What is the difference between skills and keywords on a resume?

Skills are the abilities you actually have, such as "budgeting", "Python" or "forklift operation". Keywords are the words an employer or recruiter uses to describe what they want, often taken from the job advert, and they can include skills, job titles, qualifications, tools and industry terms.

How they overlap:

• Many of the most important keywords are skills: "SQL", "IFRS", "patient assessment".
• Some keywords are not skills: job titles ("Logistics Coordinator"), qualifications ("bachelor's degree in engineering"), or industries ("FMCG").
• Some skills are not keywords for a particular job, because that employer does not need them.

The practical goal is to describe your real skills using the same words employers use. Your skills section holds the skill terms; your job titles, education and summary hold the other keywords. When a skill you have matches a keyword in the advert, make sure it appears in your resume in the employer's wording, and back it up with a bullet. When a keyword names something you do not have, leave it out.