What are the most common skills mistakes on student resumes?

The most common mistakes are listing too many vague skills, claiming levels you cannot back up and listing soft skills without evidence.

Watch out for:

• Generic words: "hard-working", "fast learner", "team player".
• Skill bars or star ratings that mean nothing specific.
• Overstated levels, such as "Expert in Python" after one module.
• Duplicates: "MS Excel" and "Spreadsheets" and "Excel".
• Out-of-date or irrelevant tools.
• Skills that never appear anywhere else on the resume.

Fix them by cutting to the skills that match the job, writing specific names and levels, and making sure your bullets show the important ones in action.

A quick test: for every skill on your list, ask yourself "Where on this page, or in an interview, could I prove this?" If you have no answer, either remove the skill or add the evidence. A shorter list that passes this test will serve you far better than a long one that does not.