Which Skills Should Be Listed on Your Resume

When creating your resume deciding on the skills section can be a difficult and agonizing decision. What are the best skills to add that will make the employer take notice and help you stand out from other job seekers? Having a well written skills section can add incredible value to your resume as it can succinctly lists your expertise for the role and a recruiter or hiring manager can see at a quick glance if you have the key qualifications for the role. How do you decide on the best skills for your resume? Note that this is also one section of the resume that you should also review and revise as needed if applying for different roles with varied skills requirements.

The key to writing a resume with the most impressive skills includes:

1. Selecting the skills most suitable skills section
2. Understanding what skills recruiters and employers are looking for
3. Knowing which skills would make the most sense for your resume

Deciding on the Best Skills for Your Resume

The more alignment your hard skills as well as soft skills have with the job requirements, the more attractive you will be to recruiters and hiring managers. Having the right set of skills listed on your resume can make all the difference when it comes to getting an interview. Take the time to carefully and honestly list your skills and technical knowledge and only include skills you’re certain you have that align directly with the job. That means taking a really strategic and hard look at the job description to identify the key skills required.

Identifying Your Best Skills

Once you’ve fully reviewed the job description and understand the requirements, compile a list of your applicable skills. It may be helpful to go through your work experience and try to think of two to three specific skills you’ve used as part of each job. If you’re struggling to come up with skills for your resume’s skill section, you can review employees on LinkedIn working in similar roles to see skills you may have in common and use them on your resume. You can also look at other similar job ads and use the skill keywords on your resume if they’re applicable.

Skills Most Employers Look For

Once you’ve identified those skills, narrow it down to those that are most relevant to the job. Typically, you should list up to about 10 skills maximum. Depending on the job you are interested in, the following is a list of partial skills that many employers may look for:

• Problem Solving
• Communication
• Adaptability
• Change Management
• Decision Making
• Cross Team Collaboration
• Interpersonal Skills
• Time Management
• Analytical Skills
• Leadership
• People Management
• Self-Motivated
• Strategic Thinking
• Project Management
• Data Management
• Emotional Intelligence

The above recommendation obviously doesn’t list all of the skills that employers want, but they fall within the top skills most employers look for. You should also list your technical skills as they relate to the job you’re interested in. There are some technical skills that are pretty standard and others that are more specific depending on the industry. Technical skills can include:

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Software Programs
• Web Development
• Social Media
• Technical Writing
• Advanced Computer Skills
• Graphic Design (Adobe Suite, Blender)
• Programming Languages (HTML, CSS, Python, JavaScript)
• Cloud Collaboration (Shared Calendars)
• Remote Communication (Zoom, Skype)

Depending on the specific competencies that recruiters and hiring managers are looking for, these are some skills that may help you in your job search as you build your resume.

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