How to write computer skills on a CV

Start from the posting, not from every program you have opened

Prospects describes the skills section as the place for the IT packages you can competently use, adds that the skills you list should be relevant to the job, and warns that you will need to back up your claims at interview. That rules out the long list of everything installed on your laptop. The posting tells you which programs matter; your experience tells you which of them you can defend.

1. Copy every program, platform and file type the posting names, spelled as the posting spells it.
2. Split "MS Office" into the programs you actually use: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams.
3. For each one, write one task you have done with it, with a result if you have one.
4. Give each a level in words, using the scale in the next section.
5. Drop what every applicant has, such as web browsing or email, unless the posting asks for it.

General advice on choosing and proving skills is in the skills guide; this page covers only software, levels and digital certificates.

Basic, intermediate, advanced: borrow Microsoft's own scale

"Advanced Excel" means different things to different people. Microsoft's certification pages give the words a fixed meaning: on Microsoft Learn, the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Associate certificates carry the level Intermediate and the Excel Expert certificate the level Advanced. Each page lists the skills its exam assesses and says a candidate should have about 150 hours of instruction and hands-on experience with the program. You do not need the certificate to borrow the scale; you need to be able to do what it lists.

Excel levels, from the exam skill lists

Word and PowerPoint, Associate level

Bars, stars and percentages say nothing a reader can check, and the skills guide explains why parsers lose them. Words such as "intermediate: tables, formulas, charts" survive any file format.

Artefact: a computer skills block for three jobs

Invented applicants. Each block uses programs that O*NET marks as in demand or hot for that occupation (next section), and levels from the scale above.

Write only what you have used. A program from these tables that you cannot discuss at interview does more harm than good.

Software by field, from O*NET

O*NET OnLine, run for the US Department of Labor, lists the software named in job postings for each occupation. It marks Hot Technologies, the requirements most frequently included across all employer job postings, and In Demand ones, frequently included in postings for that occupation. We read these profiles on 13 October 2026; they describe US postings, so use them as a checklist, not a rule.

The job guides for each of these fields show how to place the same programs inside experience bullets.

ICDL: what it is and how to write it

ICDL stands for International Certification of Digital Literacy and is run by the ICDL Foundation, which reports more than 100 territories, more than 40 languages and more than 20,000 test centres. In Europe it was previously called ECDL. When the ICDL name launched in Europe in May 2019, the foundation said all existing ECDL certificates remain valid.

Modules and certificates

Modules can be taken in any number and any order. Completing all six modules of the ICDL CORE programme (AI Essentials, Cyber Security, Presentation, Computer & Online Essentials, Documents and Spreadsheets) earns the ICDL Certificate of Digital Competence. The ICDL PROFESSIONAL programme adds role-focused modules such as Data Analytics, Project Planning, Digital Marketing and advanced Spreadsheets.

Lines that say exactly what you hold

• All six CORE modules: "ICDL Certificate of Digital Competence (ICDL CORE, 6 modules), 2025".
• Some modules: "ICDL modules: Spreadsheets, Documents (2024)". Do not write "ICDL certified" for a partial set.
• An old certificate: keep the name printed on it, "ECDL (2012)", and add "now ICDL" only if the reader may not know the name.
• Put the certificate under Certifications, and the programs themselves in the skills block.

For applicants in Türkiye: ICDL's country page lists one test centre, in Kadıköy, Istanbul, and says ICDL Europe offers the full selection of modules in English.

Microsoft Office Specialist: facts before you book

• Each exam is proctored and gives you 50 minutes, according to the Microsoft Learn pages for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Renewal frequency is listed as 60 months.
• The price depends on the country or region where the exam is proctored; students and educators schedule through Certiport.
• Turkish was not among the exam languages listed for MO-110, MO-210, MO-211 or MO-310 when we read the pages on 13 October 2026.

How to write it

Use the full title from the credential and the year: "Microsoft Office Specialist: Excel Expert (Microsoft 365 Apps), 2026". The exam code is optional; the title is what a recruiter recognises.

Where the section goes, and what to call it

Harvard's careers office describes a skills section that can cover technical skills, language proficiency, laboratory techniques and interests. MIT's careers office suggests a separate skills section and naming the tools again in your experience, because context reinforces them. So the programs appear twice: once in a short block, once in the bullet where you used them.

How CitedCV's checker reads the heading

The free checker at the top of this page files lines under Skills only when the heading is one it knows, such as Skills or Technical Skills. "Computer Skills" is not on its list, so lines under that heading are read as experience. If you want the section counted as skills there, call it Technical Skills or put a "Computer:" line inside Skills. Other parsers have their own lists; we have not seen them.

Measuring your level without an exam

The European Commission's "Test your digital skills" tool, on the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform, is a self-assessment based on the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp). It takes 15 to 20 minutes, is offered in 29 languages and gives a score for each competence area. Use it to choose honest level words. It is not a certificate, so the score does not belong on the CV.

Who this page is not for

• Developers listing a technology stack: the software developer guide covers stacks, projects and GitHub.
• Choosing between hard and soft skills, or proving skills in general: the skills guide.
• Language levels: the CEFR guide.

Next steps

Write the block, add each program to the bullet where you used it, then run the checker above to see where your skills land in the parser view. If you build the CV with CitedCV, it writes the skills block only from the programs and levels you give it, and asks when something is missing.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Office Specialist: Excel Associate (Microsoft 365 Apps)learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/mos-excel-associate-m365-apps/
2. Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Office Specialist: Excel Expert (Microsoft 365 Apps)learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/mos-excel-expert-m365-apps/
3. Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Office Specialist: Word Associate (Microsoft 365 Apps)learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/mos-word-associate-m365-apps/
4. Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Office Specialist: PowerPoint Associate (Microsoft 365 Apps)learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/mos-powerpoint-associate-m365-apps/
5. ICDL Foundation, ICDL's modular approach to certificationicdl.org/icdl-modules-programs/
6. ICDL Foundation, About usicdl.org/about-us/
7. ICDL Foundation, ICDL launched in Europe at event in Brussels (May 2019)icdl.org/icdl-launched-in-europe-at-event-in-brussels/
8. ICDL Foundation, ICDL in Türkiyeicdl.org/country/turkiye/
9. O*NET OnLine, Accountants and Auditorswww.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-2011.00
10. O*NET OnLine, Civil Engineerswww.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-2051.00
11. O*NET OnLine, Graphic Designerswww.onetonline.org/link/summary/27-1024.00
12. O*NET OnLine, Secretaries and Administrative Assistantswww.onetonline.org/link/summary/43-6014.00
13. O*NET OnLine, Data Scientistswww.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-2051.00
14. O*NET OnLine, Registered Nurseswww.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-1141.00
15. Digital Skills and Jobs Platform (European Commission), Test your digital skillsdigital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/learning-space/resources/test-your-digital-skills-tool
16. Prospects, How to write a CVwww.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/how-to-write-a-cv
17. MIT Career Advising and Professional Development, Resumescapd.mit.edu/resources/resumes/
18. Harvard Mignone Center for Career Success, Create a strong resumecareerservices.fas.harvard.edu/resources/create-a-strong-resume/