What Are Job Skills and Why Do They Matter?

Job skills are the various abilities you use to complete your work, from workplace skills like time management to technical skills like programming. 

While employers still value credentials such as a bachelor’s degree, more and more companies have been turning to skills-based hiring to fill positions. For example, LinkedIn reported in 2023 that the number of job posts for positions not requiring degrees grew at a faster rate than job posts that did require degrees [1].

Job skills, then, matter more and more. Expand your understanding of job skills with detailed definitions and examples, learn how to use them on your CV, and find out the top job skills currently based on Coursera’s user research. 

What are job skills?

Job skills are the entire collection of skills you use to complete your work, and they typically comprise the following:

• Workplace skills: The personal skills that ensure you do your job well, such as teamwork, time management, and problem-solving. Occasionally, some refer to these as "employability skills" or "soft skills."

• Technical skills: The skills that relate to technical or job-specific knowledge, such as the ability to code in Python, conduct data analysis, or use specific accounting software. These are sometimes called "hard skills."

• Transferable skills: The workplace and technical skills you can take from one job to another, such as when someone uses their aptitude for teamwork and their ability to code in Python to change careers from being a programmer to being a STEM educator. Transferable skills are any of the various skills that you can transfer between jobs. 

You can acquire job skills in many different ways. In some cases, they may be a part of your personality; in others, you may develop them through formal education or work experience. Whatever your skill level, you can always strengthen your current skill set and build new skills through practice. 

Examples of job skills

If you do something often enough, it can become so natural that you forget it is a skill many others may not possess. It may be helpful to read examples of others employing their skills to help you identify your own. 

The following examples describe hypothetical people alongside a list of likely skills they employ as they manoeuvre in their unique life circumstances. As you read through it, think about the many skills you already have. 

Top job skills for 2025

Every year, Coursera compiles its Global Skills Report, detailing the top skills that approximately 170 million learners on the platform have been developing over the past year [2]. If you want to identify the most relevant skills for the near future, you will likely find the job skills list useful.

Top job skills in the United Kingdom in 2025

The following is a list of the top job skills that Coursera learners are currently pursuing in the UK:

• Capital Markets

• Securities (Finance)

• Financial Systems

• Financial Market

• Google Workspace

• Financial Services

• Corporate Finance

• Data Governance

• Regulatory Compliance

• Governance

Adapted from Coursera’s Global Skills Report 2025 [2]

Job skills for CVs

Job skills, both workplace and technical, are very important to employers looking to fill positions. With many employers increasingly concerned with finding applicants with relevant skills rather than those with credentials, showcasing your unique talents on your CV will be essential as you begin applying for jobs. 

Job skills as keywords

To deal with the large number of job applications they receive, many companies today use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to prescreen CVs. These programmes use algorithms to scan through CVs and identify qualified applicants by spotting keywords that describe relevant job skills. 

With this in mind, it is important to optimise your CV for the system. Try using the same phrasing or keywords employers use in their job descriptions to highlight your particular job skills. Follow these steps to help identify keywords and phrases to include in your CV:

1. Find a job listing that appeals to you and read through the job description.

2. Take note of any skills the employer requires or prefers candidates to have, and consider how your skill set fits in with those.

3. Adapt your CV using the exact (or similar) keywords and phrases in the job description when discussing your skills. For example, if you see a job posting asking for an applicant adept at "conflict resolution," then you might use that phrase to describe your skill set rather than the similar phrase "dispute resolution."

4. Use a clean and straightforward layout to ensure your CV is easy to scan. A chronological format often best suits this purpose. While it may be tempting to use flashy graphics, many systems struggle to read designer CVs and may inadvertently overlook important information. 

Consider putting a job description into an online word frequency programme to identify the skills that repeat throughout the listing—these are likely the most important skills to the employer. 

Some free online text analysers include Lexicool and Online Utility.

Next steps 

You can apply job skills to roles to complete tasks or meet expectations using your specialised competencies. The job skills you need to develop depend on your field and position. Develop or strengthen your skills by earning a Professional Certificate from industry leaders on Coursera, such as the Google Cloud Data Analytics Professional Certificate, which teaches data analytics methods that can help businesses in various industries.

Give your team access to a catalogue of 8,000+ engaging courses and Guided Projects to help them develop impactful skills. Learn more about Coursera for Business.