Skills to put on a resume, with lists by job

Hard skills, soft skills and tools: what each one is

A resume skills list mixes three kinds of item, and each does a different job. Hard skills are the methods and procedures of your work. Tools are the named software, equipment and systems you use to do it. Soft skills describe how you work with people and pressure. Readers trust the first two more readily because they are specific and checkable.

Make soft skills as concrete as you can. "Communication" tells a reader nothing, while "explaining billing codes to patients" tells them where and how you communicate. A specific soft skill also reads less like filler, which is the main complaint readers have about soft-skill lists.

Skills to put on a resume, by job

These lists come from the seven job example pages on this site. Each one is split into hard skills, soft skills and tools, so you can see how the balance shifts between, say, a nurse and a server. Treat them as a menu: take the items you can honestly claim, then rename them to match the words in the posting you are answering. Each job title links to a full sample resume with bullets that show those skills in use.

How many skills to put on a resume

Six to twelve is a good working range for most people on a one-page resume. Fewer than that and the section looks thin; ResumeFinch's strength score flags a skills list with fewer than five items for that reason. More than about twelve and the list stops helping, because a reader cannot tell which of the twenty items you are strongest in.

• Under 6: fine only when your bullets carry the skills and the role is not keyword-heavy. Add tools you use daily before you add soft skills.
• 6 to 12: the default. Enough to cover the posting's main requirements without padding.
• 12 to 20: acceptable for technical roles where the posting itself lists many tools (software, data, engineering). Group the items by category so the length stays readable.
• Over 20: cut. Remove anything the posting does not ask for, anything you could not discuss for two minutes, and anything nobody would assume you lack (email, typing, the internet).

Order matters more than count. Put the skills the posting mentions first, in roughly the order the posting stresses them, because a reader scanning the section gives the first few items the most attention.

How to choose the right skills from a job posting

1. 1Paste the posting into a document and highlight every noun phrase that describes a task, method, tool or credential.
2. 2Cross out anything you cannot do or have never used. What is left is your shortlist.
3. 3Use the posting's exact wording where it is accurate. If it says "EHR documentation" and you used Epic, write "EHR documentation (Epic)" so both terms appear.
4. 4Add two or three skills the posting does not mention but that you are known for in this kind of role. These help the reader see what you bring beyond the checklist.
5. 5Keep a soft skill only if one of your bullets shows it producing a result.
6. 6Repeat for each application. The core of the list stays the same; the order and a few items change.

Three ways to format a skills section

The same skills can be laid out three common ways. Pick by how many items you have and how varied they are, then pick a template whose skills style matches. The previews below are cropped live renders of ResumeFinch templates.

A single line is the most compact and suits almost any job. Grouping helps when your list mixes languages, platforms and methods, since a reader looking for one database can find the data line without reading the rest. A core competencies block works best for managers and directors, whose "skills" are broader areas such as budgeting or vendor management.

Avoid building a competencies grid out of a Word table. Table cells are one of the layouts that some parsing software reads in the wrong order, and a plain list or wrapped tags carry the same words without that risk.

Prove your skills in your bullet points

A skills list makes a claim and your experience bullets supply the evidence. For your three or four most important skills, make sure at least one bullet shows the skill being used and what came of it. The numbers below are placeholders; use your own.

Skills to put on a resume with no experience

If you have little paid work history, your skills section moves up and does more of the work. Place it right after your summary or education so a reader sees what you can do before noticing a short experience section. Then draw skills from everything you have done, not only jobs.

• Coursework and training: a bookkeeping course gives you double-entry accounting and reconciliations; a nurse aide program gives you vital signs and patient transfers.
• Projects: a website you built, an event you organized, a spreadsheet you made for a club budget.
• Volunteer work: food bank shifts give you inventory rotation and food handling; tutoring gives you lesson planning and explaining ideas simply.
• Part-time and informal work: babysitting, rideshare driving and helping in a family business all involve scheduling, cash handling or customer contact.
• Certificates: a food handler card, a forklift certification or a software course certificate. List these in their own section with the issuer named.

For layouts built around this situation, see the no-experience resume template page, which puts skills and education ahead of work history.

Core competencies, areas of expertise and other skills headings

"Skills" is the safest heading for most people, because both readers and parsing software look for it. A few alternatives are common and fine when they fit the content.

• Technical Skills: for software, data and engineering lists, often grouped by category. Some people keep a separate short "Skills" line for everything else.
• Core Competencies: senior and management resumes, where the items are areas of responsibility (budgeting, hiring, vendor management) rather than tools.
• Areas of Expertise: consultants, specialists and anyone whose items are subject areas, such as "Medicare billing" or "commercial lease review".
• Key Skills: a frequent choice on CVs. It reads the same as Skills.

Whatever the heading, keep each item to a short phrase. A competency written as a full sentence belongs in your summary or your bullets.

Skills section mistakes that cost you

• Rating bars, stars or percentages. "Spanish 80%" has no agreed meaning, and the graphics carry no text a parser can read. Use words such as "conversational" or "fluent" instead.
• Vague bundles like "Microsoft Office". Name the program and the level: "Excel (pivot tables, macros)" says far more.
• Skills you could not discuss in an interview. Anything on the list is fair game for a question.
• The same skill twice under different names ("Teamwork" and "Collaboration").
• Generic traits with nothing behind them: hard-working, motivated, punctual. Show these through your record instead.

How to add skills in ResumeFinch

In the builder, open the Skills section, type a skill and press Enter. Commas work too: typing "Excel, QuickBooks, payroll" adds three separate items in one go. The section shows how many you have added, and the strength score asks for at least five.

Because commas split items, a grouped line such as "Languages: Python, SQL" cannot live in the Skills field. Use a custom section instead: choose Add section, name it "Technical Skills" (or any heading you like) and put one category per line. You can then hide the regular Skills section or keep it for a short list of non-technical skills. To use "Core Competencies" or "Key Skills" as the heading, rename the Skills section with the pencil icon on its card.

The template decides how the list looks. One-column templates such as Harbor, Meridian and Slate set skills on a single wrapped line. Atlas and Anchor stack them one per line in the sidebar, and Lumen, Vista and Crest show them as tags. Switching templates keeps every item, so you can try each look in a few clicks. The Word file always sets skills on one line separated by bullets, whichever template you pick.

Frequently asked questions