1. SQL
Employers mean you can write your own queries and joins against a live database rather than asking someone else for an extract.
Example bullet — data analyst
Wrote SQL queries across 12 production tables to build a weekly churn report used by 3 department heads.
2. Python
Usually scripting for automation, data cleaning or analysis — pandas, not computer science theory.
Example bullet — operations analyst
Automated a monthly reconciliation in Python, cutting a 6-hour manual task to 20 minutes.
3. Microsoft Excel
Pivot tables, lookups and clean models — list the functions, not just the word Excel.
Example bullet — inventory analyst
Built an Excel model using pivot tables and XLOOKUP to track 4,000 SKUs across 9 warehouses.
4. Power BI
Building and publishing dashboards other people rely on, including the data refresh behind them.
Example bullet — reporting analyst
Published 7 Power BI dashboards on a daily refresh for a 40-person sales organization.
5. Salesforce
Working inside the CRM day to day: records, reports, and keeping the data usable.
Example bullet — sales operations coordinator
Maintained 600 Salesforce accounts and merged 1,200 duplicate records before quarter close.
6. AWS
Hands-on with specific services — EC2, S3, Lambda — rather than cloud as a concept.
Example bullet — cloud engineer
Migrated 18 workloads to AWS EC2 and S3, reducing on-premises servers from 24 to 6.
7. Git
Branching, pull requests and code review as part of a team workflow.
Example bullet — software engineer
Reviewed and merged roughly 15 pull requests a week in Git across a 6-developer team.
8. SIEM monitoring (Splunk)
Watching alerts, triaging them, and knowing which ones to escalate.
Example bullet — SOC analyst
Triaged 60 Splunk alerts a week and escalated 9 confirmed incidents to tier 3.
9. Agile / Scrum
Working in sprints with ceremonies, not just hearing the word in standup.
Example bullet — project manager
Ran 2-week Scrum sprints for a 7-person team, shipping 14 releases in 12 months.
10. Jira
Creating, tracking and reporting on tickets, including boards and basic workflow setup.
Example bullet — project coordinator
Tracked 300 Jira tickets a quarter and cut average cycle time from 9 days to 5.
11. Epic (EHR)
Charting in the employer's system. Name the one you used; Epic, Cerner and Meditech are not interchangeable keywords.
Example bullet — registered nurse
Documented assessments and care plans in Epic for 18 to 22 patients per shift.
12. HIPAA compliance
Handling protected health information correctly, and knowing what a breach looks like.
Example bullet — health information specialist
Audited 150 charts a month for HIPAA compliance and closed 12 documentation findings.
13. ICD-10-CM and CPT coding
Assigning codes accurately from clinical documentation, often with a CPC or CCS credential attached.
Example bullet — medical coder
Coded 90 to 110 outpatient encounters a day in ICD-10-CM and CPT, with fewer than 5 claims a week returned for correction.
14. BLS / ACLS certification
Current cards, with the issuing body and expiry date listed in your certifications section.
Example bullet — emergency department RN
Maintained current BLS and ACLS certification and served as recorder on 4 code responses.
15. Phlebotomy / venipuncture
Draw volume and patient range — pediatric and difficult sticks are worth naming.
Example bullet — phlebotomist
Performed 40 to 50 venipunctures per shift on adult and pediatric patients.
16. Patient triage and assessment
Sorting by acuity under pressure, using a named scale.
Example bullet — triage nurse
Triaged 30 emergency arrivals per shift using a 5-level acuity scale.
17. Medication administration
Safe administration and documentation, including controlled substances where applicable.
Example bullet — LPN, long-term care
Administered medications to 24 residents per shift with no reported errors over 14 months.
18. GAAP
Applying US accounting standards in close, reporting and reconciliation work.
Example bullet — staff accountant
Closed month-end books under GAAP in 5 business days across 3 legal entities.
19. QuickBooks
Day-to-day bookkeeping in the software, including reconciliation and reporting.
Example bullet — bookkeeper
Managed QuickBooks files for 22 client accounts, reconciling 1,400 transactions a month.
20. Accounts payable / receivable
Invoice processing, collections, aging reports — volume is the proof here.
Example bullet — AP/AR specialist
Processed 500 vendor invoices a month and cut invoices aged past 60 days from 90 to 30.
21. Financial modeling and forecasting
Building the model, not just reading the output.
Example bullet — FP&A analyst
Built a rolling 12-month forecast covering 9 cost centers and presented variances monthly.
22. SOX / internal controls
Testing controls, documenting evidence and tracking remediation.
Example bullet — internal auditor
Tested 45 SOX key controls per cycle and documented remediation for 6 exceptions.
23. Payroll processing (ADP)
Running cycles accurately on a named platform, across states if that applies.
Example bullet — payroll specialist
Ran biweekly payroll in ADP for 320 employees across 4 states.
24. SEO
Keyword research, on-page optimization and measurable ranking movement.
Example bullet — content marketer
Optimized 60 existing pages for target keywords and moved 18 into the top 10 of search results.
25. Google Analytics 4
Setting up events and reporting conversions, not just logging in to look.
Example bullet — digital marketing specialist
Configured GA4 event tracking on 5 sites and reported on 12 conversion paths monthly.
26. HubSpot / CMS publishing
Building and shipping pages and emails in a named platform.
Example bullet — marketing coordinator
Published 8 landing pages a month in HubSpot and A/B tested 3 headline variants on each.
27. Email marketing automation
Designing triggered flows and segmentation for a list of real size.
Example bullet — lifecycle marketer
Built 14 automated email flows serving a 50,000-address subscriber list.
28. Google Ads / paid media
Managing live budgets and the metrics attached to them.
Example bullet — paid search specialist
Managed 11 Google Ads campaigns and lowered cost per lead in 6 consecutive monthly reviews.
29. CRM pipeline management
Keeping a pipeline current, forecasting from it, and hitting activity targets.
Example bullet — sales development rep
Managed a 90-account pipeline and logged 60 outbound calls a day in the CRM.
30. Lean Six Sigma
A named belt level and a project with a before-and-after measure.
Example bullet — process engineer
Led a Green Belt project that cut line changeover time from 45 minutes to 18.
31. OSHA 30-Hour certification
The card itself, plus the safety work you did with it.
Example bullet — site foreman
Held OSHA 30-Hour Construction certification and led weekly toolbox talks for a 25-person crew.
32. SAP / ERP
Transacting in the system — purchase orders, goods receipts, master data.
Example bullet — procurement specialist
Processed 200 purchase orders a week in SAP and maintained 1,800 item master records.
33. Inventory control and cycle counting
Accuracy against a stated SKU count, with the method named.
Example bullet — warehouse lead
Ran cycle counts on 3,000 SKUs monthly and reduced open variances from 40 a month to 9.
34. Forklift certification
Equipment types you are certified on and throughput per shift.
Example bullet — material handler
Operated sit-down and reach forklifts, moving 120 pallets per shift.
35. CDL Class A
Licence class, endorsements, miles, and a clean driving record.
Example bullet — regional driver
Drove 2,400 miles a week under a Class A CDL with a clean MVR over 3 years.
36. Preventive maintenance
Scheduled work orders completed on named equipment, usually tracked in a CMMS.
Example bullet — maintenance technician
Completed 60 preventive maintenance work orders a month across 14 production lines.
37. Differentiated instruction
Adapting one lesson for a range of levels, tied to state standards.
Example bullet — high school teacher
Planned differentiated daily lessons for 5 sections of 28 students aligned to state standards.
38. IEP development and compliance
Writing goals, running meetings, and meeting legal timelines.
Example bullet — special education teacher
Wrote and monitored 22 IEPs and held every annual review within required timelines.
39. Calendar and travel management
Protecting executive time and booking complex itineraries.
Example bullet — executive assistant
Managed calendars for 4 executives and booked 30 multi-leg trips a year.
40. POS and cash handling
Accurate tills and transaction volume per shift.
Example bullet — retail shift lead
Balanced a register across 200 transactions per shift with no shortages in 6 months.
41. Written and verbal communication
Soft skills are more personal and harder to develop than hard skills (Indeed Career Guide, undated), so prove this one rather than claiming it.
Example bullet — account manager
Presented monthly performance reviews to a 30-person department and wrote the weekly client status report.
42. Time management
Carrying several deadlines at once without dropping any.
Example bullet — tax associate
Handled 6 concurrent client engagements and met every filing deadline across 2 tax seasons.
43. Organizational skills
Systems that survive you — filing, scheduling, tracking.
Example bullet — records coordinator
Reorganized a 12,000-file records system and cut average retrieval time to under 2 minutes.
44. Flexibility and adaptability
Covering unfamiliar work at short notice. Flexibility is among the soft skills commonly listed on resumes (Indeed Career Guide (Canada), undated).
Example bullet — store associate
Covered 3 departments during a 6-week staffing gap with no change to shift coverage.
45. Interpersonal skills
Building working relationships with colleagues, patients or customers.
Example bullet — medical assistant
Mentored 18 new hires through clinic onboarding over 2 years.
46. Leadership and supervision
People managed, shifts run, staff developed.
Example bullet — production supervisor
Supervised 9 technicians across 2 shifts and trained 4 into lead roles.
47. Problem-solving
A specific problem, what you did, and what changed.
Example bullet — quality technician
Diagnosed a recurring packaging fault and cut scrap from 400 units a week to 90 in 3 months.
48. Cross-functional collaboration
Working across teams that report elsewhere.
Example bullet — product marketing associate
Coordinated engineering, QA and support teams through 5 product launches a year.
49. Customer service
Volume handled and a quality measure attached.
Example bullet — support representative
Resolved 70 customer contacts a day and closed 9 of every 10 tickets without escalation.
50. Conflict resolution
Defusing disputes before they become someone else's problem.
Example bullet — shift manager
Mediated scheduling disputes for a 24-person team and cut HR escalations from 9 a year to 2.
