How to List Skills on a Resume.

Hard skills and soft skills

Hard skills are things you can be tested on: software, languages, methods, equipment, regulations. They belong in the skills section, because that's what recruiters and applicant tracking systems search for.

Soft skills, such as communication or leadership, are better shown than listed. "Led weekly briefings for a team of 12" says more than the word "leadership" in a list.

Choose the skills from the job ad

• Mark every skill, tool and method the ad mentions.
• Keep the ones you really have, and use the ad's exact term ("Google Analytics 4", not "web analytics tools").
• Add a few strong skills of your own that the role would value.
• Remove the obvious ones, like email or web browsing.

Group them

A grouped list is easier to scan than a block of 20 words, and it shows how your skills fit together.

Skip the bars, stars and percentages

A bar at 80% doesn't tell anyone what you can do, and software reads no information from it at all. If the level matters, say it in words: "Python (3 years, daily use)" or "Excel: advanced, including VBA". For languages, use a recognised scale such as A1–C2, or "fluent" and "native".

Prove the main skills in your experience

For the three or four skills that matter most for the job, make sure a bullet somewhere shows you using them. A skills list that your work history doesn't support looks like keyword stuffing, to a recruiter and to an ATS alike.