What skills should a student or fresh graduate put on a resume?

List the skills the jobs you want ask for, that you genuinely have, and that you can back up with an example. For most students that means a mix of technical skills, software and a few well-evidenced soft skills.

A useful structure:

• Technical or subject skills from your degree, such as financial analysis, lab techniques or CAD.
• Software and tools you can actually use, such as Excel, Python, Canva or SPSS.
• Languages, with an honest level.
• Two or three soft skills that your bullets prove, such as teamwork or customer service.

Start by reading five or six adverts for the role you want and noting the skills that appear again and again. Then match those against what you can honestly claim.

Example skills line: "Tools: Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Power BI, SQL (basic)". Keep the list focused; ten to fifteen well-chosen items beat a long list of everything you have touched once. Leave out things every student can do, such as "internet research" or "email".