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You want to know which exact skills to put on a resume to impress the recruiter? Give this article a read to find the know-how with a list of skills for your resume.
Creating a good skill section on your resume is necessary to convince recruiters you’re the perfect fit for the job. You might have a lot of different talents, but how to choose the right skills for a resume? You might also (wrongly!) think that you have only a few, and in this case, what skills would you put on a resume to show you’re a great hire?
Learn how to select and list resume skills to give the recruiters their aha moments.
This guide will show you:
You’ve been tinkering with that skills list for hours, even though you didn’t need to. Instead, you could use the Zety resume builder and simply drag & drop the skills onto your resume template. So go ahead. Pick one and create a resume that’ll get you the job you actually want.
Sample resume made with our builder— See more examples and create your resume here.
Skip to the following parts of the guide:
A skill is the ability to do an activity or job well, especially because you have practiced it. And there are various types of skills that employers want to see on your job application. The most popular distinction is between soft and hard skills.
A mix of both is a must when writing a successful resume. In the next chapters, you'll learn how to pick the most relevant to the position you’re after.
According to the study, employability is one of the most researched areas when it comes to workers. It also works as an umbrella term for a set of skills that make you a highly-desirable candidate for any recruiter. These are called employability skills. They refer to a group of soft and hard skills and character traits that your employers want and make a person a highly attractive candidate.
Different studies list different employability skills. Having them all on your resume and then proving them to your employer is rather impossible. That’s why, when creating a list of skills, you should distinguish three different types of skills:
Also referred to as portable or functional skills, these skills are the abilities you can transfer from one job to another. They are based on ability and aptitude and describe actions needed to perform a task, transferable to various positions and industries. Transferable skills can be both hard and soft skills, and due to their versatility, those skills are attractive to any recruiters, regardless of the industry.
They are traits or characteristics that can contribute to performance at work. They are based on what you have learned throughout your life. These are soft skills, such as patience, independence, or active listening.
These are the results of your education, training, experience, and understanding of specific topics, procedures, dos and don'ts, and information required to perform certain tasks properly. These are hard skills, such as language, computer, or technical.
Why should you determine these three types of skills for your resume? Because combining them gives you a higher chance for your resume to pass the screening and land on your recruiter’s desk. Position yourself as a specialist and someone who’s kept learning and improving throughout your life, gaining abilities from different sources. This leads to the thought that you will only keep improving once hired!
Now see some of the best skills to put on a resume.
The best skills to list on a resume are a mix of soft and hard skills. You’ll see the top 10 soft and 5 hard skills in a moment. Why the different approach? According to the research, soft skills are requested four times more than hard skills.
The soft skills listed below 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. However, they are necessary for certain workplaces, hence a short list of jobs underneath each entry.
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 writing an entry-level resume.
Studies have shown that the most important things to put on a resume for entry-level candidates are soft skills:
Communication skills are used for receiving, understanding, and giving all kinds of information. But these skills also include respecting others' points of view, explaining thoughts and ideas, and listening to others. Being able to communicate with your superiors, colleagues, and customers, whether verbally, nonverbally, in writing, or via visuals, is essential in any workplace.
What resumes require great communication skills?
Having great organizational skills means you can remain focused during the execution of different tasks. You're also able to juggle multiple tasks at once and organize work not only for yourself but also for other people. Being organized sends a simple message to the recruiter: you are efficient and effective. And that's something valuable for every job.
What resumes require great organizational skills?
Sometimes called interpersonal skills, these skills are about interacting with others in an effective and friendly way. People skills include mediating disputes, tolerating differences, trusting, and persuading others to your ideas. According to the survey, 81% of recruiters identify interpersonal skills as necessary, so showing them on your resume is always good.
What resumes require great people skills?
Problem-solving helps you identify and address the problem, think about possible solutions, select the one that will work best, and successfully implement it. Solving unexpected issues on time is vital for recruiters, as it shows you are someone the company can rely on in case of any unforeseen difficulties.
What resumes require great problem-solving skills?
According to the research, creativity is among the most desirable skills an employee can possess. Creative thinking allows you to see things from a new perspective. This can lead to surprising conclusions and completely new approaches to successfully completing old tasks.
What resumes require great creativity skills?
Being able to work as a group helps you build strong relationships, both between you and your work colleagues and between you and your customers. No wonder why teamwork skills are so valuable. According to the study, over 70% of organizations focused on building and supporting teams improved in service quality, productivity, and profitability. Having strong collaboration skills is something that can impress every recruiter.
What resumes require great teamwork skills?
Listening and responding to what other people say in a manner that helps you move forward with your tasks, find solutions to problems, and improve your work is what you call active listening. Giving your full attention to what other people say and reacting to it is helpful in many situations, and proving that during a job interview is a great way to show that you care. And that’s what makes a great hire.
What resumes require great active listening skills?
Being able to choose between two or more alternatives to reach the best outcome in the shortest time is a valuable quality. If you have good decision-making skills, you'd be able to assess the facts, see the current situation and select the best action for the company based on facts, numbers, consultations, and rational thinking.
What resumes require great decision-making skills?
Did you know that, according to the study, 89% of workers admitted to wasting time at work every day? That’s one of the reasons why having good time management skills is something that every employer values in their employees. Being able to focus on work and not getting distracted is a perfect way of showing you’re the right person for the job.
What resumes require great time management skills?
Adjusting to unexpected changes without too much stress involved can be tricky. But having adaptability skills will allow you to be flexible, no matter how many changes you need to take. Adapting to a new situation is very useful in the workplace and everyday life, whether it's a project schedule, objectives, or sudden obstacles.
What resumes require great adaptability skills?
See more examples of soft skills and step-by-step instructions for how to list them on a resume: The Best Soft Skills to Put on a Resume
Hard skills are abilities you learn on the job through formal education or additional training. They are teachable, measurable, and related to a specific job. For instance, if you work in customer service, your hard skills include Zendesk, data entry, and product knowledge.
On resumes, hard skills show what you can do. Soft skills indicate how you’ll perform your duties.
This year’s research conducted by LinkedIn marks management skills as the most desirable by employers. Every leader needs these leadership skills to relate with co-workers, take care of their well-being, and understand how to deal with subordinates while also ensuring the company progresses and operates efficiently.
What resumes require great management skills?
Collecting, organizing, visualizing, and assimilating data are all connected to analytical skills. Having them in your skill set allows you to see patterns, draw conclusions, and find solutions to different problems. It’s a valuable skill for many positions, as you can work with data, and in the modern world, it’s something irreplaceable.
What resumes require great analytical skills?
Technical skills are required to perform specific, job-related tasks and are learned through on-the-job experience and structured learning. Those skills are many different types because they all depend on the job. Technical skills often require the use of certain tools and the technologies required to use those tools.
What resumes require great technical skills?
Different computer skills are extremely important in the modern world, primarily since everything you do is somehow related to computers. These skills combine knowledge and ability that allow you to use computers efficiently and effectively. Different things can go under the umbrella term of computer skills, such as MS Office, Google Drive, Spreadsheets, Web, Software, Hardware, etc.
What resumes require great computer skills?
Being able to communicate properly is good to have. But being able to communicate in different languages is something impressive. Language skills are useful in many different scenarios, so if you have a knack for them, you should definitely include that in your resume. Having someone who speaks more than one language on board can be helpful when the company grows.
What resumes require great language skills?
See more examples of hard skills and step-by-step instructions for how to list them on a resume: The Best Hard Skills to Put on a Resume
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and our resume checker will tell you exactly how to make it better.
Having a great list of skills is one thing. But putting them neatly on your resume is also important! And now that you know pretty well what skills are valuable for your future employer, it’s time to find out how to impress them with your talents!
If there’s one takeaway here, it’s this:
Customize the skills list on every resume you send to match the job offer requirements.
You’ll show recruiters that you’re made for this job specifically and beat resume-screening bots that scan resumes for relevant keywords.
How to make a resume skills list tailored to the job ad?
Let’s see how that works in practice. Below is a sample job ad for a customer service representative.
See those keywords marked in yellow? Those are the key skills and qualifications successful candidates will have to list and prove on their resumes.
Job Summary:
Desired Skills:
Requirements:
Now that you know what’s expected of you, show you have the skills they need.
This way, you’ll help recruiters spot strengths on your resume in a flash.
Use a standalone skills section where you put your most important qualifications. Make sure to:
See how it should look in an example below:
Hard Skills:
Soft Skills:
You can also indicate how advanced your abilities are using descriptive words, such as “Advanced,” “Intermediate,” or “Basic.”
That’s right, your work history section with descriptions of past jobs is evidence of the skills you’ve just listed. That is where you must prove you can apply your skillset in real-life professional situations.
The following sample work history section responds to the customer service job ad’s requirements that you read a moment ago:
Customer Service Representative
XYZ Corp Long Island, NY
April 2018–Present
To learn more about how to include skills and abilities in a resume work experience, see: Work Experience on a Resume: Duties, Skills, Achievements
Yes, you guessed it—for the best resume, you need to mention a few of your most relevant skills in the profile, too. After all, you don’t just tell recruiters about your skills. You show them.
Let’s stick with our example of a customer service job. The job ad calls for skills in:
See how this candidate shows their skills in the below resume summary:
Customer service specialist with 2+ years of experience working with clients in highly technical roles (1) seeking a Customer Service Associate position with ABC Company. Applied Agile frameworks to facilitate problem-solving procedures (2) for new complaints, slashing ticket resolution time by 40%. A power user of JIRA, Zendesk, and Salesforce (3).
What makes it so great?
Upon reading a 50-word-long paragraph, the recruiter already knows the candidate is skilled in everything that counts for this job.
See tips for making the most of your skills for a job in a resume summary or objective. Read: Resume Summary Samples and Professional Resume Objectives
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Here’s how to list skills on a resume for a job:
Thanks for reading my article!
Now, I’d love to hear from you!
What are the biggest challenges when putting skills on resumes? What skills do you think are the most crucial? Do you need further assistance with your resume skills list?
Drop me a line in the comments. Let’s chat!
The top skills that employers look for on a resume are:
There’s no definitive answer to this question because there are no universally good skills. It depends on what you know and can do and what skills employers are looking for. To hit the nail on the head, read the job description and mark the keywords you’ll later match with your resume.
If you’re writing a resume to change your career, go for transferable skills that are equally relevant to the job you’re applying for. If you’re writing your first resume without much work experience, do the same but with a mix of top-notch employability skills.
Include soft and hard skills to respond to every aspect of the job description—desired qualities AND competencies. You need to have both soft skills and hard skills to succeed in virtually every profession, no matter how technical. For example, even for a typical technician job, engineering knowledge is not enough: you also need good communication skills to explain the problem and present viable solutions.
Give yourself more credit and weave the skills in your resume in a number of ways:
It depends on the resume format you choose when making your resume:
How to pick the best resume format to make sure your application stands out? Learn from our handy guide on resume formatting. Read more!
So you need to write a cover letter. Where do you start? How long should it be? Do yourself a favor: follow our guide on making the best cover letter the recruiter has ever seen.
How to write a resume that will get the job done? This step-by-step guide will show you the best resume examples and how to make a professional resume in a few easy steps.