"The
difference between the almost right word and
the right word is really a large matter - 'tis the
difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
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Mark Twain
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"The
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by Susan Britton Whitcomb, NCRW, CPRW With the right keywords in your résumé, you could find yourself in the running for jobs you might not have considered. Without those magic words, your job search is destined for failure while your résumé sits in the “cyberspace file 13.” Every résumé should be a keyword résumé. Keywords aren’t new to résumé writing. In fact, you were probably introduced to them by their maiden name, nee buzzwords, back in the 1980’s. Good résumés have always included words that employers looked for as an indicator of your experience and competence. Before the advent of résumé databases or the Internet, HR professionals used the “eyeball” method to scan your résumé and, based somewhat on buzzwords, sorted you into the appropriate candidate pool. Buzzwords matured into keywords when the Internet revolution necessitated a tool to sift through voluminous amounts of information. Instead of the old-fashioned ocular method, HR professionals now use an electronic method to expedite the process of saving, cataloguing, sorting, and searching résumés. Keywords Are Noun-Based In computerized job searches, keywords refer to those words that describe your knowledge base, skill set, impressive “name-brand” companies or Fortune 500 employers, prestigious universities, degrees, licensure, software experience, or affiliations, to name a few. Keywords are typically nouns or noun phrases. Their substantive nature has caused them to supersede the substantive “action verbs” of the 1980’s and 1990’s. This next before-and-after résumé excerpt illustrates the conversion from action verbs to noun-based keywords.
In the preceding example, compare the first sentence in the before example with the first sentence in the after example and note the additional details. The emphasis on keywords necessitates elaboration, so don't be afraid to take up a little space. The constraints of copyfitting your résumé to exactly one page don't apply in e-résumés because page breaks will vary depending on the receiver's software and default settings. At the same time, do not turn it into a full-length, unedited autobiography. Where to Find Keywords Unfortunately, there is no single-source “keyword library” that recruiters use to determine what criteria to use for applicant searches. Keywords are often extracted from company job descriptions; however, access to complete job descriptions can be difficult. The following list will provide you with a wealth of keywords.
How to Extract Keywords from a Job Posting Following is an example of how to extract keywords from a job posting. A position search for "trainer" yielded dozens of postings at a major career Web site. Only the highlights of responsibilities from three of the most relevant postings are shown below. The words highlighted in red indicate keywords that should be woven into the résumé to improve the job seeker's chance of being found in a keyword search of résumés.
Here's part of the resume in its final form.
Note how keywords are placed in the first third of the page, which is important whether you're using an emailed résumé, Web résumé, or traditional print résumé. 
Where to Position Keywords Technology can quickly identify keywords regardless of their placement in a résumé. Nonetheless, don't wait until the end of the resume to plug in your keywords. By positioning keywords near the top, such as in a Keyword Summary just below your name and personal information, viewers will be able to see your “tombstone” information, or thumbnail, within the first computer screen. In some cases, recruiters will print a screen shot of the résumé, which will include only the first 20-24 lines of the résumé. An abbreviated, Morse Code-type writing style can be used, as this example illustrates.
A more traditional résumé-writing style can also be used, which makes for easier reading once the résumé is printed for human viewing.
Futurist Résumés Savvy job seekers will pay attention to what, as well as who, is reading their résumés in the months and years to come. With technology advances, it is becoming standard fare to prepare a traditional paper résumé that is fully scannable, a plain-text e-résumé, and an HTML Web version - all of which should include keywords. Those who do can impress both man and machine. Look for several versions of the e-résumé to evolve, possibly an abbreviated HTML digest that fits within a screen-shot of your computer (20-24 lines maximum), as well as a full-course multimedia e-folio, complete with video and sound clips of you working with team members on a special project, conducting a sales presentation, or performing some other activity reflective of your professional skills. ASCII-text versions could fall by the wayside if technology enables e-mail messages to handle any and all types of software. Though keywords will continue to play a role in evaluating candidates, it could be that your e-mail address is the most important keyword you'll ever use . . . especially if recruiting continues to shift from sorting through résumés to shooting out e-mail announcements to notify candidates of hot new openings. Tomorrow will tell. Meantime, as long as Hewlett-Packard continues to make printers and people enjoy holding reading material in their hands, the traditional, presentation résumé will be with us. Likewise, as long as the Technology Revolution bulldozes its irreversible course and paves the way to access information via hand-held computers and television screens, the e-résumé will also be with us. Future-thinking careerists will be armed and ready with both.
Susan Britton
Whitcomb |
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