What to put in the skills section of your CV
Which skills to list, how many, how to group them, and how to match them to the job advert without exaggerating.
Hard skills and soft skills
Hard skills are specific and testable: Excel, Python, AutoCAD, accounting software, a language. Soft skills describe how you work: communication, teamwork, problem solving. Lead your skills section with hard skills, because they are easier to prove and are what recruiters and ATS software search for.
How many to list
Six to twelve is usually right. Fewer looks thin, and many more makes it hard to see what matters. Put the skills mentioned in the job advert first.
Group them when you have many
- Software: Excel (pivot tables, lookups), Power BI, SAP.
- Technical: SQL, Python, data cleaning.
- Languages: English (fluent), Urdu (native), Punjabi (conversational).
Match the job advert
Read the advert and underline the tools and skills it mentions. If you genuinely have them, use the same words in your skills section and in your experience bullets. If the advert says "MS Excel", write MS Excel, not just "spreadsheets".
Prove soft skills in your experience
Writing "Leadership" in a list proves little. Show it in a bullet point instead: "Led a team of 6 volunteers to run a fundraising event for students' fees." Keep only a few soft skills in the list itself.
Showing your level
Skill bars and dots can look good on a design-led CV, but they are hard to interpret and ATS software cannot read them. For online portals, show levels in words: basic, intermediate or advanced, and native, fluent or conversational for languages.
Keep it honest
Only list skills you could use in a test or discuss in an interview. Interviewers often ask about the first few skills on your list.