How to Use Keywords and Skills in Your Resume

During your resume preparation, you will need to understand the importance of using keywords and skills in your resume. As hiring managers receive resumes in large numbers, they may use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to assist them. One function of an ATS is to scan resumes for specific keywords.

Resumes that don’t have these keywords are filtered out which means they will never reach a hiring manager. As this is a possibility, it is vital to take care and use appropriate keywords when building your resume. This article will help show you why keywords and skills are important and how you can use them in your resume.

Why are the Keywords in Your Resume Important?

Resume keywords are specific words or phrases that relate to the job you are applying for. To find out what the keywords are for a job, look at the job advertisement. The skills, values, attributes, experience, and qualifications that an employer requires can be found in the job ad.

Other types of keywords include your university degree, university name, previous employers, and any trade licenses or certifications. You need to include these keywords to trigger a response from any scanning software that a hiring manager may use. This means that even if you have the qualifications for a role, you may not be considered unless you include keywords.

Why is it Important to Include Skills in Your Resume?

To put it bluntly, employers look for skills. When writing your resume, you need to include skills to convey to a hiring manager that you will be a good fit for the job. This means only including skills that will be relevant and useful for the position in question.

Some skills may also be keywords that a scanning software is seeking. As this is the case, once again you should research the job description and organization to find out which skills they prioritize. If successful, your resume will be moved on to the next stage in the application process.

How to Use Keywords and Skills in Your Resume

The main goal of your resume is to get interviews. To get an interview, you need to have a resume that can effectively sell you to a hiring manager while also hitting the right keywords and skills. So, how can you do this?

First, you need to understand that due to technological changes, jobs are changing rapidly. Due to these rapid changes, certain skills can work to your advantage to prove that you can adapt to change. For example, a lot of computer software becomes outdated every few years. To prove that you can adapt, you can display your track record of keeping up with changes.

When writing the different sections, you should decide which keywords you will use. Choose two or three keywords to focus on and implement them in the body of your resume. Ensure that the keywords you use accurately represent who you are, however, as they need to relate to your past experience and skillset.

To find out which keywords you can use, look at the job description of the role being advertised. You can use an online keyword density checker to see which words are used most often. The keywords that you use should come from the top 10-12% of words used in the job description.

The technology that a hiring manager uses to scan resumes won’t understand the words you are using. It will match them, however, which means that they need to appear often enough to be recognized by the software. Be careful not to use the same keyword too much, however, as keyword stuffing can cause the software to reject your resume.

Find the Right Balance

When you write your resume, ensure that you find the right balance when it comes to keywords. Invest the time to research thoroughly which skills and keywords you should include. If you are successful, you will find yourself landing an interview in no time.