Best Skills You Must Include on Your Resume for 2022

Unsure about what skills to include in your resume? We’ve made it easy for you with our complete resume skills guide! You’ll learn about the different types of skills and how to identify and include the right ones on your resume for the job you are seeking. Plus, you can browse our list of 40+ top resume skills.

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Top Skills for Your Resume

This list of top hard and soft skills for 2022 will be useful to reference when writing your resume. Remember to pick the skills that best describe your abilities and are relevant to your job or industry.

1. Communication
2. Time management
3. Creative problem-solving
4. Continuous learning
5. Emotional intelligence
6. Collaboration
7. Coaching mindset
8. Adaptability
9. Leadership
10. Growth mindset

11. Resilience
12. Analytical skills
13. Project management
14. Business analysis
15. Corporate communication
16. Competitive strategies
17. Cloud computing
18. Digital media
19. Social media marketing
20. Artificial intelligence

How to Include Skills on Your Resume
The way you include your skills on your resume says a lot about their importance. Each resume format has its way of organizing skills that helps show each candidate’s best strengths while playing down any weaknesses.
The chronological format focuses on your work history; you’ll only include six to eight bulleted skills in your skills section. However, the skills section sits in the top half of the page, which will put your skills front and center for recruiters to see. Make sure you include a mix of skills that convey you’re a well-rounded candidate.
The functional format is commonly known as the skills-based resume. With this format, you focus on the skills you’ve gained in your professional or educational experiences instead of a shortlist of job titles that don’t accurately showcase all your knowledge and abilities. You’ll have two or three sections devoted to skills and a minimized work history.
In the case of combination formats, these resumes balance your work history and skills. With this format, you can have more than one section devoted to skills: the Relevant Skills section, which includes specific skills needed to perform the job, and a general Skills section, where you add the rest of your complementary skills.

Soft Skills, Hard Skills and Technical Skills

Resume skills are organized into three categories: soft, hard and technical skills. Having all three sets of skills on your resume shows employers you’re a well-rounded candidate.

Soft skills are skills that describe the way you work regardless of the job or industry. Employers look for candidates with soft skills because they not only get the task done, they get it done efficiently. Some soft skills include:

Creative thinking
Leadership
Networking
Conflict resolution

Hard skills are the skills specifically related to a job or industry. You learn them through your education, training or practice. When listing hard skills, it’s essential to choose the ones most relevant to the job. A few examples are:

Database management
Marketing skills
Business development
Proficiency in foreign languages

Technical skills refer to abilities related to technology. They are not exclusive to any single job and can be useful across industries. A few examples of technical skills are:

Proficiency in MS Office tools
Expert in Adobe software
Proficiency with email platforms like Outlook, Gmail
Expert user of Mailchimp

Most Requested Skills for Each Job

Customer service skills:

Clear communication
Empathy
Product knowledge
Positive attitude
Self-control
Sense of responsibility
Patience
Strong listening skills
Attentiveness
Time management

Ability to learn and improve
Knowledge retention
Calm under pressure
Adaptability
Professionalism
Acting chops
Rapid response reaction
Flexibility
Problem-solving skills
Confidence

Communication skills:

Active listener and participant
Provide positive or productive feedback
Gauge body language and social cues
Communicate with large groups
Public speaking skills
Assertive and confident
Quickly absorb and process information
Clarify complex thought and ideas
Cross-cultural understanding

Willing to hear multiple arguments
Ask questions to clarify projects or goals
Open and friendly team collaborator
Encourage honest communication
Quickly communicate project statuses
Open to constructive feedback
Recognize appropriate channels of communication
Pro tip: In today's highly digitalized world, a harmonious workplace thrives with workers that understand the importance of knowing how to share sensitive information. Discerning between a chat message and an in-person conversation is crucial.

Sales skills:

Problem-solving
Product knowledge
Drive and focus
Curiosity
Integrity
Charisma
Emotional and self-awareness
Resiliency
Pro tip: Whether it's a rude customer, drastic corporate changes or hard times beyond your control, a resilient worker shows up as best as they can. That positive attitude is highly-attractive to employers.

Management skills
Multitasking
Rapport-building skills
Persuasive
Self-motivated
Competitive
Collaborative
Strong initiative and self-motivated

Data analysis skills:

Statistical program training
Knowledge of programming languages (R/SAS, SQL, Python, etc.)
Data visualization creation
Experience in data mining
Gather data from primary and secondary sources
Organize data into clearly defined data sets

Discard irrelevant or unrelated information
Identify trends or patterns and translate to business opportunities
Create concise and legible data reports or data visualizations for project partners
Create and maintain databases and/or data systems

Computer programming skills:

Problem-solving ability
Strong memory
Innovative
Process and brainstorm improvements
System administration experience
Software/hardware installation
IT troubleshooting
Provide onsite tech support
Vendor management
Self-motivated and independent
Cloud management

Familiarity with multiple operating systems
Familiarity with database management programs
Familiarity with one or more coding languages
Familiarity with programming software
Pro tip: Be familiar with Java, JavaScript, MySQL, CQL, C#, C++, Python, Ruby on Rails and iOS.
Familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite
Network automation
Installation and maintenance of conferencing materials
Email management and maintenance
Experienced in website analytics

Administrative skills:

Filing and document management
Above-average typing speed
Open to flexible working hours
Bookkeeping and budgeting
Familiarity with office equipment
Exemplary customer service skills
Strong researching skills

Motivated
Self-starter
Strong social media management
Familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite
Excellent time management
Database management
Proven track record

Finance skills:

Project management
Formal accounting certificates or education
Understanding of accounting standards, techniques and principles
Problem-solving skills
Technologically proficient
Highly ethical
Foresight and analytical ability
Interpersonal skills
Strong communication skills

Intuitive financial reporting
Moderate knowledge of accounting software
Innovative mindset
Cost analysis
Cost reduction
Familiarity with GAAP, Microsoft Excel and ledgers
Analytical and prioritization abilities
Risk management
Pro tip: You need to exhibit the best organizational skills and trustworthiness to excel in positions that require you to handle money, create budgets and present accurate reports.

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Determine Your Transferable Skills

If you’re changing careers or aiming for a promotion at your current job, you’ll benefit from highlighting transferable skills on your resume. These are skills you can put to good use from one industry to another.

With the considerable job market shifts in 2020, many workers will need to change jobs or even industries. You’ll find some examples of potentially transferable skills in the following lists:

Collaborative skills: Whether you’re going from retail to a call center or from finance to tech, collaboration is an essential part of all job industries.

Trustworthiness
Ability to clarify roles
Pro tip: Being a point of reference when co-workers are unclear about their roles and how to execute them shows you have excellent leadership and communication abilities.
Direct team focus
Ability to read the room
Setting and maintaining realistic deadlines

Flexibility
Openness to working outside specialties
Establishing strong mentor/mentee bonds
Team-builder
Multi-departmental coordination

Management skills: A good manager has to be a great communicator, patient, a critical thinker, and a smart delegator, regardless of the size of his team or the type of industry.

Leadership
Critical thinking
Financial acuity
Project management
Social skills
Prioritization
Rational decision-making
Delegation

Adaptable
Motivational speaker
Develop and maintain trust
Advanced operational training
ORAPAPA (Opportunities, Risks, Alternatives and Improvements, Past Experience, Analysis, People and Alignment and Ethics)
Pro tip: Understanding this decision-making method allows you to consider all the important factors when making a decision.

Step-by-Step Resume Skills Guide

Now that you understand the importance of all the types of skills you can include in your resume, reference this guide to make sure you tick off everything you need to do for a well-written resume skills section.

Step 1: Identify the right skills for the job.

Make a list of all the hard, soft and technical skills you possess and underline the ones you need to perform the job efficiently. If you have any random skills that don’t appear relevant, determine if they could develop into transferable skills for your new job.

Step 2: Find skills the company values.

Research the job posting and the company, and highlight the keywords that stand out the most. Make sure you include skills that the employer is specifically requesting. Recruiters will be on the lookout for those keywords, and applicant tracking systems will flag your resume as rich in keywords, meaning you’ll surely pass to the second round.

Step 3: Include skills in your work experience.

Maximize your resume by adding a few more skills to your work history. When describing your accomplishments, phrase them to show you have mastered your skills. For example, if you’re a medical assistant and you want to include “proficiency in CPOE” as a skill, show how you executed that skill:

Exhibited proficiency in CPOE by entering more than 1,500 lab tests for medical patients every week.”

Step 4: Organize the skills section.

Whether you chose the chronological, combination or functional format, you should always have at least one skills section with six to eight skills. The combination format allows you to include other skills sections sorted by relevance to the job. Meanwhile, the functional resume is characterized by its deep dive into how you executed each of your professional skills.

Resume Skills FAQ

What are your top 3 skills?

Hiring managers commonly ask interviewees what their top three skills are. Formulate the perfect answer by identifying three of the most important skills you have. Make sure they’re listed in the job description.

You can categorize them into one hard skill, one soft skill and one technical skill for bonus points. Prepare examples of how you executed those skills, and there’s your perfect answer.

What are the weaknesses in a resume?

Employers frequently ask about your strengths and weaknesses in job interviews to understand how you can excel and grow inside the company. Try turning this question around by establishing a skill you plan to develop to strengthen any of your weaknesses.

For example:

“I tend to struggle with deadlines, but I’m committed to being more strategic when organizing my workflow.”
“I have a hard time expressing my ideas fluidly; however, I’m currently learning about public speaking and corporate communication practices.”
“I get overwhelmed when I have to work with a lot of stakeholders on a project, but I volunteer in non-profit organizations to build my teamwork skills.”

How many skills should I list on my resume?

You should include between six to eight skills in your resume. This number of skills gives employers a complete picture of your skill set without overwhelming them with a list that’s too long.

You can also add a few skills throughout your work history; for example, if you were applying for an office manager position, you could say:

“Organized all internal company projects with expert use of Asana to keep a record of all departmental projects.”
“Took initiative by implementing a digitalized bookkeeping system increasing accuracy of paychecks and financial reports by 55%.”
“Established higher standards or corporate communication by training staff of best practices and interdepartmental cooperation.”

How do I list technical skills on a resume?

We always advise listing the right mix of soft, hard and technical skills in your resume, but you don’t need to categorize them as such on your actual resume. You’ll include all of your skills in a section called Skills, which appears on all resume formats.