Best Skills to Put on a Resume
The best resume skills are specific, relevant, and provable:
- Hard skills: tools, software, methods, and certifications (Excel, Salesforce, SQL, phlebotomy, forklift operation)
- Soft skills: how you work with people and problems (communication, leadership, problem-solving)
- Transferable skills: abilities that carry across jobs (project management, customer service, training)
Recruiters search for hard skills far more often than soft skills. See hard skills examples and skills for resume examples.
Skills on Resume Examples by Job
- Customer service: de-escalation, Zendesk, CRM, live chat support, upselling
- Nursing: patient assessment, IV therapy, Epic, BLS/ACLS, medication administration
- Software: Python, React, SQL, AWS, Git, CI/CD
- Sales: prospecting, pipeline management, Salesforce, negotiation, closing
- Admin: calendar management, Microsoft 365, data entry, invoicing, scheduling
- Warehouse: forklift certified, RF scanners, inventory control, OSHA safety
For role-specific lists, see resume builders by job.
Skill Levels: Should You Rate Your Skills?
Avoid star ratings and progress bars. "Excel: 4/5" means nothing to a recruiter, and graphics can confuse ATS. Instead:
- Use words for languages: Native, Fluent, Professional, Conversational
- Group skills as Advanced and Familiar if it helps
- Best of all, prove skills in your bullets: "Built 12 Tableau dashboards used by the leadership team"
- List 8–15 skills, most relevant first
- Use the exact wording from the job posting ("Microsoft Excel," not "spreadsheets")
- Group them if you have many: Technical, Tools, Languages
- Make sure key skills also appear in your experience bullets
Check your keyword match with the free ATS resume checker.
