If career is the theme of the year for you, or you are seeking challenging resolutions for the year ahead, you need to know what skills to put on your resume to impress the recruiter and get a first or second interview. If you already have the skills, great! All you need to learn is how to write a resume to put your best foot forward. If you don’t have the skills yet, don’t worry. Now that you know what to focus on, you’ll be motivated, determined, and on the right track. So, start the year by reading about hard and soft skills recruiters look for, be inspired by our examples suited to most job types, and find answers to the most-asked questions about skills to include in a resume. Here we go!
Hard skills are those that require intensive training. Most of them are the result of taking a professional course and come with a certificate or diploma of some sort. Of course, the recruiter will appreciate you having the hard skills that match the job description, such as proficiency in Python for a software engineer position, where knowledge of Python is a must. However, you can acquire versatile hard skills that match a variety of jobs, such as speaking a foreign language.
Hard skills tend to be technical, specific, and measurable (e.g., CEFR levels for assessing language proficiency), so make sure you put all the details on your resume. Here are the hard skills to consider putting forward:
Software proficiency or computer skills is something most jobs require these days. Choose the skills that match the job you are applying for to make your resume relevant. The best place to start is the job announcement. Recruiters often list the computer programs you must know and the level of experience. Software proficiency includes any computer skills, from knowing how to work with a text editor or email service to coding, creating and managing databases, management software, and AI-based tools.
Knowing one or two foreign languages can give you the edge you need to be successful at an interview. You can start learning at any age and continue to improve throughout your career. What language to learn depends on your location and job interests. For instance, if your native language is English and you want a job in Europe, you may start learning Spanish, German, or French. But if you target the Asian market, you are better off learning Chinese or Japanese. On the other hand, if your native language is not English, learning it should be a priority.
Just like language proficiency and computer skills, having strong writing and editing skills is something most recruiters appreciate. There is almost no job where you won’t need to write an email, a letter, a proposal, a specification, or other written document. Poor writing skills, lack of editing knowledge, and grammatical mistakes are major drawbacks in your career. Especially if you aspire to a job in media, publishing, or communication, take a dedicated course and follow it through.
If you want a job in design, you need the skills and the certificates to prove them. From learning CAD software to taking art classes, you must target the exact skill the employer needs. Don’t forget that having a degree is key. A degree in fashion, product, or industrial design goes a long way. So do professional courses in graphic design, illustration, photo editing, CAD, and drawing.
Data analytics is a very popular field of activity nowadays. Almost any company wants to gather specific data and use it to improve its productivity, sales, and market recognition. Data analysis skills refer to working with dedicated programs (often AI-driven tools) to interpret various types of data. It may be technical data, feedback from clients, user data, medical data, or internal KPIs.
Like data analysis, marketing, and SEO knowledge are in high demand. If you have a degree in Marketing, you already have a few desirable hard skills. But you can still improve your chances by taking specific classes and training, such as learning SEO tools, digital marketing, social media campaigns, dedicated marketing software, and so on.
This is not the math you’ve learned in school, but specific math skills required for engineering, finance, business analytics, and other important fields. They are highly trained skills only a few have, so if you are one of them, make sure you put them on your resume.
If you apply for a management position, you must have project management skills. It’s as simple as that. You can prove your skills by experience or training. But if you are at a junior level, it helps to take the course, do the training, or learn the software. Any evidence you can bring in your favor helps, so consider past positions, volunteering, personal projects, and any other experience that can demonstrate your skills.
Like many other jobs, a job in accounting requires the obligatory hard skills. A diploma in finance and accounting is often mandatory. However, basic accounting skills include managing invoices and bills, proficiency in bookkeeping software such as QuickBooks, and managing payroll.
You can work in HR with or without a diploma in social studies, but you need a few hard skills up your sleeve. For instance, you may want to familiarize yourself with dedicated HR software, take a class on employee retention and motivation, train in teambuilding programs, or get a degree in communication or coaching.
Soft skills are harder to figure out than hard skills because they may not be mentioned in the job posting and may not be based on a certificate or degree. They are personality traits, abilities, and attributes one possesses innately or acquires by experience. Soft skills are often based on emotional intelligence rather than on measurable, technical abilities and target both personal achievements and interpersonal skills. How to choose those few soft skills that give you the edge in a resume is close to an art, so here are ten soft skills to consider on a general basis.
Although having excellent communication skills comes in handy in almost any job, there are a few industries that make a point of it. If you target a job in media, PR, HR, management, sales, customer support, or education, this is a soft skill to put on your resume. Communication includes the ability to present a topic verbally or in writing, public speaking skills, the ability to read the room and interact with various audiences, and to concisely and efficiently convey a message.
Creativity is crucial in artistic fields of activity, but also for more technical or mundane tasks. This means it is obsolete to put creativity as a soft skill when applying for a fashion designer position, but it’s a nice touch when applying for an HR specialist position, junior marketer, sales expert, or game programmer.
Like with so many other soft skills, leadership is something you put on your resume when it’s relevant for the job. For instance, leadership is a good skill to have when applying for a position in a team with growth opportunities or for a junior manager position. You can prove your skill by detailing your previous work experience, taking a class in leadership, or describing a task or project that put you in a leadership role.
Being able to think critically and assess a situation rationally is a huge advantage, and many employers appreciate it. You can use your ability to solve problems, come up with new ideas, improve teamwork, finish a task before the deadline, and negotiate through a conflict. There are many ways in which critical thinking comes in handy. However, it’s a difficult skill to prove, so make sure you include an explanatory example.
If you apply for a remote position, take some time to develop your time management skills and put them on your resume. It’s essential to manage your time efficiently, stay on schedule, and learn to collaborate from a distance. Time management is also good to mention for positions that imply a great deal of stress, close deadlines, multiple tasks and projects, and other similar demanding activities. Become proficient in a few time management apps and develop your method beforehand.
Organizational skills go hand in hand with time management and suit the same category of jobs: remote positions, administrative jobs, jobs that imply multiple tasks, high-stress positions, and dealing with deadlines. Moreover, they are key for management positions and any sort of leadership position. You need exquisite organizational skills to be an office manager or to manage the shifts in a café.
When the job in hand requires close collaboration with a group of people, teamwork is something the recruiter is quietly looking for. But, like other interpersonal abilities, it’s hard to prove. The best thing you can do is provide examples of how you handled a particularly difficult team task, speak about an award for a team competition you participated in, or tell the recruiter what your current team members say about you.
Attention to detail is crucial for sensitive jobs in healthcare, finance, and the military. However, it is also required, although not always mentioned, for technical positions, customer support positions, and creative fields of activity. Most of the time, attention to detail is an innate attribute, but you can choose to develop it by engaging in activities that require it, such as solving puzzles, origami, escape rooms, cooking, and so on.
Also for positions that require frequent interactions with other people (e.g., colleagues, clients, stakeholders, a large audience, etc.), people skills are something to consider. For this, you can consider improving your empathy, developing your emotional intelligence, learning to negotiate and defuse conflicts, working on your communication skills, and cultivating kindness and gratitude.
It goes without saying that all employers want hardworking employees. However, if you choose to put having a good work ethic on your resume, you must be prepared to prove it. For instance, you may have previous experience with jobs that required a high level of responsibility or intercultural exchanges, you may be a very punctual person or have won a “best employee” award, or you may have accepted to work for free for a short period of time to help the employer through a particularly difficult time.
Now that you know all your hard and soft skills and have made a note on what you want to add or improve, you get to the next challenge: how to list your skills on your resume. The trick is to provide a few skills that are relevant to the job you are applying for and give you the edge at the same time. It may be a bit confusing to come up with ten hard skills only to list three of them on your resume but trust us on this. The recruiter goes through a pile of resumes every day and wants to find the best candidate in the shortest amount of time. They will appreciate you staying on point, providing information relevant to the job at hand, and saving their time and energy. So, here is how to list your skills on your resume:
Let’s get through a few examples to help you understand how to put your best skills on a resume. We provide examples for an HR manager, a team manager, a software engineer, and an accountant position, but you can easily adapt them to your own job description and skills.
Working in HR means dealing with various types of people, adapting to the company’s culture and policies, managing lots of documents and files, and working towards improving productivity and employee satisfaction and retention at the same time. In addition, a management position requires leadership skills. Although the job you are applying to may have its own requirements, and you should consider them, these are the skills a recruiter usually looks for:
Hard skills:
Soft skills:
As a team manager, you have to combine two sets of skills: the skills required from your team members and management skills. Therefore, your resume should establish your experience and seniority in the field, as well as your leadership experience and people skills. Here are five hard skills and five soft skills you should consider when applying for a team manager position:
Hard skills:
Soft skills:
Software Engineer Position
Software engineer positions come in many forms, which means you must read the job description very carefully. Recruiters may look for front-end developers, AI algorithms experts, database specialists, functional programming experts, or people specialized in a range of programming languages, and each job requires different skills. So, check out the description for keywords, and put your best, most relevant skills first.
Hard skills:
Soft skills:
Accountant Position
An accountant’s job may vary from dealing with payroll to managing all the finances of a small business. They need to be proficient in dedicated software, have good knowledge of employment laws, stay up to date with changes in taxes and regulations, and be able to manage a large volume of sensitive data. Consider the following skills when applying:
Hard skills:
Soft skills:
FAQ
How many skills do you need to add?
Keep your list of skills relevant to the job at hand. Usually, listing up to 10-12 skills, including hard and soft skills, is enough for the recruiter to get a sense of your experience and personality. Stick to skills that are relevant, measurable, and easy to prove.
What are some beginner skills to add?
Beginners can add hard skills acquired in school, through specific training, or through volunteering, as well as soft skills that recommend them for the job and demonstrate their ability to learn and grow. As a beginner, it’s perfectly normal to list basic computer skills, foreign languages, communication and collaboration skills, and creativity.
What should you write in your skills section for your resume?
The skills section should include hard and soft skills that match the job description and recommend you for the job. For hard skills, you can include a level of measurement (e.g., 5 years of experience), certificates, and specific details. For soft skills, you can include those you can easily provide examples of if asked during the interview.
Shall you include certificates in the skills section?
Certificates usually accompany hard skills and may be included if they are relevant to the job. For instance, training and certifications acquired outside of school, such as project management courses, productivity training, and foreign language certifications, should be included in the skills section. If there are too many of them, consider creating a separate section for courses and training.
Conclusion
For a strong resume, add a mix of essential Soft Skills (Communication, Teamwork, Problem-Solving, Leadership, Time Management) and Hard Skills (Technical abilities, Software proficiency, Design, Project management), personalized to the job you are applying for. Use action verbs to show how you used them, demonstrating value beyond a list of traits.
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