Searching for Words: Where to Find the Right Keywords for a Job Search

Nancy Anderson
Posted by in Career Advice •


When you send your resume in for a job, you hope the job recruiter or hiring manager reads it thoughtfully and thoroughly, picking out all your best qualities and noticing your relevant experience. However, nowadays, there is a good chance that the first reader of your resume is a computer. Computers scan for keywords and highlight certain resumes for the hiring manager to read in person. The secret to getting your resume read is to figure out what keywords the hiring manager choose for the computer's search. So how do you unearth the mystery keywords you need?

Look at the Job Description to Find Keywords

One way to find keywords to seed into your resume is to look at the job description for the position for which you are applying. Read each job description with a highlighter in hand, and look particularly at the nouns and verbs in the description. Ask yourself whether a hiring manager might consider that word useful in weeding through candidate resumes. Make a list of the keywords from the job description, and compare it to your resume.

Just one or two keywords is not enough. A computer search is likely to place the resumes it reviews in a rank order, placing those with the most keywords at the top of the list. Rewrite your resume to reflect the keywords you have discovered, rephrasing as necessary.

Take your keyword search one step further by checking out the job descriptions for similar positions, even ones that are already filled. You may find keywords there that express qualifications or experience vital to the position that simply did not appear in the job description. Some hiring managers may even leave out a few key terms deliberately to help sort through candidates and find the most qualified. Tweak your resume one more time to incorporate your new findings.

Develop Your Own Personal List of Keywords

Another great way to find the right keywords for your job search is to evaluate yourself, your skills and your background. Make sure everything that might be relevant to a given job is included in your resume. Ensure you use the same version of your name on your job applications, your resume and all job-related sites, such as LinkedIn; don't list yourself as "Kathy Smith" in one place and "Kathryn Smith" elsewhere.

Include specific skills by their most common name, including any foreign languages you speak, especially when applying to a global company. List any certificates or formal qualifications you hold, as well as any formal training you have that is relevant to the job. Remember to include job-specific software with which you have experience. If you held a position with major companies, worked with recognizable clients or received significant awards or honors, make sure to list them all by name.

Cover All the Alternatives

Sometimes you might include a perfectly good keyword on your resume only to find the computer doing the keyword search does not notice it because it was looking for a slightly different variation on the word. Remember that computers are extremely literal; they cannot pick up on typos, and they can only respond to their programming. Cover all the possible alternatives for keyword terms to make sure you give the computer everything it needs to find you.

If your job search is partially defined by location, include all the possible locations on your resume. Go ahead and list "Los Angeles," but make sure you include "Southern California" as well. If your experience includes a relevant position, but your old company used a different name for that position than the new company does, list both titles with a slash between them to make sure the computer notices.

Alternative names are particularly crucial when you are in a field that uses a lot of shorthand or acronyms. Find a natural way to include them all. For example, if you are applying for a job making corporate videos in a communications or public relations department, find ways to describe yourself as a director of photography, a cinematographer and a DP. Acronyms show up repeatedly when discussing industry training and tools, equipment or software you know how to use, relevant laws or regulations for your industry, memberships in industry-related organizations, and technical terms used by your industry. Don't forget standard abbreviations, such as PR for public relations and HR for human resources.

Once you develop a list of probable keywords for a job you are interested in, do not just glance at your resume to see if you have a few already in place. Rewrite your resume to include keywords, keeping your phrasing as natural as possible. Once your resume catches a computer's attention, you increase your odds of actually getting in front of and speaking to a real person.

Resources:

http://www.job-hunt.org/personal-SEO/top-25-job-search-keywords.shtml

http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/using-right-keywords-essential-when-applying-for-jobs-online

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/06/01/cb.use.keywords.for.job/index.html?eref=rss_tech

Photo Courtesy of Cristian Cardenas at Flickr.com
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  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    Thanks for the comments. Job seekers seem to fear keywords. Maybe it's because they don't realize that they are already using them on a daily basis - every time they search for something on the Internet - keywords. Keywords really are a basic part of our lives now so don't fear using them in your resume and cover letter. @Jacqueline said it the best - it only takes a few minutes to swap out a word or a phrase that you were already using on your resume and replace it with a keyword from the job posting. If you aren't sure what keywords are, take a look at several job postings for the same type of position and see what words jump out at you from all of them. Then try to put them in your resume and cover letter. Keywords are here to stay - as long as companies utilize ATS.

  • Hema Zahid
    Hema Zahid •

    I think the most important tip in this article is to use keywords naturally. Including every single keyword in a job description may get a resume past the ATS but it may also look entirely ridiculous to the very human HR manager. With some trial and error, it should be possible for everyone to find the right balance in their resume that satisfies both the ATS and a HR manager.

  • Jacob T.
    Jacob T. •

    Even though I see the merit of these kinds of automated systems, it feels like another death knell in the life of conversational English. First, to save characters, we did away with vowels. Now, so that a computer will flag our resume we most do away with achievements to write every permutation of public relations we can think of. It sort of makes applying for jobs less about the job and more about gaming the system.

  • Tara Avery
    Tara Avery •

    Given how often we use keywords on a day-to-day basis, it makes so much sense that they've migrated into the job market. For such a relatively small amount of work--tailoring a resume or cover letter--it seems like a vast improvement in chances. Even aside from the question of keywords, taking the time to tailor a resume keeps it fresh, and I think that really comes through when your resume ends up in front of human eyes.

  • Jacqueline Parks
    Jacqueline Parks •

    This is great advice. I like to be careful to use the exact same wording as I find in the job description when listing my skills on my resume. It only takes a few minutes to switch words in my current resume to the phrasing the description prefers, and this has led to more interviews and assignments in my case.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @William thanks for that viewpoint. ATS really came into being after the market crashed in 2007. Now that our economy is recovering and companies are receiving fewer resumes for posted positions, maybe ATS has seen its day.

  • William Browning
    William Browning •

    Applicant tracking systems are getting even more sophisticated now. Some of them even find keywords while working around graphics in a resume. Even though large and medium-sized companies use these tools to weed out candidates, it's only a matter of time when every company buys an automated software package to vet positions.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    Thanks for all of the comments. It is so very true that keywords are king when it comes to applying for a position. What I do is take several job descriptions for a position that interests me, such as SEO Analyst, and I lay them out next to each other and look for common words or phrases. That gives me a good idea what the ATS is looking for. It may sound silly to have to do this but it is truly the only way to get past the gatekeeper (ATS) and have your resume reviewed by human eyes. @Terry thanks for your comment as it is so true. @Catherine computer technology is here to stay. The tracking software may change as the years go by but the basic premise will remain in that keywords are the key. Thanks again and good luck.

  • Richard Stockton
    Richard Stockton •

    This is a refreshingly original idea for resumes. It reminds me of the way some writers structure blog articles and other items to place highly in the Google search rankings. It's never a bad idea to optimize the stuff you write so that the robot gatekeepers will let it through.

  • Terry Lutz
    Terry Lutz •

    This is all really good advice. I’ve applied for several jobs in the past where I felt like I was immensely qualified for the position, but never even got a callback, let alone an interview. Only recently have I started applying some of the tips mentioned here, and I’ve had much better results. I’ve always felt like my experience should speak for itself, but unfortunately that’s not the case. You really do have to tailor your resume to each job you apply for to get the best results.

  • CATHERINE S.
    CATHERINE S. •

    ​It's very interesting to learn about how employers use computer technology to search for keywords in resumes. On the one hand, it seems a little unfair for resumes to be discarded just because they don't contain enough of these keywords. On the other hand, knowing this information on what employers are looking for gives us a leg up in the job market. I think the tip of really looking at the keywords that are in the job description for an idea of what to include is great advice.

  • Lorri Cotton
    Lorri Cotton •

    This is excellent information!. Hiring protocols have changed so drastically, and to even get noticed, you have to get past a computer first, many times. I didn't know where to find these keywords, or which ones were even important. Thanks for all of these outstanding tips! I will certainly be using these in my job search from here on out.

  • Shannon Philpott
    Shannon Philpott •

    Love the tips here. I agree that job descriptions are extremely helpful in determining how you should phrase information on your resume and your cover letter. Another helpful tool is a keyword generator online. I have found that many employers use common keywords (phrases that are typed into Google) for their applicant tracking systems.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Katharine thanks for your comment. A few years ago I could have answered your question by saying maybe 25% of the companies are using ATS. Today, I would guess that's much higher - probably 80% or above. This way companies don't have to screen the thousands of resumes that are submitted for a single position - they just let the ATS software do the screening. @Jay thanks for your comment. Keywords are simple - just check the job posting and you will be able to find them. What I do is compare two or more like positions and see if I can't pull some common keywords out of them. Once you get the hang of doing it - it becomes relatively simple. Best of luck to both of you.

  • Jay Bowyer
    Jay Bowyer •

    These keyword tips are so useful and not necessarily obvious, particularly to jobseekers who haven't applied online before (or frequently). By condensing my skills into a set of carefully-formulated keywords, I can make myself succinctly attractive to employers. When I include variable keywords that apply to the job I want, prospective employers are more likely to find me. Makes perfect sense to me!

  • Katharine M.
    Katharine M. •

    What percentage of employers in the United States would you say have this kind of software? How common has it become, and is use of these programs steadily increasing? I'm guessing that the bigger the company, the more likely they are to use this software as an initial screening tool?

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