Here is the mental model that makes the skills section easy: it is a search index, not a personality test. Recruiters filter candidates by searching for specific terms, and applicant tracking systems match the exact words in the job ad against the exact words on your CV. Your skills section exists so those searches find you. Everything else about it follows from that.
Hard skills versus soft skills
Hard skills are specific, learnable, and searchable: Python, Google Ads, PRINCE2, wound care, Figma, SQL. These belong in your skills section, phrased exactly the way job ads phrase them.
Soft skills are real but unsearchable, and listing them does not prove them. Nobody filters candidates by "team player". Soft skills belong inside your experience bullets, demonstrated: "presented monthly results to the executive team" proves communication better than the word ever could. List hard skills; prove soft ones.
How to choose which skills to list
Do not start from what you know. Start from what the job asks for:
Open two or three postings for your target role and note the skills they repeat. Our free keyword finder pulls them out of any job description automatically.
Keep the ones that are honestly true of you, phrased the ad's way. If the posting says "Power BI", write "Power BI", not "Microsoft dashboard tooling".
Order them by relevance to the role, not by personal pride.
Then check your work: paste your CV and the job description into the free ATS resume checker and it will show you the match and the gaps.
How many skills, and how to format them
Eight to twelve is the sweet spot. A three-item list looks thin; a twenty-five-item list dilutes the terms that matter and reads as padding. Format them as a plain list or short groups (Languages / Tools / Methods), and skip the star ratings and percentage bars entirely. "Excel: 80%" means nothing to a recruiter and slightly less to a parser.
Example skill lists by role
Every role has its own vocabulary of searched-for skills. Here is what strong lists look like for eight common roles, with a full template and writing guide behind each link:
Software engineer: the languages and infrastructure you would pass an interview in today: TypeScript, Go, PostgreSQL, AWS, Kubernetes, CI/CD.
Data analyst: SQL first, always, then Python or R, your BI tool (Tableau, Power BI), advanced Excel, and A/B testing.
Web developer: the exact stack: React, Next.js, TypeScript, accessibility (WCAG), web performance.
Marketing manager: named platforms: Google Ads, Meta Ads, HubSpot, GA4, SEO, lifecycle email.
Project manager: methodologies and certifications: Agile/Scrum, PRINCE2, PMP, risk management, budget management.
Registered nurse: unit skills plus systems: telemetry, IV therapy, Epic or Cerner EHR, and current certifications (BLS, ACLS).
Teacher: curriculum planning, assessment and moderation, SEND differentiation, safeguarding training, progress data analysis.
Graphic designer: software plus capabilities: Figma, Illustrator, InDesign, brand identity, design systems, print production.
Skills that hurt more than they help
Assumed basics: "Microsoft Word", "email", "internet research". Listing them signals you had nothing stronger.
Bare soft skills: "hard-working", "detail-oriented", "team player". Show these in bullets instead.
Skills you cannot defend: anything you would not survive ten minutes of interview questions on. The skills section is a promise about what you can be asked.
Ancient tech, unless asked for: it dates you without adding search hits, except in the industries that genuinely still run on it.
Keep it current per application
The skills section is the easiest part of a CV to tailor and the most valuable one, because it is exactly what gets searched. Reorder and swap terms to mirror each posting before you apply. It takes two minutes by hand, and our guide to resume keywords covers the phrasing details. When you build your CV in the free builder, the skills section stays a two-minute edit instead of a reformatting job.
