Skills to put on your resume

The skills section is where a recruiter checks, in seconds, whether you can do what the job requires. A short, specific and honest list is worth more than twenty generic words.

Hard skills and soft skills

There are two kinds:

• Hard skills: what you can do and prove. Excel, a point-of-sale system, a language, a tool, driving a forklift, a programming language.
• Soft skills: how you work. Communication, organization, teamwork, problem solving, handling pressure.

Hard skills weigh more in screening because they are easy to check. Soft skills are stronger when they show up inside your experience, with an example, rather than alone in a list.

Examples by field

• Office work: Microsoft Office (Word and Excel), invoicing, filing, phone support, scheduling.
• Customer service and sales: dealing with the public, sales techniques, running a till, stock control, after-sales.
• Logistics: checking goods, stock control, order picking, forklift operation (with certification).
• Construction: reading plans, tracking materials, leading a crew, safety standards.
• Technology: the languages and tools you actually use, such as Python, SQL, React, Git, cloud platforms.

How many to include

Six to ten is usually enough. Start with the ones the job asks for and remove those that have nothing to do with it. If the posting asks for "advanced Excel", state your level honestly.

Show the level when it helps

For languages and tools, a level helps the recruiter: basic, intermediate, advanced or fluent. European resumes rate languages on the Common European Framework of Reference scale, from A1 to C2.

What to avoid

• Obvious skills: "using the internet" and "email" do not set anyone apart.
• Exaggeration: list only what you can show in an interview or a test.
• Huge lists: thirty items hide the ones that matter.

Where else they appear

Your best skills show up twice: in the list and inside your experience ("organized stock in Excel"). That helps both the recruiter and screening systems. For a starting point, see how skills are organized in the Maria da Silva example.