IT Support Specialist Skills for a Resume

Companies hire IT support specialists who fix problems quickly and leave people happier than they found them. Show the systems you support, your ticket volume and resolution rates, and the improvements you made.

Updated

14 skills at a glance

Hard skills

What the work takes, how a hiring manager judges each skill, and a bullet point that shows it.

  1. Windows, macOS and mobile device support

    Name the platforms and the kinds of problems you solve on each.

    Example bullet pointSupported a mixed fleet of Windows laptops, MacBooks and company iPhones for a 250-person office.

  2. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace administration

    Mention the admin work you handle: licenses, mailboxes, sharing and security settings.

    Example bullet pointManaged Microsoft 365 licenses, shared mailboxes and Teams policies for 400 users.

  3. Active Directory and Entra ID

    Show account management and any automation or cleanup you did.

    Example bullet pointCleaned up 300 stale accounts and groups in Active Directory, closing access former staff still had.

  4. Device management (Intune, Jamf)

    Show the number of devices and what you automated.

    Example bullet pointEnrolled 150 Macs in Jamf with automatic setup, so new hires were ready to work in under an hour.

  5. Networking (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VPN)

    Mention the network problems you diagnose and fix.

    Example bullet pointTraced slow logins at a branch office to a misconfigured DHCP scope and fixed it the same day.

  6. Ticketing systems (ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira Service Management)

    Name the system and show that you keep tickets organized and on time.

    Example bullet pointBuilt ticket categories and templates in Jira Service Management that cut average handling time by 20%.

  7. Hardware troubleshooting and repair

    Mention the repairs you do and the cost or downtime you saved.

    Example bullet pointRepaired laptops in-house instead of sending them out, saving about $15,000 a year.

  8. Remote support tools

    Name the tools and show that you can fix things without being there.

    Example bullet pointFixed most problems for remote staff over TeamViewer and Intune, avoiding couriered replacements.

  9. Basic scripting (PowerShell)

    Show a repetitive task you automated with PowerShell and the time it saved.

    Example bullet pointWrote a PowerShell script that sets up a new user's account, mailbox and groups in one step.

Soft skills

Shown through what you did, never claimed as adjectives.

  1. Patience

    Show how you helped frustrated or less technical users.

    Example bullet pointWalked a stressed manager through recovering a lost presentation minutes before a board meeting.

  2. Explaining without jargon

    Show guides or training that worked for people who are not technical.

    Example bullet pointRan short lunchtime sessions on password managers that 60 staff attended.

  3. Listening

    Show that you found the real problem behind a request.

    Example bullet pointListened past a request for a new laptop and found the real problem was a full disk, fixed in ten minutes.

  4. Prioritizing under pressure

    Show how you handled many urgent requests at once.

    Example bullet pointSorted tickets during a company-wide outage, restoring access for customer-facing teams first.

  5. Following through

    Show that you close the loop with users.

    Example bullet pointFollowed every escalated ticket until it was resolved and confirmed the fix with the user.

Licenses and certifications

Give them a section of their own, with who issued each one and the year or expiry date.

  • CompTIA A+
  • CompTIA Network+
  • CompTIA Security+
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals
  • ITIL 4 Foundation

Keywords from IT support specialist job postings

Use the ones that are true for you, in your bullet points as well as your skills list.

  • tickets
  • Microsoft 365
  • Active Directory
  • Intune
  • first contact
  • satisfaction
  • laptops
  • knowledge base
  • VPN
  • user accounts

Each posting has its own words. Our guide to tailoring your resume to a job description shows how to find them and where to put them.

Where to put your skills

  • In a skills section: a short list of the hard skills the posting names, in its words.
  • In your bullet points: every skill that matters should show up in something you did, with a result. That is where a hiring manager believes it.
  • In your summary: two or three of the skills the job asks for most.

More on choosing them in how to choose and prove the skills on your resume.

Questions

What skills should an IT support specialist put on a resume?

Windows, macOS and mobile support, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, Active Directory, device management, networking, ticketing systems, hardware repair, remote tools and basic scripting, plus patience and clear explanations.

Should I list certifications like CompTIA A+?

Yes. Entry-level certifications such as A+ or Microsoft 365 certifications help you through screening. Put them in a section of their own.

How do I show results in IT support?

Use the numbers you already track: tickets a day, first-contact resolution, satisfaction scores and time saved through automation.

Put them to work

Start from an IT support specialist resume that already uses these skills, for an invented person, and make it yours in the builder.

Use this exampleRead the IT support specialist resume example