Using keywords in Your Resume

In the not so distant past, resumes were examined for their overall appearance and for what they said. But as resumes went from sheaves of linen paper sent in envelopes through the mail, to attached or uploaded .pdfs via the internet, the way they are handled has changed. The use of keywords has become just as important as the writing of resumes.

At least 80% of professional organizations scan resumes for keywords as part of the first step in eliminating candidates. This means that you can have the most beautifully written resume and cover letter that would otherwise get you an interview and it can be rejected before a human being ever lays eyes on it.

Some companies don’t even want any formatting and may request a text only version of your resume. Be prepared for this and have a text only version available that you can paste into online inquiry forms or into emails.

A computer scans thousands of resumes for keywords and flags the ones that meet a specified criterion. So how do you find the relevant keywords for the job you want? Here are some suggestions.

• Focus on any hard skills you have, such as technology experience, certifications and job-specific skills (these words will be nouns)
• Use a variety of key verbs
• Industry buzzwords and jargon
• Job titles
• Names of products or services
• Types of degrees
• Names of colleges or trade schools
• Company names
• Anything like “Fortune 500” that tends to impress
• Awards you have won
• Professional organizations
• Look through the job description itself for key words
• Get keyword ideas from recruiters or career coaches
• Look at the company web site or annual report

Find your keywords and place them at the top of your document, as much as possible. The earlier the better, as some software scanning programs only search the beginning of the document. Even when person finally looks at it, you want to start out with the most relevant words.

You can call this section “professional profile” or “summary of qualifications.” Build bullet points that take each keyword and apply them to a work accomplishment or task. You want to demonstrate how you used each keyword in a context that will keep people interested, as well as catch the eye of the scanning process.

It is still important to include your identified keywords in the rest of your resume. When you first compile this list, you may think it is impossible to incorporate all these terms into your resume because you haven’t used them before. Really think about what you have done in past jobs and be willing to think of them in light of your keywords. A good goal is the have around 30 words in your resume that can be considered keywords.

For more information, view http://www.armedservicesjob.com/

By Becky Papp