What Skills to Put on a Resume (With Examples)

The skills section is the most ATS-searched block on your resume. Here's exactly what to put in it, by industry, with examples.

By · Senior Technical Recruiter · Updated 2026-06-04

Senior tech recruiter who has screened 20,000+ resumes across engineering, product, and data roles.

The skills section is the most ATS-searched block on your resume. Get it right and your application ranks high in recruiter searches; get it wrong and you stay invisible. This guide pairs with the complete resume writing guide and gives you exact skills to use by industry.

Hard skills vs soft skills — and why hard skills win the ATS

Hard skills are concrete, teachable abilities — Python, financial modeling, AutoCAD, paid search. Soft skills are interpersonal traits — leadership, communication, adaptability. ATS systems rank applications based on hard-skill matches against the job description, not soft skills. So the skills section should lean heavily hard, with one or two soft skills woven into your summary and bullets instead. If you are unsure which hard skills a job typically requires, O*NET's skills and tasks explorer maps thousands of occupations to the exact tools and competencies employers list.

How to find the right skills for any role

  1. Open the job description and 3–5 similar postings.
  2. Highlight every named tool, technology, methodology, certification, and skill.
  3. Rank by frequency across all postings.
  4. Include the top 8–12 that you can actually back up in experience bullets.
  5. Place them in a dedicated Skills section near the top of your resume.

Skills examples by industry

Software engineering

Marketing

Finance

Design

Get keyword suggestions from your job description Paste any job posting into our builder and we'll surface the missing skills you should add — free.

Formatting the skills section so ATS reads it cleanly

Use a simple block — three or four short rows of skills separated by commas, or a single grouped list with sub-headings (Languages, Frameworks, Tools). Avoid icons, skill bars, and star ratings; ATS systems can't parse them and they waste line space. The ATS-friendly resume builder formats this automatically.

What about soft skills?

Show, don't list. Instead of writing 'strong leadership' in the skills block, demonstrate it in a bullet: 'Led a cross-functional team of 9 across product, design, and engineering through a six-month replatform.' The LinkedIn Talent Blog routinely publishes the soft-skill phrasing recruiters actually search for. Stronger examples in 250+ resume action verbs.

Should you list proficiency levels?

Only for languages spoken (Native, Fluent, Conversational) and very narrow technical certifications. Skip arbitrary stars or percentages — recruiters distrust them and ATS can't read them.

Frequently asked questions

How many skills should I list?

Eight to twelve. Fewer feels light; more dilutes the keywords that actually matter for the role.

Should I list every programming language I've touched?

No — only the ones you can speak to in an interview. Listing 12 languages you used in college bootcamp dilutes your real expertise.

Where should the skills section go on my resume?

Near the top, just under your summary, so both ATS and recruiters see it within the first scan.

Do I need a separate languages section?

Yes if you speak multiple languages — recruiters care, and ATS systems often filter on it for global roles.

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