Listing your skills on a resume is no rocket science.

However, there are still many people who simply throw in every word that comes to their mind. Or people who include generalities like “hard-working” or “flexible” on their resume.

But let me tell you something. You shouldn’t.

Why? Because writing your skills section is a bit like cooking jam. When picking the fruit, you don’t pick every piece of it. You exclude the ugly ones and only pick the best quality. Only then the final result is impeccable.

Resumes are similar. You should only pick the skills that are relevant for the industry or the job you’re applying for.

Otherwise, your resume ends up being a mess. For example, if you’re applying for an IT position, skills like “video production” or “Microsoft Office” probably won’t help you score the job.

But of course, sometimes that’s easier said than done. It may be difficult to decide which skills are best for a given industry. Or which ones should you exclude.

That’s why we’ve prepared a list of top 100 skills that you should put on your resume in 2020. What’s more, we’ve sorted them by major industries.

The skills that matter

Generally speaking, different industries require different sets of skills.

While your slick negotiation skills may be worth their weight in gold in finance and sales, they may be slightly irrelevant for the design industry. That’s why, for instance, you shouldn’t keep sending the same resume for different job openings.

Above all, it’s important to realize which skills are going to help you land the job. One of the safest to go about it is to read the job description carefully and write down the specific hard and soft skills it asks for.

Nonetheless, you won’t go wrong with the big five: creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and emotional intelligence. According to LinkedIn, these are the top skills companies will need the most in 2020.

And if you want to find out what best industry-based skills you can put on your resume, simply check our infographic below.

Don’t forget to back up your claims

So you’ve done your homework — stuffed your resume with a bunch of juicy skills. But there’s still one important thing to do. Boost the credibility of your application.

Therefore, you need to let recruiters see how you’ve developed and perfected your skills. They may otherwise think you’ve just added them to get your resume past the ATS.

Go ahead and make it clear when and where you’ve gained your skills. Expand your Education and Work experience section and add bullet points with short descriptions wherever necessary.

Last but not least, remember that one real resume is worth a thousand blog posts. So if you’re still in the dark, be sure to check out our extensive library of resume samples.

They’ll give you a clear idea of how to craft a powerful career document that gets the most attention and helps you stay ahead of the game.