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Practical guide
Tools and know-how go in a list; personal qualities need proof. How to fill the section, give a language level that actually means something, and what a screening robot reads.
The skills section is the one people fill in fastest and that reads worst: a list of adjectives, software logos, star ratings. Done well, it is the opposite: a short, precise section that picks up the tools and know-how from the job ad, while your qualities are proved elsewhere, in your experience. Here is how to sort, write, give a level, and check what a robot sees.
There are technical skills (hard skills) and behavioural skills (soft skills). They are not written the same way:
The rule that follows: the “Skills” section mostly carries the technical side; the behavioural side lives in your experience, and two or three qualities at most can appear in your personal statement, each one backed by a fact.
“Fluent English”, “good level”, “school English”: everyone means something different. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) gives a scale recruiters know: six levels, in three pairs, which service-public.fr describes as follows (see the sources at the bottom of the page).
| Level | What it means |
|---|---|
| A1 Basic | Breakthrough: very simple everyday expressions, introducing yourself, getting by if the other person speaks slowly. |
| A2 Basic | Waystage: sentences on everyday topics, describing your education or surroundings in simple terms. |
| B1 Independent | Threshold: following the main points of a discussion on a familiar topic, coping while travelling, producing simple, connected speech. |
| B2 Independent | Vantage: understanding complex texts, talking with native speakers with ease, arguing a case on a wide range of subjects. |
| C1 Proficient | Effective operational proficiency: understanding long, demanding texts, speaking fluently and structuring complex subjects well. |
| C2 Proficient | Mastery: understanding virtually everything with ease, summarising varied sources, expressing fine shades of meaning. |
Write the level and, if you have it, the evidence: “English: C1, weekly meetings with British clients”, “Spanish: B1, exchange semester in Seville”, “German: A2”. A certificate (TOEIC, TOEFL, DELE…) is quoted with its exact result. Without one, assess yourself honestly against the descriptions above: a recruiter may check by switching to that language during the interview. For your mother tongue, “native speaker” is enough.
Applying outside France? Customs change (photo, age, length, headings): see the CV for working abroad.
Pick the two or three qualities the job ad genuinely asks for, then look in your background for the fact that shows each one. That fact becomes an experience line. Replace each “[X]” with your real figures, and only with them.
| Declared | Proved |
|---|---|
| Good people skills | Single point of contact for [X] key accounts, contracts renewed every year |
| Organised and rigorous | Month-end closes always delivered on the date set by the finance department |
| Independent | Sole person in charge of the company payroll while the payroll officer was on leave |
| Team player | Worked in tandem with purchasing to renegotiate the haulage contracts |
| Leadership | Led a team of [X] technicians and trained every new starter |
To rewrite all your lines this way, the full method is in raising your CV's value, and the verbs to start them with are in our guide to action verbs.
Screening software reads text. Your skills section is where it looks for the tools and know-how named in the job ad: that is the “Job keywords” criterion in the site's check (“Screening starts with the skills and tools named in the job ad.”). Anything drawn, on the other hand, escapes it, as the “No information hidden in graphics” criterion puts it: “Gauges, icons and logos are invisible to the robot: what they say is lost.” A half-full bar, a row of stars or the Photoshop logo tell a robot nothing, and a human not much more: half of what?
If your CV comes from a template with skill bars, replace each bar with a word or a use, as text: our guide to Canva CVs and ATS shows how to keep the design. And give the section a standard heading, “Skills”: the robot files your background using those expected headings.
After your experience if you already have a track record in the field: the experience proves, the section sums up. Before it if you are starting out or changing careers: it shows straight away what you can do for the target role. In a two-column CV, it often sits in the side column, as long as it stays as text. Details for your situation: the order of CV sections.
The qualities of these profiles (the care assistant's attentiveness, the salesperson's tenacity) are not in the list: they are in their experience, with proof.
The ATS CV check shows the job keywords present in your CV and those missing, so you don't have to guess. The analysis's word-for-word fixes point out vague lines and suggest a precise version, with the reason. Only add what you can genuinely do: one keyword too many gets you through the filter, then the interview finds you out.
Enough to cover what the job ad asks for, not everything you have ever touched. Three or four groups of a few words each can be read at a glance; beyond that, the essentials get lost.
Rarely. A list of qualities proves nothing: you are better off showing them in your experience section. For a first CV, two qualities backed by a fact, in your personal statement, do the same job in less space.
With a level from the European framework (A1 to C2), chosen honestly from its descriptions, plus evidence of use: a stay abroad, a job, courses taught in English. A recruiter may check by switching to English during the interview.
Under that name, hardly at all: most roles take it for granted. Name the tool and the use that matter for the job instead: “Excel: pivot tables, macros”, “PowerPoint: presentations for the executive committee”.
Yes: a robot can't read them, and a human doesn't know what they are measured against. A word (“advanced”) or a use (“daily use”) says the same thing, as text.
This guide gives you a method, not legal advice: the official rules and amounts are those of the sources above, as at their date.
The site's tools and features that go with this guide: the figures there are calculated by the code, never by the AI.