

You don’t have to be Jack Alltrades to get a job, at least not on your resume. Skills for resume are supposed to be relevant, and you’re about to learn what that means.
You’re writing a resume and can’t stop asking yourself these questions: What skills do I have? What skills does my employer want me to have? What…
I’ll tell you what—you’re about to see a massive list of skills for a resume and ways to include them into your application that’ll sweep recruiters off their feet.
This guide will show you:
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The best skills list on a resume includes soft (personal) and hard (professional) skills. Recruiters spend only seconds reviewing an application, so you’ve got to do a perfect job and highlight only those skills they’d like to see.
Here are the best skills for a resume recruiters are looking for:
If you’re writing your first-job resume, a general resume skills list like the one above may be acceptable if the skills you included target the right keywords in the job posting.
However, specialists and senior candidates won’t benefit from it at all. You need to be dead specific on the skills you’re targeting with your entire application.
The below examples of skills and abilities on a resume will help you achieve exactly that:
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It all comes down to those five steps:
Think of all the giants in your industry and open their career pages. Look for the skills they require or recommend as nice-to-haves in their job descriptions.
That way, you’ll learn what’s in demand in your niche and make your resume stand out from the competition.
Of course, avoid lying to your recruiters and making things up only to fit into the picture of a perfect candidate.
When you find a job opening that you wish to apply for, be careful not to miss any of the required qualifications and qualities—they’re the skills you need to target with your resume.
Here’s how you can do it:
And there you have it!
Now you’re ready to pepper them all over your application. You don’t know where? Follow along to find out:
Your recruiters will look for your skills in the dedicated section, so remember to single it out from the rest of the resume parts.
Start with your strongest skills that correspond to the employer’s list of the desired skill set. Ensure that you include hard and soft skills, and aim for a list of 5–10 skills.
Check the following to see an example of the perfect skills section on a customer service resume:
Skills
We’re not quite done with your resume just yet. You can also list skills in other sections, such as your work history.
As work experience is a second-to-none section in your resume, you really need to pay special attention to what you write there. Accomplishments are one thing. Skills worked in between the lines are the other. But there’s a formula to mix them into a good employment history.
You’ve already read the job description a couple of times, no? So you know which skills your employer wants to hear about from you. It’s your job now to think of the best accomplishments demonstrating those skills.
I’ll show you an example of a job posting and a corresponding experience section, so have a look below:
As a Customer Service Specialist, you will communicate courteously with customers by telephone, chat, text, email, letter and face-to-face, improve customer service procedures, policies and standards for the entire company, and keep ahead of developments in customer service by reading relevant publications, going to meetings and attending courses.
Now see a sample work experience section in response to the above job description:
Experience
Customer Service Representative
LookOut, Vancouver, BC
August 2017–September 2019
Key Achievement: Systematically built product knowledge to offer viable solutions to clients and exceed sales targets by 15% in 2021.
The resume summary or objective is the very first thing your recruiter will read after picking up your application. That’s why it’s critical to pepper it with the most important skills and prove you’ve got what it takes.
All in all, it’s an excellent opportunity to mention more keywords from the job description.
Have a look at the example of customer service skills laid out in a resume summary:
Summary
Performance-driven customer service specialist with 4+ years of experience seeking an opportunity to deliver exceptional standards for Red Dot’s customers via any medium. Advocate for understanding and sympathetic approach towards customers (NPS over 30). At WorkIT systematically built knowledge about the product and its features to offer working solutions and exceed sales targets by 15%.
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:
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Skills on a resume in a nutshell:
And that’s a wrap!
Thank you for taking the time to read my article!
Please tell us—
Do you have more questions about skills for your resume? What do you think are the best skills to put on a resume? Do you believe soft skills are equally valuable as technical skills on a resume?
Give us a shout in the comments! Let’s get the conversation rolling.
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