How to leverage AI skills on your resume

By Vicki Salemi, career expert at Monster.com

If you’re concerned about AI as it relates to your future jobs while simultaneously embracing it on your resume, you’re not alone.

According to Monster’s 2026 State of the Graduate Report, 89 percent of recent and impending college graduates are worried about AI replacing entry-level roles. This is a significant increase compared to 64 percent from last year. 

Yet, it’s important to stick to the basics when writing a professional resume to jump-start your job search. Employers want to see your skills and experiences, including internships, volunteering, study abroad, and more. Moreover, as part of your skills, it’s not uncommon to list your AI skills, too.

According to Monster’s AI Resume Trends Report, the percentage of resumes including at least one AI-term jumped from 3.7 percent in 2023 to 12.8 percent last year! One in eight resumes include at least one AI term. By talking to various recruiters lately, they all said it’s a green light when candidates showcase their AI skills. They look for candidates who can leverage AI to help them with their job–instead of shying away from AI and instead, leaning into it, they’re versatile, flexible, and ultimately embracing technology.

Here are three ways to stand out on your resume by way of your AI skills.

Highlight AI experience

Yes, it’s a real skill set. Similar to your other skills like problem solving, task and project management, include your AI skills. Don’t rely on buzzwords or jargon. Instead, highlight specific projects and outcomes. Quantify results as much as possible and if it’s unclear, let’s say if you assisted a team and researched various aspects of a product launch for them, you can indicate you were proactive in your research and analytical skills by using AI for efficiency.

Prioritize your foundational skills

Since employers are still looking for digital proficiency in broad competencies like AI and ML (machine learning), you can include them with additional hard skills mentioned on your resume. More specifically, in the AI Trends Report, mention of popular AI tools on resumes has increased: Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, Pytorch, Keras, and Hugging Face.

Be thoughtful with niche terms

Including AI concepts and skills on your resume can help your candidacy stand out, but the skills alone won’t open the door to that coveted job interview and offer. You need to include the experience to back up your AI schools. Include a sentence or two to describe the context for which you used AI. In turn, these bullets can become meaningful conversations during job interviews. Anticipate interviewers will ask you for examples of using AI; be prepared to back them up. 

Above all, it’s important to not shy away from mentioning AI skills on your resume (and this includes leaning into AI to help you craft it as well!). Remember that one in eight data resumes currently list at least one AI term–you can stand out from other candidates by highlighting these skills along with your results-driven experience.