Best Skills to Put on a Resume (Examples for All Jobs)

Are you qualified to be hired?

So how do you list skills on a resume to have recruiters invite you for an interview? What should you do so that recruiters actually believe you? Learn exactly what with this article.

It’ll show you:

• Examples of the best skills to put on a resume for all jobs.
• What soft and hard skills to include on a resume to get noticed.
• How to list skills on your resume to confirm your qualifications and get interviewed for your dream job.

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.

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Sample resume made with our builder— See more examples and create your resume here.

Skip to the following parts of the guide:

• Best Skills to Put on a Resume
• Office and Administrative Jobs
• Sales, Retail, and Customer Service Jobs
• Nursing and Healthcare
• IT Jobs
• Engineering & Technical Jobs
• Advertising and Marketing
• General Management and Project Management
• How to List Skills on a Resume

Best Skills to Put on a Resume

So you must’ve been wondering whether there are universally good skills to put on a resume that every hiring manager would love to see before making their shortlist. Indeed, they’re a mix of soft and hard skills. See the following list of the key skills for a resume to get wind of them all:

• Computer Skills
• Communication Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Organizational Skills
• People Skills
• Customer Service Skills
• Collaboration Skills
• Problem-Solving Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Creative Thinking Skills
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Management Skills
• Teamwork Skills
• Active Listening Skills
• Adaptability
• Negotiation
• Conflict Resolution 
• Empathy
• Decision Making Skills
• Time Management Skills
• Language Skills
• Administrative Skills.

The 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 personal 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:

• problem-solving (83% of employers) 
• teamwork (83%)
• written communication (80%) 
• and leadership (72%).

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.

Let's have a look at examples of key skills employers look for in candidates for the most popular professions:

Skills Examples: Office and Administrative Jobs

• Data Entry
• Answering Phones
• Billing
• Scheduling
• Microsoft Office Skills
• Office Equipment
• QuickBooks
• Shipping
• Welcoming Visitors
• Salesforce
• Calendar Management
• Computer Skills

Skills Examples: 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

Skills Examples: 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)

Skills Examples: 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

Skills Examples: Engineering & Technical Jobs

• STEM Skills
• CAD
• Design
• Prototyping
• Testing
• Troubleshooting
• Project Launch
• Lean Manufacturing
• Workflow Development
• Computer Skills
• SolidWorks
• Budgeting
• Technical Report Writing Skills
• Technical Skills

Skills Examples: 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

Skills Examples: General Management and Project Management

• Agile
• Managing Cross-Functional Teams
• Scrum
• Performance Tracking
• Financial Modeling
• Ideation Leadership
• Feature Definition
• Forecasting
• Profit and Loss
• Scope Management
• Project Lifecycle Management
• Meeting Facilitation
• Managerial Skills
• Organizational Skills

Hungry for more hard skills examples and expert tips for how to list them for the greatest impact? See our article: Hard Skills: Definition & List of Best Examples for Any Resume 

Don’t know what skills are best for you? Tired of overthinking what to include? Our builder will do the job for you.

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.

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How to List Skills on a Resume

You've seen multiple examples of some of the best resume skills out there. Now, let's explore the ins and outs of how to write skills on resume.

1. Tailor your resume skills to the job description you’re targeting

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?

• Start with a master list of all your professional skills. List everything that makes you good at your job, both hard and soft skills.
• Read the job description carefully. Pay attention to the “Requirements” or “Key Skills” section of the job ad.
• Look for skills-related words and phrases such as “meticulous time-management,” “knowledge of XYZ software,” “proficient in Lean management,” and so on. Jot them down.
• Compare your master list of skills with those you see in the job ad. All those that match have to go on your resume. 
• Don’t stop there! If the job ad calls for other skills you think you have but forgot to enter on your master list, mention those on a resume, too. 
• Tell the truth, though. If you exaggerate your qualifications on a resume, recruiters will find out at some point.

Let’s see how that works in practice. Below, you’ll find 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.

Now that you know what’s expected of you show you have the skills they need.

2. Include relevant skills in a separate skills section

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:

• Be specific and precise (“Written and verbal communication,” instead of “good communicator”).
• Divide the skills into “Hard Skills” and “Soft Skills.”
• Use no more than ten skills in total.

See how it should look in an example below:

You can also indicate how advanced your abilities are using descriptive words, such as “Advanced,” “Intermediate,” or “Basic.” 

3. Add your work-related skills to the experience section

That’s right, your work history section with descriptions of past jobs is evidence of the skills list you’ve just made. That is where you have to prove you can apply your skillset in real-life professional situations.

I’ll use the following sample work history section to respond to the customer service job ad’s requirements that you read a moment ago:

To learn more about how to include skills and abilities in a resume work experience, see: Work Experience on a Resume: Duties, Skills, Achievements

4. Weave the most relevant skills into your resume profile

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:

1. Supporting customers in technical positions.
2. Problem-solving
3. Support tools and software.

See how this candidate shows their skills in the below resume summary:

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:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Key Takeaway

Here’s how to list skills on a resume for a job:

1. Be relevant to the position you’re after: pay attention to the required skills mentioned in the job ad and list those on your resume.
2. Create a legible, separate skills section: list up to ten key job skills, optionally adding descriptions of your proficiency level.
3. Refer to your top skills in your resume’s work experience section to show how you put your abilities to use.
4. Add 2–3 most relevant skills to your resume summary or objective.

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!

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 good skills to add to a resume?

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.

What kind of skills to put on a resume?

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.

How do I list my skills on a resume for 2023?

Give yourself more credit and weave the skills in your resume in a number of ways:

1. Make sure to include your best skills in a resume summary or objective. It’s the most important and first section of your resume. Recruiters pay attention to every detail there, so do yourself a favor and be explicit.
2. When you write your work experience section, use the PAR formula to build your accomplishment statements. That way, you’ll mention how you brought the results, which gives away your skillset.
3. Create a skills list in resume bullet points tailored to the job description.

Where to put skills on a resume?

It depends on the resume format you choose when making your resume:

• Chronological resume: write your skills list under the work experience section.
• Functional resume: make room right under the career objective to write a skills sum-up. Give a short description of each skill to explain how you used it at a job.
• Combination resume: group your skills right under the header and list several achievements underneath to showcase your qualifications.