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Show You Are a “Match”

Posted On: Thursday, May 28th, 2009 - Posted By: Adam C.

Don’t Make Employers Guess – Prove It!

Know Your Audience:

You find companies in which to send your resume and cover letter. But do you know HOW these companies organize their search and selection processes? Your company research should include an investigation of HOW they receive your resume. Specifically, does a pair of human eyes review them first? Or are all resumes scanned into the company’s Applicant Tracking System first? If so, “you” are not being seen by human eyes unless your resume got the automated system’s attention first through your keywords. Mid-size to large companies who need to be able to handle a high volume of incoming applications simply cannot manage without such an automated system. If software is evaluating your resume for best fit, or match, you need to write your resume in a way that the software can best take notice of you and your talents.

Build in a “Keywords” Section on Your Resume:

A keyword section can be placed close to the top, down at the bottom, or along the side margin of your resume. Keywords are the items that a prospective employer needs to associate with you to know to what extent you are a suitable candidate for consideration. Keywords can encompass and showcase acronyms, buzzwords, software, equipment, processes, tools, job titles, context, and more.

It’s Your Career!

Keywords help to establish that your qualifications and experience are highly relevant for the position in question.

Do your homework: locate 3-4 ads or postings for a particular job title of interest (and suitable for your qualifications). Between them, come up with a list of 10-12 keywords that you can list on your resume.

Keywords are the important words you want a prospective employer to associate with you. They are also found prominently within job postings. You want your keywords to match their keywords (again, as suitable to your qualifications).

Lisa has 14 years of résumé coaching experience.
She currently directs day-to-day operations and programming of a career center at a two-year technical college. From 2006-2008, she served as State Chair of a national organization to support women leaders in higher education. She remains on the Board. Previously, she served as HR Director of a legal services firm and specialized in worker’s compensation issues. From 1996-1998, she worked as a graduate assistant in the career services office of a large four-year college.