What skills should I put on my resume?
Put on your resume the skills named in the job ad that you can honestly prove, mixing 6 to 12 hard skills such as tools and methods with 2 or 3 soft skills shown in your bullets. In FixDoks's builder, the Skills by job library suggests relevant ones for your title.
Skills for Resume at a glance
| How many | 6 to 12 skills in a skills section |
|---|---|
| Mix | Mostly hard skills, soft skills shown in bullets |
| Library | Skills by job, no AI needed |
| Processing | On our server over HTTPS; files are deleted right after conversion |
| Max file size | 50 MB per file |
| Price | Free to use, no watermark |
| Download | First download free, then ₹49 for 2 months of unlimited downloads (US$3 outside India) |
| Files at once | 1 free, up to 30 with a plan |
| Works on | Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox on Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone |
How to use Skills for a Resume: What to List and How to Prove It
- Read the job ad and underline every tool, method and requirement you genuinely have.
- Open the skills picker, search your job title and select the matching skills.
- Keep 6 to 12 hard skills in the skills section and drop anything you could not discuss in an interview.
- Prove two or three of them inside your experience or project bullets with a result.
Hard skills and soft skills
Hard skills are teachable and testable: Tally, Python, patient assessment, AutoCAD, GST filing, lesson planning. Soft skills describe how you work: communication, teamwork, time management. Recruiters and job portals search mostly for hard skills, so they should fill your skills section. Soft skills belong in your bullets, where you can prove them.
"Good communicator" in a skills list proves nothing. "Presented weekly progress to a client of 40 users" proves it.
How many skills to list
Between 6 and 12 in the skills section is a good range. A fresher with a short list looks honest. A list of 30 tools looks padded and invites hard interview questions. Put your strongest skills first, because many readers only scan the first few.
Where to put skills
- A skills section near the top for freshers and career changers, below the summary. Experienced people can place it after experience.
- Your bullets, where each skill appears with an action and a result.
- Your summary or headline, where two or three top skills help portals match you.
Use the exact spelling from the job ad, such as "Microsoft Excel" or "GST filing", because job portal software often matches text literally. Group skills with short labels like Tools, Languages and Methods when you have more than eight.
In-demand skills by field
These are common examples, not a promise of what every employer wants. Always read the actual ad.
| Field | Hard skills often asked for |
|---|---|
| Software and IT | Java, Python, SQL, Git, REST APIs, cloud basics, debugging, testing |
| Accounting and finance | Tally Prime, GST and TDS, bank reconciliation, MS Excel, financial reporting |
| Nursing and healthcare | Vital signs monitoring, IV therapy, patient records, infection control, BLS |
| Teaching | Lesson planning, classroom management, assessment, smart-class tools, CBSE or state curriculum |
| Sales | Lead generation, CRM tools, negotiation, product demos, pipeline reporting |
| Digital marketing | SEO, paid ads, Google Analytics, email campaigns, content calendars |
| HR | Recruitment, onboarding, payroll basics, HRIS tools, labour law basics |
| Mechanical and civil engineering | AutoCAD, SolidWorks, estimation, site supervision, quality checks |
| Customer support | Ticketing tools, email and chat support, CRM, escalation handling, typing speed |
| Design and content | Figma, Photoshop, copywriting, editing, SEO writing, video editing |
The builder's Skills by job library lists many such skills for each role, built in and without AI, so you can tick the ones that fit. For role-specific samples see resume examples by profession.
Soft skills worth showing
- Communication: presented, explained, wrote, trained.
- Teamwork: collaborated on a project, shared a workload, supported a shift.
- Time management: delivered before a deadline, balanced studies and a part-time job.
- Problem solving: found a cause, fixed a process, handled a complaint.
- Adaptability: learned a new tool, changed shifts, moved cities.
Transferable skills for freshers
If you lack job history, your college life already contains skills employers want.
| What you did | Skill you can claim |
|---|---|
| Final-year project | Problem solving, tools used, documentation, teamwork |
| College fest or club | Event planning, budgeting, sponsorship, leadership |
| NSS, NCC or volunteering | Discipline, community outreach, coordination |
| Part-time tuition | Teaching, patience, explaining clearly |
| Online course or certificate | The specific tool or method it covers |
| Managing a social page | Content writing, analytics, audience growth |
How to prove a skill in a bullet
Use action + skill + result. Instead of listing "Excel", write: "Built an Excel tracker with pivot tables that cut weekly report time from three hours to one." Use real numbers only; if you do not have one, describe the outcome honestly. The bullet point generator turns rough notes into lines like this, and action verbs help you start them.
What to leave out
- Skills you cannot discuss: if you ticked Python after one tutorial, rate yourself honestly or leave it out.
- Basic items everyone has, like "internet browsing" or "MS Paint".
- Skill bars and percentages. A 70 per cent bar means nothing and many job portal parsers cannot read graphics.
- Outdated tools unless the job asks for them.
After editing, run your file through the ATS resume checker to see which keywords from a job ad you have covered.