3 key takeaways
- A resume Skills section should list relevant, truthful abilities—not every skill you have.
- Lead with the tools, technical knowledge, and role-specific skills the employer emphasizes, then add supporting interpersonal or transferable skills.
- Use the dedicated section for quick scanning and prove your strongest skills with examples elsewhere on the resume.
A resume Skills section is a dedicated list of the job-relevant abilities you can use confidently. It helps a hiring manager quickly see your tools, technical knowledge, and other strengths without searching through every bullet on the page.
The strongest Skills sections are tailored to the job. Choose abilities you actually have, prioritize the ones the employer emphasizes, and support the most important skills with evidence in your summary or work experience.
Below, you’ll find 140+ resume skills examples by type and role, sample Skills sections for different experience levels, and a step-by-step method for choosing, ordering, and formatting your own.
What is a resume Skills section?
A resume Skills section is a dedicated area—usually a short list or a few labeled groups—where you name abilities relevant to the target job. These can include software, tools, methods, certifications, technical knowledge, languages, and interpersonal strengths.
Hard skills refer to specific technical skills for a resume or measurable abilities learned through on-the-job experience or education. This includes competence in tools such as Python, Notion, and Linear, and in areas like search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting.
In contrast, soft skills for a resume are more subjective and relate to personal attributes around how you interact with others. For example:
- Communication skills
- Organizational skills
- Cross-functional collaboration
For a deeper look at interpersonal strengths, see personal skills for a resume.
The importance of a Skills section on your resume
While you should always incorporate both types of skills in every section of your resume, a dedicated resume Skills section will help you:
- Clarify experience, making it easy for prospective employers to see your qualifications quickly.
- Improve searchability by using accurate job-posting language that matches your experience. An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software employers use to collect and sort applications; relevant wording can help people and software understand your qualifications, but it cannot guarantee an ATS pass or an interview.
- Complement your work history with a detailed view of the skills that underpin your professional experiences and achievement-based bullet points.
- Improve readability by breaking up text with a clear, easy-to-read resume section.
- Highlight technical proficiency by showcasing your expertise in relevant software, tools, or methodologies.
- Differentiate yourself from other job seekers who have similar experiences but may not showcase their skills as effectively.
Classifying skills on a resume
Before you begin writing a resume Skills section, it's key to understand what skill types you may have.
Why? Because a variety of skills can help differentiate you from the competition.
Remember, the goal is to present a balanced view of your experience and abilities and to show how they align with the job description. Beyond the hard and soft skills, there are other types of skills to consider for your resume.
- Hard skills
- Soft skills
- Technical skills
- Transferable skills
- Industry-specific skills
Five types of resume skills
Hard skills
Quantifiable, teachable abilities gained through education, training, or certification.
Examples: Data analysis, copywriting, a second language
Soft skills
Non-technical strengths describing how you work with other people.
Examples: Active listening, mentoring, conflict resolution
Technical skills
The specific software, platforms, and systems you can operate.
Examples: SQL, Figma, Salesforce, Google Workspace
Transferable skills
Abilities that carry from one role or industry into another.
Examples: Project management, presentation, customer service
Industry-specific skills
Abilities required for one particular field.
Examples: Java, phlebotomy, QuickBooks
Pro Tip: Use the free Teal Resume Builder to store all of your skills in one place. With Teal, you can categorize each skill by type (and toggle them on and off or add new skills whenever you need to!).
Save your skills, group them clearly, and tailor the section for each role.
Resume skills examples by type
Highlighting the right skills on your resume is crucial in today's competitive job market. Your resume’s Skills section can make relevant qualifications easier for hiring managers to notice.
The following section explores the various types of resume skills—soft, hard, technical, industry-specific, and transferable—providing multiple resume skills examples to inspire you in writing a tailored Skills section for your resume.
Soft skills examples
Soft skills are also called interpersonal skills or people skills. These non-technical abilities relate to how you interact with others and approach work.
- Leadership skills: delegation, empathy, mentoring
- Communication skills: conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, active listening
- Organizational skills: time management, goal setting, attention to detail
Hard skills examples
Your hard skills for a resume are quantifiable and teachable abilities you've gained through formal education, training, or certifications. These include things like data analysis, social media marketing, proficiency in a foreign language, or computer programming.
- Data analysis: data visualization, forecasting, statistics
- Social media management: TikTok, Google Analytics, community management
- Product management: market research, technical writing, UX analysis
Industry-specific skills examples
Industry-specific skills are those required for a particular field. For instance, Java, Phlebotomy, and QuickBooks fall into this category.
- Tech software development: debugging, cloud computing, API integration
- Retail management: merchandise planning, sales forecasting, customer relationship management
- Cybersecurity: threat analysis, network security, encryption techniques
Transferable skills examples
Transferable skills are those that can be applied across various industries and jobs. Often, they're things you learned in one specific role that prepare you for success in another position. (Think verbal communication, customer service skills, active listening, and time management.) Many transferable skills are also considered soft skills.
Some of the most common transferable skills are business skills. Business skills encompass a wide range of valuable abilities across industries—particularly in roles that involve decision-making, strategy, and interaction with clients or stakeholders.
- Leadership skills: team motivation, strategic decision-making, conflict resolution
- Communication skills: active listening, presentation, non-verbal communication
- Sales and negotiation skills: market analysis, client acquisition, deal closure
- Project management skills: resource allocation, timeline management, risk assessment
How to include transferable skills on a resume
Once you clearly understand which transferable skills align with your experience, you can incorporate them by showcasing how you used them to create impact.
For example, let's say you're transitioning from growth marketing to product marketing; you could highlight a bullet achievement like this:
Drove a 40% increase in product sign-ups by optimizing marketing funnels and leveraging data analytics, improving product engagement 3x through market understanding.
Unique skills for your resume
In addition to the five primary types of skills, there are also unique skills. Unique skills are even more distinctive. They're more specialized or rare and aren't commonly found in the job market.
Including unique but important skills on your resume can have a significant impact (if they're relevant to the role) because they capture the attention of hiring managers—making you a more memorable candidate.
Whether it's expertise in a niche technology, a rare language, or a specific artistic talent, including these unique skills can make a relevant qualification easier to notice as long as they're relevant to the job.
Skill categories to match your job goals
Beyond hard and soft skills, it’s helpful to consider which categories of skills will be most important for the role. For example, if you’re looking for a management role, you should be sure to include leadership skills. If you want a software or hardware engineering position, you should list your technical skills. Below, we break down a few skill categories with examples of each.
Leadership skills examples
- Team management
- Strategic planning
- Delegation
- Mentoring
- Coaching
- Change management
- Conflict resolution
Technical skills examples
- Microsoft Office, Google Workspace
- Zoom, Slack, Teams
- CRM tools (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- SQL, Python, Excel
- Canva, Figma, Adobe
- CMS platforms (WordPress, Webflow)
Analytical skills examples
- Data interpretation
- Research
- Forecasting
- Root cause analysis
- Critical thinking
Communication and interpersonal skills examples
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Relationship building
- Public speaking
- Active listening
- Presentation and facilitation
- Conflict resolution
- Negotiation
Organizational skills examples
- Calendar management
- Workflow optimization
- Project coordination
- Deadline tracking
- Meeting management
- Travel logistics
Strategy and business skills examples
- Market research
- Budget management
- Product planning
- Competitive analysis
- KPI tracking
Resume skills examples by job title
While many skills are transferable and nearly every business cares about soft skills, the technical or role-specific skills you select will vary based on the role you’re targeting. Below are examples of skills to consider for different job titles.
Project manager skills examples
- Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban)
- Project planning tools (Asana, Trello, MS Project)
- Budgeting and cost control
- Risk management
- Gantt charts and timelines
- Stakeholder communication
- Team leadership
- Conflict resolution
Software developer skills examples
- Programming languages (Java, C++, Python, JavaScript)
- Git
- Version control
- API development
- Mobile app development
- DevOps tools (Docker, Jenkins)
- Database management (SQL, MongoDB)
- Analytical thinking
- Debugging
- Code collaboration
Marketing skills examples
- SEO and SEM
- Google Analytics
- Email marketing platforms (Mailchimp, HubSpot)
- Social media strategy
- Content creation
- Campaign management
- Storytelling
- Trend analysis
Sales representative skills examples
- CRM software (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- Prospecting and lead generation
- Funnel management
- Negotiation techniques
- Cold outreach (phone and email)
- Objection handling
Designer skills examples
- Design software (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch)
- Prototyping and wireframing
- UX research
- Typography and color theory
- Responsive design
- Visual communication
- Collaboration with developers/PMs
- User empathy
Executive assistant skills examples
- Calendar management
- Travel management
- Microsoft Office, Google Workspace
- Meeting coordination and agendas
- Expense reporting
- Event coordination
- Discretion and confidentiality
Customer service representative skills examples
- Help desk software (Zendesk, Freshdesk)
- CRM tools
- Ticketing systems
- Knowledge base management
- Chat support platforms
- Conflict resolution
- Active listening
Accountant skills examples
- Accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, SAP)
- Financial reporting
- Payroll processing
- Budgeting and forecasting
- GAAP knowledge
- Analytical thinking
- Excel
Healthcare skills examples
- Electronic health records (Epic, Cerner)
- Patient assessment
- Medication administration
- HIPAA compliance
- Vital signs monitoring
- Communication with patients/families
- Patient care
Resume Skills section examples by experience level
Experience level changes which skills deserve the most attention. An entry-level candidate may lead with current tools, coursework, and transferable strengths. A more experienced candidate can prioritize specialized systems, leadership, and business impact. Use the examples below as formats, then replace the contents with skills you can support.
Entry-level marketing Skills section example
Entry-level marketing
Tools: Canva, GA4, Google Workspace
Campaign skills: Content creation, social scheduling, email production
Strengths: Audience research, written communication, organization
Mid-career marketing Skills section example
Mid-career marketing
Campaigns: SEO, email marketing, paid social, content strategy
Analytics: GA4, Looker Studio, A/B testing, performance reporting
Collaboration: Creative briefs, stakeholder communication, project management
Senior-level marketing Skills section example
Senior-level marketing
Strategy: Go-to-market strategy, portfolio planning, brand positioning
Leadership: Team development, budget management, cross-functional leadership
Measurement: Forecasting, attribution, KPI design, business intelligence dashboards
Keep only the categories and skills that fit the target role. A senior title does not require every leadership skill, and an entry-level candidate should not claim tools or methods they have not used.
How to choose skills for your resume Skills section
Determining which skills to include starts with the job you want and the experience you can support. Use these five steps to move from a broad personal inventory to a short, role-specific Skills section.
Choose skills in five steps
- Pull the repeated requirements from the job description. Note the tools, methods, credentials, and responsibilities the employer mentions early or more than once. Organization skills? Airtable? Miro? Written communication skills? Critical thinking skills? Whatever the posting keeps coming back to is your shortlist. For example: Marketing: execute marketing campaigns, increase brand awareness, generate leads; Software: design and maintain software applications, meet user needs; Data science: develop machine-learning algorithms, support strategic initiatives.
- Separate must-have hard skills from supporting strengths. Lead with job-specific abilities such as software, analysis methods, or certifications. Add interpersonal skills only when they matter to the work.
- Keep only skills you can defend. You should be able to explain where you learned each skill and how you used it. To build your inventory:
- Review past roles, projects, and impact
- Think about your hobbies and interests
- Consider your education
- Ask for feedback
- Order skills by relevance. Put the employer’s highest-priority requirements first instead of sorting alphabetically, and remove skills that are irrelevant to the job or industry you want. A skill can be useful or interesting without belonging on this version of your resume.
- Check for proof elsewhere on the resume. Support the most important skills in your summary, experience bullets, projects, or education with truthful examples. Compare the job’s keywords with the skills you’ve identified, then support the strongest matches throughout your resume with truthful examples of how you used them.
Compare your resume with a job description and find relevant skills you may have missed.
Use Job Matcher to compare your resume with a job description
- Select or add the job description you’re targeting.
- Review the skills, phrases, and themes the role emphasizes.
- Add relevant language only when it accurately reflects your experience, then support the strongest matches elsewhere on your resume.
Use Teal’s Match Score as a comparison aid, not a hiring threshold. Add job-posting language only when it accurately describes your experience.
Resume Skills section checklist
- Include only job-relevant skills you can discuss confidently.
- Put the employer’s priority tools and technical skills first.
- Use exact product, platform, method, or certification names when accurate.
- Group related skills under short labels when that improves scanning.
- Keep the format simple: plain text, bullets, or short lines.
- Avoid ratings, progress bars, stars, and keyword stuffing.
- Support your strongest skills with examples elsewhere on the resume.
- Proofread capitalization and product names.
How to create the Skills section on a resume
Now that you understand how to identify your relevant skills, let's get into how to write a resume Skills section with some best practices and tips for layout, formatting, and how many skills to list on a resume (like, actually).
- Choose the right skills: Select skills that are most relevant to the job you are applying for. Review the job description carefully and match your skills to the requirements outlined by the employer.
- Categorize your skills: Group similar skills together to make the section more organized and easier for the reader to scan. For example, you can categorize skills into software, certifications, or tools.
- Be specific: Instead of listing generic skills like "communication tools," list the tool name, ie. "Loom, Zoom, Slack."
- Use keywords from the job description: Incorporate keywords from the job description that show your skills align with what the employer is looking for.
- Limit the number of skills: Aim to balance showcasing a wide range of skills and keeping your list concise.
How to list skills on a resume
To build a dedicated Skills section for a chronological resume, you should incorporate it near the bottom. (A chronological resume format presents your work experience in reverse chronological order—listing your work history, starting with your most recent position and moving backward.)
Your resume sections should look something like this:
- Contact Information
- Target Title
- Professional Summary
- Work Experience
- Education
- Certifications
- Skills
- Optional
– Projects
– Awards and Scholarships
– Volunteering and Leadership
– Publications
If you want to create a Skills section for a functional resume (only recommended if you're transitioning careers or industries or if you've been out of the workforce for some time), incorporate your Skills section as your work experience.
How many skills to list on a resume
Use the smallest set that covers the role’s most important requirements. For many jobs, five to ten highly relevant skills are enough; see how many skills to list on a resume for deeper guidance.
A long list can hide the skills that matter most. Prioritize the job’s core requirements, then show how you used the strongest skills elsewhere on the resume.
How to describe skills on a resume
Even with a dedicated Skills section on your resume, providing concrete examples of how those skills were instrumental in your success is what makes your claims credible.
Skills in a Professional Summary section
In your professional summary, you could highlight your communication skills in combination with your hard project management skills by saying something like:
"As a highly motivated and results-oriented marketing generalist, I have a proven track record in project management, delivering a 20% increase in team productivity through effective communication strategies and streamlined task allocation."
Skills in a Work Experience section
In your Work Experience section, you should write resume bullet points that highlight specific hard skills. Let's say you have skills in MySQL and performance optimization, and you used them in tandem with your soft skills like team leadership. A resume bullet point could look like this:
"Led a team of 3 to implement an optimized database schema using MySQL and performance optimization, reducing query response times by 40%."
In either situation, use strong action verbs on your resume to convey a sense of movement and impact.
Resume Skills section example
In your resume's Skills section, organizing skills by type improves readability.
For example, categorize your skills into groups like "Technical Proficiency," "Communication Tools," or "Tech Stack." Under each category, use bullets or list relevant skills.
This layout not only highlights your strengths in a structured manner but also allows recruiters to identify your key competencies in specific areas quickly.
Resume Skills section best practices
Now that you know how to create a resume Skills section, here are some best practices for getting it right every time.
- Relevance is key: Ensure that the hard and soft skills you include are directly relevant to the job you are applying for.
- Be specific and honest: Only provide accurate information about your key skills and avoid exaggeration.
- Use keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords from the job description in your Skills section and other resume sections.
As you develop your Skills section, you can use our resume examples by role for inspiration on how to optimize your skills for different roles.
Your resume's Skills section and honesty
Even though you want to list skills that are relevant and align with a job description as closely as possible, sometimes, you might fall short. And that's okay.
Apply based on the role’s essential requirements and your ability to do the work—not a universal percentage rule.
Exaggerating or lying about skills on your resume can have severe consequences, like being disqualified from consideration. Or, if you claim to have skills you don't have, you may find yourself in a position where you can't perform.
Create your resume's Skills section with Teal
Strategically writing a resume Skills section with a variety of abilities is vital to your job search.
Incorporating a mix throughout your resume and in a dedicated Skills section will give a prospective employer a clear and holistic view of your qualifications.
But creating this section doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
With Teal, you can create a resume, save all of your skills, and then add and remove specific ones based on the role you’re applying for. (You can also move your Skills section to any position in your resume with a drag-and-drop editor.)
Then, leverage tools like Job Description Keywords and Match Score to see how your entire resume compares to the language of the job description!
Frequently Asked Questions
What should you put in the Skills section of a resume?
Include skills that are relevant to the target job and that you can use confidently. Prioritize required tools, software, methods, certifications, technical knowledge, and languages. Add interpersonal or transferable skills when they matter to the role, and support the most important ones with examples elsewhere on the resume.
How many skills should you list on a resume?
For many jobs, five to ten highly relevant skills are enough for a dedicated section. A technical or regulated role may need more tools, systems, languages, or certifications. Use the smallest set that clearly covers the employer's priorities instead of filling space with broad or unrelated abilities.
Should you include both hard and soft skills?
Usually, yes—but lead with the skills most specific to the work. Hard and technical skills are often easier to verify in a short list. Soft skills such as communication or leadership are more convincing when a summary, work bullet, or project shows how you used them.
Where should the Skills section go on a resume?
On a chronological resume, the Skills section often appears after work experience or education. You can place it higher when tools, licenses, or technical qualifications are essential to the role. Keep the reading order clear and make sure the section does not push stronger evidence off the first page.
How should you format a resume Skills section?
Use a simple list or a few short labeled groups, such as Tools, Methods, and Languages. Keep capitalization consistent and use exact product or certification names. Avoid stars, progress bars, charts, and dense multi-column layouts because they add ambiguity without proving proficiency.
Should you copy skills directly from the job description?
Use the job description to identify priorities, then include its wording only when it accurately describes your experience. Do not paste requirements you cannot support. Matching language can improve clarity and searchability, but it cannot guarantee an ATS pass or an interview.