subject: Make Your Resume Easy To Find With Resume Keywords [print this page] The main purpose of a resume is that it will be impressive enough to get you called back for an interview, where you can then meet the potential employer and really show them how qualified you are for the position. You must keep in mind however, that when there is a job opening for a good position, there is likely to be a large number of people applying for that job, who are all turning in equally impressive resumes. To give yourself the competitive edge, you will need to find a way to make your resume stand out more than any of theirs, which is where the use of resume keywords will come in.
What are Resume Keywords?
Keywords themselves are words or phrases that are highly targeted and help to identify the relevance of any document. When they are applied to your resume, they will be words that can make any employer notice your resume to a higher degree and consider it to be a good contender against all of the other resumes, which have been submitted. When you put keywords into your resume, you should be able to make it stand out more than others because you will be using highly regarded words and phrasing them in a way that shows you have a positive attitude and work ethic. These keywords will also aid in helping a job search engine find your resume, when a recruiter or employer searches for a specific industry term or phrase.
The keywords that you use throughout your resume will help draw attention to the most important aspects of your resume. You will want to use them heavily around the areas which you want to draw the most attention to. Pairing these keywords with some of your most notable accomplishments and skills in your resume will give an even higher rate of recognition for those qualities. In order to utilize these keywords, however, you need to know what words are considered valuable.
Where Do You Find Reliable Keywords & How Do You Use Them?
In order to use keywords in a way that will make your resume stand out, you will need to know what keywords are considered valuable to a resume. There are a number of website resources that you can turn to which can help you choose appropriate keywords for the skills and qualities that you wish to draw attention to. While some of these sources may list these keywords alphabetically, others may group them by the inherent quality which they express. You may also find keywords by just considering your prior experience and the job you are applying for. For example, an engineer may place the term "PLC" for (programmable logic controller) into his or her resume, since most manufacturing plants use them. An employer may search for this term and this engineer's resume may be the only one that comes up as a result for the search.
There are a few different ways in which your prospective employer may read your resume. If they are scanning it with their own eyes, the keywords that you choose often act as indicators which draw their attention to the surrounding words. You can use them like you would use a highlighter. Place them into positions that will draw the eye where you want it the most. When electronically scanning a resume, keywords will also help to highlight how important the resume may be. If an employer uses a computer to scan your resume, your use of keywords can be another way to draw attention to what you have provided and help yourself stand out even more against your competition!
