How to showcase technical skills on a resume?
Tailor the skills to the job description and name exact tools, languages, and frameworks. Add relevant certifications and projects or portfolio links, and reinforce these skills in the summary and professional experience sections.
What are some technical skills to put on a resume?
With the ever-increasing competition in the job market, one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is by showcasing relevant technical skills on your resume.
While having the right technical skills is an asset for some job roles, for most positions in industries like technology, engineering, and information systems, having the right technical skills is indispensable.
Showcasing technical skills on a resume demonstrates to recruiters that you can execute the job duties with efficiency.
And given the expensive and time-consuming process of hiring and onboarding recruiters, it's more likely that recruiters would want to hire candidates who already have the required technical skills rather than hiring candidates who’d need training for the same post-hire.
Plus, with the steady rise of digitalization across all industries, surveys show that 80% of companies need employees with more technical and IT skills.
So, if you want to learn more about technical skills on your resume, read on. You will also get clarity on the following related questions:
- What is the meaning of technical skills?
- What are the benefits of showcasing technical skills on a resume?
- How to describe technical skills on a resume?
- What are some examples of technical skills for a resume?
- What are some of the best technical skills for an accounting resume?
Technical Skills Meaning
There are two types of skills that employers look for in candidates - soft skills and technical skills.
While soft skills are personal attributes that people build over the years with life experiences, technical skills can be defined as skills that are acquired through training, practice, and study.
Technical skills are quantifiable and show a candidate’s proficiency or expertise in a specific area of work.
Some examples of top technical skills for a resume include data analysis, coding, project management, web development, graphic design, engineering, etc.
Also Read: How to write a stellar technical product manager resume?
Benefits of Showcasing Technical Skills on a Resume
The importance of technical skills on a resume stems from the need to show employers your potential and prowess with using tools & software that are crucial for executing job duties.
Apart from helping you get shortlisted, listed below are some of the advantages of listing technical skills on your resume:
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Demonstrates expertise: Listing relevant technical skills that are primary requirements for the role allows the recruiters to know that you’re the perfect fit. It helps them understand your strengths and areas of expertise in the field.
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Helps your resume become ATS-friendly: Since 75% of recruiters use Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to filter resumes based on the number of relevant keywords used, listing technical skills in your resume can help it rank higher in the ATS.
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Can help you get paid higher: If you have in-demand technical skills and list them in your resume, it can not only show your competency but can also help you get paid higher.
For instance, technical skills like data analysis are forecasted as one of the most in-demand skills of 2023. Meaning, the higher the demand for the skill, the higher the salary.
Also Read: What are the best entry-level tech jobs that you can get in 2023?
How to Showcase Technical Skills on a Resume?
Listing technical skills on your resume blatantly isn’t enough to make it impactful. Given below are some tips you can follow to showcase technical skills effectively on your resume:
Analyze the Job Description
To make your resume highly relevant to the role, you must list technical skills that are listed as requirements in the job listing.
Analyze the job description to better understand the requirements, and accordingly, you can include the relevant technical skills you have.
For instance, if the recruiter has listed managing inventory as one of the duties, including inventory management as one of the technical skills in your resume.
Be Specific
To give the recruiters clarity around your areas of expertise, be specific about the technical skills you have.
For instance, if you are applying for a software developer role, consider listing the exact programming languages, frameworks, and databases that you’re familiar with rather than simply listing programming as a technical skill.
List Certifications
Since acquiring technical skills requires specific education and training, ensure that you list the certification courses or training programs that you’ve completed in your resume.
Doing so backs up your claims of the technical skills that you’ve listed and makes your resume more creditable.
Include Projects and/or a Link To Your Online Portfolio
To make your resume more impactful, consider listing any projects you’ve completed that required you to use the technical skills that you’ve listed in your resume.
This once again solidifies your claims of the technical skills that you’ve listed in your resume and allows recruiters to see how you’ve leveraged them in practicality.
You can also add a link to your online portfolio like GitHub, Kaggle, Behance, etc.
Highlight Your Technical Skills in the Summary and Professional Experience Section
Apart from keeping a separate technical skills section in your resume to showcase it, ensure to highlight these technical skills across the other sections of your resume like the summary and professional experience section.
For instance, if the job description requires candidates to have video editing skills using specific software like Adobe, you can highlight your proficiency in using Adobe in your resume summary if that stands true to you.
Similarly, in the professional experience section, you can state work instances wherein you used specific technical skills to complete a project or a task.
Also Read: What are some of the best examples of technical resumes?
Technical Skills Examples for Resume
For your reference, given below are some role-specific examples of the best technical skills for resumes:
Technical Skills for HR Resume
Talent Acquisition | Employee Retention |
Employee Training | Payroll Management |
Talent Management System | Performance Review |
Employee Benefits Management | Recruitment & Onboarding |
Ms Office | Background Verification |
Labor Laws Compliance | Screening & Sourcing |
Technical Skills for Accountant Resume
Asset Management | Payroll Management |
Quickbooks | Paychex |
Ms Offcie | Report Generation |
Client Relationship Management | Regulatory Filings |
Revenue Projections | Account Reconciliation |
Tax Management | General Ledger |
Budgeting | Audits |
Technical Skills for Nursing Resume
Pre & Post Op Care | Wound Dressing |
Midwifery | Charting |
Unit Preparation | Psychological Counselling & Supporting |
Record Management | Patient Care |
Cardiac Monitor | Defibilator |
Glucometer | Suction Apparatus |
Intensive Care Unit | Suction Unit |
Also Read: What are the best resume skills that you must know in 2023?
Key Points from the Blog
- Technical skills can be defined as skills that are acquired through training, practice, and study. They are quantifiable and shows a candidate’s proficiency or expertise in a specific area of work.
- Some of the examples of top technical skills for a resume includes data analysis, coding, project management, web development, graphic design, engineering, etc.
- Listing technical skills in your resume makes it ATS-friendly, can help you get paid higher and increases your chances of getting shortlisted.
- To make your resume highly relevant to the role, you must list technical skills that are listed as requirements in the job listing.
- Since acquiring technical skills requires specific education and training, ensure that you list the certification courses or training programs that you’ve completed in your resume.
- Apart from keeping a separate technical skills section in your resume to showcase it, ensure to highlight these technical skills across the other sections of your resume like the summary and professional experience sections.
Use Hiration’s AI-powered Resume Builder with 24x7 chat support to make a job-winning resume within minutes. You can also write to us at support@hiration.com if you have any queries.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What are technical skills?
Technical skills are skills you acquire through training, practice, and study. They are quantifiable and show your proficiency or expertise in a specific area of work.
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What is the difference between technical skills and soft skills?
Soft skills are personal attributes built over years with life experiences, while technical skills are acquired through training, practice, and study.
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Why are technical skills important on a resume?
Listing technical skills shows your ability with tools and software crucial for job duties. With digitalization rising, surveys show that 80% of companies need employees with more technical and IT skills.
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How do you showcase technical skills on a resume?
Analyze the job description, be specific about tools and technologies, list relevant certifications, include projects or a portfolio link, and highlight these skills in your summary and professional experience.
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Should you list broad technical skills or be specific?
Be specific. Name exact programming languages, frameworks, and databases rather than listing a generic skill like programming.
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Should you list certifications to support your technical skills?
Yes. List certification courses or training programs you’ve completed to back up your technical skills and make your resume more creditable.
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Should you include projects or a portfolio link on your resume?
Yes. List projects that used your technical skills, and add a link to an online portfolio like GitHub, Kaggle, Behance.
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How do technical skills help with ATS?
Listing relevant technical skills can help your resume become ATS-friendly because 75% of recruiters use an Applicant Tracking System to filter resumes based on relevant keywords.
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Where should you highlight technical skills beyond the skills section?
Highlight them in the summary and professional experience section in addition to a separate technical skills section.
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What technical skills are good for an accounting resume?
Asset Management, Payroll Management, Quickbooks, Paychex, Report Generation, Regulatory Filings, Revenue Projections, Account Reconciliation, Tax Management, General Ledger, Budgeting, Audits.