What skills to put on a resume and where to put them
Most skills sections are written from memory: everything the writer can think of, in the order they thought of it. A better starting point is the job posting, because the skills section is the part of your resume a recruiter compares with their own list.
Start from the posting
Read the requirements and mark every skill, tool, method and certificate that is named. Then sort them:
| The skill is | What to do |
|---|---|
| In the posting, and you have it | List it, in the posting's wording. |
| In the posting, and you have used it a little | List it only if you could answer interview questions about it. |
| Not in the posting, but related | Keep a few that show depth. Cut the rest. |
| Not in the posting and unrelated | Remove it for this application. |
No posting yet? The keyword lists by job show what employers usually ask for, from customer service and retail to administrative assistant and nursing.
Hard skills go in the list, soft skills go in the bullets
Hard skills are things you could be tested on: software, equipment, languages, methods, licences. Soft skills describe how you work: communication, leadership, patience. Recruiters search and filter by hard skills, so those belong in the list. A soft skill in a list is only a claim. "Excellent communicator" proves nothing; a bullet about training 12 new hires does.
How to lay the section out
- Use a plain heading. "Skills" or "Technical Skills".
- Group them once you pass about ten. Short labelled lines are easier to scan than one long paragraph.
- Be specific. "Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP)" says more than "Microsoft Office". "Python, SQL" says more than "programming".
- Give abbreviations both ways once. "Electronic health records (EHR)" is found by either search.
- Skip rating bars and percentages. A graphic showing "Excel 80%" tells the reader nothing and may not survive being converted to plain text. If level matters, use words: "advanced Excel", "conversational Spanish".
A grouped section for a medical front desk job might look like this:
- Software: Epic, Athenahealth, Microsoft Office
- Front desk: patient scheduling, insurance verification, multi-line phones
- Certificates: CPR, HIPAA training
How many skills to list
There is no correct number. As a working rule, ten to fifteen relevant skills is plenty for most people, and a list of thirty hides the ones that matter. Put the posting's must-haves first.
Back up the important ones
For the three or four skills the job depends on, make sure each one also appears in an experience bullet with a result:
- Skills list: Excel
- Experience: Built an Excel tracker for 300 open orders that cut the weekly status meeting from 60 minutes to 20
What to leave out
- Anything you could not talk about for two minutes in an interview.
- Skills every applicant has, such as email or web browsing, unless the posting asks for them.
- Old tools that the posting does not mention.
The checker compares the skills in a posting with your resume and shows which ones are missing. Pro also flags skills that are listed but never demonstrated in your experience.