Resume skills by profession: skill wording for 11 common jobs, from ESCO data

Recruiters and screening software look for the skills named in the job ad. This page gives you, for eleven common jobs, the skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for each occupation. ESCO is the European Commission's multilingual classification of occupations, skills and qualifications, so its wording is standard across the EU.

Use it as a source of precise wording, not as a list to paste. A skills section with thirty items looks like keyword stuffing; five to eight that match the ad, each backed by a bullet in your experience, convince more.

1. 1Read the job ad and underline the skills it asks for.
2. 2Find the same ability in the list for your occupation and use the closest wording, only if it is true for you.
3. 3Prove each one in a bullet: what you did and, if you can, what changed.
4. 4Leave out anything you could not talk about in an interview.

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Take food and beverage orders from customers
• Present menus
• Welcome restaurant guests
• Prepare the restaurant for service
• Serve food in table service
• Serve beverages
• Serve wines
• Take payments for bills
• Comply with food safety and hygiene
• Arrange tables
• Identify customer's needs
• Dietary regimes
• Assist clients with special needs
• Work in a hospitality team
• Apply foreign languages in hospitality
• Process reservations
• Measure customer feedback

ESCO occupation: waiter/waitress. Open on ESCO · See the Server / Waiter resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Operate cash register
• Stock shelves
• Organise product display
• Put up price tags
• Process refunds
• Provide customer guidance on product selection
• Notify customers on special offers
• Maintain store cleanliness
• Achieve sales targets
• Carry out active selling
• Monitor stock level
• Product comprehension
• Maintain relationship with customers
• Process orders from online shop
• Demonstrate products' features
• Check deliveries on receipt

ESCO occupation: shop assistant. Open on ESCO · See the Retail Sales Associate resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Use microsoft office
• File documents
• Draft corporate emails
• Handle mail
• Ensure proper document management
• Keep task records
• Manage personnel agenda
• Fix meetings
• Maintain inventory of office supplies
• Organise travel arrangements for staff
• Respect data protection principles
• Fill out forms
• Issue sales invoices
• Speak different languages
• Prepare presentation material
• Handle petty cash

ESCO occupation: administrative assistant. Open on ESCO · See the Administrative Assistant resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Customer service
• Guarantee customer satisfaction
• Listen actively
• Apply conflict management
• Communicate with customers
• Perform escalation procedure
• Keep records of customer interaction
• Use customer relationship management software
• Process refunds
• Prioritise tasks
• Perform multiple tasks at the same time
• Implement customer follow-up
• Measure customer feedback
• Upsell products
• Show diplomacy
• Speak different languages
• Process customer orders

ESCO occupation: customer service representative. Open on ESCO · See the Customer Service resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Implement sales strategies
• Answer requests for quotation
• Contact customers
• Prospect new customers
• Prospect new regional contracts
• Demonstrate products' features
• Use customer relationship management software
• Keep records on sales
• Carry out sales analysis
• Produce sales reports
• Demonstrate motivation for sales
• Implement customer follow-up
• Deliver a sales pitch
• Speak different languages
• Sales promotion techniques
• Apply technical communication skills

ESCO occupation: commercial sales representative. Open on ESCO · See the Sales Representative resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Plan nursing care
• Implement nursing care
• Evaluate nursing care
• Provide professional care in nursing
• Communicate effectively in healthcare
• Ensure safety of healthcare users
• Infection control
• Safe management of medicines
• First aid
• Resuscitation
• Deal with emergency care situations
• Use electronic health records in nursing
• Work in multidisciplinary health teams
• Provide health education
• Empathise with the healthcare user
• Coordinate care
• Follow clinical guidelines
• Delegate activities

ESCO occupation: nurse responsible for general care. Open on ESCO · See the Nurse resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Prepare lesson content
• Develop course outline
• Apply teaching strategies
• Adapt teaching to student's capabilities
• Assess students
• Give constructive feedback
• Perform classroom management
• Maintain students' discipline
• Observe student's progress
• Guarantee students' safety
• Liaise with educational staff
• Arrange parent teacher conference
• Work with virtual learning environments
• Develop digital educational materials
• Manage student relationships
• Apply intercultural teaching strategies
• Identify learning disorders
• Curriculum objectives

ESCO occupation: secondary school teacher. Open on ESCO · See the Teacher resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Prepare trial accounting balances
• Identify accounting errors
• Prepare financial statements
• Interpret financial statements
• Manage accounts
• Calculate tax
• Prepare tax returns forms
• Check accounting records
• Accounting entries
• Tax legislation
• Fraud detection
• Manage payroll reports
• Manage corporate bank accounts
• Perform cost accounting activities
• Conduct financial audits
• Manage budgets
• International financial reporting standards
• Analyse financial performance of a company

ESCO occupation: accountant. Open on ESCO · See the Accountant resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Implement front-end website design
• Use markup languages
• Style sheet languages
• JavaScript
• TypeScript
• Web programming
• Debug software
• Use software libraries
• Tools for software configuration management
• Integrated development environment software
• World Wide Web Consortium standards
• Design user interface
• Provide technical documentation
• Use software design patterns
• Web application security threats
• Develop software prototype
• Conduct content quality assurance

ESCO occupation: web developer. Open on ESCO · See the Web Developer resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Design graphics
• Follow a brief
• Identify customer's needs
• Develop creative ideas
• Translate requirement concepts into visual design
• Use creative suite software
• Desktop publishing
• Respect publication formats
• Design prototypes
• Copyright legislation
• Perform market research
• Adapt to type of media
• Finish project within budget
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Motion graphics
• Use digital illustration techniques
• Edit photographs

ESCO occupation: graphic designer. Open on ESCO · See the Graphic Designer resume example

Skills and knowledge areas that ESCO lists for this occupation. Pick the ones that appear in the ad you are answering.

• Identify potential markets for companies
• Plan marketing strategy
• Market analysis
• Marketing mix
• Carry out strategic research
• Identify market niches
• Plan marketing campaign
• Conduct search engine optimisation
• Use analytics for commercial purposes
• Plan digital marketing
• Digital marketing techniques
• Social media management
• Social media marketing techniques
• Evaluate marketing content
• Coordinate marketing plan actions
• Liaise with advertising agencies
• Brand marketing techniques
• Develop creative ideas

ESCO occupation: marketeer. Open on ESCO · See the Digital Marketing resume example

Contains information from ESCO (European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations), © European Union, https://esco.ec.europa.eu, licensed under CC BY 4.0. FastCV AI selected between sixteen and eighteen skills per occupation from ESCO's essential and optional lists, kept ESCO's preferred term for each one and capitalised the first letter. We changed the selection and the order, not the terms.

This page is not an official ESCO publication and the European Commission has not endorsed it. The data was retrieved on 5 October 2026 through ESCO's public web service.