CV skills section
The skills employers, NHS shortlisters, and ATS parsers actually scan for on a UK CV. With the specific wording that gets matched.
Reviewed by Anthony, founder · Updated
Most CVs lose the skills section to vague filler. Evidence beats adjectives. Below are the nine skill clusters UK recruiters scan for, with the wording that mirrors job ads and parses cleanly through ATS.
01
Communication skills
Every job ad asks for it; almost no CV evidences it. "Excellent communicator" is filler. Evidence is specific: "led weekly handover for a team of 12", "presented quarterly board updates to non-technical execs", "wrote SOP adopted across three sites". Pair the skill with the audience and the outcome.
Name the audience: clinicians, execs, customers, contractors, MPs.
Name the format: handover, board paper, written report, training session.
Name the outcome where possible: decision made, policy adopted, complaint resolved.
02
Leadership skills
You do not need a senior title to evidence leadership. Mentoring, deputising, leading a project, chairing a meeting, taking on band-above duties all count. Always quantify: how many people, how many months, what budget.
Direct reports vs dotted-line vs project leads. Name which.
Cite headcount and duration: "led a team of 4 across a 9-month rollout".
For NHS / Civil Service, use the framework verbatim (Leadership behaviour, Agenda for Change matrix descriptors).
03
Project management skills
Both formal (PRINCE2, MSP, Agile, Scrum) and informal project work count. Lead with the methodology if you have certification, otherwise lead with delivery: scope, budget, headcount, deadline, outcome.
Name the methodology if certified: PRINCE2 Foundation/Practitioner, Agile, Scrum Master, MSP.
Cite measurable scope: "£250k programme", "12-month delivery", "five workstreams".
Show artefacts: RAID logs, PIDs, change-control logs, retrospectives.
04
Data analysis skills
Most job ads conflate three different things: spreadsheet work, SQL/BI work, and statistical work. Pick the level that matches the ad. List the actual tools.
Tools, not categories: Excel (pivots, VLOOKUP, Power Query), SQL, Power BI, Tableau, Python (pandas), R.
Cite a dataset size where relevant: "analysed a 2M-row claims dataset".
Cite the question answered: not "produced reports" but "identified £40k/year overspend in agency staffing".
05
IT and technical support skills
For helpdesk / desktop / 1st-line: list the ticketing system, OS, hardware, and the resolution metrics. For 2nd-line and infrastructure: list the systems and the migrations or incidents you led.
Ticketing: ServiceNow, Zendesk, Freshservice, Jira Service Management.
Stack: Windows / macOS / Linux, AD, Intune, M365, Google Workspace.
Metrics: tickets resolved per week, MTTR, first-contact resolution rate.
06
Clinical skills (NHS)
NHS shortlisting weighs clinical specificity. Generic "clinical skills" is meaningless. Name the procedures, the equipment, the patient group, the setting.
Procedures: cannulation, venepuncture, NEWS2, catheterisation, wound care.
Equipment: ECG, defibrillator, syringe driver, infusion pumps.
Setting and acuity: A&E majors, ITU 1:1, community caseload of 35.
07
Safeguarding skills
For NHS, education, social work, and care roles, safeguarding is a hard requirement. Specify the level and year. KCSiE updates annually; out-of-date wording reads as red flag.
NHS: Safeguarding Adults / Children Level 2 or 3 (with year).
Education: KCSiE [year], Prevent (latest), DSL training if applicable.
Care: Care Certificate, Mental Capacity Act, DoLS, Deprivation of Liberty.
08
Cyber security skills
List frameworks and certifications first, then the practical work. UK roles increasingly require Cyber Essentials Plus awareness and ISO 27001 fluency.
Frameworks: NIST CSF, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus, NCSC CAF.
Certs: CISSP, CISM, CompTIA Security+, OSCP, CEH.
Practical: SOC tier, SIEM (Splunk, Sentinel), IR runbooks, phishing programme.
09
Teaching assistant skills
TAs are hired on phase, key stage, SEND fluency, and behaviour. Name them explicitly. Add safeguarding (current KCSiE) and any specific interventions you have run.
Phase plus key stage: EYFS, KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, post-16.
SEND: ASD, ADHD, ODD, MLD, SEMH; EHCPs supported.
Interventions: Read Write Inc, NELI, Numicon, Toe by Toe, Lego therapy.
Let the tool mirror the wording for you.
Paste the job ad. Sausage Dog rewrites your skills and experience to mirror the wording that role expects, using your real evidence.
Frequently asked
Should the skills section be at the top or bottom of a CV?+
For UK roles, after Profile and Experience. The exception is heavy-keyword sectors (IT, cyber, data) where recruiters scan the skills section first. There a "Key skills" line under the Profile makes sense.
How many skills should I list?+
Eight to twelve. More than fifteen reads as filler and dilutes the keywords the ATS is matching. Pick the ones the job ad actually names.
Should I include soft skills?+
Only if the job ad names them, and only if your Experience bullets evidence them. A "Communication" line in your skills section is wasted unless an Experience bullet shows you doing it.
Should I use skill ratings or progress bars?+
No. They look modern but break ATS parsers and tell the recruiter nothing. A skill is either on the CV (you can do it) or not (you can't).