9+ Technical Skills for Your CV: Where and How to Add Them

Technical skills are always in high demand, as they demonstrate to potential employers that you’re a professional in your field. In other words, they are industry-specific abilities that you master either during your studies or through your work experiences.

In this article, we will introduce you to the most important technical skills for your CV, demonstrate how to showcase them, and give you some tips to help you develop them.

What Are Technical Skills, and Why Are They Important for Your CV?

Technical skills are abilities that demonstrate you are qualified to do a specific job. For instance, you can’t be an IT expert if you don’t know programming languages or a designer if you don’t understand colour theory.

This is where technical skills differ from soft skills, which are essentially traits and attributes that can be useful in various industries but aren’t specifically taught in any. Soft skills, for example, include communication, problem-solving, negotiation, and similar abilities.

Though both are important, technical skills are fundamental for your application and should always be included. Otherwise, your CV is unlikely to draw much attention, especially when applying for roles that can only be performed with them.

Plus, you may benefit from them even in roles that don’t place as much emphasis on technical knowledge. These skills may boost your chances of getting hired due to your versatility and increase your earning potential.

Which Jobs Require Technical Skills?

Many jobs require technical skills, starting from IT, finance, data science, and engineering, to HR, marketing, project management, and healthcare. These skills are essentially hard skills, and every industry has a few that its experts must master to thrive.

10 Technical Skills You Can Add to Your CV

Technical skills you can add to your CV include those that are used in programming, data science, marketing, cybersecurity, finance, design, healthcare, engineering, HR, software engineering, and other fields.

Below, we will examine the best technical skills for jobs in the UK in more detail.

#1. Programming

Programming skills are among the most in-demand skills nowadays, as the IT sector is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries in the UK.

Here are some useful programming skills to include on your CV:

And if you’re wondering how to incorporate them naturally into your CV, here’s an example to help you:

#2. Data Science

Data scientists use software, AI, and machine learning to gather, organise, analyse, and interpret data. Then, they use these interpretations to predict trends, forecast outcomes, and help companies and organisations make better decisions.

Let’s take a look at some examples of technical skills in the data science field:

Once you choose which technical skills to include, here’s how to do it effectively:

#3. Marketing

Marketing experts, especially those working in the digital marketing field, need the following technical skills:

Here’s how you can add these skills to your CV:

#4. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is an incredibly important field nowadays, as most information is digitalised and stored on devices and in the cloud. Such information can be vulnerable to hackers, unless it is properly protected by cybersecurity experts.

So, these are the skills a cybersecurity CV should contain:

Adding these skills to your CV might look like this:

#5. Finance

Finance experts should consider adding the following skills to their CVs:

Here is how you can effectively add these technical skills to your CV:

#6. Design

Design skills encompass several broad categories, depending on the specific type of design in question. So, for example, there are graphic design, UX design, game design, and more.

If you’re a graphic designer, here’s a list of technical skills you can add to your application:

On the other hand, UX designers need the following skills:

Next, game designers should include skills such as:

Now, here’s an example of how to include technical skills on a game designer CV; you can follow a similar pattern if you’re a different kind of designer, too.

#7. Healthcare

Technical healthcare skills encompass a range of abilities that enable medical professionals to examine, diagnose, and treat patients effectively. Here’s a list of the most important ones:

To effectively include these skills on your CV, consider writing something like this:

#8. Engineering

Engineering encompasses numerous branches, each requiring distinct technical skills. For instance, a civil engineer won’t have the same knowledge and capabilities as an electrical engineer, and vice versa.

Here are some key skills that can be found on a civil engineer’s CV:

Yet, if you’re an electrical engineer, you’re likely to include the following skills:

And mechanical engineers might include these technical skills:

In this case, too, we will show you how to include these skills on a CV for just one type of engineer. The others can use the same method and simply change the skills.

#9. HR

Human resources experts should consider incorporating the following skills into their applications:

Aside from simply listing these skills, you should also put them in context, like in the following example:

#10. Software Engineering

Software engineers design, develop, test, and maintain software applications to meet user needs. As a result, they often work with teams of software developers, who operate on a smaller scale and focus on specific tasks.

Here are some digital skills for a CV that every software engineer should include:

And this is how you can talk about these skills on your application:

How to Add Technical Skills to Your CV

You can add technical skills to your CV by listing them in the skills section, including them in the summary, or incorporating them in the work experience section. Moreover, you can elaborate on them in your cover letter, since there’s limited space to do so in the CV.

Let’s see how you can list technical skills on your CV in more detail:

Technical Skills in Your Summary/Objective

CV summary is the section placed at the top of your application that provides a brief snapshot of who you are as a professional. Essentially, it’s supposed to show the recruiters what they can expect from the rest of your application before they read it.

Typically, a CV summary should contain your title, years of experience, most significant achievements, and relevant skills. As such, it’s a perfect place to showcase your technical skills and provide some context behind them.

Here’s how you might do that:

Technical Skills in the Work Experience Section

The work experience section is usually the most important part of your CV, so it’s wise to include some of your technical skills here. You can do this in bullet points under each entry, where you briefly discuss your achievements and responsibilities in your past positions.

To illustrate, here’s an example:

Technical Skills in the Skills Section

Technical skills, like all other kinds, should be listed in the skills section, which gives recruiters a quick overview of your capabilities. However, keep in mind that you shouldn’t elaborate on them here; this section should only contain a list.

For example, it should look like this:

Technical Skills in Your Cover Letter

Finally, your cover letter is a good opportunity to discuss your technical skills further and give them more context than you can in a CV. However, don’t go overboard; the letter shouldn’t be longer than 4–5 paragraphs, and you should primarily focus on your achievements and past experiences.

How to Improve Your Technical Skills

To improve your technical skills, you should research the most common practices in your specific field. After all, they differ from one industry to another, so there’s no one-size-fits-all method.

Still, here’s some advice we can give you:

Create a Professional CV Within Minutes

If you need help incorporating technical skills into your application, use our CV builder for assistance. Simply enter the required information, follow the instructions, choose a template, and submit your brand-new CV within 15 minutes.

This process can be made even simpler with our CV templates, which are designed and optimised for specific industries. Just pick one and enter your information; that’s all it takes.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, our article will help you effectively add technical skills to your CV; after all, these are proof of your expertise in a particular field. As a result, you should also focus on developing them and constantly working to improve them.

And if you have trouble adding your skills to your CV, you can consult our CV examples. We have a range of options for numerous industries, all of which can serve as inspiration for your application.

Technical Skills FAQ

#1. Should I include basic technical skills like Microsoft Office on my CV?

You should include basic technical skills in Microsoft Office on your CV, especially if you don’t have many others to add. Microsoft Office is considered a transferable technical skill, which makes it even more relevant; it’s useful across many industries, be it marketing, IT, or healthcare.

#2. How do I showcase my technical skills on my CV if I have little work experience?

If you have little work experience, you can showcase your technical skills on your CV in other sections; for instance, projects, courses, and skills. Essentially, focus on the experience that you do have, even if it isn’t specifically tied to your professional background.

#3. What are some technical skills in management?

Technical skills in management include the mastery of project management tools (Jira, Asana, ClickUp), CRM software, communication platforms, and financial management programmes. Additionally, data analysis, performance tracking, and process improvement methodologies are often featured on managers’ CVs.