How to List Skills on a CV (With Examples)
The skills section on most CVs is a list of words that a recruiter skips over. 'Microsoft Office. Excellent communication. Team player. Problem-solver.' These lists are almost universal and almost universally ignored. A well-constructed skills section is something different: it is specific, it is organised, and it connects directly to what the role requires.
This guide covers exactly what to include, how to organise it, and what to cut — with concrete examples by industry.
1. Hard skills vs soft skills — and why soft skills alone are useless
Hard skills are specific, learnable, and demonstrable: Python, double-entry bookkeeping, Figma, IFRS 16, laparoscopic surgical technique, contract negotiation under English law. A recruiter can verify them, test them, and use them to search for candidates. They belong prominently in a skills section.
Soft skills are interpersonal and behavioural traits: communication, leadership, problem-solving, adaptability. They are real and valuable, but they are not useful in a skills section because everyone claims them and no one can verify them from a list. 'Communication skills' listed in a skills section is invisible. A bullet point under a job entry describing a specific instance of effective communication — presenting to a 50-person all-hands, writing the company newsletter, leading a difficult client negotiation — is visible and credible.
The rule: hard skills belong in the skills section. Soft skills belong as evidence in the experience section, and only in the skills section if they are backed up by specific examples elsewhere in the document. A skills section that is 100% soft skills is a section that adds nothing.
2. Reading the job description for skill keywords
The most efficient way to build a skills section is to read the job description first and work backwards. Make a list of every specific skill, tool, qualification, or methodology mentioned under 'required' or 'desirable'. Then compare that list with what you have. Every skill on both lists belongs in your skills section for this application.
Pay close attention to terminology. If the job description says 'financial modelling', use 'financial modelling' — not 'spreadsheet modelling' or 'Excel forecasting'. If it says 'stakeholder management', use that phrase. The terminology is the vocabulary the recruiter will search for in their ATS and think in when they are reviewing applications.
Be honest in both directions. Do not include skills you do not have — you will be tested on them. But also do not understate skills you do have because you think the phrasing sounds too senior. If you have built financial models professionally, 'financial modelling' is accurate.
3. Grouping skills by category
An unstructured list of fifteen skills is harder to read than the same skills organised into three or four labelled categories. Categories make the section scannable and signal that you have thought about how your skills fit together rather than just listing whatever came to mind.
Common useful groupings: technical skills or tools (specific software, programming languages, platforms), domain knowledge (industry-specific expertise, methodologies, standards), languages (with proficiency level), and certifications or qualifications. Not every CV needs all four — use the groupings that are relevant to your field and the role.
For a software engineer: 'Languages: Python, TypeScript, Go / Frameworks: React, FastAPI, gRPC / Infrastructure: AWS (EC2, Lambda, RDS), Docker, Terraform / Monitoring: Datadog, Prometheus'. For a marketing manager: 'Channels: SEO, paid search (Google Ads certified), email marketing, content strategy / Tools: HubSpot, GA4, Semrush, Figma / Skills: A/B testing, conversion rate optimisation, budget management'. The categories are different, but the principle is the same: group, label, be specific.
4. What not to list — the skills that waste space
Some skills are so universal that listing them signals you are running out of things to say. Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word: unless you are applying for an administrative role where advanced Excel is actually tested, listing basic Office suite proficiency implies that this is one of your notable skills, which is not the impression you want.
Email: listing 'email' as a skill is something that has appeared on CVs and should not. The ability to send and receive email is not a professional skill. Similarly, 'internet research', 'basic computer literacy', and 'using a smartphone' are not skills for a professional CV.
Generic soft skills without evidence: 'communication', 'teamwork', 'problem-solving', 'time management', 'attention to detail', 'work ethic'. Every candidate lists these. They mean nothing without evidence and clutter a skills section that could be making a specific, useful impression. Cut them from the skills section and instead make sure your experience bullets demonstrate them.
5. Proficiency levels — useful or not
Proficiency indicators (beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert; or 1–5 star ratings; or percentage bars) are common in visually designed CVs and largely useless in practice. The problem is that they are entirely self-assessed and cannot be calibrated across candidates. One person's 'advanced' Python is another person's 'beginner', and a recruiter has no way to know which they are looking at.
A more useful approach is to demonstrate proficiency through context rather than self-rating. 'Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn — used daily for 3 years in a data engineering role)' tells a recruiter far more than 'Python ●●●●○'. The context gives them a frame: frequency of use, duration, and the specific libraries, which implies the level without requiring you to self-rate it.
The exception: languages. For spoken languages, internationally standardised levels (A1–C2, CEFR) are meaningful and widely understood. Listing 'French (B2)' or 'Mandarin (native)' is useful and specific. Apply the same principle — use a standard scale where one exists, and use context where it does not.
6. Examples by sector
Skills sections look very different by industry. What constitutes a strong, specific skills section for a software engineer is completely different from what works for a nurse, a financial analyst, or a graphic designer. Sector-specific vocabulary matters: using the right terms signals genuine familiarity with the field.
Technology: programming languages and frameworks (be specific about versions where relevant), cloud platforms and certifications (AWS Solutions Architect, GCP Professional, Azure Fundamentals), databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis), DevOps tools (Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD pipelines), and methodologies (Agile, Scrum, TDD). Finance: accounting standards (IFRS, GAAP, FRS 102), financial tools (Bloomberg Terminal, FactSet, Refinitiv), modelling (DCF, LBO, three-statement), qualifications (ACA, ACCA, CFA Level III), and regulatory frameworks relevant to the sector.
Healthcare: clinical skills relevant to the specialty (phlebotomy, catheterisation, specific surgical techniques), systems (EPR platforms: EPIC, SystemOne, Meditech), regulatory frameworks (CQC, MHRA, ICH GCP), and languages spoken. Creative: specific software (Adobe Creative Suite — name the individual applications, not just the suite), file formats and technical skills, photography equipment or video production tools, and platform-specific skills (Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Creator Studio). In each sector, the principle is the same: name the specific thing, not the category it belongs to.
7. Where to put the skills section
The position of the skills section depends on your seniority and the type of role. For technical roles — software engineering, data science, UX design — skills often belong near the top, sometimes directly after the summary and before experience. Recruiters and technical hiring managers are screening for specific technologies before anything else, and burying the skills section at the bottom means they have to hunt for them.
For most other roles, skills belong after experience and education — they are a supporting section, not the lead. Your experience demonstrates what you can do; your skills section provides the searchable index of tools and competencies that backs up the experience.
For a first CV with limited experience, skills can be elevated to a higher position because they are doing more of the work of demonstrating capability. For a senior professional with 15 years of experience, skills can be brief and near the end — the experience section is doing the heavy lifting, and the skills section is primarily there for ATS keyword purposes.
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