Hard skills are taught skills. They are quantifiable and are often learned in school, through certifications, or in previous work experience. Hard skills are specific to each job and are often the basis of job requirements.
Recruiters look for hard skills on your resume to gauge how well you may perform job duties. These skills are crucial. They help with applicant tracking systems (ATS). These systems rank and filter job applications.
Hard skills are “resume keywords.” Recruiters use these to search for candidates in applicant tracking systems. To be highly searchable, a resume must include the most suitable levels of skills in the job description.