What are keywords ?
A Single Keyword Communicates Multiple Skills and Qualifications.
When a prospective employer reads the keyword “sales,” he or she will assume you have experience in new business development, product/service presentation, negotiations, sales closings, customer relationship management, new product introduction and more.
Just one keyword can have tremendous power and deliver a huge message
Keywords Are the Backbone for Resume Scanning Technology.
Knowing which keywords appear most frequently in recruiters’ searches can help you use the right words and terms in your resume.
What do recruiters and hiring managers search for?
Here is a list of the top 100 resume keyword search phrases used by recruiters and hiring managers on job sites for a representative three month period:
- Sales
- Recruiter
- Administrative assistant
- Accountant
- Receptionist
- CPA
- Customer service
- Accounting
- Java
- Mortgage
- Manager
- Executive Assistant
- Human Resources
- Pharmacist
- Accounts Payable
- Insurance
- Payroll
- Staff accountant
- “Administrative assistant”
- Physical therapist
- Outside sales
- SAP
- “business analyst”
- Collections
- Audit
- Engineer
- Controller
- Financial analyst
- Project manager
- Marketing
- C#
- .net
- “Project manager”
- J2EE
- “Administrative
- Oracle
- Construction
- Warehouse
- Inside sales
- Business analyst
- Paralegal
- RN
- “Financial analyst”
- Data entry
- Nurse
- Peoplesoft
- Restaurant Manager
- Loan officer
- Staffing
- “executive assistant”
- Retail
- Legal secretary
- “Customer service”
- Call center
- “Outside sales”
- Bookkeeper
- “Inside Sales”
- Auditor
- Autocad
- Tax
- Registered Nurse
- Buyer
- “C
- Spanish
- Japanese
- Underwriter
- “sales”
- Account executive
- “Technical writer”
- Medical
- Cnc
- Finance
- “Staff accountant”
- Civil engineer
- Telemarketing
- Accounts receivable
- Senior accountant
- Manufacturing
- Sql
- Unix
- Architect
- HVAC
- Help desk
- Oracle DBA
- Clerical
- Purchasing
- Bilingual
- “help desk”
- Analyst
- “accounts payable”
- “Technical writer”
- Pharmaceutical
- Loan processor
- Occupational therapist
- Qa
- Pharmaceutical sales
- Real Estate
- Maintenance
- “Human Resources”
- Entry Level
Here are a few ideas for how and where to incorporate keywords into your resume:
- In the Career Summary at the beginning of your resume: Summaries are the ideal section in which to highlight your most notable keywords, and you can do this either in a paragraph format or a listing of bulleted items. By doing so, you’re quickly communicating your core qualifications for immediate impact.
- In your job descriptions: Use keywords to write powerful action statements, project highlights, achievements and more.
- In a separate section: Although optional, as noted above, you may choose to summarize your keywords in a separate section titled Professional Qualifications or Executive Qualifications