Resume Skills Section Builder

Each of the 12 role families has a hand-picked list of technical skills, tools and software, and soft skills that show up often in job postings for that kind of work. Check the ones you actually have, then type any others in the free-text box separated by commas. The builder trims extra spaces and drops duplicates regardless of capitalization, so Python and python count once.

Choose one of three layouts:

• Categorized puts technical skills (plus anything you typed), tools and soft skills on separate labeled lines. It is the easiest for a recruiter to scan and works well for technical roles.
• Single line is compact and suits one-page resumes where space is tight.
• Bullets suits resumes with a sidebar or a two-column skills block.

A warning appears above 15 skills. Nothing leaves your browser.

Maya is applying for a junior data analyst role at a retailer. The posting asks for SQL, Tableau or Power BI, Excel, A/B testing and "clear communication with non-technical teams." She selects the Data and analytics family and ticks only what she has used on real work or a finished portfolio project: SQL, Python (pandas), A/B testing and Data cleaning under technical; Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), Tableau and BigQuery under tools; Stakeholder communication and Data storytelling under soft skills. In the free-text box she types Shopify reports, sql. The duplicate "sql" is dropped because SQL is already checked, and the typed skill is placed on the Technical line.

With the Categorized layout the output reads:

Technical: SQL, Python (pandas), A/B testing, Data cleaning, Shopify reports

Tools: Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), Tableau, BigQuery

Soft skills: Stakeholder communication, Data storytelling

That is 10 skills, under the 15-skill warning. The single-line layout would give Skills: SQL, Python (pandas), ... on one line, and the bullets layout puts each skill on its own dash-prefixed line. Maya then reorders the Technical line so SQL and A/B testing, the two terms the posting names, stay first.

The skill lists in each role family are a starting vocabulary, not a verdict on what any employer wants. The dependable method is to compare three sources: the job posting you are answering, the occupation's profile in O*NET OnLine (the U.S. Department of Labor database that lists technology skills and tools by job title), and your own work history. A skill belongs on the page when it appears in at least two of the three, and your history must always be one of them.

1. Highlight every tool, method and certification named in the posting.
2. Look up the job title in O*NET and note the "Technology Skills" entries marked as in demand for that occupation.
3. Tick the matching items in the builder, and type exact posting terms the lists do not include.
4. Cut anything you cannot back up with an example from a job, course or project.

• Start from the job posting. Copy the exact names of tools and methods the employer lists ("Power BI", not "BI dashboards") when you have them. Applicant tracking systems and recruiters search for those words.
• Favor hard skills. Tools, methods and certifications are checkable. Soft skills are more convincing when shown in your experience bullets ("trained 6 new hires") than listed alone, so keep two to four of them at most.
• Put the most relevant first. Readers skim from left to right and stop early.
• Be ready to discuss every item. If you used a tool once in a tutorial, leave it off or say "basic".
• Tailor per application. A marketing analyst applying to an agency and to an in-house team may need different tools up front.

For experienced candidates, place it after work experience, or as a short block under the summary for technical roles where tools are screened first. Career changers and recent graduates often put it near the top, because transferable skills carry more of the case than job titles do. Use a plain heading such as Skills or Technical Skills; creative headings and skill-rating bars or stars can confuse applicant tracking systems and tell the reader little.

To see which skills employers associate with a specific occupation, look it up on O*NET OnLine, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database, which lists technology skills, tools and work activities per job title.