CV Writing

CV skills section: how to list your skills

Your skills are scanned by both the software and the recruiter, often before anything else. Here is how to build a skills section that works for both, and what to leave out.

Your CV skills section is scanned by both the software and the recruiter, often before anything else, which makes it one of the highest-leverage parts of the page. Done well, a CV skills section signals your fit in seconds and helps you pass the applicant tracking system. Done badly, it is either an unreadable wall of thirty entries or a handful of vague soft skills that prove nothing.

Here is how to build a CV skills section that works for both audiences.

What belongs in a CV skills section

The aim is relevance, not volume. Eight to twelve skills, focused on the role you are targeting, beats a long list of everything you have ever touched. Prioritise hard, specific skills, the tools, systems, methods and technical capabilities that employers actually search for, over generic soft skills.

The weak list could belong to anyone in any job. The strong list tells a recruiter precisely what this person does, and every term is something an employer might search for.

How to choose the right skills

Read the job advert and note the skills it names, especially those listed as essential. Those are the exact terms the applicant tracking system is matching against, and the ones the recruiter is scanning for. Include the ones you genuinely have, using the employer’s wording. This is the heart of tailoring, and it is covered more fully in our ATS optimisation guide.

Where soft skills fit in your CV skills section

Soft skills matter, but listing them proves nothing. Anyone can write "strong communicator". The persuasive place for soft skills is inside your experience, demonstrated through achievements: a negotiation you led, a team you turned around, a presentation that won the work. Show them in action rather than claiming them in a list, and let your CV skills section carry the hard, searchable capabilities instead.

Format your skills so they parse

Keep the section simple: a clear heading and a clean list or a couple of grouped categories. Avoid skill bars, star ratings, graphics and tables, all of which look designed and break in applicant tracking systems while telling the reader nothing real. A rating of "Excel: four stars" is meaningless; "advanced Excel, including Power Query and pivot modelling" is not. For how the section sits within the whole CV, see what to include in your CV.

Questions