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Important Information on Resume Keywords
When building your resume, keywords are essential if you want your resume to be easily found by potential employers. Many employers now post job openings online. Frequently, these job postings get hundreds of responses, perhaps even more. Once placed in a database by the employer, it is essential that your resume can be found if the employer scans electronically to locate job candidates. This is why it is so important to include keywords in your resume.
Choosing good resume keywords
How do you decide what keywords will work best to help an employer locate your resume? There are a few things you can do. First, study the job posting carefully. What keywords are they using? If they are looking for an administrative assistant, these are good words to include in your information. Also, if the job posting includes words like “accomplished,” “experienced,” “motivated,” “skilled,” etc., use these keywords in your resume as well. Use your past experiences to think of additional keywords that are related to your industry. Here is an example: If you are a copywriter, you may want to use keywords such as “marketing” or “advertising,” so that a potential employer can determine what area of copywriting you are skilled in.
If you are working with a headhunter or recruiter, they can often supply you with very effective keywords that will help get your resume found.
How often should you use keywords in your resume?
When creating your resume, keywords should be used as often as possible without the text sounding strange. If it doesn't make sense or is obvious that the word or phrase is repeating too often, it's probably too much. You want your resume to look and sound professional and intelligent when a potential employer scans your information.
It's a good idea to keep your resume to a single page, which is usually in the vicinity of 300 to 500 words long. If you can use your keywords 25 to 30 times, this is a good density to ensure that your resume can quickly be located by an employer searching through the database. The most important thing is that your resume makes sense and creates an impression that you are a skilled professional.
Some other ideas for determining the best keywords to use for your specific industry include visiting online forums that relate to that industry. Members involved in discussions often use words and phrases that are the current “buzzwords.” Read and carefully review articles that pertain to your industry in trade magazines, and use the power of the internet to search for effective keywords within your field.
Today, submitting your resume online is essential for locating numerous career opportunities, widening the scope of options available to you. Use effective resume keywords, and you will find that securing a good position takes far less time. When employers electronically scan for potential job candidates, your resume will come right to the top of the list.
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