Bakht Mizanul

Recruiters will assume it’s years of professional experience, a solid diploma, and a well-established certificate.

But these all represent something much more important:

Your skills. The ones that get the job done—

This guide will show you:

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It’s not about how difficult they are, it’s all about how process-oriented such abilities might be.

Hard skills are abilities that let you tackle job-specific duties and responsibilities. Hard skills can be learned through courses, vocational training, and on the job. These skills are usually focused on specific tasks and processes such as the use of tools, equipment, or software.

In contrast, soft skills are your traits and abilities not unique to any job—think collaboration, time management, empathy, or leadership.

Which kind of skill set is more important? A LinkedIn study suggests that a slight majority (57% vs 43%) of employers value soft skills over hard skills.

But is this really an either/or situation?

Not really. The best way to think about it that hard skills get interviews, soft skills get jobs.

(Not to mention the thin line between definitions—how soft a skill is time management?)

If the hard-vs-soft-skills contrast isn’t quite clear to you, see our guide: The Difference Between Hard and Soft Skills Explained

(And here's a few tips regarding Top Skills Employers Look for in 2023)

A successful resume displays a targeted set of hard skills. Before you jump to particular examples, see how and where to include them:

For more strategies of highlighting your job skills, see: Crucial Skills to Put on Your Resume 2023

Technical skills include specialized knowledge and expertise in fields such as IT, engineering, or science. Typical technical skills are abilities to use specialized software or equipment.

Here are some examples of technical hard skills:

Now, here’s a few samples extracted from resumes:

For a dedicated guide to putting technical hard skills on a resume, see: The Best Technical Skills for Resumes

Computer skills are your abilities to use software and hardware: from basic and general, to highly specialized.

On today’s job market, computer skills are a must in any industry. Be sure to include list them on your resume especially if you’re applying for office jobs and if the job ad requires specifics.

Here’s a list of some basic computer skills:

And here you’ll see some typical programming skills:

This is how you can make them work on your resume:

Need more information? Here’s a must-read for you: Key Computer Skills to Put on a Resume in 2023

If you want to laser-in on MS Office skills, see: Microsoft Office Suite Skills for the Workforce

Analytical skills are the skills of gathering data, analyzing it, deciphering the meaning, and presenting it.

No matter what job you’re pursuing, if you’re able to show that you’re good with data analysis, the recruiter will score you some bonus points.

Here are some analytical skills to put on a resume:

Analytical skills proven on your resume:

Learn more: Analytical Skills/Data Analysis Skills to Boost Your Resume

Marketing skills include the general knowledge of sales, advertising, and consumer research, as well as a plethora of highly technical, digital skills required for success in modern-day online marketing.

Marketing hard skills are of greatest value to candidates in media, advertising, social media, e-commerce, and product management.

Some examples include:

The list could go on, and on, and on. But what marketing skills are most relevant today?According to The Pipeline, those are the top marketing skills for your resume:

Not sure how to make your resume show your marketing expertise? Get inspired by these samples of hard marketing skills on resumes:

Marketing ability highlights:

Hungry for more? Check this out: Top-Level Marketing Skills for Your Resume & How to List Them

Wait, what? Aren’t presentation skills a soft skill?

Not exactly. Sure, you need certain soft, transferable skills to deliver a good presentation: confidence, adaptability, self-awareness, or stress management. But—

To facilitate your presentation or report, you’ll need at least a few of these hard skills:

And here’s how to prove you’re a savvy presenter on a resume:

See more: How to List Presentation Skills on Resumes

Again, you might feel like people skills are in the core of good management and leadership. Again…

That’s just half-right.

To be a good manager, you also need some job-specific skills such as these:

And here’s how to convey your management expertise on an exec resume:

For more examples and step-by-step tutorials see: Managerial Skills List (Not Only For Managers!)

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In short, project management skills guarantee that things get done.

More than that, actually: done in time and within budget. If you’re skilled in project management, it will be a plus for any sort of job where you need to coordinate processes or people’s work.

Project management skills include general managerial expertise as well as proficiency in certain frameworks and software. Here are some examples of PM hard skills:

And these samples will show you how to present your PM expertise on a resume:

For more tips on showcasing your PM hard skills, head over to Project Management Skills Crucial for Your Career (And Resume!)

A solid grasp of writing techniques will give your career a boost if your job requires any sort of writing (think typing up quarterly reports, onboarding documents, presentations for clients, sales pitches, etc.).

Check out these examples:

Now, an ultimate writing assignment… Conveying your writing skills on a resume. This is how to do it:

We’ve written a super detailed piece on writing skills, give it a read: 150+ Writing Skills for Jobs & How to Boost Them

Another somewhat obvious point on our list. But that doesn’t make it less important.

Knowing more than one language will set you apart from your competition for any job in a company that deals with international customers or stakeholders.

First of all, create a section for languages. List all foreign languages you know and indicate your proficiency level.

But you can also emphasize your multilingual skills in other parts.

Need more information? See: How to Show Off Your Language Skills on a Resume

If you’re a skilled illustrator, modern employers will fight one another for who gets to hire you. No, not only if your niche is graphic design. The ability to create polished visual materials is a great asset in all work environments.

Here are some graphic design skills examples.

Now, here’s a few samples from other resume sections:

Need more inspiration to highlight your creative powers? While we don’t have a dedicated piece on design skills, I’m sure you’ll find this one useful: How to Write a Head-Turning Graphic Design Resume

If you have certifications that back up your skills, list them in a separate resume section. Include the name of the certificate and the year you received it.

Learn more: How to Include Certifications on Resumes

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Here’s everything you need to know about putting hard skills on a resume:

Got more questions? Need assistance in picking the right hard skills for your resume? Drop me a line in the comments, I’ll get right back to you.

Hard skills are professional abilities that you must have to perform your job duties, and they refer to specialist knowledge you can learn through education, development courses, or training. Mastery of hard skills can be evaluated using knowledge tests or professional exams.

Hard skills differ from job to job. This means that a resume for a professional chef needs a different set of hard skills than a software engineer’s resume. For a chef, hard skills examples are food preparation, sanitation and hygiene, combining flavors, planning menus, and managing kitchen staff. For a software engineer, examples of hard skills are programming languages, software testing, full-stack development, and so on.

Hard skills refer to the essential knowledge that you need for your profession. Meanwhile, soft skills are personal qualities that influence your approach to problems, creativity, and ability to work with others. They’re sometimes called people skills. While you can learn hard skills at school, during courses, or with training, you can develop soft skills through analysis of your own behavior and with the help of professional coaches.

Some argue which are more important in discussing hard skills vs. soft skills. But the truth is, a good employee needs both. Why? Because professionals without soft skills can be very difficult to work with.

Hard skills on a resume are an essential part of the skill section. They can also be mentioned in other parts of the resume, such as a resume profile or the work experience section.

These job-specific abilities must be consistent with the job requirements. For example, if the job advertisement for a teacher says: “Essential duties include lesson planning for K-12 STEM curriculum, performing student evaluation using appropriate assessment techniques, and accurate maintenance of all required records,” then the hard skills on a resume for a teacher are lesson planning, knowledge of K-12 STEM curriculum, student evaluation, and keeping administrative records.

It’s recommended to select around 5–7 hard skills to put on a resume and to balance them out with 2–3 soft skills relevant to the job.

Hard skills are an important part of any job. They refer to the knowledge and abilities essential for the profession, such as having a driver’s license and understanding road rules for a truck driver. Without those hard skills, employees won’t be able to perform their work duties effectively.

As these skills are essential for work, it’s worth brushing up on your knowledge and abilities from time to time. Even if you’re an expert in your field, new developments might bring methods and solutions that can make your job easier, especially if your job needs computer skills or technical abilities.

While hard skills vary between professions, some of these abilities are transferable. Learning them can be a good step to improving your career.

These are the top 20 hard skills for a resume in 2023:

1. Machine learning

2. Statistical modeling

3. Software testing

4. Analytical skills

5. Product management

6. Management skills

7. Accounting

8. Digital security

9. Search Engine Optimization

10. UX design

11. Graphic design

12. Marketing skills, including social media marketing

13. Account management

14. Project management skills

15. Programming languages

16. Cloud computing

17. Video editing

18. Teaching and knowledge management

19. Creative writing skills

20. Foreign language skills

Getting tested if you’re experiencing symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19 is the first step against stopping the spread of the virus.

Knowing when to test for COVID is important.

If you test positive for COVID-19, isolate and take precautions to protect others from getting infected.

There are two types of COVID-19 tests: the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and the antigen test, known as the rapid test. Both tests require a sample from the patient, usually a nasal swab.

The PCR test takes a sample of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and “amplifies” it with the help of lab technologies. Amplifying RNA helps to make even small traces of the COVID-19 virus visible in the test sample. Even if you have a small trace of the virus in your system, the PCR test will detect it.

“PCR tests are more reliable and accurate due to testing the specific genetic material of the virus, eliminating the interference from other viruses,” said Heather Seyko, a Laboratory Services manager for OSF HealthCare.

While a PCR test is the preferred method of detecting COVID-19, it must be done by a health care provider. These tests don’t produce immediate results, which means you may be waiting a few days to know if you’re positive or negative.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes while tests are best used early in the course of illness to diagnose COVID-19, they can’t evaluate the duration of infectiousness. PCR tests sometimes can stay positive for weeks after you’ve had COVID. This is because the PCR test is so sensitive it can detect even dead virus.

The rapid test, called an antigen test, checks for proteins that are found on the outside of the virus.

The antigen test mimics what antibodies do. Antibodies are the “good guys” that attach to the antigen protein (the “bad guys”) and fight the virus. When you give your nasal swab sample, it’s put into a liquid and then onto a test strip.

The test strip acts like an antibody – if there are any COVID-19 antigen “bad guys” in your system, the molecules in the liquid will attach to those antigens, and a line will appear on the test strip. This means you’re positive for COVID-19. If there are no antigens detected in your system, the liquid doesn’t respond and no line will appear, often meaning you are negative for the virus.

“Unlike the PCR test, the antigen test can only determine if you have an active virus in your body. The rapid test can’t detect small amounts of the virus or asymptomatic cases as accurately as the PCR test can,” Heather said.

So how accurate are home COVID-19 tests? The rapid test is less accurate and there is a greater chance for a false negative, not a false positive. The test only picks up if the virus is active in your body, meaning asymptomatic cases. If someone doesn’t have any symptoms, those cases  are harder to identify with the antigen test.

If you’re visiting a health care provider to get tested, it’s likely you won’t get to choose which test you get. This is for a few reasons. First, it could just be a matter of what test is readily available or in greater supply. Second, tests are chosen based on probability of having the virus.

“PCR would be chosen where there is a low likelihood of having the virus, but we want to be certain the patient doesn’t have it. Antigen would be chosen if there is a high probability the patient has the virus (i.e. is experiencing symptoms), and we need to screen the patient as positive or negative,” Heather said.

Getting tested is an important part of slowing the spread of COVID-19. With more accurate results, PCR tests are the preferred way to go, but antigen tests work for rapid results, as well.

Antibody testing is also available and is designed to identify people who have recovered from the virus.

An antibody test could yield two results:

Your provider might recommend this blood test if you have previously shown symptoms and want to know if they were caused by COVID-19.

Last Updated: May 30, 2023

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