when only listed. "Led a team of 6 through a system migration" shows leadership better than the word does.
How to format the section
Use plain text. Group by category if the list is long: Tools: Excel, Tableau. Languages: English, Spanish. Avoid skill bars, stars and percentages, which carry no real meaning and don't parse.
Stay honest
Anything on your resume can come up in an interview or a skills test. If you wouldn't be comfortable demonstrating it, leave it off. See resume keywords for tech jobs for examples of how to match job-post language.
Frequently asked questions
How many skills should I list?
Six to twelve relevant ones is plenty. More dilutes the strongest.
Should I list skills I'm still learning?
Only if you label them honestly, such as "Python (learning)", or leave them off.