Best Skills to Put on Your CV in 2026 (With Examples)

Why Your Skills Section Matters

Your skills section serves two audiences. For Applicant Tracking Systems, it is a keyword-rich source of matchable terms that can determine whether your CV reaches a human. For recruiters, it is a quick-reference summary of your capabilities — scanned in seconds to assess whether you are worth a closer look. Getting this section right is one of the highest-impact changes you can make to your CV.

The mistake most people make is listing generic skills that appear on every CV: "communication," "teamwork," "problem-solving." These are so overused that they have lost all meaning. Recruiters want specifics. And ATS algorithms want terms that match the job description.

Hard Skills vs Soft Skills

Understanding the distinction is important because the two types of skills play different roles on your CV:

• Hard skills are technical, teachable abilities that can be measured or certified: programming languages, software platforms, data analysis, financial modelling, foreign languages, specific methodologies like Agile or Six Sigma. These are the skills ATS is most likely to filter on.
• Soft skills are interpersonal and behavioural qualities: leadership, communication, adaptability, time management. These are harder for ATS to assess but matter enormously to human readers. The key is to demonstrate them through achievements rather than simply listing them.

Top Hard Skills for 2026

Based on analysis of UK job postings from LinkedIn, Indeed, and Reed, these are the most in-demand hard skills across sectors:

Technology and Data

• Data analysis and visualisation: SQL, Python, R, Tableau, Power BI. Even non-technical roles increasingly expect some data literacy.
• Cloud platforms: AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform. Cloud skills are among the highest-paid and most sought-after in the UK tech market.
• AI and machine learning: Understanding of large language models, prompt engineering, and AI-driven automation. This is the fastest-growing skill demand in 2026.
• Cybersecurity: CISSP, CompTIA Security+, ISO 27001 knowledge. With the UK government's National Cyber Strategy driving investment, demand continues to rise.
• Software development: JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, React, Node.js, .NET. Full-stack developers remain in consistently high demand.

Business and Management

• Project management: PRINCE2, Agile, Scrum. PRINCE2 remains the most recognised project management certification in the UK, particularly in the public sector and financial services.
• Financial modelling and analysis: Excel (advanced), SAP, Oracle, Xero, QuickBooks.
• Digital marketing: SEO, PPC (Google Ads), social media strategy, marketing automation (HubSpot, Marketo), Google Analytics 4.
• CRM platforms: Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics. Sales and account management roles almost always require CRM proficiency.
• Regulatory compliance: GDPR, FCA regulations, health and safety legislation. Sector-specific compliance knowledge is increasingly valued.

Professional and Sector-Specific

• Healthcare: Clinical assessment, medication management, electronic patient records (EMIS, SystmOne), safeguarding.
• Education: Curriculum design, differentiated instruction, SEND provision, assessment frameworks.
• Engineering: CAD software (AutoCAD, SolidWorks), BIM (Revit), health and safety (NEBOSH, IOSH).
• Legal: Case management systems, legal research (Westlaw, LexisNexis), contract drafting.

Soft Skills That Actually Impress

Soft skills belong on your CV, but they need to be demonstrated, not just listed. Here is how to handle the most important ones:

• Leadership: Do not just write "leadership skills." Instead, say: "Led a cross-functional team of 12 across three departments to deliver a £2M transformation programme." Put this in your work experience, not your skills section.
• Communication: Show it with specifics: "Presented quarterly performance reports to the board, translating complex data into actionable strategic recommendations."
• Adaptability: Demonstrate it: "Pivoted the team's delivery model from waterfall to Agile within six weeks, maintaining project timelines throughout the transition."
• Problem-solving: Prove it: "Identified and resolved a recurring billing error that had caused £45K in annual revenue leakage."
• Stakeholder management: Quantify it: "Managed relationships with 30+ external stakeholders across NHS Trusts, local authorities, and third-sector organisations."

The pattern is clear: the best way to present soft skills is through concrete examples in your work experience bullets, not as standalone words in a list.

How to Choose Which Skills to Include

The golden rule is relevance. Your skills section should be tailored to each role you apply for. Here is a practical approach:

• Step 1: Read the job description and highlight every skill, tool, or qualification mentioned.
• Step 2: Cross-reference that list with your own capabilities. For every skill on the job description that you genuinely possess, include it on your CV.
• Step 3: Place the most relevant skills first. If the job description leads with "Salesforce experience," that should be near the top of your skills list.
• Step 4: Remove skills that are not relevant to this specific role. Having 30 skills listed looks unfocused. Eight to fifteen well-chosen skills is the sweet spot.

Skills Section Formatting

There is no single correct format, but these approaches work well:

Simple list:

• Python, SQL, Tableau, Power BI, Google Analytics 4, HubSpot, Salesforce, PRINCE2 Practitioner

Categorised list:

• Technical: Python, SQL, R, Tableau, Power BI
• Platforms: Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Analytics 4, AWS
• Certifications: PRINCE2 Practitioner, Google Ads Certified, AWS Solutions Architect Associate

The categorised approach is particularly effective for technical roles where you have a large number of relevant skills to present. It makes the section scannable for both ATS and human readers.

Skills to Avoid Listing

• "Microsoft Office" — Unless the role specifically requires advanced Excel skills, basic Office proficiency is assumed.
• "Typing" or "email" — These have not been noteworthy skills for two decades.
• "Hard-working" / "team player" / "passionate" — These are meaningless filler words. Show these qualities through your achievements.
• Outdated technologies — Unless the role requires them, listing skills in obsolete platforms signals that your knowledge may not be current.

Tailoring Your Skills Section Efficiently

If you are applying to multiple roles — and you should be — manually reordering and adjusting your skills section for each application becomes tedious. The AI CV Builder automates this: it reads the job description, identifies the most relevant skills to emphasise, and restructures your CV accordingly. The result is a skills section (and a full CV) that is aligned with what each specific employer is looking for, every time.

Related Reading

• How to Pass ATS: A Complete Guide
• How to Tailor Your CV to a Job Description
• Cloud Engineer CV Template
• Digital Marketing CV Template
• UX Designer CV Template