The Best Skills to Put on Your CV in 2026 (with Examples)
Your skills section is prime real estate for keywords and a quick signal of fit. But a random list of buzzwords hurts more than it helps. Here's how to choose the right skills and present them well.
Hard skills vs soft skills
The first step to a strong skills section is understanding the two kinds of skills and where each belongs. Hard skills are teachable and measurable abilities — programming languages, accounting software, data analysis, machine operation, the languages you speak. Soft skills describe how you work: communication, leadership, problem-solving, adaptability. A strong CV shows both, but it presents them differently. Hard skills belong in a tight, scannable skills list near the top, because they're concrete, easy to verify, and exactly what an ATS matches against the job description. Soft skills, on the other hand, mean nothing as a bare list — anyone can write "great communicator" — so prove them through your experience bullets instead, where a real achievement demonstrates the quality in action. Get this division right and your skills section becomes keyword-rich and credible rather than a wall of buzzwords, which is the foundation for everything else this guide covers.
Match skills to the job description
The right skills are the ones the posting asks for and you genuinely have. Read the description, list its repeated requirements, and include the matching skills using the same wording — the ATS scores on exact terms.
Prove soft skills, don't just claim them
"Strong leadership" means nothing alone. "Led a team of 6 to deliver a project two weeks early" proves it. Keep your skills list focused on hard skills and let your experience bullets demonstrate the soft ones.
Avoid the common mistakes
Don't list skills you can't back up, don't pad with generic words like "hard-working," and don't rate yourself with progress bars (they don't parse in an ATS). Keep it honest, relevant, and scannable.
Let your ATS score guide you
Not sure if your skills match the role? Paste the job description into write.cv's ATS scorer — it shows which keywords you're missing so you can add the ones that genuinely apply.