Unlocking Keywords in the Job Search

Labels: , , Posted by The Employment Guide on Friday, March 07, 2008 at 2:00 PM

The Orlando Job Spot had a great post on keywords and how they can help your job search. Check out the link to find out how to search for a job using keywords. I'm going to futher that and talk about keywords in your resume and how that can help you get noticed by employers.

Resumes are to present your qualifications to a potential employer, right? So using keywords that will help the recruiter or other hiring manager who will be looking at your resume can help you get a callback.

These keywords can go anywhere in your resume but probably will be used in the Objective or your description of skills and previous experience. These words help pto match your resume more closely to the job's qualifications. Of course these keywords can change depending on what industry you work in. But here are some examples of key words or phrases to use in your resume:

  • Stategic Planning
    This determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it's going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not. Use this phrase to show how you've helped your past employers get where they need to be.
  • Performance and Productivity
    This can be personal or general and how you helped the company's overall performance or productivity. You could add about personal sales goals or part of your review.

  • Customer Retention
    How you keep your customers from leaving once they decide to buy from you.
  • Team-building
    How are you a team player? How your working with others has worked, and how what you have done helps build the overall goal.
  • Problem-solving or decision-making skills
    How you solved difficult situations in your past work experiences.

Ok so you can't just go throwing around these keywords without it actually fitting into your resume. For example, writing something like: My problem-solving skills lead to team building and accomplished higher productivity and enabled positive outcome on strategic planning.

It might work, but there's no concrete example of how. You want to showcase your skills and use these keywords to enhance that. Someone who is in customer service might write something like: Maintained a high customer retention while utlizing strong problem-solving skills when troubleshooting customer concerns and problems on a daily basis.


That sounds a little more like you know what you're talking about and gives an example of why customers stuck around. Be ready to answer a question at the interview about a specific instance of when your problem-sovling skills were put to use and how you managed to keep your customer.

Some other keywords suggestions might be: Improvement, Product positioning, Employer branding, Investor relations, New media, Business Development, Cost reduction.

Maybe recruiters can provide more insight to what kinds of things are impressive on a resume. Leave your suggestions in the comments!


- Rosie Reilman, Photo by dailydog

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