Did you know that 82% of jobs require Microsoft Excel skills? It’s time to update your resume and accurately showcase your MS Office skills. After all, the entire Microsoft Office suite has become the fundamental set of tools to perform many job tasks.
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Microsoft Office skills refer to your abilities using any application from the Microsoft Office suite. Adding them to your resume might initially seem redundant, but you’d be surprised that many people don’t have a working knowledge of Excel, a basic skill for many corporate jobs.
Knowing how to list Microsoft Office skills in your resume can factor in getting hired for a job opening.
Nowadays, many jobs require you to be proficient in Microsoft Office.
As we mentioned, the MS Office suite includes many programs that facilitate the productivity of jobs in diverse industries such as finance, marketing and teaching.
You can list all the Microsoft Office suite programs as resume skills, which are the following:
You might be debating whether to include a Microsoft Office skill because you’re unsure if your level of proficiency merits a spot on your resume.
Ideally, you want to list Microsoft Office skills in which you’re at an intermediate or advanced level. But how can you tell?
First, have you regularly used any of the Microsoft Office products in a previous role on a daily or weekly basis? Then you’re likely an intermediate or advanced user.
If you’ve only dabbled in these products for personal use or when in school, you might just be a beginner, so it’s best to leave out that skill then.
Below, you’ll find a list of tasks you should be able to do to qualify yourself as proficient in the various MS Office programs.
While Microsoft Office skills are great to add to your resume, you should only list skills that you truly possess. Constantly update your skills section to your desired job by identifying resume keywords in the job description.
Our Resume Builder selects your most relevant and in-demand skills depending on your desired role. Get a custom and professional resume in minutes!
The following are resume examples of jobs that commonly use various Microsoft Office applications. Find your desired job title and start building your resume with the help of these samples!
Take a look at the job description and make a note of any MS Office skills the job requires. Then, list the skills you possess and your level of proficiency in your resume skills section. For example, employers hiring for jobs like accountant and data analyst can ask you to be an expert in Excel.
Create a general resume skills section with six to eight soft and hard skills. Among these skills, you can add whichever Microsoft Office product you’re proficient in.
You can add more value to your skills section by sharing tasks you can easily complete using an MS Office product. Doing so allows recruiters to understand what you consider proficient so they can determine if you possess the right knowledge for the job.
For example:
Skills
Remember that you can customize the order and formatting of your resume sections — including your skills section — depending on the resume format you choose.
While writing your work experience accomplishments, you can cleverly slip in a few skills in Microsoft Office programs. Share the types of tasks or job duties you regularly perform better to convey the scope of your Microsoft Office skills.
For example:
Focus on finding the right job opportunities; meanwhile, let our Builder write personalized content for all your resume sections featuring the most in-demand skills for your industry. Get started now!
Doing a Microsoft Office certification or course is an excellent way to improve and make your skills legitimate.
Here are some popular Microsoft Office certifications and courses:
You can browse all the Microsoft Certifications and find the right one for your desired job
You can also find many Microsoft Office courses and certifications on Coursera, Udemy and Skillshare websites. For example:
You can learn how to add certifications to your resume in our How to Write a Resume article.
You could also take advantage of the automatic formatting benefits of our Resume Builder and create expert custom sections for certifications and licenses with just the click of a button!
The most in-demand skill in Microsoft is proficiency in Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing platform that many companies use and is critical for developers and engineers. According to the Microsoft website, their Azure certifications are one of the most popular ones, and they consistently top the list of the highest-paying Microsoft certifications.
Other than that, skills in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word are the “bread and butter” of many jobs in various industries. You can rest assured that you’ll have to use Excel and Word at least once in your career — even if you switch roles.
We consider the top 5 skills in Microsoft to be:
Yes, proficiency in Microsoft Office is technically a skill, and you can even get certified as an expert on all the MS Office applications. However, when listing Microsoft Office skills on your resume, you should be more specific about which applications you’ve mastered and only mention the ones that directly relate to your desired role.
You can learn more about what skills to include in your resume and how to format your skills section in our resume skills guide for 2024.
Some basic skills for Microsoft Word are:
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