100+ Technical Skills Examples & Definition (2024)

Technical skills are specific hard skills that make an employee proficient at specific tasks, be it programming, design or using mechanical equipment. They’re highly sought after by employers and an essential part of your CV. Hiring managers want to see that you’re proficient in using the tools of your trade.

So let’s not waste any time and explore the best way to display examples of technical skills that will land you right in the job you want.

In this guide, you'll learn what are technical skills and how to list them. You'll understand how to approach your skills section (including technical skills) in the most effective way and view best technical skills examples to upgrade your CV. Let's get on to it.

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Also, check out more of our skills guides:

• 50+ Skills to Put on Your CV
• Computer Skills It's Good to Have
• Analytical Skills to Power Up Your CV
• Problem Solving Skills Employers Value
• Hard Skills Definition & Examples
• Soft Skills Definition & List of Examples
• Time Management Skills & Why You Need Them
• Communication Skills Everyone Should Have
• Customer Service Skills for Customer-Oriented Jobs
• Leadership Skills You Must Have As a Manager

Technical skills examples for a CV

Examples of technical skills

You can’t just put ‘Microsoft Office’ on your CV anymore. The modern workplace requires a broader range of technical skills if you want to succeed. According to government research, the UK is experiencing a technical skills gap, mainly in the digital sector, with 72% of large companies suffering technical skills gaps.

Close that gap, and you have an advantage. The below examples show what are the technical skills you need to possess to succeed:

1. Productivity software skills

Every organisation these days uses some sort of productivity software, customer and sales management and communication software. Here are the most beloved by the businesses of today:

• Access
• Asana
• Basecamp
• Calendly
• ClickUp
• CRM (Salesforce, etc.)
• Excel
• Enterprise systems (SAP, Oracle, etc.)
• Google Workspace
• Microsoft Teams
• OneNote / Evernote
• Salesforce
• Slack
• Todoist
• Toggl
• Trello
• Zapier
• Zoom

2. Programming skills

This industry is based pretty much wholly on hard, technical skills. This list of examples covers some of the most popular languages to include on your CV.

• AJAX
• ASP.NET
• C/C++
• C#
• CSS
• Go
• HTML
• Java
• JavaScript
• Objective-C
• Perl
• PHP
• Python
• R
• Ruby
• SQL
• Swift
• XML

SQL, Java and Python are the most desired programming skills according to a study of 5 years of job postings.

3. Other software development skills

It’s not just the coding, there are many other specialised technical skills that make you a complete package.

• Algorithms
• Applications
• Coding
• Configuration
• Debugging
• Design
• Documentation
• Implementation
• IOS/Android
• Modelling
• Security
• Testing

4. Project & general management skills

To advance in most fields you’ll need to take responsibility for managing projects or people. The below is a general list of project management skills, and you should research a more specific one by surveying job postings in your chosen field.

• Agile methodology
• Budget planning
• Delegation
• JIRA
• Monday.com
• Mentoring & training
• Powerpoint, Keynote
• Prioritisation
• Product lifecycle management
• Product roadmaps
• Programming skills
• Project planning
• QA testing
• Requirements gathering
• Risk management
• Scheduling
• SCRUM methodology
• Task management
• Trello

5. Content creation skills

Creating content is the bedrock of modern marketing strategies. There’s plenty of tools you need to be familiar with. Here’s a basic list of the most popular ones. Always prioritise those the job posting asks for.

• Blackmagic Resolve
• Corel Draw
• Free Hand
• Ghostwriting
• Illustrator
• Prototyping
• Responsive design
• Photoshop
• Sketch
• UX resign
• UX research
• Video creation
• Wireframing
• InDesign

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6. Social media skills

Don’t just list ‘Instagram’ as a social media technical skill. Make sure to provide exact examples of what you achieved, and how you achieved it. You could even use a skills-based CV to provide several examples of your successful campaigns using each social media platform or medium.

• A/B testing
• Automation
• Email marketing
• Facebook
• Google Analytics
• Hootsuite
• Instagram
• Linkedin
• Marketing analytics tools
• Twitter
• User modelling

7. Marketing outreach skills

Reaching your possible customers effectively is crucial, and your ability to do so should shine through your CV. Prioritise the tools that are relevant to the job and pay particular attention to those mentioned in the job advert.

• A/B Testing
• Automation
• Email marketing (Mailchimp, etc)
• WordPress
• Yoast
• PPC ads
• Salesforce Pardot
• SEO

8. Sales skills

Some of the best paying jobs demand an ability to sell. A big part of it is relying on soft interpersonal skills, but there are areas that are learnable, and extremely important in being a consistent salesperson. These examples are also fantastic transferable skills that will stand you in good stead across many industries.

• Answering technical questions
• Closing sales
• Crm software
• Customer need analysis
• General marketing skills
• Identifying new opportunities / prospecting
• Lead qualification
• Objection handling
• Presentation
• Product demo
• Product knowledge
• Providing technical advice
• Relationship building
• Social media
• Understanding of prospect roles and influence

9. Data analysis skills

Data Science is one of the most in-demand fields, and professionals are not only sought after, but also handsomely rewarded. These are some of the most valuable technical skills you could put on your CV.

Skills:

• Research
• Unstructured data analysis
• Critical thinking
• Problem solving
• Forecasting
• Creativity
• Reporting

Software:

• Apache Spark
• Datapine
• Erwin Data Modeller
• Excel
• Highcharts
• Python
• Qualtrics
• R-Studio
• Rapidminer
• SAS Forecasting
• SQL
• Talend

Here's a data scientist CV if you want to start writing a CV around those skills. Of course, it’s not all about IT skills. Each field will have specific hard skills that do not transfer across to every job. You can find those in every position-specific CV guide we publish in the dedicated ‘skills’ section.

How to show technical skills examples on your CV?

How to write a CV full of technical skills? Start plugging them in right at the top. Most CVs will relegate their skills to a short, inconsequential list of nouns somewhere on the side. The perfect CV has them embedded in every CV section.

1. Start with your CV profile

At the top of every CV sits a CV summary, also referred to as a CV profile. Some recruiters will only read this, so don’t wait around to talk about your technical skills, because it could be for nothing.

Technical skills examples in the CV summary

2. Write a thorough work experience section

Your work experience section should not be a boring list of the responsibilities you signed up for at the beginning of the job. Luckily for you, that’s what most people will do—list the responsibilities that you could find in the job posting. We have some CV tips to do better.

• Start each point with a CV action verb to avoid impersonal language.
• Plug in the technical skill you used, and explain how the outcome was beneficial for your company.
• Quantify your achievements with numbers where possible.
• Focus on the technical skill components each job posting asks for—that means tailoring every CV to each job. 
• 5-7 bullet points for your most recent job, 3 at the maximum for previous ones.

Technical skills examples in the work experience section

3. Make use of your education section

If you’re scarce on work experience, or are writing a fresh student CV, you may have less opportunities to plug in examples of technical skills. In that case, you ought to describe your most relevant courses, any extracurricular activities, and software or methods you became proficient at during your study.

This way, your CV education section can efficiently compensate for lack of demonstrable experience. 

Technical skills for a CV in the education section

4. How to approach your skills section

There is a trend now to limit your CV skills section to a small section on the side, sometimes even with bars or stars to indicate proficiency at them, like you’re a footballer in a FIFA game. That’s a wasted opportunity. We can do better than that:

• 2-3 important skills with a brief elaboration are more impactful than a list of 10 skills with made-up, self-rated skill level bars. For this reason, explain your approach to each skill and the impact it makes.
• Either add important supplementary skills that you had no opportunity to discuss, or reiterate the most important ones. The example below does the latter.
• To figure out what’s important, scan each job posting and tailor accordingly.
• Don’t just restrict yourself to technical skills. Make sure you include soft skills, too (especially the key skills that are highly sought after by employers). They’re equally important.

Technical skills examples for the skills section

5. Include additional sections

The CV hobbies and interests section, or ‘Additional Info’ as it appears on many CVs, is not about you. It’s still about you being useful to the employer. If you’re listing something, make sure it’s relevant. Doing it right will make you stand out from the pile of CVs.

List languages, certificates, and awards clearly under separate headings. Those are still types of technical skills.

Technical skills examples in the extra sections

What else to remember regarding technical skills?

Fortunately, technical skills are much easier to improve and perfect than soft, unquantifiable skills. Enrolling in courses, guides, or simply practicing will quickly improve your proficiency. 

The National Careers Service has a Skills Toolkit that will help you improve most of the skills we discussed above. That could be a great, free-of-charge place to start to improve your technical skills. 

You don’t have to be a CV writing expert. In the LiveCareer CV builder you’ll find ready-made content for every industry and position, which you can then add with a single click.

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It goes without saying: write a cover letter. It gives you more room to explain how you apply your skills. Good luck. Not that you need it now.

If you need more help demonstrating examples of technical skills in your CV, or you just want more specific technical skills examples, let us know in the comments section. We’re more than happy to help.

How we review the content at LiveCareer

Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.