Do you meet the requirements for the position?

Recent surveys indicate that 75% of HR professionals recognize a shortage of skills among job candidates. But what exactly do they mean by “skills”?

Skills encompass both your inherent abilities and the expertise you acquire to perform tasks or jobs. Professional skills are tailored to specific work tasks, while life skills aid in handling everyday responsibilities across various aspects of life. The primary skill categories include soft skills, hard skills, domain-general skills, and domain-specific skills.

Now, how do you showcase your skills on a resume to secure that interview?

Don’t worry, you’ll grasp it within minutes.

This article will cover:

Examples of 99+ top skills to include on resumes for diverse job roles.

Which skills to highlight on a resume to enhance your prospects of landing an excellent job.

Where to list your job skills on a resume to impress recruiters.

Tips for effectively incorporating key skills into your CV.

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Top Skills for a Resume

These are the most important abilities to put in your resume:

  • Creativity.
  • Interpersonal abilities
  • Critical Thinking is the ability to think critically.
  • Solving problems is a skill.
  • Speaking in Front of a Group.
  • Skills in Customer Service.
  • Teamwork abilities.
  • Communication.
  • Collaboration.
  • Accounting.
  • Active listening is a skill that may be learned.
  • Adaptability.
  • Negotiation.
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Empathy.
  • Customer service is really important.
  • Making a decision.
  • Management.
  • Ability to lead.
  • Organization.
  • Language abilities.
  • Administrative expertise.

 

The best part? “Soft” skills listed above are very much transferable skills. Such abilities are universal and not associated with a particular job or industry—they’ll make fantastic employment skills no matter the job title.

This means you should add a few of your most relevant soft skills to a resume whatever job you’re applying for. That’s especially important if you’re a recent graduate seeking an entry-level position:

Studies have shown that the most important things to put on a resume for entry-level candidates are all soft skills:

problem solving (83% of employers)

teamwork (83%)

written communication (80%)

and leadership (72%).

 

 

The distinction between hard and soft skills

Hard skills are abilities acquired by work experience, formal schooling, or supplementary training. They can be taught, measured, and linked to a certain job. For example, if you work in customer support, you’ll have Zendesk, data input, and product knowledge as hard skills.

 

Hard talents illustrate what you can do on a resume. Soft talents describe how you’ll carry out your responsibilities

Why is it necessary to include both types of talents on your resume? Consider the following scenario:

You’d be a “good person” who wasn’t qualified for any job if you simply demonstrated soft talents.

If your sole talents were hard skills and technical skills, you’d be a robot incapable of functioning in any job situation.

 

Hard talents that are required for most jobs

Office and Administrative Jobs

-Data Entry

-Answering Phones

-Billing

-Scheduling

-Microsoft Office skills

-Office Equipment

-QuickBooks

-Shipping

-Welcoming Visitors

-Salesforce

-Calendar Management

 

Sales, Retail, and Customer Service Jobs

-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)

-POS Skills

Cashier Skills

-Good Communication Skills

Nursing and Healthcare

-General Nursing 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

-Phlebotomy

-Rehabilitation Therapy

–Hygiene Assistance

Use of X-Ray, MRI, CAT Scans

-Meditech

-Glucose Checks

-Electronic Heart Record (EHR)

 

IT Jobs

Programming Languages

Web Development

Data Structures

Open Source Experience

CodingJava Script

Security

Machine Learning

Debugging

UX/UI

Front-End & Back-End Development

Cloud Management

Agile Development

 

 

Engineering & Technical Jobs

-STEM Skills

-CAD

-Design

-Prototyping

-Testing

-Troubleshooting

-Project Launch

-Lean Manufacturing

-Workflow Development

-Computer Skills

-SolidWorks

-Budgeting

-Technical Report Writing Skills

 

 

Advertising and Marketing

-SEO/SEM

-PPC

-CRO

-A/B Testing

-Social Media Marketing and Paid Social Media Advertising

-Sales Funnel Management

-CMS Tools

-Graphic Design Skills

–Email Marketing Skills

-Email Automation

-Data Visualization

-CPC

-Typography

-Print Design

-Photography and Branding

 

 

General Management and Project Management

-Agile

-Managing Cross-Functional Teams

-Scrum

-Performance Tracking

-Financial Modelling

-Ideation Leadership

-Feature Definition

-Forecasting

-Profit and Loss

-Scope Management

-Project Lifecycle Management

-Meeting Facilitation

-Managerial Skills

-Organizing Skills

 

 

The most effective way for constructing a resume that includes all of the necessary skills boils down to two points:

What talents should you choose?

What should I do with them?

Here are some examples of how to list skills on a resume:

1. Make sure your talents on your CV are relevant to the position you’re applying for.

If there’s one thing you should remember from this, it’s this:

Customize the abilities list on each CV you send to meet the job offer’s requirements.

You’ll accomplish two important goals this way:

-Demonstrate to recruiters that you were born to do this job.

-Defeat resume-screening bots that look for relevant keywords in resumes.

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How do you construct a resume skills list that is specific to the job posting?

Begin by making a “master” list of all of your professional abilities. List everything that makes you good at your job in a spreadsheet (or on a piece of paper if you prefer the analog method)—list both hard and soft talents that make you good at your job.

Carefully read the job description. Pay attention to the job ad’s “Requirements” or “Key Skills” section.

Look for words and phrases that describe your skills, such as “careful time management,” “understanding of XYZ software,” “proficient in Lean management,” and so on. Make a list of them.

Compare your master list of skills to the job ad’s requirements. All of those that match must be included on your CV.

Don’t stop there, though! If the job ad specifies other abilities that you believe you possess but did not include on your master list, include them in your resume as well.

However, tell the truth. Recruiters will find out if you overstate your qualifications on a resume at some time.

 

Let’s have a look at how this works in practice. A sample job ad for a customer support agent can be found below.

Do you see the keywords highlighted in yellow? Those are the main talents and qualifications that successful candidates must put on their resumes and demonstrate.

 

In a job advertisement, key skills are listed.

 

Summary of the Position:

Maintain a professional image and a positive demeanor on a daily basis.

Engage with prospects and initiate consumer relationships.

Customers should be educated about our clients and the value of their products.

Customers’ attention will be piqued if you provide help and resources.

Establish a rapport with customers in order to determine their preferences and adjust accordingly.

Acquire a thorough understanding of the features of the products and services on offer.

To meet the objectives, work with the Customer Service Team.

 

Desired abilities include:

You’re capable of making decisions and resolving issues.

You may sympathize with consumers in a real way, demonstrating that you care about their problems.

You’re a team member who can both follow and lead depending on the situation.

 

Requirements:

2–5 years of experience in a technical role interacting with customers

Experience with JIRA, Zendesk, Salesforce, or other support tools Excellent writing and verbal communication

 

2. Create a distinct area for critical talents.

Recruiters will be able to detect your resume’s strengths in a flash if you do it this way.

Use a separate talents section to list your most important credentials. Make certain to:

 

Instead of “excellent communicator,” be detailed and explicit (“written and spoken communication”).

Sort the skills into two categories: “Hard Skills” and “Soft Skills.”

Use a total of no more than ten skills.

You can choose from a variety of formats. We’ll go over them using the following list of job skills from a job post as a guide.

 

All Skills in Bulleted List

This is a basic but effective strategy. Include a list of abilities the company is looking for, and the rest of your resume will show you have them.

 

Hard Skills:

Providing customer support

Product knowledge

JIRA

Zendesk

Salesforce

 

Soft Skills:

Decision-making

Written and verbal communication

Teamwork and collaboration

Empathy

 

Descriptions of Your Proficiency Level in a Few Words

You can also use descriptive terms like “advanced,” “intermediate,” or “basic” to highlight how advanced your abilities are.

Consider the following example:

 

Hard Skills:

Customer support: expert

Product knowledge: advanced

 

Soft Skills:

Decision-making: expert

Written and verbal communication: advanced

Teamwork and collaboration: basic

 

Software:

JIRA: advanced

Zendesk: intermediate

Salesforce: intermediate

Do you want to improve your skill descriptions? Simple graphics, such as bar charts or boxes, can be used (yes, our builder does that for you).

 

Here’s an example of a resume template from our resume builder that effectively highlights skills.

 

Summary of Qualifications (for Functional or Combination Resumes)

 

Finally, if you utilize a skills-based resume format or a combination resume format, you can include a more detailed skills description at the top of your resume.

 

Use up to four of the most important talents as headings. Include examples of accomplishments that demonstrate that expertise beneath each title and begin each bullet point with resume action phrases.

 

Key Skills

Customer support

 

Boosted new customer NPS scores by 10%.

Maintained customer retention rate 40% above the company average.

Processed and average of 200 weekly orders from customers, distributors, and agents.

 

Product knowledge

 

Answered product and service questions and offered information on related products and services.

Helped to resolve a recurring product complaint by identifying a major process bottleneck. Reduced tickets by 70%.

 

Tools and software

JIRA

Zendesk

Salesforce

MS Office

Google Drive

How many skills should you list on a resume?

On a CV, you should list between 5 and 10 abilities, depending on how you portray them. Around 10 is the golden spot for bulleted listings of software programs, hard talents, and soft abilities. Focus on the 4–6 most relevant general skill sets in functional, skills-based resumes.

 

3. Add your work-related skills in the professional experience section.

The following is how it works:

Wendy, a recruiter, takes a quick look at your résumé.

She notices the section on skills.

“This candidate appears to be solid,” she observes. “Let’s see if he can make effective use of those abilities.

Wendy hasn’t decided where she’ll search next.

That’s correct, your career history section, complete with job descriptions.

This is where you must demonstrate your ability to apply your knowledge in real-world work scenarios.

 

 

4. Weave the most relevant skills into your resume profile.

For a resume, you have a solid list of work skills.

You don’t simply tell recruiters about your qualifications. In the work experience area, you show them.

It’s time for the icing on the cake: a resume profile or credentials summary that includes a summary of your skills.

The short paragraph at the top of your resume is known as a resume profile. Its goal is to present a high-level overview of your career and explain why you’re the best candidate for the job.

Depending on your experience level, you’ll write it as a resume summary (for experienced candidates) or a resume objective (for inexperienced individuals) (for entry-level job seekers).

Yes, you guessed it—a couple of your most relevant abilities must also be mentioned in the profile for the ideal resume. Remember:

What matters most is that you have the talents that the employer need.

Let’s continue with our customer service example. The job description asks for expertise in the following areas:

In technical jobs, assisting customers.

Problem-solving

Supporting software and tools

Examine how this applicant demonstrates his abilities in 1, 2, and 3.

 

Job Skills Highlighted in a Resume Profile

  1. Customer service professional seeking a Customer Service Associate position with ABC Company with 2+ years of experience working with clients in highly technical roles. Applied Agile frameworks to help with problem-solving methods (2) for new complaints, which resulted in a 40% reduction in ticket resolution time. JIRA, Zendesk, and Salesforce aficionado (3).

What makes it so exceptional?

After reading a 50-word text, the recruiter already understands that the prospect is qualified for this position.

Pro Tip: Skills can be included in your list of interests area. It’s worth mentioning if you have a hobby or interest that exhibits talents related to the work.

 

5. Ensure that you include the most in-demand abilities.

In today’s work environment, certain abilities are in high demand.

I’m not suggesting that you make up your skills, but—

Even if the job ad doesn’t specifically ask for it, if you are an expert in one of the most in-demand skills, it’s a good idea to include it on your CV.

Based on their unique data, LinkedIn Learning released a research outlining the top 25 talents for employers today:

  • Cloud Computing
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Analytical Reasoning
  • People Management
  • UX Design
  • Mobile Application Development
  • Video Production
  • Sales Leadership
  • Translation
  • Audio Production
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Scientific Computing
  • Game Development
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Animation
  • Business Analysis
  • Journalism
  • Digital Marketing
  • Industrial Design
  • Competitive Strategies
  • Customer Service Systems
  • Software Testing
  • Data Science
  • Computer Graphics
  • Corporate Communications

 

The following is an example of how to list talents on a resume for a job:

Be relevant to the job you’re applying for: pay attention to the abilities listed in the job description and include them in your resume.

List up to 10 critical career abilities in a distinct, legible area, with optional explanations of your ability level.

Create a skills summary and place it at the top of your resume if you’re writing a functional (skills-based) or hybrid resume: use the four most relevant talents as subheadings, and add achievements that validate each skill underneath.

To demonstrate how you put your abilities to use, refer to your top competencies in the work experience part of your resume.

Add a summary or objective to your resume profile that includes 2–3 of the most relevant talents.

Research the most in-demand skills in your business and be sure to include them on your resume if you believe you possess them.

 

Frequently Asked Questions about What Skills to Put on a Resume

What are the top skills employers are looking for?

The top skills that employers look for on a resume are:

Technical skills: computer skills, programming languages, social media, and enterprise software

Problem-solving skills: creativity, critical thinking, and analytical skills

Customer-service skills: active listening, time management, and prioritization

Interpersonal skills: communication, teamwork, and empathy

Leadership skills: decision making, stress management, and organization

 

What are some good resume skills?

Because there are no universally good skills, this question has no conclusive solution. It depends on your knowledge and abilities, as well as the talents that companies seek. Read the job description carefully and make a note of the keywords you’ll include in your resume later.

If you’re changing careers, focus on transferrable talents that are equally applicable to the position you’re looking for. If you’re writing your first resume and don’t have much work experience, use the same steps but include a mix of excellent employability abilities.

 

What skills should be listed on a resume?

To answer to every component of the job description—desired traits AND competencies—include both soft and hard talents. To excel in practically any career, regardless of how technical, you must have both soft and hard talents. For example, engineering knowledge alone is insufficient for a standard technician job; you also need solid communication skills to describe the problem and provide possible solutions.

 

What is the best way to list my talents on a resume?

Give yourself a boost by including your abilities into your CV in a variety of ways:

In a resume summary or aim, make sure to highlight your strongest skills. It’s the first and most significant section of your resume. Recruiters pay close attention to every detail, so do yourself a favor and be as specific as possible.

Use the PAR method to create your accomplishment statements when writing your job experience section. That way, you’ll be able to talk about how you got the outcomes, revealing your abilities.

Create a skills list in the form of bullet points on your resume that are specific to the job description.

 

Where should talents be listed on a resume?

It is determined on the resume format you select while creating your resume:

Write your abilities list under the work experience part of a chronological resume.

Make area for a skills summary directly under the professional objective on a functional resume. Give a brief summary of each talent and how you applied it in the workplace.

Combination resume: gather your talents under the header and put a number of accomplishments beneath it to highlight your qualifications.

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