The Best List of Skills for Resumes + How To Use Them
Our ultimate list of skills for resume success covers hard, soft, transferable, and remote work skills the top employers are looking for.
Hard skills, soft skills, technical skills, and who-knows-what-else skills — the list of skills for resumes can be equally confusing and overwhelming. So where do you start? And how do you know what to show off?
Consider this guide your crash course in must-have skills for remote work resumes!
We’ll show you how to find the right skills to command attention, stand out, and leave a memorable impression on remote hiring teams. More importantly? You’ll learn how to craft a resume that screams, “Interview me; I’m the perfect fit!”
Skills are the backbone of a solid resume. So let’s use them to overcome your blank-page syndrome and score the role you were meant for.
The Must-Have List of Skills for Resumes That Wow ✨
When it comes to the best skills to put on a resume, remote companies are looking for four specific types:
1. Hard Skills: Your Technical Specs 🥇
Hard skills are the technical, teachable abilities you gain through education, training, experience, and certifications. They’re specific, measurable, and prove proficiency. So it’s common for remote employers to give candidates hard skill assessments during the hiring process.
Remote job ads will always include hard skill requirements, so make sure you possess the ones mentioned before sending out your resume. The most in-demand hard skills for remote jobs include:
- Programming Languages
- Web Development
- Artificial Intelligence
- Cloud Computing
- Bilingual or Multilingual Fluency
- Data Analysis
- Cybersecurity
- SEO/SEM
- Digital Marketing/Campaign Management
- Content Management Systems (CMS)
- Customer Support
- Project Management
- Product Management
- Financial Analysis
- UX/UI Design
- Testing/Debugging
- Database Management
Don’t forget about micro-credentials! The world of micro-credentials (like online courses or certifications) is booming. Highlighting relevant micro-credentials shows your initiative and desire to stay up-to-date in your field.
No work experience? What about open-source expertise? Contributing to open-source projects demonstrates technical skills and a passion for collaboration and continuous learning — very desirable traits in the remote work environment.
2. Soft Skills: Your Personality & Work Traits 😊
Soft skills influence how you work, your interactions with coworkers and leaders, and your work ethic. They’re not as easily learned in a classroom or quantifiable on a test as hard skills, but they’re crucial for success in any job — especially remote work. Soft skills also show employers how you’ll fit into their remote team culture.
In the future of work, more AI-powered technologies will take hard skills off our hands and into the realm of automation. So humans must step in with the soft skills for remote jobs that robots haven’t quite mastered yet, such as:
- Emotional Intelligence
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Organization
- Creativity
- Responsibility and Accountability
- Leadership
- Open-Mindedness
- Conflict Management/Conflict Resolution
- Integrity
- Dependability and Reliability
- Productivity
- Willingness To Learn
- Diligence and Attention To Detail
A resume heavy on soft skills doesn’t mean you lack the hard skills required for the role; it shows you’re a dream employee to work with and eager to grow with the organization. Companies are willing to invest in upskilling and reskilling opportunities for candidates/employees with these harder-to-teach abilities.
3. Transferable Skills: Universally Prized Across Industries 💎
Transferable skills are a mix of hard and soft skills you can apply across different remote career paths. Often learned through education, training, or past work experience, they’re incredibly valuable when making a career change or applying for a more advanced role.
For example, problem-solving is paramount in customer service, software development, and marketing. So if you’ve used it in one job, you can easily leverage it for success in another.
The most sought-after transferable skills for resumes include:
- Problem-Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Customer Service
- Communication
- Time Management
- Organization
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Decision-Making
Transferable skills show you can learn new things, adapt to new situations, and thrive in various environments. The key is to highlight the specific ways you’ve used a transferable skill to achieve a desired result in a work setting.
4. Remote Work Skills: Prove You Can WFH 🙌
Remote work skills show employers you can thrive in a remote setting with minimal supervision. The top skills for remote resumes include:
- Time Management. Juggling tasks, meeting deadlines, and staying focused from your home office requires serious time management skills. Your ability to prioritize a healthy work-life balance and avoid WFH burnout is one of the most essential skills for remote jobs.
- Asynchronous Communication. Remote teams rely on emails, video calls, and instant messaging to stay connected, so being an async pro is a must. We’re talking clear and concise written and verbal communication, active listening, eager participation during online meetings, and the ability to articulate your ideas effectively.
- Remote Tech Skills. Knowing your way around project management tools, video conferencing platforms, communication apps, and cloud storage solutions is essential to navigate the remote work world. Remote teams rely heavily on these tools to stay connected and collaborate, so experience here is a major plus.
- Collaboration. Working remotely is not a solo mission. Hiring teams are looking for candidates who effectively collaborate with colleagues across different time zones and cultures, brainstorm and share ideas virtually, and provide and receive constructive feedback. Keywords here include: respectful, supportive, and inclusive.
- Self-discipline and self-motivation. The ability to stay focused and driven without constant supervision, setting goals, holding yourself accountable, and maintaining productivity are must-have skills for remote jobs. Show employers you can take initiative, make good decisions, and see projects through.
So there you have it! These four categories are your treasure chest of skills to add to your resume. But the best resumes don’t just slap these skills on the page and call it a day.
Let’s talk about how to pick the ones that shine brightest for each job you apply for.
How To Make Your List of Resume Skills Jump Off the Page 💥
Even the most well-crafted skills list won’t get you far in the hiring process. How you sell your skills and convey your value makes all the difference. Here’s how to capture a reader’s attention with your list of skills for a remote resume:
Read the Job Ad Carefully; Don’t Use a One-Size-Fits-All List 🔎
How do you know which skills employers are looking for in remote workers? Learn how to decode the secret language of remote job ads!
This is your treasure map for how to tailor your resume to a job description and match the skills they’re looking for.
Follow these steps to fast-track this task:
- Copy and paste the job ad into a blank document
- Highlight all the skills mentioned that you have
- Copy these skill keywords into a new doc and add them to your resume
This foolproof method ensures your resume beats the applicant tracking systems (ATS) parsing for the right keywords. It also shows hiring teams you have the exact skills they’re seeking.
Back Up Each Skill with a Win 🏆
When brainstorming how to write a skills section for your resume, don’t just list your responsibilities and duties. *Yawn*
Showcase how you’ve used your skills to achieve incredible results in your current and prior roles. Reflect on your education and work experiences to quantify your impact and accomplishments. Use numbers and data to make it clear that you’re a valuable asset any team would be lucky to have.
Don’t worry; you’ll find some inspirational examples of this in the next section.
Harness the Power of Resume Power Words 💪
Power words are strong action verbs that make your resume sizzle. They show off your skills in a dynamic way that grabs a reader’s attention and holds their interest. Power words also add an extra layer of impact and confidence to your resume.
Weak verbs like “was responsible for,” “managed,” and “performed” have no place here. Replace them with the best action verbs for resumes, such as:
Achieved
Accelerated
Aligned
Awarded
Boosted
Coached
Coordinated
Conceptualized
Created
Cultivated
Delegated
Delivered
Designed
Developed
Diagnosed
Directed
Elevated
Engineered
Enhanced
Envisioned
Established
Exceeded
Executed
Expanded
Gained
Generated
Implemented
Improved
Influenced
Initiated
Innovated
Introduced
Invented
Launched
Maximized
Mentored
Modernized
Motivated
Optimized
Outperformed
Overhauled
Pioneered
Programmed
Revitalized
Revolutionized
Shaped
Slashed
Solved
Spearheaded
Stabilized
Streamlined
Strengthened
Surpassed
Systematized
Trained
Transformed
Upgraded
Validated
Let’s put all these tips into action!
How To List Skills On a Remote Job Resume: 10 Examples
Reserve the skills list for those you can’t directly quantify with an achievement or specific example. Use your experience section to impress!
Quantifying examples of your work prowess allows you to use the skill keyword in a sentence while giving employers something to remember you by.
Here are a few examples to inspire your next resume-writing session:
- Overhauled data analysis and reporting processes, streamlining efficiency by 20%.
- Skyrocketed website traffic by 45% through strategic social media marketing initiatives.
- Elevated customer satisfaction scores by 15% through improved training, empathetic communication strategies, creative problem-solving, and adaptable critical thinking.
- Delivered a complex project on time and under budget, saving the company $10,000 in resources.
- Automated 80% of repetitive testing tasks, saving the team 100 hours of manual testing per month.
- Developed and implemented security awareness training that increased employee knowledge of phishing scams by 90%.
- Slashed product development time by 10% by engineering agile sprints and communication workflows.
- Launched a new product feature that exceeded user adoption goals by 150%.
- Identified a previously unknown customer segment through data analysis, leading to a 7% increase in targeted marketing campaign ROI.
- Boosted customer retention rate by 25% by developing and optimizing a post-purchase loyalty program.