Using keywords to land the job

The perfect job is out there, but you will never get it if you don’t have the right keywords in your resume.

It is very important to remember that all job sites (Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, etc.) are ALL essentially search engines. This is why including relevant keywords in your resume is so important. For example: A company is hiring for an Administrative Assistant with experience in word processing, reception and filing. Let’s assume that you are an Administrative Assistant with 5 years experience. You have all of the required skills yet you do not get called for this position. Why? You forgot to include one or more of those keywords on your resume. It is never okay to assume that as an administrative assistant, potential employers will know you have executed those duties. Here is an example of keywords an employer might use to find an administrative assistant:

Administrative, assist, assistant, office support, receptionist, word processing, word perfect, ms word, filing, reception, phone, switchboard

As you can see, there are many different ways to say the same thing. That is what you have to think about when writing your resume. Here is another example:

If you are an ASP.Net Developer, you must think of all the technologies you use on a day-to-day basis and include them in your resume. I do not recommend making a keyword list at the bottom of your resume as it will not show potential employers how recent or relevant your skills are to their job. It is best to include these keywords in the body of your resume, explaining when and where you used them. Including a technical skills section at the top of your resume is okay, but those skills should also be listed in the body of your resume. In fact, including the keywords in both sections will make your resume more relevant. This can bring your resume to the top of a potential employers search results, increasing your chances of getting the call.


Bad Idea – Resume with little information and a keyword list:

JOHN DOE

Experience:

High Tech Company
Asp.net developer

Financial Company
Asp.Net Developer

Keywords: asp.net, SQL Server, C#, Visual Basic (VB), Oracle, ADO.Net, ADO, DAO, COM, DCOM

Good Idea – Detailed resume with keywords in the body of your resume:

JANE DOE

Summary:

• A results-driven, Asp.Net Developer with over twelve years of experience in developing, implementing, and managing technical projects.
• Developed various applications using various technologies including: Object Oriented Programming, Web Services, Net, C#, VB, ASP, ADO.Net, VB.Net, ADO, DAO, COM, DCOM, JavaScript and XML.

Technical skills:

.Net Technologies: .NET Framework, C#, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, VB.NET, XML Web Services, WCF, Windows Services, LINQ
Languages: Visual Basic (VB), VB.NET, C#. NET, JavaScript, XML, ADO, DAO, COM, DCOM
Operation Systems: Windows, UNIX
Databases: Oracle, SQL Server, MS Access

Experience:

High Tech Company
ASP.Net Developer
Used ASP.Net, C# and SQL Server to develop a web based reporting application.


Adding additional data to your résumé is a quick and easy way to make your resume appear in more searches; landing your more interviews and a new job.