What Are Technical Job Skills?

What Are Technical Job Skills?

Let me explain technical job skills to you directly: these are the specific talents and expertise you develop to handle particular tasks or jobs, often called hard skills. They're not like soft skills, which focus on your character and personality traits.

You acquire these skills through practice and learning, though you might have a natural knack for some. For example, if you're proficient in coding, that's a technical skill that makes you a strong candidate for jobs at software or tech companies.

Key Takeaways

Technical skills are the practical abilities you bring to help a company function. You gain and improve them via education, practice, and repetition, and they can be manual like sewing or cognitive like accounting. Unlike soft skills, you can prove technical competencies with aptitude tests, certifications, degrees, apprenticeships, or work experience.

Understanding Technical Job Skills

You should list technical job skills in the skills section of your resume to highlight your abilities and strengths. But remember, don't list every skill you have—tailor them to the job to increase your chances of getting hired.

As a new or prospective employee, you might face an aptitude test to gauge your proficiency in various technical skills. These tests look at your inherent strengths and weaknesses, assuming natural inclinations toward success or failure in certain areas. Keep in mind, aptitude tests don't assess knowledge or intelligence, just specific skills or propensities, so you can't study for them.

If you have technical job skills, you're considered skilled labor, in contrast to unskilled labor.

Technical Skills vs. Soft Skills

When applying for jobs, employers look for both hard and soft skills in your applications, cover letters, resumes, and interviews. Hard skills, or technical ones, are teachable and easily quantified—think certificates, degrees, foreign language mastery, machinery operation, or computer programming.

Soft skills are different: they're subjective, hard to quantify, and tied to your character or personality, like effective communication, teamwork, time management, persuasion, flexibility, and patience. These are often called interpersonal or people skills.

What Employers Want

Technical job skills are crucial for getting hired, as certain jobs require specific sets or combinations of them. Some basic or intermediate technical skills are easy for employers to teach new hires, but soft skills are inherent and tough—or impossible—to teach.

That's why employers seek candidates with a blend of technical and soft skills to complete tasks efficiently. Since customer service and satisfaction are key for any business, soft skills often hold greater value.

In-Demand Technical Job Skills

Programming and coding aren't just for developers; they're useful for IT staff, customer service, and project managers who support customers or coordinate projects. If you're an IT graduate who knows how to code, you're immediately more valuable to employers.

Project management involves effectively handling resources, people, and budgets—it's one of the best technical skills you can have. Project managers operate in industries from construction to digital design, delivering projects efficiently, using resources wisely, deploying the right teams, saving money, resolving problems, and anticipating issues.

Data analysis gives businesses essential information to maintain market share and competitive edges. It's complex, but done well, it boosts sales, marketing, revenue opportunities, and operational efficiency.

Information security is critical because data breaches can devastate businesses, causing loss of revenue and brand damage. Demand is rising for technical security specialists.

Designers must master technical skills like software such as Photoshop and tools for wireframes, plus knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Content and SEO skills extend beyond word processing; writers need digital expertise in content management systems, search engine optimization, and even building websites or blogs.

Important Note

In some careers, a professional certification can demonstrate your mastery of certain technical skills.

Example of Technical Job Skills

Take accounting: it requires a rigid set of technical skills, including knowledge of accounting practices, tax law, and software like Great Plains, QuickBooks, Peachtree, SAP, and tax preparation tools.

Accountants must prepare and interpret financial statements and reports, develop efficient reporting mechanisms, and implement accounting controls. Note that accountants also need soft skills, like communicating with regulators, dealing with auditors, and staying updated on industry changes.

What Are the Most Valuable Technical Job Skills?

According to Indeed, generative AI is the most valuable technical skill in 2024, offering a 47% salary boost over candidates without it. Other sought-after skills include machine learning systems, programming languages, and computer chip design.

What Are the Easiest Technical Job Skills to Learn?

Indeed notes that skills like web design and marketing are relatively easy to learn and can boost your income. These include web design and editing, graphic design, computer programming, and digital marketing—you can learn them on your own without special certification.

How Do You List Technical Skills in a Resume?

Include a separate skills section on your resume with a mix of soft and hard skills, such as programming languages, software proficiency, and other technical knowledge that employers might seek.

The Bottom Line

Technical job skills are the specific abilities and expertise you need for certain jobs, including experience with mechanical equipment, specialized software, or business procedures. In some cases, a professional certification can prove your technical skills.