Resume Skills Section: The Complete 2023 Guide

Click here to directly go to the complete resume skills examples.

How to draft a resume skills section?

"Schooling doesn't assure employment, but skills do." - Amit Kalantri.

It's pretty rare to find someone who would willingly sit down to start working on their resume.

Only when you have no other option in sight, do you take a deep sigh and then wonder how to list skills on a resume to make it appealing for the recruiters.

Does it ring a bell?

What if we tell you that our guide to writing skills for resume will help you avoid that whole cycle?

Here is the blog summary:

Leverage your targeted job description to add relevant skills to your resume
Avoid adding personality traits such as hardworking, team player to your resume
Create different sections for your key skills and technical skills section
Always substantiate & quantify your skills in the professional experience section
Group similar bullet points under relevant skills used as a subheading

What if we tell you that we will provide you with an extensive list of resume skills examples?

Sounds too good to be true? It is.

Here is what you will learn by the end of this resume skills blog:

Why do you need a resume skills section?
How to divide skills in a resume?
How to put skills on different types of resumes?
Where to put skills on a resume?

We'll give you a detailed list of resume skills examples to put on a resume that will get you those shortlists you so rightfully deserve. We'll follow it up with examples of skills for resume for various broad-level industries. Writing skills for a resume shouldn't be an arduous task anymore!

We have created industry based resume skills examples just for you:

Business Analyst Resume Skills
Sales & Business Development Resume Skills
Project Management Resume Skill
Finance Graduate Resume Skills
Telecom Network Optimization Specialist Resume Skills

And many more!

In addition to this, you can use Hiration's Online Resume Builder to make your resume as it comes with 20+ ATS compliant design templates. So go and make your resume at Hiration's Online Resume Builder right now!

Why Have the Resume Skills Section in The First Place?

Isn't just updating your work profiles with everything you've ever done, ranging from convening high-level meetings to preparing that obscure report that no one bothered to read enough, you ask?

Um, no. It isn't.

If you're an HR with hundreds and thousands of resumes with only work profiles in them to go for, it's going to be a veritable nightmare for you, isn't it? And so, it's your job to make the HRs job easy.

And if you're applying to a company that uses an ATS to shortlist resumes, then you need to outsmart the ATS by adding relevant skills to the resume.

The rankings are assigned based on how relevant your resume is for the job you're applying for.

In other words, your ATS score depends on how closely you managed to align your resume with the Job Description. You can't change your roles and responsibilities in your work profiles to suit the job you are targeting.

Since your work profiles will more or less remain what they were, a relevant and targeted Resume Skills section is what will help you bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

And don't forget that you can always use Hiration's Online Resume Builder with 200+ content templates to help you make your resume.

What Are The Skills For Resume, and What They Are Not?

Skills for resume are core professional skills, not personality traits like “Problem Solver,” “Decision Maker.” Many people get confused between the two and miss the mark by a mile.

'Organizational skill,’ on the face of it, is a skill, but when an HR is looking to shortlist a few dozen relevant applicants from more than a thousand, s/he will not filter them using 'organizational skill.’ S/he will use something more relevant to the job profile.

Same goes for 'hardworking', 'highly motivated', 'team player', etc.

According to Monster.com, to provide an example for clearing all doubts, the following are instances of personality traits.

There's no need to go to the other end and avoid them altogether, but understanding the difference between these traits and actual professional skills for a resume will go a long way in optimizing your resume.

Below is a list of soft skills along with their meanings that you should avoid using in your resume unless you're a recent graduate or entry-level professional since, in that case, you wouldn't have enough hard skills to put in your resume.

Articulate: I can express myself well in front of groups
Autonomous: I use initiative
Calm: I stay levelheaded in a crisis
Charismatic: I can be a leader when needed
Cheerful: I develop a positive work environment
Competitive: I thrive under pressure
Confident: I am not afraid to ask questions
Cooperative: I get along well in a team setting
Courteous: I care about the workplace atmosphere
Creative: I think outside the box
Curiosity: I am eager to learn
Determined: I am self-motivated
Devoted: I am committed to the company's success
Diligent: I always work my hardest
Easygoing: I quickly adapt to new situations
Efficient: I have a rapid turnover time
Eloquent: I have strong communication skills
Energetic: I can work long and hard hours
Enthusiastic: I put my all into every project
Flexible: I can adapt my priorities
Focused: I am goal-oriented
Friendly: I am easy to work with
Honest: I value integrity
Imaginative: I am inventive in my work process
Independent: I need a little direction
Inquisitive: I am excellent at gathering information
Insightful: I can read between the lines
Intuitive: I can sense when there is a problem
Meticulous: I pay attention to the small details
Neurotic: I am a perfectionist
Open-minded: I take constructive criticism well
Opinionated: I am comfortable voicing opinions
Organized: I am a meticulous planner
Patient: I am not easily ruffled
Perceptive: I can read people effortlessly
Persuasive: I am a natural salesperson
Resourceful: I use every tool at hand
Technological: I am industrially savvy

Now, let us see a few resume skills examples of a Software Developer and Database Management Professionals which should be prioritized over personality traits. An IT skills resume should ideally contain:

Software Developer Skills	Key Skills
Application/Product Development	Requirements Analysis
Strategy & Business Planning	Software Development Lifecycle
Project Scheduling & Management	Service-oriented Architecture
Testing, Quality Analysis & Research	Client Relationship Management

After telling you the difference between soft and hard skills for a resume, now it's time to let you know how to list skills in the resume skills section.

Show, don’t tell

You know what's better than listing out dozen-odd skills, Demonstrating that you possess them.

Instead of adding 'leadership' to your skills like a robot who has been programmed to do so, elaborate on your leadership skills.

Show how you have led teams, resolved conflicts, handled inner team dynamics, managed internal and external stakeholders, motivated personnel and subordinates, etc. That’s what recruiters are looking for in a candidate.

Instead of adding 'negotiation,’ show how your negotiation skills helped you secure better deals.

Remember, an ATS shortlist only those resumes that have skills mentioned throughout it. It's just a machine at the end of the day, and it will do what it is made to do. Also, this approach will make the resume look appealing to the human recruiter as well when it reaches him/her for the second screening.

To make your resume look more appealing to the recruiters, use Hiration's Online Resume Builder to make your resume and use its 'Live Review' feature to get real-time feedback on your resume.

Dividing Skills for Resume Into Subsections

One problem that we routinely see with senior professionals having 10+ years of experience in the Key Skills section of the resume is they don't know how to categorize these skills.

Either it will be missing altogether, or they'll reserve an entire page (we are not kidding) for them. The result is a boring wall of text that might get past an ATS but which the recruiter will not spare a second.

The problem is acuter, in resumes of IT professionals where they have to showcase their managerial/project management skills and their technical proficiency.

It helps if you can neatly divide your entire list of key skills into relevant subsections. An example will better demonstrate what we mean. Down below, you'll see a myriad of key skills all grouped, which, as you'll notice, does not make much sense.

• Project Management & Monitoring • Team Mentoring & Management • ANSI/ASME/DIN/ASTM/API/ISO • Project Scale-up • Castings, Forgings & Welding • Product Innovation/Differentiation • Equipment Trials & Development • Costing & Estimation • Cost-Benefit Analysis • Cross-functional Coordination • SPMs, Machining & Heat Treatment • Proposals & Documentation • Engineering Design & Analysis • Technical Documentation • Design Formulation & Optimization • Prototype Development • Machine Layouts & Assembly • Equipment & Fixture Design • Global Regulatory Compliance • Performance Optimization • Conveying Systems/Jigs & Fixtures • Pneumatics & Hydraulics • Risk Assessment & Management • DOE, DFSS, DMIAC, DVP&R & VAVE • R&D & Innovation • NPD & VI Projects • Project Commissioning & Launch

And here is the same set of skills for resumes grouped under a relevant heading, making them much easier to scan for relevance quickly.

Project Management Skills
• Project Management & Monitoring • Team Mentoring & Management • Global Regulatory Compliance
• Project Scale-up • Product Innovation/Differentiation • Equipment Trials & Development• Project Commissioning & Launch • Risk Assessment & Management • Cost Benefit Analysis
• Cross-functional Coordination • Proposals & Documentation • Performance Optimization

Engineering & Design Skills
• Engineering Design & Analysis • Technical Documentation • Design Formulation & Optimization
• Prototype Development • Machine Layouts & Assembly • Equipment & Fixture Design
• Conveying Systems/Jigs & Fixtures • SPMs, Machining & Heat Treatment • Castings, Forgings & Welding
• Pneumatics & Hydraulics • Costing & Estimation • DOE, DFSS, DMIAC, DVP&R & VAVE
• ANSI/ASME/DIN/ASTM/API/ISO • R&D & Innovation • NPD & VI Projects

You're not changing the volume of your skills for your resume, but only the way it's presented on paper. That's how you optimize your resume in general and the resume section’s skills, particularly for both the machine and the person behind the machine.

How you divide the key skills into subsections depends on your industry and the conventionally followed norms. IT Professionals can usually classify their extensive range of key skills into various groupings like Tools, Operating systems, Methodologies, Databases, etc.

So, in that case, how do you list skills in the resume skills section?

The example below will clear that right out. First, you'll find a list of IT skills for your resume all bunched together.

Oracle 11g/12c, MySQL, DBCA, OEM, TOAD, Expdp/Impdp, Tkprof, Statspack, SQLPlus, Elastic Map Reduces, Asp.NET, Window 8.1, AWR/AWS, RAC, Word, Amazon EC2/EBS/VPC, Linux (Red Hat 5/6), Ansible, Simple Storage Service, Amazon Machine Images, GIT, SQL, PPT, UNIX, OOPS Concept, C#.Net, RAC/RMAN, Windows NT/2000, SVN, Excel

A Generalist HR browsing through the same might be impressed, but it sure as hell won't serve him/her any purpose. This will though:

DB/RDBMS: SQLPlus, Oracle 11g/12c, MySQL, DBCA, OEM, RAC/RMAN, TOAD, Expdp/Impdp, Tkprof, Statspack, AWR/AWS, RAC

Cloud: Amazon EC2/EBS/VPC, Simple Storage Service, Amazon Machine Images, Elastic Map Reduces, Ansible

Languages: SQL, UNIX, OOPS Concept, Asp.NET, C#.Net

OS & Misc.: Windows NT/2000, Linux (Red Hat 5/6), Window 8.1, SVN, GIT, Word, PPT, Excel

Here you have the same bunch of IT skills for resumes grouped under relevant sub-headings, which makes going through them a breeze. Even a Generalist HR can make sense of the same and understand what all broad-level domains you are familiar with.

Other professionals like Graphic Designers or Marketing Executives can have different groupings based on their area of expertise and the deployed tools. The idea is to balance the volume of skills in the resume skills section with introductory presentation and organization.

You can also opt for Hiration's Resume Review Service, wherein you can get your resume skills section and the overall content of your resume reviewed by select industry experts.

So avail Hiration's Resume Review Service right away!

Hard skills and soft skills in a resume

We've seen 'resume experts' brush aside the relevance of soft skills. True, between the two, it's evident that hard skills should prioritize. But what most people often forget is that you are a distinct individual with your own set of competencies and intricacies at the end of the day.

You are not a money-making machine for the organization but a significant value-addition who will be spending a third of your day (maybe more) with other like-minded people.

Any job will entail a healthy mix of both hard skills and soft skills, with a bit of emphasis on the former. Hard skills will demonstrate how you are fit for the job, while soft skills will prove how well of a team member you'll prove to be.

Contrary to popular belief, hard skills are not tough to master. They are just the most relevant skills to the job you are targeting. A Project Manager will have a different set of hard skills as compared to a Data Analyst.

Here's an example of some skills for resume of a senior-level Sales & Distribution professional:

Business Development
P&L Management
Strategic Planning
Operations Management
Key Account Management
Turnaround & High-Growth Strategies
Customer Relationship Management
Staff Training & Development
Contract Negotiation
Budgeting & Forecasting

And a few resume skills examples of a C-level banking executive in the resume skills section:

Corporate Credit Management
Strategic Alliances & Partnership
Regulatory & Statutory Compliance
Strategic Planning & Leadership
Auditing & Inspection
Client Relationship Management
Policy Formulation & Quality Analysis
Performance Optimization
Project Delivery & NPL Management
Team Building & Management
Budgeting & Cost Management
Stakeholder Management & Negotiation

To sum up, Hard skills will be easier to demonstrate and quantify.

A quick shortcut for immediately finding out the relevant hard skills for the resume of your targeted profile would be to put the Job Description through one of these tools.

They are simple online tools that generate a jazzy word cloud based on the frequency of words in a text. Pasting the JD here will give you a list of the most frequently used words.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that HRs won't waste prime real estate in a JD on frivolous words - 90% or more of those frequently used words would be hard skills that you can easily incorporate in your resume (provided you're aware of it of course!)

Soft skills, on the other hand, are harder to demonstrate and quantify:

Instead of rambling on with unnecessary keywords, you can target the JD for more targeted soft skills for your resume. Think of them along the lines of 'social' or 'people-based' skills, which would help showcase your ability to work in a team.

The 'show, don’t tell' rule applies to the highest degree in this case. Instead of throwing around random soft skills for your resume, you can substantiate them in your work profiles.

Again, you can always use Hiration's Resume Review Service, where resume experts will provide you with an in-depth analysis of your resume and how well you have done to include all the relevant hard skills in your resume.

What Skills Do You Put on a Resume: Functional & Chronological Resume

Now, another question that needs to be addressed is, 'How would the presentation of skills for a resume differ from a chronological resume to a functional-based one?'

Functional resumes, by definition, revolve around functions and key skills. While our guide on resume layout talks about the difference between the two in greater detail, for our purpose here, a functional resume will prioritize key skills over the actual work profile.

The idea is to present your versatility with skills across all profiles in a single place while also covering gaps in employment, for instance, or masking contract-based and ad-hoc profiles under the garb of relevant functions.

A functional resume will extensively elaborate on all the key skills you possess while additionally highlighting instances across your different work profiles wherein you personified those skills. Here's a resume skills example in a functional resume:

A chronological resume will prioritize skills based on targeted keywords while leaving the scope to substantiate the same to your relevant work profile instead.

The priority here will be the actual work profile you held and the responsibilities you discharged in that tenure. It's up to you to rephrase your achievements in a way that showcases the points as an organic extension of the skills you possess.

Here's a list of examples of resume skills in a chronological resume and the work profile below that substantiates those skills.

You'll notice how the skills in the resume Skills section above are substantiated through the points in the work profiles below. The 'buckets' or sub-headings in each work ex-are directly linked with the resume Skills section, thus bringing an unparalleled level of coherence which any HR will gladly lap up.

We Can't blame them, though - the sheer volume of poor-quality resumes that they have to see daily, and when you place something like this in front of them, tells us why o' why they won't call you?!

Use can also go for Hiration's Online Resume Builder to make your resume as it comes with a JD Matcher that will help you by lengths and breadths to make your resume perfectly as per your job description.

Quantifiable, Relevant Skills for Resume vs. Generic, Random Skills For Resume

So you have scanned the JD and are done with your keywords research. You have the entire list of all relevant skills for your resume. What do you do now? Do you just dump everything on your resume and expect the magic to work?

Well, no.

How you phrase those skills for a resume is a delicate matter that most people often skip. We'll show you this through a bunch of examples, starting with relevance.

Demonstrated capability to knit a sweater in 2 hours flat
Contributed to 40+ open-source projects on Github
Keynote speaker at the Conference of Software Engineers '16

We often advise people to do some basic research on the organization which you are targeting by scanning their websites or social media pages.

Unless the company of your choosing participates in national/international knitting competitions and has been a world knitting champion for years, there's no point in adding that as a key skill/hobby in your resume.

That's an example of choosing and prioritizing relevant skills for a resume over something that you just happen to possess.

We deliberately chose an absurd example to drive home the point, but the truth remains. Most people can't seem to bridge the gap between what they have and what is required. Just because you are good at something is not enough reason to jump the gun and make space for it on your resume.

You have to understand the relevance of the same as well.

But there's a flip side to it. Say you are an amateur tennis player who played a bit in college, but it's been years now and you no longer even think about it, let alone put it on your resume.

But while browsing through the company's website, you notice that the company hosts tennis tournaments for leisure and even plays with other rival companies for a title. Suddenly your long-gone activity is now relevant. You can now go ahead and put the same on your resume in glowing letters.

Quantifiable Impact

So you've all the research neatly compiled from a dozen different sources and are now ready to flood your resume with the same.

But did you stop to wonder if you are the only one doing it? Don't you think anyone with half a mind targeting the same profile as you are is also doing the same thing?

The research is open to anyone who has the time, inclination, and intellect to do it. How then do you outperform the competition? Which skills to choose from the resume skills examples on a resume 2023?

Two words. Quantifiable impact.

That's where the uniqueness and individual brilliance that marked your stint across different work profiles (come on now, don't be shy) comes to play. Anyone can say that they've been leaders, that they optimized processes, that they broke all sales records.

But if you come out of nowhere as the shining star who not only has done all those things but can also back that up, well then, the door's on the right for everyone else, and you are in.

We can say it with that confidence because it is the absolute game-changer. Almost no one bothers to quantify the impact of their achievements.

The truth is, you are never working in isolation. There are always a bunch of stakeholders involved (internal or external) who are a party to what you do. Your task is to identify those stakeholders and quantify the impact you could deliver to them.

That will instantly magnify your profile from someone who just did what they were told to a goal-seeking professional actively coordinating with multiple stakeholders to drive significant impact across key areas.

And Bam! You are in, and everyone else has been shown the door.

It's that easy. Or that hard. Here's an example to further drive this point home.

Led a team to oversee B2B and B2C sales across NYC

Led a team of 15 Sales Executives to secure USD 4M in B2C sales
Forged strategic alliances with 15+ organizations to generate a pipeline of USD 200M+ as part of B2B

mic drop

To get some personalized advice on how to quantify your resume points and get an in-depth review of your current points in terms of quantification, avail the Hiration's Resume Review Service today!

Where to Put the Skills on a Resume?

Maybe we should have tackled this earlier, but oh well. The strongest and choicest of key skills will lose their impact if they are not placed within the proper context and in a way that makes them truly shine.

Where you place your resume skills section also depends on whether it's a chronological or a functional resume.

For instance, in a chronological resume, our advice would be to have the Skills in resume right below the Professional Summary section (which should always be on top).

The idea is to have the recruiter look at the summary first, get a broad-level understanding of who you are as a professional, and then scan the keywords (or Key Skills) to quickly gauge your relevance and suitability w.r.t to the job vacancy.

In the case at first glance, your resume looks appropriate; the recruiter can then follow it up with your work profiles where, surprise surprise, you have those very skills for resume from the resume skills section substantiated beautifully with a concrete cause-effect relationship and the Princeton formula in each point.

The recruiter knows that s/he has to see you in person in less than a minute.

There. Salespeople like to call it 'closed.’

We've seen resumes where people placed the skills for resume in the end, right above the Education or Certification section, for instance, almost as an afterthought.

If they knew that a significant probability of getting a shortlist rests on this single section, they probably would courier it separately to the recruiter in addition to emailing the resume.

But you can avoid that if you just place it above your professional experience to be quickly scanned for relevance and suitability.

More than half of your resume will consist of just that for functional resumes that revolve around resume skills. So the dilemma of where to place the resume skills section might not be that severe in this case.

In addition to this, you can always opt for Hiration's Online Resume Builder to make your resume as well as your cover letter in one place. Yes, no switching tabs and spending long hours on Google to search for a cover letter maker. We give it all to you in one place.

Sample Skills for Resume: 10+ Profiles & Industries

Business Analyst Resume Example of Skills

Systems Integration
Data Analysis & Forecasting
Enterprise Business Solutions
Delivering Presentations
Business & Industrial Research
Client Relationship Management
Quality Assurance
Orientation & Training
Reports & Documentation
Business Communication
Financial Modeling & Analytics
Event Management

Opt for Hiration's Resume Review Service right now to get your Business Analysis resume reviewed for relevant skills by industry experts.

Top Skills for Resume: Sales & Business Development

Key Account Management
Sales & Business Development
Team Management & Leadership
Partnerships & Strategic Alliances
Client Relationship Management
Product Development & Promotion
Training & Mentoring
Stakeholder Management
Budgeting & Cost Management
Negotiation & Portfolio Management

Top Skills for Resume: Project Management Professional

Project Planning & Execution
PMI Project Methodologies
Cross-functional Team Management
Lifecycle Development
Project Estimation & Costing
Systems Integration
Quality Assurance & Control
Client Relationship Management
Key Account Management
Data Analysis & Forecasting
Program Monitoring & Control
Project Commissioning & Launch
Process Optimization & Cost Control

Make your Project Management key skills resume on Hiration's Online Resume Builder, which has a ready-to-use Project Management content template with all the relevant Key Skills and Resume Points for the profile.

Finance Graduate Resume Skills examples

Data Analysis & Forecasting
Reports & Documentation
Communication & Negotiation
Taxation & Accounting Principles
Business & Market Research
Primary & Secondary Research
Liaison & Coordination
Business Valuation Methodologies
Internal & Statutory Compliance

Get your Finance Graduate resume reviewed by resume experts at Hiration by availing of the Resume Review Service.

HR Professional & Recruitment Specialist Resume Skills

Leadership Hiring
Lateral & Campus Recruitment
HR Strategy & Planning
Team Mentoring & Coaching
Alumni Relations
Training & Development
HR Policy Design & Execution
Employee Relations & Inclusion
Field & Corporate Office Collaboration
Team Building & Management
Coordination & Negotiation
Internal & Statutory Compliance

Opt for Hiration's Online Resume Builder right now to make your resume if you are a Recruitment professional as our Online Resume Builder provides 5+ content templates specifically for the recruitment professionals.

Technical Account Specialist Resume Skills examples

Training & Mentoring
Customer Relationship Management
Research & Analysis
Technical Support
Product Development
Quality Control Management
Technical Sales
Client Acquisition
Workflow Optimization
Tableau
Automation
Instrumentation Management

Business Support Officer Resume Skills examples

Coordination & Liaison
Project Planning & Documentation
Team Management & Leadership
Process Reengineering & Optimization
Data Analysis & Forecasting
Client Relationship Management
Project Management & Delivery
Quality Control & Compliance
Stakeholder Management & Negotiation
Operations Research & Communication
Industrial Engineering & Management
Budgeting & Cost Management

To get your Business Support Officer resume skills and content reviewed by industry experts, use Hiration's Resume Review Service right now!

Sales & Marketing Head Resume Skills examples

Portfolio Management
Business Intelligence
Process Optimization & Product Management
Strategic Planning
Product Launches & Promotion
Marketing & Brand Management
Cross-functional Team Leadership
Client Relationship Management
ROI/Revenue Maximization
Sales & Business Development
Training & Mentoring
Strategic Alliances & Partnerships

Data Analyst & Management Consultant Resume Skills

Data Science (R, SAS & Tableau)
Documentation & Reporting
Process Optimization
Data Analysis & Visualization
Design Engineering & Consultancy
Client Relationship Management
Vendor Management & Liaison
Market Research & Strategy
Project Management & Execution
Team Management & Leadership
Budgeting & Cost Management
Quality Control & Compliance

If you're a professional working in the field of analysis, then make your resume on Hiration's Online Resume Builder today itself, as it comes with 5+ ready-to-use content templates made specifically for professionals working in the field of analysis.

Legal Associate Resume Skills examples for Skills Section of Resume

Review of Agreements
Infrastructure, Energy & Insurance
Competition Law
Constitutional Law
Contract Negotiation
Drafting & Research
Briefings & Legal Opinions
Due Diligence
Dispute Settlement
Arbitration
Team Management

Fashion Designer & Product Head Resume Skills examples for Skills Section of Resume

Market Movements & Analysis
Creative & Trend-based Design
Product Development
Fabric Sourcing & Selection
Cost Management & Negotiation
Marketing/Sales Support
Apparel & Embroidery Design
Client Relationship Management
Quality Assurance & Control
Team Management & Leadership

IT Skills to Put on Resume

Computer Hardware
Operation Systems
Server
Virtual Machine
LAN
Data Security
Troubleshooting
Data Privacy
Data Analysis
UI/UX
Front-end and Back-end Programming
Agile Development
Project Manament
Cloud Computing
Data Visualization
Technical Writing
Debugging
Network Architecture
Quality Assurance
Issue Resolution & Technical Support
SQL
Software Installation
Adobe Creative Suite

Go to Hiration career platform which has 24/7 chat support and get professional assistance with all your job & career-related queries. You can also write to us at support@hiration.com and we will make sure to reach out to you as soon as possible.