Using The Right Keywords On Your Resume Will Be Very Important In 2013

By Vivian Giang


If you're applying for a position at a larger firm, your resume will likely be among hundreds - or even thousands - that recruiters receive, and if you don't use the right keywords, you'll risk a chance of never crossing a recruiter's radar.

More and more companies are using a keyword-searchable database that scans resumes for words related to certain job vacancies. The resumes that get through this process are the ones that will actually be seen by human eyes.

This kind of process automation is going to become more common in 2013, according to Bill Glenn, vice president of marketing at TalentWise, a company that provides technology solutions for HR organizations.

"In 2013, we will see more HR professionals relying on platform solution providers to access data quickly in order to make business decisions in real time," Glenn says.

What does this mean for jobseekers? This means that using the right keywords throughout your resume is essential so that you don't get eliminated before the interview.

"Resume software filtering works and the fact is, your resume has to mirror the job posting," Rick Gillis, author of the book "Job!: Learn How to Find Your Next Job In 1 Day," tells us. "The posting contains all the key words."

More: Are These Resume Buzzwords Killing Your Chances?

To figure out what keywords are vital to your position, Katharine Hansen at Quintessential Careers says you should be "scrutinizing job postings to see what keywords are repeatedly mentioned in association with a given job title."

Barbara Safani of CareerSolvers suggests using LinkedIn's skills section to find the keywords that would most likely be used in a company's search query database. To do this, click on the "More" tab in your LinkedIn profile and enter a type of skill or description into the search box. A list of related skills will then pop up-skills that you can use as keywords on your resume.

You can include these key words under your "Accomplishments / Responsibilities" section, or you can include them at the bottom of your resume.

"[The keywords] aren't put there for an HR person to read," Gillis says. "It's put there so that you can get through the software."

Without the keywords, there's a good chance your resume will never get read and you won't get your dream job.

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