Resume Keywords

Anytime a job seeker pursues advice on resume writing they are asked to make sure the resume has the appropriate "keywords". What does that mean exactly? Careerbuilder offers this article on the topic.

Solving the Keyword Conundrum
Résumés for Career Changers
By Selena Dehne, JIST Publishing

Ready to launch a new career, but no one seems interested in interviewing you? Your résumé -- and its lack of keywords -- may be to blame.

Keywords are terms or phrases that are specific to a particular industry or profession, and they're an essential element in the résumé-scanning process. Today, employers and recruiters are increasingly searching résumés electronically for keywords to help them weed out candidates whose résumés do not reflect the skills, qualifications or credentials they're seeking.

This stage of the job search can be problematic if you're trying to break into a new industry or profession.

"For career changers, keywords are particularly relevant and require a great deal of thought because you don't necessarily want to include keywords that are descriptive of your past experiences. Instead, you want to include keywords that reflect your current career goals so that those words are the ones that will get your résumé noticed and not passed over," explain Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark in their book "Expert Résumés for Career Changers."

According to Enelow and Kursmark, the following keyword strategies are especially helpful for career changers:

In sections throughout your résumé, integrate keywords from your experiences that directly relate to your current career goals. Even though certain tasks or accomplishments may have been a minor part of your experience, they should be highlighted on your résumé if they relate to your current career goals.

Include an "objective" section on your résumé that states the type of position you are seeking and the associated responsibilities. For example, "Seeking a position in purchasing management where I can utilize my strong skills in research, analysis, negotiations and product management." This is the recommended strategy if you do not have the appropriate experience (keywords) in your background to include in the career summary and experience sections of your résumé.

Not sure which keywords you should be using? Enelow and Kursmark offer some guidance:

"Just by describing your work experience, achievements, educational credentials, qualifications, objective and the like, you might naturally include most of the terms that are important in your new career field. To cross-check what you've written, review online or newspaper job postings for positions that interest you. Look at the precise terms used in the ads and be sure you have included them in your résumé."

Selena Dehne is a career writer for JIST Publishing who shares the latest occupational, career and job search information available with job seekers and career changers. She is also the author of JIST's Job Search and Career Blog (http://jistjobsearchandcareer.blogspot.com/). Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SelenaDehne.

Keywords

Everyone talks about using keywords today in their job search. While it might seem somewhat impersonal, it is one good way to get through to that potential opportunity. The more diversity you use in your search the more possible matches you'll find. MSN Careers shares this great article.

Using the Right Keywords in Your Job Search
By Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

The right words make all the difference in life. Try asking "Wanna get hitched?" instead of "Will you marry me?" for proof.

Even in a job interview, you wouldn't say, "Hey, dude." You'd probably say, "Nice to meet you." And your résumé wouldn't include slang, either. You know all this. At least, I hope you do.

But the need for well-chosen words starts when you search job postings. From the job title to the list of requirements, knowing how to tweak your words to yield the best results is vital to getting your job hunt started off right.

Here are a few ways to make sure you're using the right keywords:

Be a copycat
In your résumé and interviews, you want to let your best qualities and unique point of view shine through. But to get to those stages, you first have to find the right job. That means you have to do something that's unacceptable in every other circumstance: plagiarize.

Go to an online job board and search for jobs that you think you're a great match for. Then study the language they use to perform your own searches. For example, if you find a listing for a project coordinator position that sounds ideal, you should apply for it, of course, and then pull out key phrases to search other jobs. If they use the phrase "method calibrations," plug that into the search field to see what other positions comes up. Employers might use different job titles or you might find other positions that are good fits but you didn't know they existed.

Don't get stuck on titles
When you have defined goals for your career and subsequently your salary, you can find yourself fixated on having a certain job title. Although your ambitions are admirable and beneficial to your career, don't forget that not all titles are created equal. Every company has its own culture and often its own lingo. One employer's vice president is another's senior associate. Search for the job title you want, but remember to dig deeper for other title ideas.

Look to the responsibilities and skills detailed in a job posting for a more accurate gauge of its duties. You'll still find the jobs you're looking for if you search by responsibility instead of title, except you'll be working backward. If, for example, you want a retail manager position, you should search for related terms, such as "supervisor" or "customer relations." Filter through the results to find good matches. You might find that you're a perfect fit for a "team leader" position that you wouldn't have otherwise found.

Treat it like a search engine
When you're looking online for something that interests you -- say, a new apartment -- you suddenly become a master of the Internet query. You're trying different keywords, searching by ZIP code one moment and neighborhood nickname the next. If there's an available property in a two-mile radius, you'll find it. You know how to work a search engine without a second thought.

Take that mentality to your job search. One of the simplest ways to broaden or narrow your search is to use quotation marks. Searching for a phrase without quotation marks (i.e., dental assistant) will find you jobs with either word in the description. However, enclosing the entire phrase (i.e., "dental assistant") in quotes will only return jobs with those words together in that exact order. If you find your searches are returning too many hits or too few, play with quotes. You can also use the advanced-search options to tailor your searches or use other shortcuts, such as minus signs to exclude words from results.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.