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Using Resume Keywords

Most people you know don’t use professional terminology and jargon in everyday conversation or communication, but when it comes to a resume everyone should make an effort to use the proper professional keywords. These simple words that are the accepted norm for resumes can make a huge difference in how your resume is perceived by a potential employer.

Let’s look at a few resume keywords and keyword phrases to see how they can improve your resume.

• Education or Qualifications? Because you don’t want to include every little detail of your education and will only be listing your degrees and certifications, then the best word for this topic area of your resume is Qualifications.

• About Me or Personal Information? Honestly there should not even be a section on your resume titled anything about you personally. A resume is not a place to list your hobbies, family information or anything else personal. Your resume should have a header showing your name, address, phone number and email address. Other than that no personal sections.

• Field Experience - Previous job details should be addressed by simply listing the company, how long you worked there and your duties. Your resume is not an application so your wages and small details are not important. Keep it short and to the point.

• Collaborated - This should be used instead of saying you worked with a person, group, or team.

• Instituted - This word is a wonderful keyword for when you help bring a task to completion. For example “Collaborated with a team to rework and institute new company policy.”

• Professional terms specific to your field. If you are a photographer, a potential employer will be looking for terms in your resume that show your knowledge and use of specifics. For example if you developed a new lens, you may write that you “discovered the benefits of a 20x magnification for F-stop predictability”. This would mean nothing to some people, but would show a potential employer in that field your knowledge of your field and professional terminology.

• Usability - One tip to remember when inserting jargon and terminology into your resume is to make sure that you not only know what each keyword means, but also how it is pronounced and used in conversation. You don’t want to get called for an interview and suddenly realize that you have no idea what your potential employer is talking about, or mispronouncing a prominent keyword related to your field.

A resume is simply a highlight reel of all the best reasons why you would be an ideal employee. Knowing and using the proper terms of your field, as well as basic professional terminology shows potential employers that you are up to date and well informed when it comes to your line of work. No matter what layout or format you choose for your resume, make sure to do your research on current terminology as well, so that your resume stands out from the crowd as a professional and effective summary of the benefits of hiring you.