Resume Keywords: What they are and how to use them

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords: Location, Location, Location. I’m sure you have all heard of location, location, location in real estate. It is the same principle with keywords on resumes. If you want your resume to be found in a searchable database i.e. job board then you must include INDUSTRY APPROPRIATE KEYWORDS. I capitalize that because just throwing any keywords in your resume won’t do. Here are a few tips on keywords: 1. Research keywords specific to your industry. Google is my best friend. Well not really but my internet best friend. I have probably made them millions of dollars from my daily searches. Whichever search engine you use get on there and find out what keywords are specific to your industry. 2. Location, location, location. You have to put the keywords in the right places. Here are three: Your career summary, your core strengths section, and the accomplishments on your resume. It is important to have them in the career summary and core strengths sections because that is the FIRST place a recruiter looks. Dazzle them with your keywords in the first third of the page and they’ll take the time to read the other two thirds. 3. Try to use each keyword twice, when appropriate. Use as directed, and in moderation. If you use each keyword twice that increases your likelihood you’ll be at the top of the search results for that given keyword. I wouldn’t use each word more than 5 times throughout the resume because you might get denied a great results listing because you used one word too many times. I encourage you to utilize keywords throughout your resume, but the most prominent and most important places are in your career summary and core strengths/skills section.