What to Include (and Leave Off) Your Resume's Skills Section

The skills section is one of the most scanned parts of a resume — by both software and humans — so it's worth getting right.

List skills you can actually demonstrate

If you can't speak to it confidently in an interview, leave it off.

Separate technical and soft skills

• Technical: software, tools, certifications, languages
• Soft skills: only if truly relevant and specific (e.g. "conflict de-escalation" rather than "team player")

Match the posting's language

If the job asks for "Microsoft Excel," write that rather than just "spreadsheets."

Keep the list focused

Ten to fifteen well-chosen skills beats a wall of forty generic ones.