What skills should you put on a resume?
The best skills to include are skills that are relevant to the position and that you can genuinely demonstrate through your experience, education or projects.
Your resume does not need to contain every skill you have. A focused list is usually more useful than a long collection of unrelated abilities.
Understand hard skills and soft skills
Resume skills are often grouped into two broad categories: hard skills and soft skills. Both can be useful, depending on the position.
Technical or job-specific abilities
Hard skills are abilities that can often be learned, trained or measured.
How you work with people and problems
Soft skills describe interpersonal, organizational and problem-solving abilities.
Choose skills for the job you want
A useful starting point is the job description. Look for capabilities, tools and knowledge that the employer repeatedly mentions.
Then compare those requirements with your actual experience. If you genuinely have a requested skill, make sure it is easy to find on your resume.
We're looking for a candidate with experience in Excel, forecasting, inventory planning and supplier coordination.
Do not add a skill simply because it appears in the job description. Include it only when it accurately represents your capabilities.
Examples of skills for a resume
The skills that matter most depend on your profession. Here are examples across several common categories.
Business & Management
Data & Analytics
Technology
Supply Chain & Operations
Marketing
Communication & Leadership
Resume skills examples by job
Project planning, risk management, stakeholder management, budgeting, communication, leadership
Programming, Git, debugging, APIs, software architecture, problem solving
Digital marketing, analytics, content creation, SEO, campaign management
Forecasting, inventory planning, ERP systems, Excel, supplier management, data analysis
Customer communication, problem solving, CRM, conflict resolution, time management
Where should skills go on a resume?
A dedicated skills section makes important capabilities easy to scan, but your skills should not exist only as a list.
When possible, support important skills with evidence elsewhere in your resume.
Coordinated cross-functional projects from planning through implementation.
Resume skills and applicant tracking systems
Employers may use applicant tracking systems to organize and search applications. Relevant terminology can help communicate the match between your resume and the job requirements.
This does not mean filling your resume with keywords. Use relevant terms naturally and only when they accurately describe your experience.
Understand resume structure, formatting and relevant keywords.
Add skills, languages, experience, education and other sections directly in your resume on iPhone.
Common resume skills mistakes
A long list can make the most relevant capabilities harder to identify.
Terms such as “hard-working” provide little useful information without supporting context.
Your skills section should accurately represent your actual capabilities.
Relevant skills may be missed if you use the same generic list for every application.
Resume skills checklist
Put your skills to work.
Create a professional resume on your iPhone, organize your skills and experience, choose a template and export your resume as PDF.
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