Step 3: Skills Section That Works
The goal of your skills section is simple: make it easy for a recruiter and a hiring manager to quickly confirm you’re a match — without looking like keyword spam.
Principle
Only list skills you can defend in an interview. If you can’t explain where you used it and what you did with it, it doesn’t belong.
What a strong skills section does
It’s a scannable summary of your “toolbelt,” not a full inventory.
- Groups skills into categories so it reads fast
- Uses recognizable names (Azure AD → Entra ID is fine, but be consistent)
- Prioritizes the most relevant tools for your target role
- Avoids rating yourself (“expert/intermediate” is usually a trap)
- Supports your experience bullets (skills should show up elsewhere on the page)
Recommended skill grouping (copy/paste)
Use 3–6 categories. Keep each line tight.
Example structure
CloudAzure, Entra ID, Azure Networking, Azure Storage
Identity & SecurityMFA, Conditional Access, RBAC, Least Privilege
SystemsWindows Server, Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS/DHCP
NetworkingVLANs, Routing/Switching, VPNs, Firewalls
AutomationPowerShell, Bash, Python (basic), Git
ToolsM365 Admin, Intune, Jira/ServiceNow (or your ticketing tool)
Keep it honest
If you’re early-career, it’s totally fine to include “basic” tools — just make sure you can talk through a real use case (even if it came from a lab).
Common mistakes (that quietly hurt you)
These are the ones I see constantly.
Avoid
- Listing 40+ skills with no structure
- Stuffing every acronym you’ve heard of
- Self-rating (“expert,” “advanced,” etc.)
- Including skills not supported anywhere else on the resume
- Using vague categories like “Soft Skills” (show this through bullets instead)
Do instead
- Pick a target role and prioritize skills for that role
- Group skills into categories (3–6 max)
- Use the same naming as job descriptions (within reason)
- Make sure key skills show up in your experience/projects bullets
Mini-workshop: tailor your skills to a role
Pick one target job posting. Your skills section should mirror the *themes* of that posting (not copy it blindly).
- Skim the posting and write down the top 8–12 recurring technical keywords.
- Map those keywords into your skill categories (Cloud / Systems / Networking / Automation / Security).
- Remove anything that isn’t relevant to the role you’re applying for.
- Make sure at least 5–7 of those skills also appear in your bullets/projects on page 1.