The resume skills you highlight can help employers quickly see what you bring to the role.gettyThe resume skills you’re listing may be doing less for you than you think. Communication, teamwork and leadership appear on thousands of resumes, yet new research suggests candidates with more specific technical and analytical skills are seeing better hiring outcomes. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, payroll employment fell by 23,000 in July, after employers added an average of just 34,000 jobs per month over the previous year, making it even harder for common resume language to distinguish one candidate from another.Careerminds analyzed 9,700 resumes matched with subsequent employment data. They found that candidates listing at least one technical or analytical skill had a 20.1% hiring rate, compared with 14.2% for those listing only soft skills. That made them roughly 42% more likely to land a new role. The research also found that AI-related skills were associated with higher hiring rates, even though they appeared on relatively few resumes.The research points to a more targeted approach to resume skills. Focus on capabilities that are specific to the role you want and show employers where you’ve put them to use, rather than adding Python, ChatGPT or another skill simply because it’s currently in demand.Technical Resume Skills Were Linked To Higher Hiring RatesAmong the 24 resume skills Careerminds analyzed, several technical and analytical capabilities were associated with hiring rates well above the study’s 15.8% overall average:Tableau: 25.1%Data analysis: 22.9%Python: 22.1%SQL: 21.4%The advantage also extended beyond traditional tech roles. Candidates with at least one technical or analytical skill were hired more often than those listing only soft skills in 9 of the 11 industries with enough data to compare. In education, for example, 31% of candidates with a technical skill were hired, compared with 11% of those listing only soft skills.The results don’t mean adding Tableau or Python to your resume will improve your odds on its own. The study shows an association, and hiring outcomes can vary by occupation, industry and the types of roles candidates pursue. As Careerminds career expert Amanda Augustine cautions, job seekers shouldn’t “run out and learn Tableau or TensorFlow.” A better approach is to identify the capabilities employers repeatedly ask for in the roles you want and build from there.Common Soft Skills Did Not Give Candidates The Same EdgeSome of the most frequently listed capabilities were associated with hiring rates close to or below the study average. Communication appeared on 16.4% of resumes, yet candidates listing it were hired 15.3% of the time. Teamwork came in at 16.2%, leadership at 16.9% and problem solving at 13.6%. Adaptability was the exception, with a 20.9% hiring rate.That doesn’t mean soft skills are losing value. SHRM found that 84% of HR professionals and 89% of supervisors expect AI to increase the need for power skills such as critical thinking and communication. The challenge is proving you have them. As Careerminds career expert Amanda Augustine explains, “Anyone can claim to be a strong communicator, an effective leader, or proficient in a particular technology.” What makes those claims more credible is showing where you’ve put them to work.AI Resume Skills Could Give Candidates An EdgeAI-related resume skills were also associated with stronger hiring outcomes. Candidates listing any AI skill were hired 21.3% of the time, compared with 15.4% of those without one. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and prompt engineering were linked to a 21.5% hiring rate, yet only about 3% of resumes mentioned AI-related skills at all.The opportunity extends beyond technical roles. SHRM found that 80% of HR professionals expect companies to prioritize hiring workers who can demonstrate competencies in AI-related tasks over the next three years. As Augustine puts it, “You don’t need to be an AI engineer to benefit from AI literacy.” For many professionals, the stronger resume move is showing how you’ve used AI to improve a workflow, analyze information, automate a task or produce a better result rather than simply adding “ChatGPT” to a skills section.Skills-First Hiring Raises The Bar For ProofThe broader shift toward skills-first hiring puts more pressure on candidates to show what they can actually do. In SHRM’s research, relevant work experience ranked as the top hiring factor for both HR professionals and supervisors, followed by relevant skills or competencies. More than one-third of organizations, 34%, said they often or almost always use skills-first hiring, and 70% of HR professionals expect these practices to play a larger role over the next three years.That shift makes a long list of resume skills less persuasive on its own. Employers increasingly want evidence of how you’ve applied those capabilities in a real setting. SHRM found that 86% of organizations use behavioral interviewing, which asks candidates to describe past situations where they put their skills to work. On your resume, the same principle applies—name the capability when it’s relevant, show where you used it and connect it to a result whenever you can.How To Choose Which Resume Skills To HighlightThe strongest resume skills will depend on the role you’re targeting. Rather than adding whatever happens to be in demand, look for the overlap between what employers are asking for, what you genuinely know how to do and what you can demonstrate with evidence.A simple way to narrow the list:Study the roles you want: Review a meaningful sample of job postings and note the technical, analytical, AI and human capabilities that appear repeatedly.Prioritize what you can prove: If you list a skill, be prepared to show where you used it and what you accomplished.Put the evidence in your experience section: Connect the capability to a project, problem, improvement or measurable result instead of leaving it isolated in a skills section.Keep relevance ahead of popularity: A highly sought-after skill won’t help much if it has little connection to the work you’re pursuing.The Careerminds findings offer useful clues about which resume skills are associated with stronger hiring outcomes. The better question for any job seeker is which of those capabilities are relevant to the work you want and whether your resume gives employers enough evidence to believe you can use them.Join 10,000+ experienced professionals who subscribe to the free Corporate Escape Artist newsletter for practical guidance on layoffs, toxic bosses, job search, career transitions and AI at work.