Weave relevant skills into your summary and experience to complement your narrative. Include a “Skills” section after your summary that focuses on hard, industry-specific skills. Soft skills can follow, but hard skills are prioritized by ATS and hiring managers in keyword searches. For technical roles, consider a separate section for lab skills or software programs to avoid overcrowding.

Integrate skills throughout your resume by embedding hard skills into job descriptions and showcasing soft skills through achievements. A separate skills section isn’t always necessary but can help highlight key qualifications, especially for technical roles. Prioritize job-relevant, measurable abilities to strengthen your impact and ensure keywords align with the job posting for ATS optimization.

A skills list is an effective way to communicate a lot of information quickly to human readers. Research tells us you receive only a few seconds of attention in the initial review, so your list of hard and soft skills belongs in the opening summary. This strategy accommodates not only humans, but online ATS systems, which weigh the content in the early part of your document in your score/rank.