My account

You control your data

We use cookies to tailor the experience of creating resumes and cover letters. For these reasons, we may share your usage data with third parties. You can find more information about how we use cookies on our Cookies Policy. If you would like to set your cookies preferences, click the Settings button below. To accept all cookies, click Accept.

Settings Accept

Cookie settings

Click on the types of cookies below to learn more about them and customize your experience on our Site. You may freely give, refuse or withdraw your consent. Keep in mind that disabling cookies may affect your experience on the Site. For more information, please visit our Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

Choose type of cookies to accept

Analytics

These cookies allow us to analyze our performance to offer you a better experience of creating resumes and cover letters. Analytics related cookies used on our Site are not used by Us for the purpose of identifying who you are or to send you targeted advertising. For example, we may use cookies/tracking technologies for analytics related purposes to determine the number of visitors to our Site, identify how visitors move around the Site and, in particular, which pages they visit. This allows us to improve our Site and our services.

Performance and Personalisation

These cookies give you access to a customized experience of our products. Personalization cookies are also used to deliver content, including ads, relevant to your interests on our Site and third-party sites based on how you interact with our advertisements or content as well as track the content you access (including video viewing). We may also collect password information from you when you log in, as well as computer and/or connection information. During some visits, we may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, time spent on certain pages and page interaction information.

Advertising

These cookies are placed by third-party companies to deliver targeted content based on relevant topics that are of interest to you. And allow you to better interact with social media platforms such as Facebook.

Necessary

These cookies are essential for the Site’s performance and for you to be able to use its features. For example, essential cookies include: cookies dropped to provide the service, maintain your account, provide builder access, payment pages, create IDs for your documents and store your consents.

To see a detailed list of cookies, click here.

Save preferences

Computer Skills for a Resume in 2024 [+ Top Software Skills]

Everybody knows that putting computer skills on a resume is a must these days. But very few know how to put them to good use on their resumes. Do you?

Maciej Duszyński, CPRW
Career Expert
Computer Skills for a Resume in 2024 [+ Top Software Skills]

Let’s face it—

In this day and age, computer skills are expected of you regardless of the position you’re seeking. So the question isn’t whether or not you should put computer skills on your resume, but rather which ones to pick, and how to make the most of them on your resume.

Well, this is exactly what you’re about to learn.

In this guide:

  • Comprehensive computer skills list for any job seeker.
  • Which computer skills are best for your resume and how to make the most of them.
  • How you can improve your computer skills.

Save hours of work and get a job-winning resume like this. Try our resume builder with 20+ resume templates and create your resume now.

Create your resume now

CREATE YOUR RESUME NOWcomputer skills on a resume example

What users say about ResumeLab:

I had an interview yesterday and the first thing they said on the phone was: “Wow! I love your resume.”
Patrick

I love the variety of templates. Good job guys, keep up the good work!
Dylan 

My previous resume was really weak and I used to spend hours adjusting it in Word. Now, I can introduce any changes within minutes. Absolutely wonderful!
George

Create your resume now

If you’re looking for advice on how to describe computer skills for a particular profession, we have a selection of resume writing guides for various IT specialties:

More skills related guides:

1. What are Computer Skills

Computer skills are the knowledge and abilities that allow you to use computers efficiently. Basic computer skills include: word processing software, managing files, or creating presentations. Advanced computer skills include: accessing databases, advanced spreadsheet knowledge, and coding.

Computer skills comprise the vast majority of technical skills that companies desire from their employees.

For example, a recent survey conducted by LinkedIn reveals that such skills as cloud and distributed computing, statistical analysis and data mining, data presentation, or marketing campaign management are among the top sought-after computer skills. Let's see in detail what the most important computer skills are.

2. Computer Skills List for a Resume

The lists below present some of the most popular and useful computer skills to put on a resume. It includes basic and advanced skills.

The basic computer skills lists include the abilities and software packages most job seekers should be at least casually familiar with. The advanced computer skills lists focus on more specialized skill sets and software solutions.

You can use these lists to familiarize yourself with what computer skills there are or think of them as a master list to help you identify the skills you want to include in your resume. 

Expert Hint: Don’t just copy-paste lists of skills into your resume. Learn how to identify the best skills for your resume.

Here are some software skills to list on your resume:

1. MS Office

MS Office skills are arguably the most common computer skills. Almost every position requires you to have at least a basic ability to use one or more of the following applications:

  • Access
  • Excel
  • OneNote
  • Outlook
  • Powerpoint
  • Word

2. G-Suite

In the modern workplace, Google’s office suite has almost entirely taken the place of the MS Office. That’s why the familiarity with such tools as these listed below is often taken for granted. 

  • Calendar
  • Docs
  • Forms
  • Gmail
  • Google Drive
  • Hangouts
  • Sheets
  • Sites
  • Slides

3. Email

Yes. Knowing how to write and send emails counts is a computer skill. In fact, there’s much more to email than meets the eye, especially in the context of email marketing and email automation tools.

  • ActiveCampaign
  • Benchmark
  • Constant Contact
  • Filters
  • Folders
  • GetResponse
  • Gmail
  • Hubspot
  • Mailbird
  • Mail merge
  • Ontraport
  • Outlook
  • Rules
  • SendinBlue
  • SendX
  • Thunderbird

4. Web and coding

If your job has anything to do with the web, a basic grasp of the computer skills listed below will definitely come in handy.

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Javascript
  • WordPress
  • Joomla
  • Content Management Systems (CMS)
  • Code libraries

5. Social Media

Social media has become part and parcel of our day-to-day life. Most companies have social media profiles, and people who know how to manage them effectively are always in demand.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Expert Hint: It’s not enough to list the names of social media you’re familiar with. Tell the employer what it is exactly you can do: manage ad campaigns, develop audiences, drive user engagement, etc.

6. Writing

Ever since we stopped using typewriters, writing has become a computer skill. As a skill, writing encompasses a variety of abilities and knowledge of different tools, including:

  • Data-driven storytelling
  • Journalism
  • Research
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Technical writing
  • Touch typing (eg. CPM or WPM rate)
  • WordPress
  • Yoast

7. Spreadsheets

There’s no escaping spreadsheets in today’s professional reality. Whether you like it or not, the familiarity with certain simple spreadsheet functionalities should have its place on the list of basic computer skills.

  • Excel
  • Google Sheets
  • OpenOffice Calc
  • Numbers

Expert Hint: Be specific about what you can do. Listing such skills as advanced formulas, conditional formatting, advanced charting, pivot tables, or VBA and macros can really give you an edge.

8. Computer Hardware Skills

  • System Administration
  • Network Configuration
  • Software Installation
  • Security
  • Cisco
  • Tech Support
  • Updates
  • Project Management
  • Research
  • Vendor Management
  • TCP/IP
  • DNS
  • DHCP
  • WAN/LAN
  • Windows
  • Linux/Unix
  • Ubuntu
  • Virtualized Networks
  • Network Automation
  • Cloud Management
  • AI/Machine Learning

9. Computer Software Skills

  • C#
  • C++
  • iOS/Swift
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • MySQL
  • PHP
  • Python
  • Ruby on Rails
  • SQL

10. Database Management

  • Aiven PostgreSQL
  • Amazon SimpleDB
  • ClusterControl
  • Help Desk Migration
  • IBM DB2
  • ImportOmatic
  • MariaDB
  • MS Access
  • MySQL
  • Navicat Premium
  • Oracle Database
  • PostgreSQL
  • Quick Base
  • Redis Enterprise
  • SAP HANA
  • SQL
  • SQLite
  • Teradata

11. Data Visualization

  • ChartBlocks
  • D3.js
  • Datawrapper
  • FusionCharts
  • Highcharts
  • Infogram
  • Plotly
  • Qlikview
  • RAW
  • Sisense
  • Tableau
  • Visual.ly

12. Graphics

  • ACDSEE Photo Editor
  • Adobe Indesign
  • Affinity Designer
  • Cinema 4D
  • CorelDraw
  • Corel PaintShop
  • Corel PhotoImpact
  • Cyberlink
  • GIMP
  • Google Sketch-up
  • Illustrator
  • Inkscape
  • Paint.net
  • Photoshop
  • Serif Drawplus
  • Sumopaint
  • Vector
  • Xara Xtreme

13. Collaboration Tools

  • Asana
  • CodingTeam
  • Dapulse
  • Flowdock
  • Google Docs
  • GoToMeeting
  • Igloo
  • ProofHub
  • Quip
  • Redbooth
  • Slack
  • Trello
  • WebEx
  • Wimi

Remember—

It’s never enough to simply paste a list of skills into your resume, you must tailor your entire resume to the job offer by highlighting the relevant computer skills and experience.

And this is what you’ll learn to do in the following section.

The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your resume in our resume builder now.

CREATE YOUR RESUME NOW

CREATE YOUR RESUME NOWcreate your resume now

Nail it all with a splash of color, choose a clean font, and highlight your skills in just a few clicks. You’re the perfect candidate, and we’ll prove it. Use our resume builder now.

3. How to List Computer Skills on a Resume

Cut to the chase:

Your resume must stand out in the pile of 250 resumes the other candidates submitted. To achieve this you need to know exactly what the recruiter is looking for. Only then will you be able to put the right computer skills in the limelight.

The good news?

You don’t have to be a clairvoyant. The ultimate cheat sheet to what the recruiter desires is right in front of your eyes. It’s called the job offer. Yes. The job offer itself shows you precisely what computer skills and experience the recruiter is on the lookout for.

All you need to do is learn how to use the job offer to describe your computer skills on a resume.

And this is exactly what comes next:

1. Find a job offer that matches your level of experience and skills.

It’s crucial to apply for jobs you’re qualified to do. Otherwise, your resume will be rejected at the initial scanning stage.

Here’s an example job description for the position of a marketing automation specialist:

  • 2+ years of experience with Salesforce.com
  • 2+ years of experience with a Marketing Automation System (Eloqua, Marketo, Pardot, Hubspot)
  • Experience with change management and help desk request systems
  • Re-engineering experience of existing Salesforce.com configuration
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office applications

Based on this description the basic computer skills required for the position are:

  • Salesforce
  • Marketing automation systems
  • Microsoft Office

Note: This is just a snippet from the original job posting, the computer skills listed above represent only a fraction of all the skills required of the candidates.

2. Turn the computer skills listed in the job offer into achievements.

The experience section of a resume is one of the best places for showing off your skills.

How?

Work the relevant computer skills into your job description bullets. Here’s an example:

Computer Skills on a Resume—Example Job Description Bullets

  • Reconfigured Salesforce’s Appointment Booking Page that led to a 30% decrease in waiting time.
  • Optimized Eloqua email marketing campaigns that resulted in a 20% increase in the CTR.

This way you don’t just mention a computer skill that you have. You show the recruiter what you can do using this particular skill, and what results you’re able to achieve.

The job description bullets prepared this way send a clear message:

You’re the one who’ll get the job done.

3. Mention your computer skills in the resume profile.

The resume profile is a short paragraph that tops your resume. It serves as a brief summary of your entire resume in the form of a written sales pitch.

It could read something like this:

Computer Skills—Resume Summary Example

Well-organized and communicative marketing automation specialist with 5+ years of experience with Salesforce and marketing automation systems (incl. Eloqua and Hubspot). Eager to join GHE Inc. to help re-engineer and unify CRM and marketing processes. In previous roles contributed to increasing email marketing campaign CTR by 20% among others.

A resume summary written this way does at least three things:

  • Highlights the relevant soft skills and computer skills.
  • Shows the recruiter your resume is personalized by referring to the company by name.
  • Reinforces your relevant skills by mentioning a key achievement of yours.

With a profile written like this, you can be sure the recruiter will feel encouraged enough to devote more than 7 seconds of their time to reading your resume.

4. List the relevant computer skills in a dedicated skills section.

Finally, to make your computer skills truly stand out, create a dedicated key skills section on your resume.

You can do two things there:

  1. List the skills that are already mentioned in your job description to make them super-visible throughout your entire resume.
  2. Add the relevant computer skills you weren't able to put elsewhere on your resume.

Here’s what this looks like in practice:

Computer Skills on a Resume—Example Key Skills Section

  • Marketing automation systems
  • Salesforce
  • MS Excel (advanced formulas, macros, pivot tables)
  • MS Word (mail merge)

The computer skills listed here are the ones you can also see in the job description and resume profile. 

MS Office skills appear here as well. They haven’t been mentioned anywhere else on the resume, but they’re crucial to the role, as outlined in the job offer.

Notice how all the resume sections complement one another—

The key skills section highlights the relevant computer skills you can offer. Your job description shows exactly what results you can deliver using these skills, and the resume profile makes it clear how much experience you have.

It’s always a good idea to describe your level of proficiency at each skill you add to the key skills section. A simple bar graph and description (e.g. basic, advanced, etc.) will do.

For example, you can use the following scale to specify your level of computer skills for a resume:

Level of Computer Skills for a Resume

  • Level 1—Fundamental (or one star out of five, etc.)
  • Level 2—Basic (or two stars out of five, etc.)
  • Level 3—Intermediate (or three stars out of five, etc.)
  • Level 4—Advanced (or four stars out of five, etc.)
  • Level 5—Proficient (or five stars out of five, etc.)

4. How to Improve Your Computer Skills

Finally, let's take a quick look at how you can improve your computer skills. There are a number of websites that offer courses you can take, or certifications you can add to your resume.

Here’s a couple of ideas:

MS Office

Udemy has lots of courses like this one on MS Office essentials, or this one preparing you for the 77-727 Microsoft Excel Certification. Coursera offers a course on Excel skills for business purposes. There’s a range of certifications available directly from Microsoft, too.

G-Suite

One of the best ways to learn the ins and out of using Google’s office suite is Google’s own G Suite Learning Center. Udemy has a special section dedicated to G-Suite courses, and so does Lynda.com.

Email

To improve your email writing skills, you may want to check out this course from Coursera. Hubspot Academy offers a free email marketing course. Udemy has a section on marketing automation courses too. 

Web

The University of Michigan offers a course on the basics of web development and coding via Coursera. Codecademy is where you can choose from a large variety of web-centered courses.

Social Media

Hubspot Academy offers a free social media certification course. There’s quite a number of courses on social media marketing available through Udemy and Coursera.

Writing

Coursera offers a large selection of writing courses. You can use the filters to narrow down your options and find the course you need. There’s no shortage of writing courses on Udemy. Masterclass offers a selection of writing courses from the likes of Neil Geiman or Malcolm Gladwell.

Spreadsheets

Coursera offers a range of options if you want to gain some advanced Excel skills. Lynda has many courses to choose from that will help you hone your spreadsheet skills. Microsoft has its own learning resources that introduce you to the functionalities offered by Excel.

Database management

The University of Colorado offers a course on database management essentials via Coursera. You can also find such courses as this one on databases and SQL for data science by IBM or this one on retrieving, processing, and visualizing data with Python from the University of Michigan, and many others.

Data visualization

Udacity offers a nanodegree in data visualization that takes 4 months to complete. Plus, Cousera has a large selection of data visualization courses, and so does Udemy.

Graphics

If you want to learn Photoshop, Udemy offers a plethora of courses. Skillshare offers a number of Adobe Premiere courses if that’s your thing. And, truth be told, there are innumerable YouTube channels from which you can learn just about anything, like this one for example.

And finally—

Salesforce, Hubspot, as well as Oracle also offer their own courses and certifications.

Expert Hint: If you’re looking for online training for a particular type of software, just google [software name] online courses e.g. Photoshop online courses, and you’ll surely find something of interest. 

Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.

CREATE YOUR COVER LETTER NOW

CREATE YOUR COVER LETTER NOWcreate your cover letter now

Want to try a different look? There’s 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.

Key Points

Here’s all you need to know about computer skills on your resume:

  • Make a master list of your computer skills to see what you can offer employers.
  • Use the original job offer to identify which skills the recruiters are seeking (use the same resume keywords). 
  • Make your computer skills visible by putting them in the resume profile, experience, and key skills sections.
  • If you find your computer skills wanting, you can take some online courses to improve them.

Do you have any other questions about computer skills for a resume? Would you like to share your advice as to which computer skills are best for a resume? We’re always happy to hear from you. Give us a shout out in the comments below.

About ResumeLab’s Editorial Process

At ResumeLab, quality is at the crux of our values, supporting our commitment to delivering top-notch career resources. The editorial team of career experts carefully reviews every article in accordance with editorial guidelines, ensuring the high quality and reliability of our content. We actively conduct original research, shedding light on the job market's intricacies and earning recognition from numerous influential news outlets. Our dedication to delivering expert career advice attracts millions of readers to our blog each year.

Rate my article: computer skills
Thank you for voting
Average: 4.54 (26 votes)
Maciej Duszyński, CPRW
Experienced in the education management industry, Maciej shares his knowledge for every step of your job hunt, from landing an internship to moving to an executive position. Maciej has helped job candidates at all stages of their career paths, from interns to directors to C-suite members, to thrive in their job. His mission is to help you find the right opportunity and create a job application that gets you the career you deserve. Maciej holds a Master’s degree in English with a specialization in communication and education management.

Was it interesting? Here are similar articles

56 Resume Writing Tips and Tricks for 2024

56 Resume Writing Tips and Tricks for 2024

You can stop searching—this is the ultimate collection of best resume tips that can help you succeed in 2024. These resume writing tips will help to impress hiring managers.

Roma Kończak, CPRW
Roma Kończak, CPRW
Career Expert