Essential cyber security skills to put on a CV in 2025

In 2025, cyber security will remain one of the UK’s most dynamic and opportunity-rich career paths. According to the government, there are currently around 67,300 full-time roles in the cyber security sector – an increase of 11 per cent over the past year. 

However, this only includes individuals working directly for cyber security providers, not taking into account those performing similar roles in other enterprises. Indeed, ISC2 estimated in its 2023 Cyber Security Workforce Study that the total number of cyber security professionals was as high as 367,000. 

This makes cyber security one of the UK’s most in-demand sectors, with competition among employers high for specialists in critical areas such as cloud security, incident response and ethical hacking. This presents great opportunities for candidates with the right skills to get noticed.

First impressions count, which is why your CV needs to immediately set out what you have to offer. Along with a strong covering letter, this is your best chance to stand out to recruiters. In this guide, we’ll explain what to include, how to list skills on a CV and offer some key CV writing tips in order to stand the best chance of making it to the interview stage.

Essential hard skills for success in cyber security

The basis of any cyber security role is strong technical knowledge, so this has to be front and centre in your CV. When recruiters assess your resumé for cyber security roles, they look for clear evidence of hands-on technical ability. This includes direct experience with security tools, platforms and programming languages that reflect your ability to prevent, detect and respond to threats in real-world environments.

Here are some of the key hard skills for CVs you should consider including when applying for jobs in 2025, as well as what particular technologies and capabilities you should be emphasising:

• Network security: Proficiency with firewalls (e.g. Palo Alto, Fortinet), intrusion detection systems, and packet analysis using tools like Wireshark.
• Penetration testing: Experience using tools like Nmap, Metasploit, Burp Suite or Nessus for ethical hacking and vulnerability assessment.
  
• SIEM tools and security monitoring: Familiarity with Splunk, IBM QRadar or Microsoft Sentinel for real-time threat detection and response.
• Cloud security: Understanding of AWS Security Hub, Azure Defender or Google Chronicle and how to secure cloud workloads.
• Identity and access management solutions: Hands-on knowledge of tools such as Okta, Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) or Ping Identity for managing access controls.
• Cryptography and encryption: Application of SSL/TLS, public key infrastructure and tools like OpenSSL.
• Scripting and programming: Ability to write in Python, PowerShell, Bash or JavaScript for automating tasks or developing exploits.
• Endpoint protection: Use of tools like CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint or SentinelOne.
• Operating system security: Hardening and securing Linux and Windows environments, including Active Directory.
  

It’s important to align the skills on your CV with the job description, as well as make sure you can explain how you would use certain tools and technologies if asked. Overloading your CV with tools or languages you do not actively use can backfire during technical screenings or interviews. Be strategic, and only include what you genuinely know.

Tony Smaul at CyberSecurityJobsite,com says: “We are seeing many clients looking to recruit through skills testing as well as qualifications more recently. The use of platforms like ‘Try Hack Me’ and ‘Hack the box’ are valuable platforms to train in a live environment and with some of the most up to date methodologies.” 

The importance of soft skills

While technical capabilities are essential in cyber security, soft skills play a crucial role in shaping how effectively professionals perform within teams, communicate risk and respond under pressure. For example, knowing the technical intricacies of a particular operating system or programming language is important, but if you can’t articulate this to others or work well with colleagues, recruiters may well look elsewhere.

Employers are increasingly looking beyond technical checklists to find candidates who can operate in dynamic, high-stakes environments. For this reason, soft skills should never be overlooked when crafting your cyber security CV.

Here are the essential soft skills to highlight in 2025 that are especially relevant to cyber security roles:

• Communication: Clearly explaining technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Teamwork and collaboration: Working across departments, often under pressure, to manage incidents and implement solutions.
• Problem-solving: Identifying root causes and thinking logically through complex technical issues.
• Adaptability: Responding to new threats, tools and business needs with flexibility and confidence.
• Critical thinking: Assessing security risks and making informed decisions based on evidence.
• Leadership: Guiding incident response teams, mentoring junior staff or leading projects with strategic impact.
• Creativity: Thinking like an attacker to identify vulnerabilities or designing novel security strategies.
• Time management: Prioritising tasks and meeting deadlines during audits, incident responses or system upgrades.
• Attention to detail: Spotting irregularities or overlooked vulnerabilities that others might miss.
• Work ethic: Demonstrating reliability, persistence and accountability in high-responsibility roles.
• Conflict resolution: Navigating disagreements or high-stress situations with professionalism and composure.
  

Just listing these isn’t enough. Anyone can write down in their CV that they’re a good problem-solver, but how do you prove it? To make these skills stand out, weave them into examples of real-world achievements. For instance, describe how you led a successful incident response, collaborated to build a particular way of working or introduced a creative solution to mitigate a critical vulnerability. This approach gives your soft skills context and credibility.

Emphasising the value of transferrable skills

Showcasing examples of how you responded to specific situations is ideal if you have direct experience in the sector, but if you don’t, this need not hold you back. UK recruiters are increasingly looking beyond traditional IT backgrounds to widen their talent pool and bring fresh perspectives into the field. 

For example, according to ISC2, more than six out of ten employers would be happy to consider junior candidates from outside the IT sector. Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of graduate recruiters said they had identified candidates from courses not directly related to cyber security or computer science (27 per cent from undergraduate degrees and 20 per cent from postgraduate courses).

If you are looking for a career change into cyber security, the chances are you’ll still have a few transferable skills that can be utilised in this sector. Here are several common transferable skills and how you can adapt them for cyber security roles:

• Project management: Planning and tracking deliverables maps well to managing incident response workflows.
• Analytical thinking: Data assessment and pattern recognition from finance or research roles translates to threat analysis.
• Customer relationship experience: Working in client‑facing roles (e.g. sales, support) helps when explaining security principles to non‑technical stakeholders.
• Compliance and audit experience: Familiarity with governance and regulation (from legal, finance or HR) supports risk and compliance functions.
• Teaching or mentoring: Explaining concepts clearly in training settings shows you can develop internal awareness programmes.

To present these on your CV, focus on outcomes. Highlight how your previous experience has delivered measurable results or supported risk reduction, process improvement or collaboration across teams. This approach shows recruiters how your unique background can strengthen their security posture from day one.

Where to place skills on your CV

Understanding how modern recruitment works is key to ensuring your skills are seen by the right people. Many organisations now use technology such as applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen CVs before a recruiter ever reviews them. These systems automatically scan applications for relevant keywords, qualifications and job-specific phrases. If your CV is not optimised for these tools, even strong applications can be filtered out early in the process.

To improve your chances of success, structure your CV so that your most relevant skills are easy to identify and well-aligned with the role. Here are a few strategies to do this effectively:

1. Add a dedicated key skills section: Create a clearly labelled section near the top of your CV listing your most important hard and soft skills. This helps ATS tools scan and categorise your application correctly.
2. Tailor your personal summary: Use the opening paragraph of your CV to briefly highlight your professional focus and the core skills you bring to the table.
3. Integrate skills into your work experience: Where possible, describe how you have applied your skills in past roles, using clear outcomes or examples.
   

Most importantly, adjust your CV to reflect the job description. This means incorporating the same keywords, tools, technologies and language found in the advert. For example, if a role specifically asks for incident response experience and you have this, but describe it as crisis management, it may go unnoticed by automated systems. Matching your wording to the job advert improves visibility and signals that your experience is directly relevant.

Skills to avoid putting on your CV

Not all skills strengthen a cyber security CV. Adding vague, outdated or irrelevant items can weaken your application and distract from what truly matters. Recruiters often skim through dozens of CVs at speed, so clarity and relevance are essential.

Avoid generic phrases or industry buzzwords that are ill-defined, generic or lack context. These are hard to measure and add little value on their own unless you can provide specific, measurable achievements as examples. Similarly, listing basic computer skills such as “Microsoft Office” is unnecessary for cyber roles.

Phrases to avoid include:

• Thought leader
• Results-driven
• Good communicator
• Works well under pressure
• Multitasking
• Go-getter
• Dynamic 

Lastly, resist the urge to include every skill you have ever learned. Tailor your CV to the specific job by aligning with the language used in the advert and focusing only on the skills that genuinely reflect your experience and ability. Precision shows professionalism and improves your chances of standing out.

How to choose the right skills for your CV: An essential checklist

Creating a cyber security CV that gets noticed means choosing the right skills and presenting them effectively. Ideally, you should be presenting a unique resumé for every application that has been tweaked to highlight skills, experiences and personal qualities that match what the employer is looking for. 

Use this checklist to refine your approach:

• Read the job description carefully: Highlight both required and desirable skills to understand what the employer truly values.
• Mirror keywords: Use the exact language and phrasing from the job ad to improve your chances with ATS.
• Prioritise relevance: Focus on the most relevant skills based on the role’s requirements. Aiming for around eight to 12 core competencies is a good guideline to ensure the CV remains detailed, yet focused.
• Back up your claims: Support each key skill with evidence such as project outcomes, metrics or achievements.
• Keep a master list: It’s easier to adapt a CV if you’re working from a template. Maintain a full list of your skills and tailor it for each application.
• Avoid duplication: Don’t repeat the same skill across multiple sections without adding context or examples.
• Stay current: Remove outdated tools or techniques no longer in use and add emerging technologies where relevant.
  

Following this checklist also helps you navigate tools such as ATS solutions and other automated CV filtering technologies and get your application seen by the right people, whether you’re applying directly or sharing your CV with a recruitment agency.

Cyber security offers a wealth of opportunity, with growing demand across industries and specialisms. Whether you’re breaking into the sector or aiming for your next step, a well-crafted CV that clearly highlights your most relevant skills is a vital part of standing out and securing interviews. Taking the time to get it right can make the difference between being overlooked and landing your ideal role.