// skills for resume
Skills for Resume: Hard Skills, Soft Skills & Technical Skills
List a mix of hard skills (things you can prove), technical skills (tools and languages specific to your field), and a small number of soft skills (how you work) — and skip anything you can't back up in an interview. Here's exactly what to put on your resume, with real examples.
Hard skills vs. soft skills vs. technical skills
These three terms get used loosely on most resumes — here's the plain, point-by-point breakdown of what separates them and how each gets checked.
| Type | What it means | Examples | How it's verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard skills | Learnable, testable abilities — you either can do them or you can't. | SQL, financial modeling, welding, a foreign language. | Portfolio, project, certification, or a practical test. |
| Technical skills | A subset of hard skills specific to a technical field. | Python, React, AWS, Docker, machine learning frameworks. | Code, GitHub history, technical interview, live coding round. |
| Soft skills | Behavioral traits — harder to prove on paper than to describe. | Communication, teamwork, time management, adaptability. | Bullet-point evidence, references, behavioral interview. |
Quick rule: every technical skill is a hard skill, but not every hard skill is technical. An ATS mostly scans for hard and technical keywords that match the job description exactly — soft skills matter more once a human is reading, and land best inside a bullet point rather than a standalone list.
Technical skills to put on your resume
Don't write "proficient in technology." List specific, searchable names — only what you've actually used on a project, class assignment, or job.
Cloud computing
- AWS
- Azure
- Google Cloud Platform
- Docker
- Kubernetes
Backend development
- Node.js
- Django
- Spring Boot
- REST APIs
- PostgreSQL
Frontend development
- React
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- Responsive design
Data & analytics
- SQL
- Python (pandas)
- Data warehousing
- Excel
- Power BI
Machine learning
- scikit-learn
- TensorFlow
- Model evaluation
- Feature engineering
Tools & workflow
- Git
- CI/CD
- Agile/Scrum
- Jira
Soft skills that actually help you get hired
The mistake most resumes make is listing soft skills as isolated words with nothing behind them. Fold them into your experience bullets instead:
- Instead of "good communication skills" → "Presented weekly project updates to a 6-person cross-functional team"
- Instead of "team player" → "Coordinated with 3 backend engineers to ship a feature two days ahead of schedule"
- Instead of "problem solver" → "Debugged a production issue that was causing a 12% checkout drop-off"
If you want a short dedicated soft-skills line, keep it to 3–5 and make sure at least one shows up demonstrated elsewhere on the page.
How many skills should you list?
There's no single right number, but a good working range: 5–8 technical or hard skills in your primary skills section, 3–5 soft skills (ideally shown through bullets rather than listed alone), and 10–15 total as a reasonable ceiling for a one-page resume. Beyond that, an ATS parser and a human reader both start skimming instead of reading.
Browse live jobs & internships by skill
Pick a skill to see live jobs and internships that need it, the companies hiring for it right now, and the resume and interview-prep tools to match.
Cloud & DevOps
Tools
Frequently asked questions
A strong default set: one core technical skill for your field (e.g. Python or SQL), one collaboration tool (Git), one soft skill shown through a bullet point (communication or ownership), one domain-specific tool (e.g. AWS or React), and one measurable achievement skill (e.g. data analysis or debugging). The exact five should always match the job description in front of you.
Most frameworks group skills into technical/hard skills, soft skills, transferable skills, workplace/professional skills, leadership skills, communication skills, and industry-specific skills. On a resume, only hard and soft skills are usually labeled explicitly — the rest show up inside your bullet points.
Common life-skill lists include time management, communication, financial literacy, problem-solving, adaptability, critical thinking, teamwork, self-discipline, conflict resolution, and basic tech literacy. These overlap with soft skills but are broader than what belongs on a resume.
Across most entry-level tech and business roles: problem-solving, communication, one strong technical or tool skill for the role, adaptability, collaboration, and reliability (shipping on time). Employers weight the technical skill differently by field, but the other five stay fairly constant.
A well-rounded starting list: one programming language, SQL, Git, a cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP), data analysis basics, written communication, presenting, time management, debugging, and collaborating in a team workflow like Agile or Scrum.
Seven common hard skills: coding in a language like Python or Java, SQL, data analysis, cloud computing (AWS or Azure), financial modeling, foreign language proficiency, and graphic design tools. Pick the ones relevant to your target role rather than listing all seven.
A broad list spans Python, Java, JavaScript, SQL, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, React, Node.js, Django, Excel, Power BI, data analysis, machine learning, statistics, financial modeling, project management software, CAD, foreign languages, and copywriting. Choose the subset that matches your field — a 20-item list on one resume is almost always too many.
Commonly cited soft skills include communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, time management, leadership, critical thinking, conflict resolution, empathy, work ethic, creativity, decision-making, active listening, negotiation, emotional intelligence, stress management, attention to detail, flexibility, collaboration, and accountability. List 3–5 max, and prove them through bullets rather than a bare list.
Recruiters most consistently screen for communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, time management, leadership, critical thinking, work ethic, collaboration, and emotional intelligence. Showing two or three of these through concrete examples outperforms listing all ten as bare words.