BlogResume WritingTechnical Skills for Your Resume That Employers Want To See

Technical Skills for Your Resume That Employers Want To See

technical skills

Your resume represents the opportunity to show your abilities to recruiters and potential employers. One of the best ways to achieve that is to include position-specific technical skills that align with the requirements listed in the job description in it.

This article will help highlight the most in-demand skills across a variety of industries, whether you’re applying for a position in administration, nursing, or sales, or adding technical skills to a resume for freshers or seasoned veterans.

And that’s not all—you’ll find specific examples that will make the entire process much easier!

So, get ready to make your skills stand out and get you your dream job!

Key Takeaways

  • Technical skills are job-specific. They show your knowledge and ability to do the job, which is why recruiters and employers usually focus on them.

  • When adding technical skills to your resume, you should research the job ad, use correct terminology, and demonstrate your proficiency with examples of workplace achievements.

  • There are many ways to improve your technical skills, including practicing, taking courses, seeking mentorship and feedback, networking, and reading industry-specific publications.

Why Are Technical Skills Important For Your Resume?

skills for resume

Technical skills demonstrate that you possess the required knowledge and abilities to do a specific job, which makes them crucial to your resume. They can show recruiters that you have a deep understanding of the industry you work in and the role that you’re applying for.

As technology becomes increasingly important in the workplace, many companies started looking for candidates who can bringhigh levels of technical proficiency to their roles. A recent study found that 57% of businesses anticipate encountering considerable skill gaps in the following years.

As a result, employers have started addressing this issue and seeking ways to help their employees reach their full potential. Some companies are also considering “re-skilling” their current workforce. That means you can get ahead of the competition by emphasizing that you already have some valuable technical skills they may be looking for.

Having in-demand technical skills can also increase your earning potential. Jobs that require specialized abilities that are harder to obtain usually offer higher salaries and better opportunities for career advancement.

Moreover, having a good set of technical skills indicates your drive and ambition. It shows that you’re a proactive person who continuously works on themselves and is always looking for ways to improve, which is something recruiters value in any employer.

How to Add Technical Skills to Your Resume

hard skills

Knowing which technical skills to add to your resume is only half the battle. You should also know how and where to include them for optimal results.

Here are some tips that can help you do that and demonstrate your expertise to recruiters and potential employers:

Technical Skills Examples

  • You should be specific when talking about your technical skills, which means you want to include the names of the programs, technologies, and tools you’re using.

  • If you research the job ad, you’ll find the exact skills employers and recruiters are looking for. That will help you tailor your resume to the position by mentioning those abilities that are most in demand for the position that you’re interested in.

  • Your skills act as keywords both for recruiters and the ATS. That means you shouldn’t try to be funny and just use common industry terminology when listing your technical skills.

  • Provide specific examples of how you used your technical skills in previous jobs. You can do that by mentioning relevant skills in your resume objective, summary, and work experience section.

  • Create a separate list for skills in your resume to give recruiters and employers an easy-to-access rundown of what you have to offer. Furthermore, you should separate hard (technical) skills from soft (interpersonal) skills since they are different in nature.

  • Lastly, if you have relevant certifications that add credibility to some of your technical skills, you should include them on your resume as well. That will help you demonstrate your competence in the craft and display a commitment to the field.

Industry-Related Technical Skills To Include in Your Resume

data entry resume

Let’s examine 15 of the biggest industries out there and see some examples of technical skills that are most in demand.

#1. Administration

Here are some of the most sought-after administrative technical skills to include when building a resume:

Administration Skills Example

  • Data analysis

  • Data entry

  • MS Office Suite

  • Salesforce

  • Order processing

  • Billing

  • Calendar management

  • Record keeping

  • Event planning

  • Travel planning

  • Email writing

  • Inventory management

  • Performance evaluation

  • Quality control

Here’s how you could demonstrate your technical skills as an administrative assistant:

  • Managed calendars of the executives and organized weekly meetings for up to 7 cross-functional teams.

  • Maintained email communication with prospective employees to reduce interviewing time by 27%.

#2. Accounting

When creating a resume for a position in accounting, you could add some of the following technical skills to it:

Accounting Skills Examples

  • Bookkeeping

  • Tax preparation

  • Auditing

  • Budgeting and forecasting

  • Financial analysis

  • Financial reporting

  • Cost accounting

  • Expense reporting

  • MS Excel

  • QuickBooks

  • SAP

  • Oracle

  • Taxjar

Let’s see how an accountant could add technical skills to their resume:

  • Streamlined business processes in collaboration with management to improve financial reporting efficiency by 35%.

  • Conceptualized and maintained an accurate financial reporting infrastructure as the company’s annual revenue increased by 450%.

#3. Finance

If you’re into finance, your resume could greatly benefit from some of these technical skills:

Finance Skills Examples

  • Investment analysis

  • Spend analysis

  • Financial modeling

  • Financial planning

  • Corporate finance

  • Capital markets

  • Derivatives

  • Quantitative analysis

  • Risk management

  • Portfolio management

  • MS Office Suite

  • SQL

  • Tableau

  • Oracle

Let’s see how to demonstrate some of these skills in your resume through examples:

  • Identified trends and generated forecasts using spreadsheets made with SQL and Excel.

  • Automated the spend analysis process to improve accuracy by up to 27%.

#4. Business Analytics

Here are some valued skills to add to your business analyst resume:

Business Analytics Skills Examples

  • Business operations

  • Business intelligence

  • Predictive modeling

  • Data analysis

  • Data visualization

  • Project lifecycle management

  • Machine learning

  • SQL

  • HTML/CSS

  • R

  • Python

  • C++

  • Java

  • Agile

  • Scrum

  • Waterfall

And here are some ways you could showcase those skills on your resume:

  • Analyzed data on customer behavior, vendor relationships, and stakeholder goals to boost revenue by $15M.

  • Collaborated with 12 different teams relating to product lifecycle data management.

#5. Product Management

When writing a product management resume, here are some technical skills to consider:

Product Management Skills Examples

  • Product development

  • Market research

  • Customer discovery

  • UX design

  • Product roadmap

  • Data analysis

  • Stakeholder management

  • Strategic planning

  • Agile

  • Tableau

  • A/B testing

  • SQL

  • Excel

  • Google Analytics

  • Game theory

  • Github

Check out these examples to find out how to best showcase your skills:

  • Identified gaps in Google Analytics that resulted in boosted engagement and conversion, increasing yearly revenue by $2.3M.

  • Managed stakeholder communication while overseeing product development from its initiation to its conclusion.

#6. Project Management

As a project manager, you could add some of the following technical skills to your resume:

Project Management Skills Examples

  • Project planning

  • Resource management

  • Risk management

  • Budget management

  • Stakeholder management

  • Quality management

  • Change management

  • Data analysis

  • Agile

  • Software development life cycle (SDLC)

  • MS Office Suite

  • Documentation

  • JavaScript

  • SQL

Now let’s see some of those product management technical skills in examples:

  • Analyzed user data to implement software changes, bug fixes, and interface adjustments to improve user satisfaction by 35%.

  • Managed 3 projects with different teams to meet deadlines and finish them under budget by up to 12%.

#7. IT

IT is a vast field, and your skill set will heavily depend on the position that you’re applying for. For example, you might want to list proficiency in coding languages, such as:

IT Skills Examples

  • HTML/CSS

  • PHP

  • Python

  • JavaScript

  • C++

  • Ruby

  • .NET

Some IT specialists could also add knowledge of certain operating systems, including:

  • Windows

  • MacOS

  • Linux

  • iOS

  • Android

Then, there are cloud computing technical skills:

  • Google Cloud

  • Amazon Web

  • Oracle

  • Azure

  • AWS

The list goes on, as you could be into e-commerce, network and system administration, database management, AI, and more.

Here’s how to demonstrate some of your IT skills on your resume:

  • Wrote an e-commerce store algorithm that matches users to products which resulted in a 17% sales increase.

  • Assisted a Fortune 500 company by developing a scaling content distribution solution using C++, boosting their productivity by 35%.

#8. Engineering

Engineering is another broad field where the skills you should add to your resume vary a lot from one position to another. Here are some of the most sought-after ones:

Engineering Skills Examples

  • Civil engineering skills, including:

    • Spring design skills

    • MathWorks

    • Operational analysis

    • AutoCAD Civil 3D

    • StormCAD

    • EPANET

  • Data engineering skills, including:

    • Python

    • ETLs

    • SQL

    • NoSQL

    • Spark

    • Airflow

  • DevOps engineering skills, including:

    • Docker

    • AWS

    • Ruby

    • PostgreSQL

    • ElasticSearch

Now, let’s see some examples of how you could add these skills to your resume:

  • Reduced manual work by 27% through the implementation of automated ETL processes.

  • Used AutoCAD to create a precise project model that cut costs by 11% compared to the initial estimate.

#9. Graphic Design

Graphic designers could add some of the following technical skills to their resumes:

Graphic Design Skills Examples

  • Logo creation

  • Storyboard creation

  • Color theory

  • Typography

  • Composition

  • Photography

  • Photo editing

  • Designing for print

  • Design principles

  • Social media design

  • UI/UX design

  • Adobe Creative Suite

  • Affinity Design/Photo

  • HTML/CSS

  • WordPress

Here are some ways in which you could demonstrate your skills on a graphic design resume:

  • Created a custom mockup using HTML and CSS to present to clients that resulted in gaining more than 300 clients.

  • Created graphics for social media page in collaboration with marketing and PR to boost engagement by 35%.

#10. Management 

A manager’s resume can greatly benefit from having some of the following technical skills:

Management Skills Examples

  • Leadership

  • Delegation

  • Negotiation

  • Project management

  • People management

  • Financial management

  • Risk management

  • Strategic planning

  • Execution

  • Logistics

  • Networking

  • Innovation

  • Coaching

  • MS Office Suite

  • Google Suite

  • A/B testing

  • Excel

Let’s put some of these skills into practice through examples:

  • Built and maintained a network of 30+ clients that helped increase organic growth by 37%.

  • Implemented changes to the A/B testing process that boosted the rank of targeted keywords by 15%.

#11. Marketing

Here are some of the most sought-after skills marketers could add to their resumes:

Marketing Skills Examples

  • SEO/SEM

  • Social media marketing

  • Email marketing

  • Marketing strategy

  • Funnel management

  • CRO

  • CRM

  • UX design

  • Data visualization

  • SEMRush

  • Ahrefs

  • Adobe Premiere

  • WordPress

  • MailChimp

  • Google Analytics

  • Facebook Paid Ads

Here’s how you could demonstrate some of these skills:

  • Developed and executed successful marketing strategies that resulted in a 20% brand awareness increase and a 30% boost in sales.

  • Conceptualized social media campaigns for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to reach target audiences and increase engagement by 78%.

#12. Nursing

You should include some of these nursing technical skills on your resume:

Nursing Skills Examples

  • Patient care

  • Emergency care

  • Monitoring vital signs

  • Patient and family education

  • Patient safety

  • Clinical expertise

  • Medication administration

  • Charting and documentation

Here are some examples of what that could look like on a resume:

  • Provided detailed instructions to educate parents on how to properly care for newborns after their discharge.

  • Accurately administered medication and monitored patients for adverse reactions, contributing to a safe and satisfactory patient care experience.

#13. Teaching

Teachers could add some of these skills to their resumes:

Teaching Skills Examples

  • Teaching methods

  • Performance evaluations

  • Curriculum planning

  • Classroom management

  • Behavior management

  • Grading

  • Disciplinary action

  • Preparing lessons

  • Algebra

  • English language

  • Social studies

  • Physical education

  • Art

  • Science

  • Foreign languages

Now let’s see how to demonstrate teaching skills on your resume:

  • Systematically planned curriculum for 11th and 12th graders and obtained the required resources to optimally execute lesson plans.

  • Taught English and managed classrooms of 20–25 students across 10th and 11th grade.

#14. Sales

If you’re a sales professional, you should consider adding some of these technical skills to your resume:

Sales Skills Examples

  • Product knowledge

  • Lead qualification

  • Rapport building

  • Customer needs analysis

  • Customer retention

  • Customer satisfaction

  • Brand management

  • POS

  • Contract negotiation

  • Client nurturing

  • CRM (Salesforce)

  • MS Office Suite

  • Business processes

Here’s how you could highlight these skills on your resume:

  • Analyzed customers’ needs to achieve $350,000 in retention revenue.

  • Modernized the workplace by implementing Salesforce to save up to 17 hours weekly through automation.

#15. Writing

Writing skills can go from broad and general to highly specialized and position-specific. Here are some of them:

Writing Skills Examples

  • Spelling

  • Grammar

  • Punctuation

  • Drafting

  • Proofreading

  • Vocabulary

  • Outline creation

  • Topic research

  • Fast typing

  • Reporting

  • SEO writing

  • Interviewing

  • Creative writing

  • Content writing

  • Copywriting

  • Technical writing

  • Sales writing

  • News writing

  • Academic writing

  • Storytelling

  • Product knowledge

  • Fact-checking

Let’s see some examples:

  • Established long-term relations with 10+ clients and wrote academic articles for them.

  • Wrote copy for 15 landing pages, increasing conversion rates by up to 40% in 12 months.

How to Improve Your Technical Skills

graphic designer resume

One of the best ways to stand out to potential employers and improve your chances of getting the job is to improve your technical skills.

Wondering how to do it? Let’s see some tips:

  • Since technical skills are usually job-specific, one of the best ways to boost them is while doing the job. If you find it challenging to get the position you’re looking for, consider doing internships, volunteer work, or part-time jobs first.

  • You can take courses—both online and in person—attend conferences, participate in workshops, and enroll in certification programs that will teach you new skills or increase your knowledge of the industry.

  • Consider seeking mentorship since a mentor can give you invaluable guidance in the form of advice and feedback. Even if you don’t have a mentor, you can ask your colleagues or supervisors for feedback.

  • Attending networking events can help you connect with peers from the industry and keep up with the latest trends, practices, and advances in the field.

  • Practice on your own by working on personal projects or contributing to open-source ones.

  • You should read industry-specific publications such as articles and research papers to stay informed and up-to-date. Furthermore, you can attend webinars or follow the work of prominent professionals in your industry.

Pro Tip

You can use a chronological resume format to show your progress and how some of your technical skills have improved over time. That shows your commitment to your career and willingness to grow, which is something recruiters always look for.

Closing Thoughts

Technical skills are crucial for showing your qualifications and suitability for the job that you’re applying for. When you put them on your resume, you should make sure they are related to the job and supported by real-life examples since that can have a significant impact on your job search.

Furthermore, don’t forget to stay up to date with emerging technologies and to keep learning and growing your skill set. That’s one of the best ways to stay competitive in today’s rapidly evolving job market!

Sheila Kravitz
Sheila Kravitz
Content Writer & Head Editor
By day, Sheila Kravitz writes stellar content and works as a head editor. At night, she spends her time winning at trivia nights or playing Dungeons & Dragons with her friends. Whether she’s writing or editing, she gives her maximum effort and ensures no error gets past her watchful eyes. When she’s doing none of the above, Sheila likes to spend time with her cats and her partner, endlessly watching crime documentaries on Netflix.

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