# Resume skills examples: what to list and what to cut

> A skills section should be searchable and checkable. List the tools and the specific abilities, cut the personality words, and match the advert's vocabulary.

Canonical: https://dev.swirlai.app/blog/resume-skills-examples
Last updated: 2026-10-28

List two kinds of skill: tools you can name (Excel, Figma, a forklift licence) and abilities you can prove (reconciling accounts, writing patient notes, driving a 7.5 tonne van). Cut anything that is a personality trait. A skills section is a search index, not a character reference.

Most skills sections are a list of adjectives wearing a heading. Hard working. Team player. Attention to detail. None of them can be searched, checked, or asked about in an interview, so the section does nothing.

## Two columns that work

- Tools and systems: the software, machinery, licences and certificates you can actually operate.
- Abilities: the tasks you can do unsupervised, phrased as a verb and an object.

Excel, not Microsoft Office. Reconciling supplier invoices, not numerate. Writing care plans, not caring. Driving a 7.5 tonne vehicle, not reliable.

## Examples by kind of work

- Office: Excel (pivot tables, lookups), Xero, reconciling accounts to bank statements, chasing overdue invoices, minute taking.
- Care: moving and handling, PEG feeding, writing daily records, dementia care, first aid at work.
- Trades: 18th edition wiring, PAT testing, reading drawings, CSCS card, full clean licence.
- Retail: till reconciliation, stock rotation, visual merchandising, opening and closing a store alone.
- Teaching: phonics screening, differentiation for mixed ability, parent report writing, safeguarding level 2.
- Kitchen: section running, stock ordering, allergen control, food hygiene level 3, covers per service.

## Match the advert's words

If the advert says stakeholder management and you write talking to people, an automated screen will not find you and a human has to translate. Use their vocabulary for their job. It is not dishonest, it is the same skill under the name they use.

## What to cut

Anything you would not want to be asked about. If you list Python and the interview asks you to read a function, you have created a problem. A short honest list beats a long one you cannot defend.

## Where the list goes

Near the top if you are early career or changing field, because your skills are the strongest thing you have. Near the bottom if you have a long relevant work history, because the jobs already prove it.

## Do this in Swirl

A skills section is a search index, not a character reference.

**A normal chat:** A normal chat lists team player and hard working. Swirl names the tools and the tasks, in the advert's vocabulary.

Prompt: Here is the job advert and here is what I can actually do. Turn my skills into a list a recruiter can search, using their words for their job.

[Try this in Swirl](https://dev.swirlai.app/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=resume-skills-examples)

### How many skills should I list?

Eight to twelve. Below eight looks thin, above twelve looks like a keyword dump and the reader stops believing it.

### Should I include soft skills?

Only if you can attach evidence. Instead of communication, write training new starters or writing patient notes. Same claim, checkable.

### Do I need a separate skills section?

If your work history already names the tools and the tasks, no. Duplicating them wastes the space you need for a result.

## Related

- [Resume summary examples (and why yours sounds generic)](https://dev.swirlai.app/blog/resume-summary-examples)
- [Resume objective examples for people with no experience](https://dev.swirlai.app/blog/resume-objective-examples)
- [Should a resume be one page? The honest answer](https://dev.swirlai.app/blog/should-a-resume-be-one-page)