Should I list soft skills on a Nurse Practitioners resume?

Yes, but prove them rather than list them. 13 of the top 40 skills in these postings are soft skills, led by Communication (66 % of postings). Show them through results in your bullets, for example a project you coordinated or a process you explained.

Which tools and certifications do Nurse Practitioners postings ask for?

The tools and certifications named most often were EHR (54 %), Board certified (31 %), State license (29 %), DEA registration (23 %), HIPAA (15 %) and BLS (12 %). List the ones you have exactly as the posting writes them.

Where does this data come from?

From 387 public Nurse Practitioners job postings at 145 employers, collected on October 23, 2026 from Greenhouse (240), Lever (76) and Ashby (71). A skill's share is the number of postings that mention it divided by 387. The data is updated quarterly and can be downloaded as a CSV.

Nurse Practitioners resume skills and keywords

In 387 Nurse Practitioners job postings from 145 employers analysed on October 23, 2026, the most requested skills are Communication (66 %), EHR (54 %), Patient care (52 %), Compassion (38 %) and Collaboration (36 %). Of the top 40 skills, 27 are hard skills, tools or certifications and 13 are soft skills.

Download the full list as a CSV or check your own resume against a posting with the free keyword scanner.

Top 40 skills in Nurse Practitioners job postings

Skills requested in 387 Nurse Practitioners job postings, by share of postings
Skill	Share of postings	Type
Communication	66 %	Soft skill
EHR	54 %	Tool
Patient care	52 %	Hard skill
Compassion	38 %	Soft skill
Collaboration	36 %	Soft skill
Telehealth	35 %	Hard skill
Board certified	31 %	Certification
State license	29 %	Certification
Flexibility	26 %	Soft skill
Behavioral health	26 %	Hard skill
Medication Management	24 %	Hard skill
DEA registration	23 %	Certification
Interpersonal skills	19 %	Soft skill
HIPAA	15 %	Certification
Patient-Centered Care	14 %	Hard skill
Leadership	14 %	Soft skill
Clinical Documentation	13 %	Hard skill
Administrative Support	13 %	Hard skill
Treatment planning	12 %	Hard skill
Empathy	12 %	Soft skill
Clinical Judgment	12 %	Hard skill
BLS	12 %	Certification
Care Coordination	12 %	Hard skill
Pediatric	11 %	Hard skill
Mentoring	11 %	Soft skill
Clinical Leadership	10 %	Soft skill
Patient assessment	9 %	Hard skill
Bilingual	9 %	Soft skill
Evidence-Based Practice	8 %	Hard skill
Clinical Protocols	8 %	Hard skill
Net Promoter Score	8 %	Hard skill
Quality Improvement	8 %	Hard skill
Decision making	7 %	Soft skill
RN license	7 %	Certification
OSHA	7 %	Certification
Accountability	6 %	Soft skill
CPR	6 %	Certification
Clinical Decision-Making	6 %	Soft skill
Preventive Care	6 %	Hard skill
Counseling	6 %	Hard skill

Hard skills vs soft skills vs tools and certifications

Hard skills (18)

Patient care 52 %
Telehealth 35 %
Behavioral health 26 %
Medication Management 24 %
Patient-Centered Care 14 %
Clinical Documentation 13 %
Administrative Support 13 %
Treatment planning 12 %
Clinical Judgment 12 %
Care Coordination 12 %
Pediatric 11 %
Patient assessment 9 %
Evidence-Based Practice 8 %
Clinical Protocols 8 %
Net Promoter Score 8 %
Quality Improvement 8 %
Preventive Care 6 %
Counseling 6 %

Tools and software (1)

EHR 54 %

Certifications and licenses (8)

Board certified 31 %
State license 29 %
DEA registration 23 %
HIPAA 15 %
BLS 12 %
RN license 7 %
OSHA 7 %
CPR 6 %

Keyword phrases recruiters use

Multi-word phrases that recur across these nurse practitioners postings, with the share of postings that use each one.

treatment plans 37 %primary care 33 %quality care 18 %clinical care 18 %active unrestricted 17 %care model 17 %virtual care 16 %physician assistant 15 %private practice 15 %active dea 14 %educate patients 14 %care through 13 %care settings 13 %whole person 13 %direct patient 13 %

How to use this on your resume

Treat the table as a checklist, not a script. Put the skills you genuinely have in your skills section, using the same wording as the posting, and back the top ones with a bullet that shows the result.

Each job posting differs from the average, so compare your resume with the actual ad: paste it into the resume keyword scanner to see which terms you already have and which are missing. The ATS keywords guide explains where to place them so applicant tracking systems read them.

Skip any skill you cannot talk about in an interview; a keyword that falls apart under one question costs more than it gains. For a full layout with these skills in context, see the Nurse Practitioners resume example. Then prepare for the Nurse Practitioners interview questions that test them.

Build a nurse practitioners resume with these skills

Start in the editor, tailor your bullets to the job you want and download an ATS-friendly resume.

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