40+ Coveted Skills to Put on a Resume

To get a fair idea of what skills to put on a resume is not so easy. Listing the right skills in the right way is the trick. By skills, we mean basic skills, people skills, management skills, and technical skills you know you are good at. But how do you choose the best job skills to put on the CV?

When writing a resume, you might usually highlight skills that will set you apart from the other candidates. The above mentioned list of skills to put on a resume will make a significant difference if you know how to incorporate the ones that are highly valued in all industries.

Before we deep dive into some of the key skills to include on a resume, let’s first look at the several types of job skills:

• Basic Skills: Speaking, listening, readings, writing, etc.
• People Skills: Persuasion, teamwork, communication, negotiation, etc.
• Management Skills: Motivating, leadership, problem-solving, etc.
• Technical Skills: Programming, technical writing, data analysis, software proficiency, etc.

You might think that employers are only looking for a specific set of skills, but the rest are equally important. For instance, people skills routinely top lists of traits employers look for in the perfect candidate.

Tip: It is very important to use keywords as part of your skills where you add both soft and hard skills.

This doesn’t mean you must include all in-demand skills in your resume. Be honest when you’re listing out each skills as well as its competency level. According to the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition, there are five stages of skill acquisition:

Novice: You have exposure to the skill but you lack the experience.

Advanced Beginner: You have seen and practiced the skill with various examples of a task or job.

Competent: According to the Dreyfus model, one needs approximately 2 to 3 years before becoming competent.

Proficient: You know how to handle particular situations by prioritizing effectively and making decisions more quickly.

Expert: You have a fairly impressive experience and training with the skill. You do not need rules, guidelines or procedures to execute the job.

List of Skills for a Resume 

First of all, you should make a difference between the skills to put on a resume. We will start with soft skills to put on resume. Here are the best skills:

1. Effective communication
2. Conflict management 
3. Teamwork skills
4. Time management 
5. Stress management 
6. Critical thinking 
7. Productivity
8. Organization 
9. Emotional intelligence
10. Problem-solving 
11. Adaptability
12. Attention to detail 
13. Planning 
14. Negotiation 
15. Charisma 
16. Innovation 
17. Proposal writing 
18. Motivation 
19. Task delegation 
20. People management 
21. Dealing with stress

All of the mentioned soft skills can be used for your resume if you work in different professions. This list can apply to all kinds of professions and you can include some of the skills for your profession too. 

There are also hard skills to put on resume, and we present them below. You can find some of the most significant hard skills here:

1. Technological savviness
2. Six Sigma techniques
3. Porter’s Five Forces
4. Data analysis
5. SEO
6. SEM
7. Web analytics
8. A/B Testing
9. B2B Marketing
10. Keyword Optimization
11. Data visualization
12. Lead generation
13. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
14. Photoshop
15. HTML
16. CSS
17. Digital printing
18. Logo creation
19. Infographics
20. Spacing
21. Choosing fonts

When it comes to the mentioned hard skills, they come with a variety of different positions, and you can choose your set of hard skills that are best suited to your profession. Some of the hard skills are more technical and you may need to describe them further. 

However, most of the mentioned hard skills to put on resume are well-known to everyone and you do not need to add a further explanation next to them. 

Best Resume Tips

It is good to know that each resume that you send to a specific company usually goes through the automatic software that selects the special keywords that are relevant to the position you apply for. This kind of software is very selective and it can reject your resume before it even gets to the HR manager. 

This kind of testing is very sensitive and it can set your resume apart from others at the very beginning. If you use your keywords in a good manner, you can be sure that the software will “read” your resume in a good way and label it as a good resume. 

It is very important to use keywords as part of your skills where you add both soft and hard skills. When searching for the skills to include on a resume, be realistic and find only the keywords that apply to your industry.

You do not want to say that your skill is Photoshop if you apply to be a cook. Or you do not want to say that your soft skill is active listening if you plan to be a dog walker. Choose the skills smartly and always be aware of the industry you are in. 

When a resume goes through the software, it selects the relevant keywords that are the most important for the job. After this, an HR manager will also take a look at your skills. If your resume looks good, you may be offered an interview. 

This is the main intention of sending a resume. When a recruiter calls you for an interview, you can be sure that your resume got good attention. Now when you know which skills to put on a resume, you can build your resume in the best manner and increase your chances of getting the job you want.