Help Desk Technician resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 18 skills, tools and credentials that come up in help desk technician job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 11
- Help desk (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Tier 1 support (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Technical support (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Troubleshooting (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Password resets (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Multi-factor authentication (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Windows (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Ticketing systems (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Remote desktop support (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Printer support (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- First-contact resolution (used in Destiny's sample resume)
Tools & software · 4
- Active Directory (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Microsoft 365 (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Outlook (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Jira Service Management (used in Destiny's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 1
- CompTIA A+ (used in Destiny's sample resume)
Soft skills · 2
- Documentation (used in Destiny's sample resume)
- Customer service (used in Destiny's sample resume)
18 of 18 appear in Destiny's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Tier 1 support, Jira Service Management
Weak: Skills: Tier 1 support, Jira Service Management
Strong: Answer 30–40 calls, chats and emails a day as Tier 1 support for 600 users, logging every contact in Jira Service Management
Password resets, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Printer support, First-contact resolution
Weak: Skills: Password resets, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Printer support, First-contact resolution
Strong: Keep a 75% first-contact resolution rate on password resets, Outlook, Microsoft 365 and printer support requests
Multi-factor authentication, Active Directory
Weak: Skills: Multi-factor authentication, Active Directory
Strong: Unlock accounts and reset passwords in Active Directory and set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for new hires
Windows, Remote desktop support
Weak: Skills: Windows, Remote desktop support
Strong: Use remote desktop support tools to fix Windows issues without a site visit; fewer than 5% of my tickets are reopened
Strong bullets come from Destiny's sample resume and our help desk technician bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If a help desk technician post asks for Help desk and you've used it, say Help desk, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a help desk technician post says "Tier 1 support", write "Tier 1 support", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on Help desk — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Tier 1 support. A bullet like the one under Help Desk Technician in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
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/ Questions
Help Desk Technician keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a help desk technician resume have?
There's no magic number. Destiny's sample resume uses all 18 terms on this page, because each one fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If a help desk technician post says "Help desk", write "Help desk" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Destiny's sample, Help desk, Technical support and Password resets are in the summary and Tier 1 support shows up in a bullet under Help Desk Technician. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
Which tools should I list on a help desk technician resume?
The ones you've used and the post mentions. Common ones in help desk technician posts include Active Directory, Microsoft 365, Outlook and Jira Service Management. Name the tool in the bullet where you used it, not only in the skills list.
How should I list CompTIA A+ on my resume?
Spell it the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
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