Skills to Put on a Resume: 200+ Examples for Every Career Level (2026)

Q: How many skills should I put on my resume?

Aim for 15 to 25 skills. Industry benchmarks recommend 10 to 15 industry-specific skills and 5 to 8 job-specific skills. Below 10 looks sparse; above 35 looks like keyword padding.

Q: Should I include AI tools like ChatGPT as skills on my resume?

Yes, but with specificity. Frame AI tools by application: prompt engineering for marketing copy, GPT-4 API integration for reporting, or AI-assisted data analysis. AI literacy is the fastest-growing skill in 2026 job postings.

Q: Is it okay to put the same skills from the job description on my resume?

Yes, and it is the recommended approach. Mirroring exact language from the job description is the most reliable way to pass ATS keyword filtering. The key constraint is honesty: only list skills that reflect your actual capability.

Why Your Skills Section Can Make or Break ATS Screening

82.3% of companies use Applicant Tracking Systems to screen resumes before a human reads them (Novoresume survey, 203 HR professionals). ATS filters work primarily by matching keywords in your resume against keywords in the job posting. The skills section is one of the first places those systems look.

At the same time, 70% of employers are now using skills-based hiring during screening (NACE Job Outlook 2026, up from 65% the prior year). This means recruiters are explicitly trained to look for skills evidence, not just job titles and degrees. A skills section that is vague, generic, or mismatched to the role hurts you at both the ATS and human review stages.

ATS Stage

Scans for keyword matches against job description. Skills section is a primary source. Missing keywords means filtered out.

Recruiter Stage (20 sec)

74% of recruiters spend 20 seconds or less skimming a resume (Novoresume). The skills section delivers instant role-fit signal.

Hiring Manager Stage

88% of hiring managers focus on hard skills when reading resumes (Enhancv). Specific tools and technologies outperform generic categories.

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills: The 60/40 Framework

Hard skills are specific, teachable, and measurable: Python, financial modeling, HIPAA compliance, Adobe Illustrator. Soft skills describe how you work: communication, adaptability, problem-solving. Both matter, but for different reasons and different audiences.

Dimension	Hard Skills	Soft Skills
Definition	Specific, role-related technical abilities	Interpersonal and behavioral traits
How learned	Training, courses, degrees, practice	Experience, coaching, reflection
How verified	Certifications, portfolios, tests	References, behavioral interviews
ATS impact	High: primary keyword match	Moderate: select terms match
Examples	SQL, Salesforce, Project Management, GAAP	Communication, Adaptability, Leadership
Shelf life	Can become outdated (Flash, legacy ERP)	Transferable and durable

A December 2025 survey of 1,005 U.S. hiring managers (ResumeTemplates.com) found 62% say hard and soft skills are equally valuable. 24% say soft skills matter more. Only 14% prioritize hard skills alone, and that figure has dropped by half since 2019.

The practical rule: aim for a skills section that is roughly 60% hard skills and 40% soft skills. The hard skills get you through ATS. The soft skills signal to the human reader that you can function in the role. Listing only hard skills looks robotic; listing only soft skills looks unqualified.

41.4% of recruiters explicitly like seeing soft skills listed in a dedicated section (Novoresume HR survey). The catch: every soft skill you list should be backed by evidence in your experience bullets. "Communication" with no context is noise. "Developed internal training materials used by 120+ employees" is evidence.

Hard Skills to Put on a Resume (by Category)

Hard skills are teachable, measurable, and verifiable abilities: software, certifications, languages, machinery, and methodologies. They are the skills ATS keyword matching cares about most, and they are the ones recruiters scan first. Below are the highest-ROI hard skills by category, pulled from Lightcast 2025 job posting data and LinkedIn Skills on the Rise 2026.

Top hard skills: business and operations

Project management (Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Kanban)
Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, Power Query)
Data analysis (SQL, Tableau, Power BI, Looker)
Financial modeling and forecasting
Process improvement (Six Sigma, Lean, Kaizen)
Vendor and contract management
KPI reporting and dashboarding

Top hard skills: marketing and sales

SEO and SEM (Ahrefs, Semrush, Google Search Console)
Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager
Marketing automation (HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot)
CRM platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive)
Paid media (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads)
A/B testing and conversion optimization
Email marketing (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Customer.io)

Top hard skills: healthcare and science

Electronic health records (Epic, Cerner, Meditech)
Clinical documentation and ICD-10 coding
HIPAA compliance
Patient assessment and triage
Phlebotomy and vital signs
Laboratory techniques (PCR, ELISA, HPLC)
Certifications (BLS, ACLS, CCRN, PALS)

Top hard skills: finance and accounting

GAAP and IFRS accounting standards
QuickBooks, NetSuite, SAP
Financial statements and variance analysis
Cash flow management and forecasting
Tax preparation and compliance
Budgeting and cost accounting
Certifications (CPA, CMA, CFA, EA)

For industry-specific hard skills beyond these categories, see our resume keywords by industry guide (200+ keywords across 10 industries).

Technical Skills to Put on a Resume (Tech Roles)

Technical skills are the subset of hard skills specific to engineering, IT, and data roles: programming languages, frameworks, infrastructure, tools, and methodologies. List them in a dedicated "Technical Skills" section on your resume, then prove them with quantified bullets in your experience section. Below are the technical skills currently appearing most often in US job postings by role category (LinkedIn Workforce Report 2024, Lightcast 2025).

Role category	Core technical skills (must-have)	High-leverage additions
Software engineer	JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Git, REST APIs, SQL, unit testing	React or Vue, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS or GCP, CI/CD pipelines, GraphQL
Backend engineer	Python or Go or Java, SQL, PostgreSQL or MySQL, REST APIs, system design	Redis, Kafka, gRPC, microservices, Kubernetes, observability (Datadog, New Relic)
Frontend engineer	HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, React or Vue, Webpack or Vite	Next.js, Tailwind, accessibility (WCAG), performance optimization, Storybook
Data analyst	SQL, Excel, Python or R, Tableau or Power BI, data cleaning	dbt, Snowflake, BigQuery, A/B testing, statistical inference, Looker
Data scientist	Python, SQL, pandas, scikit-learn, statistics, ML fundamentals	PyTorch or TensorFlow, LLM fine-tuning, MLflow, experiment design, Airflow
DevOps / SRE	Linux, Bash, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD (GitHub Actions or Jenkins)	AWS or GCP, Helm, Prometheus, Grafana, Ansible, incident response
IT support	Windows and macOS administration, Active Directory, ticketing systems, networking basics	PowerShell, Intune or Jamf, Azure AD, MDR tools, ITIL certification
Cybersecurity	Network security, SIEM tools, incident response, vulnerability scanning, NIST framework	Penetration testing, CISSP or Security+, cloud security (AWS, Azure), SOC 2 audits

Technical skills formatting rule: list exact versions only when the job description asks for them (for example "React 18" or "Python 3.11"). Otherwise the ATS will match the base term and version numbers add clutter. Use the exact capitalization and spelling the job posting uses: "Node.js" not "NodeJS," "PostgreSQL" not "postgres."

AI Skills in 2026: What to List and What to Skip

AI literacy is the #1 fastest-growing skill in job postings according to LinkedIn's Skills on the Rise 2026 report. Jobscan recorded a 30% rise in AI-related hard skill mentions in job descriptions from 2024 to 2025. Listing AI skills is no longer cutting-edge; it is expected.

The problem: 27.2% of workers list AI skills on their resume that they can only perform with significant AI assistance (Novoresume AI and work survey, 1,000 US workers). Recruiters are increasingly aware of this gap and probe AI skills directly in interviews.

List These AI Skills

Prompt engineering (with specific use case: "for content generation", "for code review")
AI workflow automation (Zapier AI, Make, n8n)
LLM API integration (for technical roles)
AI-powered analytics tools (Tableau AI, Power BI Copilot)
AI Business Strategy (emerging per LinkedIn 2026)
Specific platforms with context: "Claude/GPT-4 for [specific task]"

Skip or Upgrade These

"ChatGPT" with no context (too generic, every applicant has it)
"AI tools" as a standalone skill
Machine learning if you cannot explain model choices
"AI literacy" without a specific application
Any AI skill you cannot demonstrate in a 10-minute interview

How to Choose the Right Skills for Your Resume

The single most effective action is to mirror the language in the job description. ATS systems compare your resume to the job posting. If the posting says "financial modeling" and your resume says "financial analysis," you may not match, even though the terms overlap significantly.

4-Step Skill Selection Process

Pull the job description. Highlight every technical skill, tool, methodology, and credential mentioned.
Check 5 similar postings. Skills appearing in 4 of 5 postings are industry-standard keywords; always include them.
Match your real experience. Only list skills you can discuss for 5+ minutes in an interview. Inflating creates interview problems.
Use the job description's exact language. Use "cross-functional collaboration" if that is their phrase, not "teamwork."

Over 70% of jobs require medium-to-high digital skills (ITIF). Even non-technical roles now expect familiarity with project management software, CRM systems, and collaboration tools. Listing the specific tool name (Salesforce, Jira, HubSpot) outperforms the generic category every time.

Top Skills by Category

These lists are organized by skill category with the most in-demand items first. Use the tables in the next section to filter by industry.

Technical and Computer Skills

Skill	Trend	Common Roles
Python	Rising	Data, Engineering, Finance, Marketing
SQL	Rising	Data, Finance, Operations, Marketing
JavaScript / TypeScript	Rising	Software Engineering, Web Development
AWS / Azure / GCP	Rising	Engineering, DevOps, Data
Docker / Kubernetes	Rising	DevOps, Engineering
Excel (advanced)	Stable	Finance, Operations, HR, Marketing
Tableau / Power BI	Rising	Data, Finance, Operations
Salesforce	Stable	Sales, Marketing, Customer Success
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)	Rising	Marketing, E-commerce
HubSpot	Stable	Marketing, Sales
Jira / Asana / Monday.com	Stable	Project Management, Engineering
AutoCAD / SolidWorks	Stable	Engineering, Architecture

Data and Analytics Skills

Skill	Trend
Data Analysis / Data Analytics	Rising
Statistical Analysis / Statistical Modeling	Stable
Machine Learning	Rising
Data Visualization	Rising
A/B Testing	Stable
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)	Stable
Business Intelligence (BI)	Stable
Predictive Modeling	Rising
dbt (data build tool)	Rising
BigQuery / Snowflake / Redshift	Rising

Management and Leadership Skills

Skill	Trend
Project Management (PMP / Agile / Scrum)	Rising
Cross-Functional Collaboration	Rising
Stakeholder Management	Stable
Budget Management / P&L	Stable
Strategic Planning	Stable
Change Management	Stable
Performance Management	Stable
Risk Management	Rising

Finance and Accounting Skills

Skill	Trend
Financial Modeling	Stable
FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis)	Stable
GAAP / IFRS	Stable
DCF Analysis	Stable
Budget Variance Analysis	Stable
SOX Compliance	Stable
Risk Management (AML, KYC)	Rising
Excel (VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, Power Query)	Stable
ERP Systems (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite)	Stable

Marketing Skills

Skill	Trend
SEO / SEM	Stable
PPC / Google Ads / Meta Ads	Stable
Content Marketing	Stable
Email Marketing	Stable
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)	Rising
Marketing Automation (HubSpot, Marketo)	Rising
Attribution Modeling	Rising
Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy	Rising
AI Business Strategy	New in 2026

Healthcare Skills

Skill	Trend
HIPAA Compliance	Stable
EHR / EMR Systems (Epic, Cerner)	Stable
Patient Care / Patient Assessment	Stable
Clinical Documentation	Stable
Telehealth / Remote Patient Monitoring	Rising
Value-Based Care	Rising
Care Coordination	Stable
Population Health Management	Rising

HR and Recruiting Skills

Skill	Trend
Talent Acquisition	Stable
HRIS (Workday, ADP, BambooHR)	Stable
Performance Management	Stable
DEI Initiatives	Rising
Workforce Planning	Stable
Compensation Benchmarking	Stable
Employee Engagement	Stable
Skills-Based Hiring	New in 2026

Operations Skills

Skill	Trend
Process Improvement	Stable
Lean / Six Sigma	Stable
Vendor Management	Stable
SLA Management	Stable
Supply Chain Management	Stable
Capacity Planning	Stable
Cost Reduction / Efficiency	Stable
ERP Systems (SAP, Oracle)	Stable

Skills NOT to Put on a Resume

A bloated skills section is as damaging as a thin one. Generic, expected, or outdated skills dilute the signal and waste the recruiter's time.

Remove This	Replace With	Why
Microsoft Word	Microsoft Office Suite (if relevant) or remove entirely	Assumed for any office role; signals outdated thinking
"Hard worker"	Evidence in bullets: "Delivered X under Y deadline"	Every applicant says it; meaningless without proof
"Team player"	"Cross-functional collaboration" or specific team outcome	ATS does not parse it; humans distrust it
Microsoft Excel (basic)	Excel (VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, Power Query) or remove	"Basic" signals the minimum, not a skill worth claiming
Social media (generic)	LinkedIn Ads, Instagram, TikTok, or Sprout Social	Too vague; every applicant has "social media"
Flash / Silverlight	Remove; technology is dead	Signals a resume that has not been updated in a decade
"Fast learner"	Certifications earned or specific new skill adopted	Not a skill; a claim any candidate makes

How to Format the Skills Section

ATS systems parse skills sections differently depending on format. Keep it simple to ensure full extraction.

Option 1: Horizontal List

Best for: most roles, ATS-heavy application systems

Option 2: Grouped by Category

Best for: technical roles, senior roles with many skill types

Technical: Python, SQL, dbt
Analytics: Tableau, Power BI
Tools: JIRA, Confluence

Option 3: Skills + Proficiency

Best for: roles with explicit proficiency screening (language levels, tool certs)

Python (Advanced) | Spanish (B2) | Excel (Expert)

ATS formatting rule: Do not put your skills inside a table or multi-column text box in Word or Google Docs. Many ATS systems cannot parse table cells reliably. Use a simple single-column list or pipe-separated values.

Placement: for most professionals with 2+ years of experience, the skills section belongs after your summary and before your work experience. For career changers and recent graduates, place it higher; it may be the strongest section on the page.

7 Common Skills Section Mistakes

1. Listing Too Many

25-30 skills is the effective ceiling. More than 35 signals padding, and both ATS systems and human reviewers penalize it.

2. Listing "Beginner" Proficiency

If a skill is beginner-level, ask whether it belongs on the resume at all. Listing it as "beginner" invites the recruiter to wonder if you are job-ready.

3. Duplicating Experience

The skills section names the capability. The experience section proves it. Use one to validate the other; do not repeat identical phrases in both.

4. No Job-Specific Tailoring

54% of candidates do not tailor resumes to the job description (The Interview Guys). A static skills section that never changes is the clearest sign of a mass-apply approach.

5. Claiming Unprovable Skills

27.2% of workers list AI skills they can only perform with significant assistance (Novoresume). Interviews expose this instantly.

6. Keyword Stuffing

Adding 60 keywords in tiny white text or pasting job descriptions verbatim. Modern ATS and AI screeners detect this and trigger automatic rejection at companies that check.

7. Wrong Placement for Your Career Stage

Senior professionals who lead with the skills section look like they are hiding a thin work history. Recent graduates who bury the skills section below three pages of marginal experience waste their strongest asset. Match placement to where your value is most concentrated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Aim for 15-25 skills. Industry benchmarks recommend targeting 15-25 total keywords throughout the resume, with 10-15 industry-specific skills and 5-8 job-specific skills. Below 10 looks sparse; above 35 looks like keyword padding and dilutes your strongest entries.

Only when they add meaningful information. Language proficiency levels (B2, C1, Native) and certification levels (AWS Associate vs. Professional) are worth noting because they carry specific meaning. Generic "beginner/intermediate/advanced" bars for most skills add noise and invite scrutiny. If you are listing a skill, the implicit assumption is professional working proficiency.

Focus on tools and technologies used in coursework, personal projects, or internships. A personal project using Python, Tableau, or HubSpot is evidence of a skill. Transferable soft skills (communication, research, organization) backed by academic or volunteer examples are also valid. Specificity matters: "Python (data cleaning and visualization via Pandas/Matplotlib)" beats "Python."

For most experienced professionals: after your summary, before work experience. This gives ATS systems a clear keyword section to parse and gives recruiters an instant role-fit signal. For career changers and recent graduates whose skills are their primary qualification, place the section immediately after the summary or use a skills-first resume format.

Yes, but with specificity. "ChatGPT" alone is too generic. Frame AI tools by application: "Prompt engineering for marketing copy generation," "GPT-4 API integration for automated reporting," or "AI-assisted data analysis with Python and OpenAI API." AI literacy is the #1 fastest-growing skill in job postings (LinkedIn Skills on the Rise 2026), so relevant AI skills belong on most 2026 resumes.

LinkedIn's Skills on the Rise 2026 report names AI literacy, cross-functional collaboration, adaptability, AI Business Strategy, go-to-market strategy, prompt engineering, risk and compliance expertise, and public speaking as the top rising skills. In hard technical skills, Python, SQL, cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP), and data visualization (Tableau, Power BI) continue to lead employer demand. NACE Job Outlook 2026 identifies problem-solving (89% of employers), teamwork (78%), written communication (70%+), and analytical skills as the top attributes employers screen for in new graduates.

Yes, and it is the recommended approach. Mirroring the exact language from the job description is the most reliable way to pass ATS keyword filtering. The key constraint is honesty: only list skills that reflect your actual capability. Make sure your experience bullets demonstrate each skill you claim; ATS systems increasingly flag resumes that mirror job descriptions without supporting evidence in the work history section.