Unlock the 42% Job Advantage: The One Skill Your Resume Is Missing That Employers Can’t Ignore

The hiring market is more competitive than ever, with more candidates competing for a smaller number of open roles, in part driven by the AI boom.

Job-seekers who want to stand out might consider upskilling — and a new study outlines exactly which skills are most likely to correlate with getting a job. Workforce solutions provider Careerminds analyzed 9,700 resumes and found that 20% of job-seekers who listed a technical skill got a new job, while only 14% of those whose resumes included soft skills got hired. People with technical skills were also 42% more likely to get hired. 

Which technical skills stood out the most? Candidates who listed proficiency in Tableau, a data visualization software company, had the highest rate of hire, with more than 25% going on to land a job. Data analysis, Python and SQL also stood out to employers. 

Although job-seekers frequently included soft skills on their resumes, they actually correlated with a lower rate of hire. Communication appeared on 16.4% of resumes but was associated with a 15.3% rate of hire. Soft skills like teamwork, leadership and customer service similarly underperformed. 

“Anyone can claim to be a strong communicator, an effective leader or proficient in a particular technology,” said Amanda Augustine, a career coach, resume writer and resident career expert at Careerminds. “What makes that claim credible is showing where you’ve put that skill to work.”

AI skills are also valuable — though only 3% of resumes mentioned AI tools, job-seekers who listed AI-related skills were 1.4 times more likely to secure a new job. 

“You don’t need to be an AI engineer to benefit from AI literacy,” Augustine said. “As these tools become increasingly embedded in more workplaces and professions, job-seekers should understand which AI tools and proficiencies are relevant to their field and learn how to use them effectively.”