# Skills to put on a resume: how to choose and list them

> Which skills to put on a resume and how to list them: hard vs. soft skills, pulling the right ones from the job posting, section layouts and proficiency labels.

- Canonical URL: https://jobbie.bot/blog/skills-for-resume
- Topic: [Resumes](https://jobbie.bot/guides/resumes)
- Published by [Jobbie](https://jobbie.bot/) · Updated 2026-10-06 · 8 min read

Put the skills on your resume that the job posting asks for and that you can prove. Name your hard skills (tools, software, languages, methods, licenses) in a short skills section, grouped under two to four labels. Show soft skills such as communication or leadership through results in your experience bullets, where a reader can believe them.

Use the employer’s wording when it describes something you really do, add a proficiency label only where the level matters, and leave off anything you could not discuss in an interview.

## Key takeaways

- A skills section is for things that can be named and tested: software, equipment, methods, languages, licenses.
- Soft skills matter to employers, but a list of them proves nothing. Put the evidence in your bullets.
- Start from the posting. Keep the skills that appear both there and in your own history, in the posting’s words.
- Group skills under plain labels and separate them with commas. Skip rating bars, stars and percentages.
- Label proficiency in words, and only where it helps: languages, and tools you know at a beginner or expert level.

## Hard skills vs. soft skills: what goes where

Hard skills are teachable and checkable. You either can build a pivot table, draw blood or drive a forklift, or you cannot. Soft skills describe how you work with people and problems. O\*NET OnLine, a U.S. Department of Labor site, describes them as the interpersonal and thinking skills needed to work with people and perform effectively.

| Type | Examples | Best place on the resume | How to prove it |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Hard skills | Excel, SQL, phlebotomy, forklift operation, bookkeeping, Spanish | Skills section, plus the bullets where you used them | Name the tool, the level and where you used it |
| Soft skills | Communication, teamwork, problem solving, time management | Experience bullets and summary | Describe a result that needed the skill |

Employers do want soft skills. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that its employer surveys consistently find critical thinking and problem solving, communication, and teamwork among the skills employers seek. The problem is the format. Anyone can type “team player.” Emory University’s career office makes the same point: a skills section is generally for concrete technical skills, not character traits.

So turn each soft skill into a line of evidence:

| Instead of listing | Show it in a bullet |
| --- | --- |
| “Excellent communication skills” | Presented monthly inventory findings to the managers of six stores |
| “Team player” | Covered 20 shifts for coworkers in one year without a missed opening |
| “Detail-oriented” | Reconciled about 300 expense reports a quarter with no audit corrections |
| “Leadership” | Led a five-person volunteer crew that repainted two classrooms in a weekend |

The guide to [resume buzzwords to avoid](https://jobbie.bot/blog/resume-buzzwords-to-avoid) has more replacements like these.

## How to choose which skills to list

1. **Build a master list.** Write down every tool, program, machine, method, language and credential you have used in jobs, school, volunteering and projects. Do not filter yet.
2. **Mark up the posting.** Highlight each tool, method and credential it names, and note which are required and which are preferred. The guide to [resume keywords](https://jobbie.bot/blog/resume-keywords) shows how to read a posting this way.
3. **Keep the overlap.** A skill that is on both lists goes on the resume, in the posting’s wording when it means the same thing.
4. **Check the occupation.** O\*NET OnLine covers more than 900 occupations, lists the software used in each and flags “hot technologies,” the software skills frequently included in employer job postings. Search your target job title there to catch standard tools you forgot.
5. **Cut the rest.** Drop obsolete tools, basics every applicant has, and anything you would struggle to answer questions about.
6. **Test for proof.** Each skill you keep should appear in at least one bullet or be backed by a credential.

```Worked example: choosing skills for one posting
Posting asks for: Salesforce, pipeline reporting, Excel, cold outreach, "excellent communication"

Your master list: HubSpot, Excel, Canva, cold calling, email campaigns, Spanish, Photoshop

Skills section: CRM: HubSpot (3 years) | Excel (pivot tables, lookups) | Cold outreach by phone and email | Spanish (fluent)

Left off: Canva, Photoshop (not relevant to this role)

In a bullet: Communication, shown as "Booked 12 to 15 demos a month from cold calls"

Not claimed: Salesforce (never used; HubSpot shows the same kind of CRM experience)
```

> **Watch out:** Never add a skill only because the posting lists it. Everything in your skills section is fair game for an interview question or a skills test.

## How to lay out a skills section

Keep it plain: a heading, two to four labeled groups, and commas between items. Purdue University’s writing lab recommends ordering the groups by how much they matter for the job you want, so the most relevant line comes first. Plain text also survives the software that reads your application, which is covered in the guide to an [ATS-friendly resume](https://jobbie.bot/blog/ats-friendly-resume).

```Skills section: administrative assistant
SKILLS
Software: Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, lookups), Outlook calendar management, Google Workspace
Office: Travel booking, expense reports, meeting minutes, vendor invoicing
Languages: English (native), Spanish (conversational)
```

```Skills section: data analyst
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Languages: SQL (advanced), Python (pandas, NumPy), R (basic)
Visualization: Tableau, Power BI
Methods: A/B test analysis, cohort analysis, regression, forecasting
```

```Skills section: maintenance technician
SKILLS
Electrical: Conduit bending, panel wiring, motor controls, multimeter troubleshooting
Mechanical: Preventive maintenance on conveyors, pumps and HVAC units
Safety: Lockout/tagout, forklift certified
```

```Skills section: student with little work experience
SKILLS
Software: Excel (formulas, charts), Google Sheets, Canva
Lab: Pipetting, gel electrophoresis, sterile technique (two semesters of biology labs)
Languages: Vietnamese (fluent), English (fluent)
```

Where the section sits depends on how much the skills carry your application:

- **Near the top** if the role is technical, you are changing fields, or you are a student whose skills outweigh your experience. See the guide to a [technical resume](https://jobbie.bot/blog/technical-resume) for longer, categorized lists.
- **After work experience** if your job history already shows you can do the work. The section then acts as a quick index.

Licenses and certifications that the job requires deserve their own heading rather than a spot in a list; see [how to list certifications on a resume](https://jobbie.bot/blog/certifications-on-resume).

## How to show your proficiency level

Most skills need no label. If you list Excel and your bullets show you building reports in it, the reader has what they need. Add a level in three cases: languages, tools you know only at a basic level, and tools where expert depth is the selling point.

| Label | Use it when | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Basic or familiar | You have used it in a course or with guidance | R (basic) |
| Proficient | You use it on your own for everyday work | Excel (proficient: pivot tables, lookups) |
| Advanced | You solve unusual problems in it and teach others | SQL (advanced) |
| Conversational, professional, fluent, native | Languages; ask yourself whether you could do the job in that language | Portuguese (professional working proficiency) |

Use words, not graphics. A bar filled to 80% or four stars out of five has no agreed meaning, and a parser may not read a graphic at all. Evidence beats any label: years of use, what you used it for, or a test score or certificate if you have one.

```Proficiency shown with evidence
SQL (4 years; daily reporting queries and query tuning)
French (conversational; two years of college coursework and a semester in Lyon)
AutoCAD (used for all shop drawings in two internships)
```

## Skills to leave off your resume

- **Traits without proof:** hard-working, motivated, quick learner.
- **Basics every applicant has:** email, web browsing, typing, unless the posting asks for them.
- **Obsolete tools** that date you without helping you.
- **Skills you do not want to use again.** Listing them invites offers for that work.
- **Anything inflated.** A skill you cannot demonstrate costs you the interview you worked to get.

If you are moving into a new field, the skills that carry over are often worth more than tools from your old one. The guide to [transferable skills](https://jobbie.bot/blog/transferable-skills) shows how to identify and prove them.

## Frequently asked questions

### How many skills should I list on a resume?

There is no fixed number. List the skills that are relevant and provable; as a working guide, a dozen or so items in two to four groups fits in a few lines. A short, targeted list reads as competence. A long, unsorted one reads as padding and buries the skills the employer asked for.

### Should I put soft skills in my skills section?

Mostly no. Words like “communication” or “leadership” carry no information in a list because anyone can claim them. Show them in your experience bullets with a result that required the skill. The exception is a soft skill the posting names as a requirement, which you can mirror in your summary.

### Where should the skills section go on a resume?

Put it near the top for technical roles, career changes and student resumes, where skills are the main evidence. Put it after work experience when your job history already demonstrates what you can do. Either way, keep it to a few lines.

### Should I rate my skills with bars, stars or percentages?

No. Ratings have no shared meaning, so “Excel: 80%” tells a reader nothing, and graphics may not be read by application software. Use a word such as basic, proficient or advanced where the level matters, and back it with evidence in a bullet.

### What skills should I put on a resume with no experience?

Use skills from coursework, labs, projects, volunteering and part-time work: software you have used, languages you speak, equipment you can operate, methods you have practiced. Say where each came from if it is not obvious, for example “Excel (two semesters of accounting coursework).”

### Can I list a skill I am still learning?

Yes, if you label it honestly. Write “Python (basic)” or list the course under education as in progress. Do not present a skill you are studying as one you can already use on the job.

## Sources

- [U.S. Department of Labor: O\*NET OnLine](https://www.onetonline.org/): the definition of soft skills, and technology skills by occupation with the ones most often named in job postings.
- [NACE: What Students Need to Know About the Skills-Based Hiring Process](https://www.naceweb.org/job-market/trends-and-predictions/what-students-need-to-know-about-the-skills-based-hiring-process): the skills employers consistently seek, from the Job Outlook surveys.
- [Purdue Online Writing Lab: Skills Section](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/job_search_writing/resumes_and_vitas/resume_workshop/skills_section.html): grouping skills under headings ordered by relevance to your goal.
- [Emory University Career and Professional Development: What to include in your Resume](https://cpd.emory.edu/resources/what-to-include-in-your-resume/): the skills section as a place for concrete technical skills.
- [MIT Career Advising & Professional Development: Make your resume ATS-friendly](https://capd.mit.edu/resources/make-your-resume-ats-friendly/): avoiding graphics, icons and images in a resume that software will read.