Skills for Resume for Freshers: Technical and Soft Skills by Role (2026)

Short answer: list 8–15 skills that match the jobs you're applying for, grouped into technical skills, tools, and languages. Put the most relevant ones first, and back each important skill with a project, internship, or course where you used it. Leave out generic soft skills like "hardworking" unless you can show them; recruiters skip them.

How many skills should a fresher list?

Between 8 and 15 is enough for most fresher resumes. More than that looks padded, and recruiters can't tell which ones you actually know. A good test: if an interviewer asks "tell me about a time you used this", you should have an answer for every skill on the list.

How to lay out the skills section

Group skills so a recruiter (and screening software) can scan them quickly:

Technical skills: Java, Python, SQL, Excel, AutoCAD, Tally
Tools and platforms: Git, Power BI, Figma, Canva, Google Analytics
Languages: English, Hindi, Tamil

Don't use rating bars, stars, or percentages next to skills. Screening software can't read them, and "Java 80%" means nothing to a recruiter.

Skills by role for freshers

Use the skills below only if you have genuinely used them. They're the ones that come up most often in entry-level job descriptions for each role.

Software developer

Technical: Java or Python, data structures and algorithms, OOP, SQL, HTML/CSS/JavaScript Tools: Git, GitHub, Postman, VS Code, basic Linux Good to add if true: Spring Boot or Django, React, REST APIs, Docker, AWS basics

Data analyst

Technical: SQL, Excel (pivot tables, lookups), statistics basics, data cleaning Tools: Power BI or Tableau, Python (Pandas), Google Sheets Good to add if true: A/B testing basics, dashboards built on real data, Looker Studio

In our analysis of real job postings, SQL is asked for by 73% of companies hiring data analysts, yet only about a third of data analyst resumes mention it. If you know SQL, make sure it's visible. See the data analyst skills breakdown.

Digital marketing

Technical: SEO basics, Meta Ads, Google Ads, content writing, email marketing Tools: Google Analytics, Search Console, Canva, WordPress Good to add if true: campaign results with numbers, Google Ads or Meta Blueprint certification

Accounts and finance

Technical: GST, TDS, bank reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable, financial statements Tools: Tally Prime, Excel, Zoho Books Good to add if true: CA Inter status, internship at a CA firm, financial modelling project

HR

Technical: recruitment and screening, onboarding, HR MIS, attendance and payroll inputs Tools: Excel, Naukri RMS, LinkedIn, an HRMS if you've used one Good to add if true: internship with hiring volumes, PF/ESI basics

Sales and business development

Technical: lead generation, cold calling, CRM usage, product demos, negotiation Tools: Excel, a CRM (Zoho, HubSpot, Salesforce), LinkedIn Good to add if true: targets met during an internship, languages spoken

Customer support

Technical: ticket handling, email and chat support, escalation, documentation Tools: Zendesk or Freshdesk, MS Office Good to add if true: languages spoken, typing speed, shift flexibility

Mechanical / civil / electrical engineering

Technical: AutoCAD, SolidWorks or STAAD Pro, GD&T or IS codes, estimation, safety practices Tools: MS Excel, MS Project Good to add if true: plant or site training, final-year project with results

UI/UX and graphic design

Technical: wireframing, prototyping, user research, typography, layout Tools: Figma, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, Canva Good to add if true: a portfolio link with case studies

Soft skills: which ones are worth listing?

Recruiters rarely believe soft skills that are only listed. Instead of writing "communication skills" and "teamwork", show them in a bullet:

Communication: "Presented our final-year project to a panel of 5 faculty and an industry mentor."
Teamwork: "Coordinated a 6-person team to organise a tech fest with 1,200 participants."
Leadership: "Led the placement committee's resume review sessions for 150 juniors."

If you do list soft skills, keep it to two or three that the job description asks for.

How to prove skills without work experience

Projects: name the tools used and one result (users, accuracy, time saved).
Internships and training: even short ones count if you describe what you did.
Certifications: relevant ones (NPTEL, AWS Cloud Practitioner, Google Data Analytics, Microsoft PL-300) help, but list them below projects.
Competitions: hackathon rankings, coding contest ratings, case competitions.

Match your skills to each job

Every job description lists the skills it wants. Before applying, check which of those skills you have but haven't made visible. Paste the job description into our free resume vs job description match to see what's missing, or download the free ATS friendly resume template to start fresh.