Best Skills for Resume in 2025
Discover the most in-demand skills employers want. Learn which hard skills, soft skills, and technical skills to include on your resume to beat ATS systems and land interviews.
The skills section of your resume is a keyword-dense list of your technical abilities, tools, certifications, and competencies that ATS systems use for initial filtering and that recruiters scan in the first seconds of review. Choosing the right skills and formatting them correctly determines whether your resume passes automated screening. This guide covers which hard skills and soft skills to include, how many skills to list, how to organize them for ATS compatibility, and which overused skills to remove entirely.
By TalentTuner Research | Last updated: June 16, 2026
of recruiters scan skills section first
skills is the optimal number for most resumes
of resumes lack industry-specific skills
more likely to get interviewed with right skills
Find Skills for Your Industry
Types of Skills for Your Resume
🔧 Hard Skills (Technical Skills)
Specific, measurable abilities that can be learned through training or education.
Examples:
- • Programming languages (Python, JavaScript, Java)
- • Software proficiency (Excel, Photoshop, Salesforce)
- • Certifications (PMP, Google Analytics, AWS)
- • Technical processes (Data Analysis, SEO, Accounting)
- • Languages (Spanish, Mandarin, French)
🤝 Soft Skills (Interpersonal Skills)
Personal attributes and personality traits that show how you work and interact with others.
Examples:
- • Communication and presentation skills
- • Leadership and team management
- • Problem-solving and critical thinking
- • Adaptability and flexibility
- • Time management and organization
💡 Pro Tip: The Perfect Skills Mix
Most successful resumes include 60% hard skills and 40% soft skills. TalentTuner's AI analyzer scans your skills against job requirements and suggests the perfect balance for your target role.
Analyze My Skills Balance💻 Technology & Software Skills
Programming & Development
Data & Analytics
Design & Creative
🎯 Tech Skills Strategy
Include both the specific tools/languages AND the broader categories. For example: "Python programming for data analysis" covers both the technical skill and its application.
💼 Business & Management Skills
Leadership & Management
- • Team Leadership: Led cross-functional teams of 5-15 members
- • Project Management: PMP certified, Agile/Scrum methodologies
- • Strategic Planning: Long-term business strategy development
- • Change Management: Leading organizational transformations
- • Performance Management: Employee development and coaching
Sales & Marketing
- • Digital Marketing: SEO, SEM, social media advertising
- • Sales Strategy: B2B/B2C sales, consultative selling
- • CRM Management: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive
- • Market Research: Competitive analysis, customer insights
- • Content Marketing: Blog writing, content strategy
Financial & Operations Skills
Financial
Budget management, financial modeling, forecasting, P&L analysis, cost optimization, financial reporting
Operations
Process improvement, supply chain management, quality assurance, vendor management, logistics coordination
🌟 Universal Skills (Every Industry Needs)
Communication
- • Written communication
- • Public speaking
- • Presentation skills
- • Active listening
- • Cross-cultural communication
Problem-Solving
- • Critical thinking
- • Analytical reasoning
- • Creative problem-solving
- • Decision making
- • Research and investigation
Adaptability
- • Learning agility
- • Flexibility
- • Stress management
- • Change adaptation
- • Continuous improvement
⚠️ Skills to Avoid on Your Resume
These overused skills add no value and waste valuable space:
How to Format Skills on Your Resume
✅ Effective Skills Section
❌ Ineffective Skills Section
Skills Section Best Practices:
🔍 ATS Skills Optimization
ATS systems match skills word-for-word with job descriptions. TalentTuner's AI scanner identifies missing skills from any job posting and shows you exactly how to include them naturally in your resume.
Check My Skills Match →Good Skills to Put on a Resume
Choosing good skills to put on a resume requires understanding what employers value most in your industry. The best skills to add to resume are those that directly match job requirements while showcasing your unique value proposition.
Universal Good Skills for Any Resume
✅ Always Include These Skills
- Communication: Written and verbal communication
- Problem-solving: Critical thinking and analysis
- Leadership: Team management and mentoring
- Technology: Microsoft Office, Google Workspace
- Project Management: Planning and execution
- Adaptability: Learning new systems and processes
🎯 Industry-Specific Skills
- Tech: Programming languages, cloud platforms
- Marketing: SEO, social media, analytics
- Sales: CRM software, negotiation, lead generation
- Finance: Financial modeling, Excel advanced functions
- Healthcare: HIPAA compliance, patient care software
- Education: Learning management systems, curriculum design
💡 Pro Tip: Skills Selection Strategy
The best skills to have on resume are those mentioned in the job description plus 3-5 additional skills that demonstrate your expertise. Use TalentTuner's AI to identify which skills are missing from your resume for any specific job.
Best Skills to Add to Resume in 2025
The best skills to write on a resume have evolved with changing workplace demands. Here are the most in-demand skills employers are actively seeking, based on current job market data.
Top In-Demand Skills by Category
💻 Technology & Digital Skills
Programming
Cloud & DevOps
Data & AI
🎯 Professional Skills for Resume
Leadership & Management
- • Team leadership and mentoring
- • Project management (Agile, Scrum)
- • Strategic planning and execution
- • Change management
- • Performance management
Communication & Collaboration
- • Cross-functional collaboration
- • Stakeholder management
- • Presentation and public speaking
- • Technical writing
- • Customer relationship management
🔥 Trending Skills for 2025
These emerging skills are seeing explosive demand across industries:
Sample Resume Skills Examples by Role
See how to format and present skills effectively with these sample skills in a resume for different career levels and industries.
Sample Resume Skills Section
Entry-Level Marketing Professional
SKILLS
Digital Marketing
Social Media Management, Content Creation, Email Marketing, Google Analytics, SEO Basics
Technical Skills
Microsoft Office Suite, Canva, Hootsuite, WordPress, Basic HTML/CSS
Soft Skills
Creative Problem-Solving, Team Collaboration, Written Communication, Time Management
Languages
English (Native), Spanish (Conversational)
Mid-Level Software Developer
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Programming Languages
JavaScript (ES6+), Python, TypeScript, SQL, Java
Frameworks & Libraries
React, Node.js, Express, Django, Spring Boot
Tools & Platforms
Git, Docker, AWS, Jenkins, JIRA, Postman
Methodologies
Agile/Scrum, Test-Driven Development, CI/CD, Code Review
Senior Project Manager
CORE COMPETENCIES
Project Management
PMP Certified, Agile/Scrum Master, Risk Management, Budget Planning ($1M+ projects)
Leadership
Team Leadership (15+ members), Cross-functional Collaboration, Stakeholder Management
Tools & Platforms
Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, JIRA, Confluence, Salesforce, Tableau
Strategic Skills
Process Improvement, Change Management, Vendor Management, Quality Assurance
📋 Skills Section Formatting Tips
- • Categorize skills by type (Technical, Soft Skills, Languages)
- • List most relevant skills first in each category
- • Include proficiency levels for languages and software when relevant
- • Use keywords from job descriptions but keep them natural
- • Avoid graphics or skill bars - ATS systems can't read them
How Applicant Tracking Systems Actually Read Your Skills Section
Here's the part most skills guides skip entirely: the format of your skills section matters as much as its content. Workday and Taleo parse comma-separated skill lists differently from categorized sub-sections, and both parse text-based lists differently from graphical skill bars. Getting this wrong means your skills exist in your document but don't register in the ATS ranking.
Quick Answer
Plain-text, category-organized skill lists score highest across Workday, Taleo, Greenhouse, and Lever. Graphical skill bars — the percentage-based or star-rating visual formats — are invisible to every major ATS and should be avoided entirely. Never use them, even if your resume builder makes them look polished.
Full Explanation
TalentTuner's ATS Match Model runs your resume through format safety analysis (layer 3) before keyword matching even begins. Format safety identifies structural elements that cause parsing failures — tables, text boxes, multi-column layouts, and graphical elements. A skills section built with a table (a common design choice) will parse inconsistently: Workday often reads the entire table as a single text string, Taleo may skip it, and Lever, which is less parser-dependent, may handle it correctly. The only safe format is a plain-text list, either comma-separated or with line breaks, organized under clear categorical headings.
The TF-IDF matching layer (layer 1) then scores your skill tokens against the keyword frequency distribution of the target job description. This is where naming conventions become critical. "JavaScript" and "JS" are different tokens. "Project management" and "project manager" carry different frequencies. The keyword match layer rewards exact-match terminology — the specific form that appears in the job description — rather than semantic equivalence.
Skill Naming Conventions: Why "JavaScript" vs "JS" Is Not Trivial — and What to Do About It +
In TF-IDF-based keyword matching — the method underlying both TalentTuner's keyword layer and the internal scoring of major ATS platforms — each distinct token is scored independently. "JavaScript" and "JS" are two tokens. If a job description uses "JavaScript" three times and "JS" once, the higher-frequency form is "JavaScript." A resume that only lists "JS" will score on the lower-frequency form and may fall below the match threshold for resumes that use both forms or only the primary form.
The practical fix is simple: include both the full form and the abbreviation in your skills section, separated by a slash or parenthetical. "JavaScript (JS)" covers both tokens. "AWS (Amazon Web Services)" covers both. "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" covers both. This doubles your token coverage for terms that have established abbreviations at the cost of a few extra characters — a worthwhile trade.
For certifications, the same logic applies. "AWS Certified Solutions Architect" is a different token string from "AWS Solutions Architect" and from "AWS SA." Job descriptions vary on which form they use. Including the full official certification name — as it appears on the credential itself — plus any common abbreviation gives you maximum coverage.
| Single form (lower coverage) | Dual form (higher coverage) |
|---|---|
| JS | JavaScript (JS) |
| SEO | Search Engine Optimization (SEO) |
| PMP | Project Management Professional (PMP) |
Hard Skills vs Soft Skills Weighting by Industry
The 60/40 hard-to-soft ratio is a reasonable default, but it varies meaningfully by sector. ATS keyword match is almost entirely driven by hard skills — soft skills appear in job descriptions but are rarely used as filter criteria.
| Industry | Hard skills (ATS weight) | Soft skills (human screen weight) |
|---|---|---|
| Software engineering | 75–80% | 20–25% |
| Social work / counseling | 40–45% | 55–60% |
| Finance / accounting | 65–70% | 30–35% |
Proficiency Descriptors: When to Use Them and How
Proficiency levels add value only when they differentiate you meaningfully. "Advanced Excel" says something specific. "Basic Python" may exclude you from roles that assume proficiency. The table below shows when descriptors help vs hurt.
| Descriptor | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced / Expert | You can demonstrate depth in an interview | You haven't used the skill recently |
| Proficient | For widely-required skills (Excel, Salesforce) | For skills the JD marks as "required" — omit the qualifier, just name the skill |
| Familiar / Basic | Almost never — it signals you can't do the job yet | Any role where the skill is listed as required or preferred |
What Works, What Does Not, and Why Most Skills Sections Underperform
The skills section is not where keyword matching happens — the work experience section is. Across 50,000+ analyses on TalentTuner, resumes that carry keywords only in the skills section and not in work experience bullets consistently score lower on intent fit (layer 4) than resumes where the same keywords appear in both locations. The skills section is a signal; the experience section is the evidence.
Graphical skill bars are incompatible with every enterprise ATS currently in widespread use. Workday, Taleo, Greenhouse, and Lever all fail to extract structured data from image-rendered skill representations. If your resume builder offers skill bars, do not use them for any resume submitted through an online application portal.
The most common skills section error is category confusion. Mixing hard skills, soft skills, tools, certifications, and languages into a single undifferentiated list reduces ATS classification confidence and makes the section harder for human reviewers to scan. Separate categories always outperform unsorted lists.
Skills Section Audit: Include vs Cut
| Include | Cut |
|---|---|
| Specific tools you use regularly (HubSpot, Jira, Figma) | Vague descriptors ("Microsoft Office," "good communicator") |
| Certifications with full name and abbreviation | Expired certifications or skills you can't discuss in an interview |
| Compliance frameworks relevant to the target role (GDPR, HIPAA, SOX) | Generic soft skills without evidence in your work history ("team player," "fast learner") |
Analyze which specific skills are missing from your resume for any job description using TalentTuner's free analysis tool. See the ATS keywords guide for how skills intersect with keyword placement strategy.
Persona-Specific Skills Strategy
Generic skills advice fails in specific situations. The four scenarios below are where the standard guidance does not apply — and what to do instead.
If you're an engineer choosing between emphasizing hard skills and soft skills:
For technical roles, the ATS keyword match layer (layer 1) is almost entirely driven by hard skills — programming languages, frameworks, cloud platforms, and development methodologies. "Python," "AWS," "Kubernetes," and "Agile" will determine whether your resume passes the initial filter. "Collaborative" and "analytical" will not — they are present in nearly every resume and carry near-zero discriminating weight in TF-IDF scoring.
This does not mean soft skills are irrelevant. It means they belong in a different location: woven into work experience bullets as demonstrated behavior rather than listed as standalone claims. "Led cross-functional sprint reviews for 12-person team" demonstrates leadership without claiming it abstractly. That structure satisfies both the keyword layer and the content quality layer of the TalentTuner ATS Match Model simultaneously.
The practical allocation: use your skills section entirely for hard skills, organized by category (Languages, Frameworks, Platforms, Methodologies, Certifications). Let your work experience section carry the soft skill signals through demonstrated achievement. See how to write work experience bullets that embed leadership evidence naturally.
If you're in a non-technical field where soft skills dominate the job description:
Social work, counseling, education, human resources, and nonprofit management are all fields where soft skills appear prominently in job descriptions. The challenge is that "empathy," "active listening," and "conflict resolution" are generic enough to be useless as ATS differentiators — everyone claims them, so they carry zero discriminating power in keyword matching.
The solution is specificity. Instead of "communication skills," use the specific form the job description uses: "motivational interviewing," "trauma-informed care," "restorative practice," "IEP development." These are field-specific vocabulary terms that function as hard skills within their domain, even if outsiders would classify them as interpersonal. They will match in Workday and Taleo for employers in those fields.
Additionally, any software platforms relevant to your field belong prominently in your skills section: "Epic EHR," "Apricot (Bonterra)," "DonorPerfect," "Schoology," "Blackbaud." These function as exact-match technical keywords even in fields that feel qualitative. Reference the tailoring guide for extracting field-specific vocabulary from job descriptions.
If you have a long skills list but are already over the two-page limit:
The right cut is not random. Start by identifying which skills in your current list appear in the target job description — those stay. Skills that do not appear in the job description and are not credential differentiators (certifications, language proficiency levels) are candidates for removal. This sounds obvious but is frequently violated: people keep skills that feel impressive to them while cutting skills that the employer is actually looking for.
Second cut: remove outdated tools. Legacy software that was discontinued or superseded more than five years ago scores low on the recency layer (layer 5) of the TalentTuner ATS Match Model and may actively signal that your technical knowledge has not kept pace. Unless the role specifically requires legacy system expertise, these entries consume space without adding value.
Third: consolidate categories. "Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe After Effects" can become "Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects)" — same coverage, fewer lines. Use O*NET's skill taxonomy as a reference for the standard groupings your target industry expects to see.
If you're applying internationally and skill naming conventions differ:
Skill naming is not uniform across markets. "CV" vs "resume" is the most visible difference, but the variation goes deeper: "Agile" is the standard term in North American tech job descriptions; "SAFe Agile" appears more frequently in UK enterprise postings; "Scrum Master" is sometimes differentiated from "Agile Coach" in German-language postings. The keyword matching layer will only recognize the form used in the job description — your terminology must match the specific market you're targeting.
For UK applications: note that GDPR compliance is a frequent hard-skill requirement in European job descriptions, including roles where it would not appear in equivalent US postings. If you have any GDPR exposure — from working with European customers, managing consent workflows, or implementing data retention policies — it belongs in your skills section for UK-targeted applications.
Language skills follow local conventions: IELTS and CEFR levels are standard in UK and European postings; TOEFL is more recognized in US contexts. If you have a language certification, name the specific exam and score using the convention of your target market. See TalentTuner's methodology for how the ATS Match Model handles multilingual resume analysis.
Skills Section Format Compatibility Across ATS Platforms
Not all resume formats parse the same way across platforms. The table below summarizes how Workday, Taleo, Greenhouse, and Lever handle the most common skills section formats — based on format safety analysis across TalentTuner's data set.
| Format | Workday | Taleo | Greenhouse / Lever |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain text, categorized | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent |
| Comma-separated single list | Good | Moderate (no category signal) | Good |
| Two-column table layout | Inconsistent | Often fails | Partial |
| Graphical skill bars / icons | Invisible | Invisible | Invisible |
For format safety analysis of your specific resume file, run a free analysis at TalentTuner. See also: ATS keywords and professional summary for the full resume optimization picture.
Frequently Asked Questions: Resume Skills
What skills should I put on my resume? +
Include a mix of hard skills (specific technical abilities like Python, Excel, or Salesforce), certifications, and any tools mentioned in the job description. Aim for 15 to 20 skills total, organized into logical categories. Always prioritize skills that appear in the job posting's required qualifications section using the employer's exact terminology. Soft skills are better demonstrated through accomplishment statements in your work experience than listed as standalone claims.
How many skills should I list on my resume? +
Most resumes perform best with 15 to 20 skills. Too few and you miss the keyword coverage ATS systems expect; too many and the section becomes unfocused and difficult for human reviewers to scan quickly. Organize skills into clear categories such as Technical Skills, Software Tools, Languages, and Certifications. Within each category, list the most relevant items first so they appear in the recruiter's initial scan area.
What is the best format for a skills section that will pass ATS? +
Use plain text organized by category, with skills separated by commas or line breaks within each category. Avoid graphical skill bars, star ratings, and percentage-based visual formats, which are invisible to Workday, Taleo, Greenhouse, and Lever. Two-column table layouts are also risky because Taleo often fails to parse them correctly. Plain-text, categorized lists score highest across all ATS platforms and are also the fastest to scan for human reviewers.
Should I include proficiency levels (beginner, advanced) next to my skills? +
Use proficiency descriptors selectively. "Advanced Excel" communicates genuine differentiation. "Basic Python" may exclude you from roles where the skill is listed as required. Avoid adding "Familiar with" or "Basic" to any skill the job description marks as required or preferred. For widely-expected skills like Salesforce or Google Analytics, simply list the skill name without a qualifier if you are fully proficient.
What skills should I remove from my resume? +
Remove any skills that appear in nearly every resume and carry no ATS keyword value: "hard worker," "team player," "detail-oriented," "fast learner," "works well under pressure," and generic "Microsoft Office." Also cut outdated tools discontinued more than five years ago unless the role specifically requires legacy system expertise. Skills you cannot discuss credibly in an interview should also be removed, as should expired certifications.
Do I need to include both the abbreviation and the full name for technical skills? +
Yes, for skills with widely-used abbreviations. ATS systems that use token-level matching treat "JavaScript" and "JS" as separate terms. Including both forms doubles your keyword coverage at minimal cost. Write "JavaScript (JS)," "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)," and "Project Management Professional (PMP) - PMI" rather than relying on the system to recognize the connection between the two forms. This is especially important for certifications, which often have both a full official name and a standard abbreviation.
What is the difference between hard skills and soft skills on a resume? +
Hard skills are specific, learnable, and demonstrable abilities tied to particular tools, technologies, processes, or knowledge domains: Python, financial modeling, HIPAA compliance, Adobe Photoshop. Soft skills are interpersonal and behavioral attributes: leadership, communication, adaptability. ATS keyword matching is almost entirely driven by hard skills. Soft skills carry very low discriminating weight in automated filtering because they appear in nearly every resume. The most effective use of soft skills is demonstrating them through specific accomplishment language in your work experience section rather than listing them as abstract claims in your skills section.
How do I know which skills to prioritize for my target role? +
Start with the job description. Skills in the Required qualifications section are the highest priority and should appear in your resume using the employer's exact wording. Skills in the Preferred section are secondary. For a broader view, compare three to five similar job postings in your field to identify which skills appear across all of them, as these represent stable industry expectations. TalentTuner's free analysis tool identifies precisely which skills from any job description are currently absent from your resume, so you know exactly where to focus your updates.
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