A big part of building a successful job application is effectively using your resume to highlight your skills. Learn more about what skills to include (and how to include them) to make the most impact.
In addition to outlining your experience and any education you've acquired, your resume should always feature your skill set. This includes any technical skills, workplace skills, and interpersonal skills you've developed throughout your career or other opportunities. In this article, we'll go over the top skills you should put on your resume and how to tailor your resume for every job application.
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There are three types of skills you should integrate into your resume: technical, workplace, and interpersonal. However, these aren't always tidy categories. At times, these can overlap. For example, you'll notice that active listening can be a workplace skill and an interpersonal skill.
Technical skills: Specialized knowledge used to complete tasks specific to a role, such as using a content management system (CMS) or conducting data analysis.
Workplace skills: The behaviors you use to complete your work, such as critical thinking and empathy.
Interpersonal skills: Sometimes called people skills, these are strengths that showcase how you work with others, such as active listening and conflict resolution.
The best skills to put on your resume are always going to be the ones you've developed that align with the required and recommended skills a potential employer has outlined in a job posting.
But, other than looking at job postings to identify which skills to feature on your resume, where else can you learn about high-income skills that are in demand and worth developing? Job reports, such as the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs and Coursera's annual Job Skills Report, can be excellent sources for helping you identify areas you may want to feature on your resume—or any skill gaps you need to address in order to continue growing in your career.
Here are the top overall job skills in 2025, according to Coursera:
Media strategy and planning
System security
Search engine optimization
Customer success
Linux
Systems design
Audit
Here are some general technical skills that can be useful to feature on your resume:
Microsoft Office tools like Excel, Teams, and PowerPoint
Building and engineering skills like carpentry, plumbing, roofing, or surveying
Design tools like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe Photoshop
Computer programming languages like Python, HTML, C++
Data analysis tools like SQL, STATA, or R
Budgeting and budget analysis
Writing and editing
Management and management methodologies like Agile
Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Here are some of the top workplace skills that can be helpful to have on a resume:
Teamwork
Attention to detail
Public speaking
Organization
Analysis
Research
Customer service
Resilience
Initiative
Depending on your field, you can also search for skills reports or trend reports to help identify industry-specific skills. We've compiled a list of skills that correspond to some of the more in-demand roles below:
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) often scan resumes before they make it to a recruiter for further review, so it's a good idea to make sure your resume aligns as much as possible with the language used in the job description. (That's because ATS algorithms are set to filter applicants based on how closely they appear to fit the job description.) In that case, feature the various skills you've listed out when they closely align with the job description. And you will want to include other skills that strengthen your application by showing your work ethic, impact, or other successes.
Here's how to align your resume with a job posting.
Take time to sit down and reflect on each role you've had. What technical skills did you need to perform your work? What workplace or interpersonal skills did you develop to be successful as a team member and employee? If you need help creating this list, search for job descriptions that match the roles you've held for inspiration.
Getting clear about your skills—your strengths—will help you as you set about adding these skills to your resume.
The job description should be your main guide when it comes to deciding what skills to include. Start by finding a job description you're interested in. Note the key desired skills and qualities: These can be part of a lengthier paragraph describing the role or bullet points that synthesize the ideal candidate.
These are the skills you should aim to highlight in your job application.
Once you have a set of skills you feel can work well in your job application, start including them in your resume. You can do this by including them in your past experiences section, the skills section, or the summary.
Past experiences section: Draw attention to key skills by including them in your past experiences. Start each experience section with a resume action word such as “organize,” “manage,” or “analyze” to showcase your abilities.
Skills section: A skills section is generally a list of skills relevant to the job. You can choose to include your ability level in each skill, or organize them by category, such as "technical" and "workplace."
Objective: A resume objective tells recruiters what you hope to achieve in your next role. It's a great way to detail what you've already done and your long-term career goals. And it's also an idea spot to slip in a few skills, such as "problem-solver" or "empathetic."
Summary: A resume summary explains who you are and what you've done without thinking too specifically about your career goals. It can be a great use of resume space when you're just getting started or you need to synthesize a less straightforward career path. In that case, pick the top skills you want to draw attention to.
Read How to Feature and Format Key Skills on Your Resume to learn best-practices, find tips, and explore examples to make the most of your resume skill section.
No matter whether you want to make a career pivot, find an entry-level role, or advance in your career, you'll find an array of skills-focused learning options on Coursera. Learn job-ready skills from industry leaders like Google, Microsoft, and IBM with a Coursera Plus subscription. You’ll get a certificate for every program you finish, which you can add to further enhance your resume.
Lightcast. "2023 Stanford AI Index Report, https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/demand-for-ai-skills-continues-climbing." Accessed November 13, 2024.
Coursera. "Job Skills Report, https://www.coursera.org/skills-reports/job-skills." Accessed November 13, 2024.
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