Resume skills generator, by Resume Worded ★Rated 4.9 on Trustpilot · 5M+ job seekers

Generate your resume skills section. Matched to the job you want.

A strong skills section is 8 to 12 specific hard skills, grouped by theme, written in the posting's own words. Recruiters scan it in seconds and screening software searches it for exact terms. Type your target job title below and get that section built for you; paste the job description and the wording is matched to it too.

Free, built from a database of 250,000+ skills and phrases recruiters search for.
Resume skills generator
Build your section

Takes about 10 seconds. Your first sections are free.

8 to 12 specific skills, grouped, nothing vague. The format a recruiter can scan in under ten seconds, and the one screening software parses cleanly.

The standard

What a good skills section looks like

A good resume skills section lists 8 to 12 specific hard skills, grouped by theme, matched to the job description, and placed where a recruiter finds it in seconds. Tools, methods, and certifications belong here. Personality claims do not; those are proven in your experience bullets, not listed.

Anatomy of a well built resume skills section, with three annotations appearing one by one SKILLS Technical: SQL, Python (pandas), Tableau, BigQuery Analytics: A/B testing, cohort analysis, forecasting Platforms: GA4, Looker, dbt, Airflow EXPERIENCE Grouped by theme, not one long line 8 to 12 skills, every one specific Soft skills live below, proven inside bullets
The format recruiters can scan in under ten seconds: grouped, specific, and capped.

The cap matters as much as the content. Fewer than eight skills looks thin; past a dozen the list reads as padding, and padding weakens the skills that matter. Every slot you spend on filler is a slot a real skill loses.

The placement rule

Hard skills go in the section. Soft skills go in your bullets.

The skills section is a scannable index of what you can operate: languages, software, methods, certifications. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read it as a keyword list, so every entry should be a term someone might actually search.

Soft skills work differently. Writing "leadership" in a skills list carries no information, because anyone can type it. The same claim becomes real inside an experience bullet with a number attached: "led a team of 6 through a system migration completed 3 weeks early." Put the claim where the proof is.

Where hard skills and soft skills each belong on a resume SKILLS SECTION Python · SQL · Tableau Salesforce · HubSpot PMP · Six Sigma Green Belt Named tools, methods, certifications. Searchable terms, nothing vague. EXPERIENCE BULLETS "Led 6 engineers through a migration, delivered 3 weeks early" "Negotiated 12 vendor contracts, cut costs 18%" Leadership and negotiation, shown with numbers instead of listed.
The placement rule in one picture: list what you operate, prove how you work.
The matching rule

Match the posting, not a generic list

Most rejected resumes fail on relevance, not quality. Every applicant tracking system works a little differently, but they share one behavior: they look for the posting's own terms. If the job description says "search engine optimization" and your resume only says "organic growth," you have the skill and still miss the match. Use the exact wording, and spell out abbreviations once: "search engine optimization (SEO)" covers both forms.

Treat required qualifications as non negotiable and preferred qualifications as tiebreakers. That is exactly how our Targeted Resume tool scores a match: paste the posting, upload your resume, and the Relevancy Score weights required skills above preferred ones. A score above 80 means you are well matched for that specific job.

Job description terms matching skills on a resume, checks landing one by one JOB DESCRIPTION SQL required Tableau required Python preferred YOUR SKILLS SECTION SQL Tableau Python (pandas) Photoshop no match
Required terms first, preferred terms second, and anything the posting never asks for is a candidate to cut.
Interactive, try it here

How a recruiter reads a weak skills line

These are the five most common slot wasters we see, in one line. Hover or tap each skill to read the note a reviewer would put in the margin.

Skills: Microsoft WordAssumed by default. Listing it costs a slot and quietly signals a thin toolkit., hard-workingA claim, not a skill. Recruiters skip it. Prove it in a bullet with a number instead., team playerSame problem. Show collaboration in your experience section, where it can carry evidence., social mediaToo vague to match any search. Name the platforms and tools you actually run., typingFiller. If the job description does not ask for it, it is not earning its place.

Proof of quality

Example skills sections, by job title

Three outputs from this generator, unedited, shown the way they land on the resume, so you can judge the quality before you use it.

Input: Data Analyst · 4-9 years · no job description pasted

TechnicalSQL, Python (pandas, NumPy), Tableau, Power BI, Google BigQuery, Excel (pivot tables, advanced formulas)
AnalyticsA/B testing, cohort analysis, KPI dashboard design, statistical significance testing
Data engineeringETL pipelines, dbt, data quality auditing

Input: Registered Nurse · 1-3 years · no job description pasted

Clinicalpatient assessment, medication administration, IV insertion and management, wound care, telemetry monitoring
SystemsEpic EHR charting, barcode medication scanning
CertificationsBLS, ACLS
Patient carepatient and family education, discharge planning, triage

Input: Marketing Manager · 10+ years · job description pasted (B2B SaaS role)

Demand generationSEO, paid search (Google Ads), paid social (Meta, LinkedIn), account-based marketing
Marketing operationsHubSpot, Salesforce, email automation, lead scoring
AnalyticsGA4, attribution modeling, campaign budget forecasting
Leadershipcampaign planning, agency management, positioning and messaging
The honest rule

Only list what you can defend

One rule keeps a skills section safe: every skill you list is an invitation to be questioned about it. If an interviewer says "walk me through how you have used Airflow" and the true answer is a weekend tutorial, the skill cost you credibility everywhere else on the page. The generator gives you the strongest plausible list for your title and level. Your job is to delete the lines you cannot back with a story. A shorter list you can defend beats a longer one you cannot.

A reviewer's pen striking a skill the candidate cannot defend, with a margin note Platforms: GA4, Looker, dbt, Airflow one tutorial is not a skill, keep the three you can talk about for five minutes the pen test: could you defend it in an interview?
The delete pass is part of the method: generate the strongest plausible list, then remove what is not yours.

Frequently asked questions

How many skills should you put on a resume?

8 to 12 in the skills section. Fewer looks thin, and past a dozen the list reads as padding, which weakens the skills that matter. You can reference more skills inside your experience bullets, where each one arrives with context and proof.

What skills should I put on my resume?

The skills the job description names, provided you can defend them in an interview. Prioritize hard skills: software, languages, methods, certifications. Match the posting's exact wording, because both recruiters and applicant tracking systems search for the terms the posting uses.

What is the difference between hard skills and soft skills on a resume?

Hard skills are learnable, testable abilities: SQL, wound care, contract negotiation, a forklift certification. Soft skills are working traits: communication, leadership, adaptability. Hard skills belong in the skills section. Soft skills belong in experience bullets, demonstrated with outcomes rather than listed as words.

Should my skills match the job description?

Yes, and in the posting's own words. Treat required qualifications as non negotiable and preferred ones as tiebreakers. Our Targeted Resume tool measures exactly this: it compares your resume against a specific posting and weights required skills above preferred ones, with a Relevancy Score above 80 meaning well matched.

Do applicant tracking systems read the skills section?

Yes. The skills section is one of the first places screening software looks for keyword matches, which is why exact terms matter. Spell out an abbreviation once, for example "search engine optimization (SEO)," so your resume matches whichever form the system searches for.

Is this resume skills generator free?

Yes. Type your job title and generate a grouped section free, ready to paste into your resume. It draws on a database of 250,000+ skills and phrases from real job descriptions, the same data behind the resume analysis tools used by over 5 million job seekers.

See which of these skills your resume already proves

A skills list is a start. Upload your resume and Score My Resume shows you, in about 30 seconds, which skills your bullets demonstrate and what a recruiter would flag in the rest of it.

Score my resume »

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