100+ Key Skills for a Resume in 2024 (Examples for any Job)

100+ Key Skills for a Resume in 2024 (Examples for any Job)

Learn how to professionally and efficiently list your skills on a resume.

Katerina Frye

Written by Katerina Frye • Last updated on Apr 30, 2024

How to List Skills on a Resume

Your skills are just as important as your work experiences. Skills show a recruiter what you can do for the company -- without taking up too much space in your resume.

Skills can be anything from “creativity” (a soft skill) to “JavaScript” (a hard skill). It’s important to include a mix of both on your resume.

Don’t know what skills you have? Read on to learn the difference between “soft” and “hard” skills, or skim our 250+ skills for each industry to jump right into the resume writing process.

Beautiful resume templates to land your dream job

Chef

3D Animator

Executive Assistant

Soft Skills vs Hard Skills

“Soft” skills are those that are not quantifiable, such as leadership. These skills also cannot be learned, but are rather a facet of your personality. Nevertheless, soft skills are still critical to have, for they demonstrate that you are personable and competent.

Top Soft Skills to include on your resume

‍Tip: Use some of the soft skills as adjectives when writing your profile summary. For example, try “enthusiastic entrepreneur,” “empathic childcare worker,” “organized nurses’ aid,” “supportive administration assistant” or “detail-oriented sales associate.”

The resume below is for a Childcare Worker and includes many soft skills that companies look for, including Creativity and Organizational skills.

Childcare Worker

In contrast, “Hard” skills are those that are learned -- either in school or through a certification program. These skills are quantifiable and can be continuously expanded upon through further education. Today, most hard skills have to do with computer technology, such as SEO, CSS/HTML, or Microsoft Suite. Even if you aren’t tech-savvy, chances are you still have a few hard skills.

Top Hard Skills to include on your resume

Tip: Be specific about your hard skills. Instead of listing “Programming Languages,” specify which ones you know -- Python, Java, C, etc. Same with photo editing software and any other platforms you are familiar with.

The resume below is for a Content Marketing Associate, and includes manyhard skills that companies in the marketing industry look for, including experience with Social Media tools. Remember, it's important to be specific in terms of defining and listing what softwares you know.

Content Marketing Associate

How to List Your Skills

Whether you’re a jack of all trades or a master of one, you absolutely must list some skills on your resume. Skills offer additional insight into what you can offer the company as an employee, and may just push your resume over the edge and into the interview pile.

  1. Only list relevant skills. If you’re applying for a position as an engineer, don’t brag about your marketing abilities. Instead, save the space to list the software and programming languages that you know.
  2. List around 5 Skills. Writing too many skills on your resume can be an overwhelming experience for the recruiter. He or she may not fully register your skills, and instead just blankly skim the long list. Conversely, listing too few skills is only selling yourself short. You definitely have more than two skills -- no matter your experience level! So shoot for around 5 skills, with a little wriggle room.
  3. Include both hard and soft skills. Even if your profession seems to rely on soft skills more than hard skills -- or vice versa -- including both makes your resume stronger. For example, if you’re applying to work as a laboratory assistant, list soft skills such as “teamwork,” “problem-solving,” “time management,” or “organization.” If you’re in a more creative field, hard skills include softwares such as “Adobe Creative Suite” and talents such as “photography,” “writing & editing,” or “videography.”
  4. Note your experience level. With each skill, specify whether you are a “beginner,” “expert,” or somewhere in between (using words like “intermediate” and “moderate”). Our resume templates have bars beneath each skill that you can toggle to reflect your expertise.

The resume below is for a Human Resources Manager, and includes all of the above tips.

Human Resources Manager

250+ Skills for Each Industry

Although we’ve split these skills up by industry, please note that many skills are applicable to a variety of careers. For example, someone working in marketing might find knowledge of JavaScript just as useful as someone working in the computer science field.

100+ Key Skills to include on your resume infographic

Office and Administrative Job Skills

Sales, Retail, and Customer Service Job Skills

Nursing and Healthcare Job Skills

IT Job Skills

Engineering & Technical Job Skills

Advertising & Marketing Job Skills

General Management and Project Management Job Skills