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Articles
"The
Importance of Keywords in a Well-Written Résumé"
Karen Silins, CRW, CECC, CEIP, CTAC, CCA
A+ Career & Resume, LLC
The
following article is property of A+ Career &
Résumé, L.L.C., unauthorized use or reproduction is
strictly prohibited.
(This
article appeared in the October 2001 PRWRA Online
Newsletter, and the January/February 2002 issue of
Resume Writers’ Digest)
To the best of my
knowledge, when I began writing résumés during my
college days 13+ years ago, the term
"keywords" did not exist. Now when I go back
and look at these early résumés, I realize that
despite the lack of knowledge in keywords, they were
indeed prevalent in my work. As the term became popular
in the last several years, I found myself fielding
questions from clients about keywords more frequently.
However, the real defining moment, for me at least, was
the day a client walked through my door and stated the
need for a Scannable résumé with keywords. Up until
that point, my thought process was more along the lines
of "get the keywords in there someway,
somehow." I knew they were effective, and would
scatter them throughout my résumés and cover letters,
but I would find myself "searching" for the
right keywords instead of knowing the right keywords,
and when to use them. Needless to say, the clients’
request made me realize the necessity of learning all I
could about keywords and their use.
Enter Wendy Enelow’s
book "1500+ KeyWords for $100,000+ Jobs." The
first copy I purchased has long since been relegated to
the trash heap due to excessive wear and tear, and I am
now working on my second copy, purchased directly from
Wendy at Career Masters Institute (yes, this is a
blatant personal endorsement for her book and
organization). Although the second copy is treated
better than the first, the book is constantly utilized
in my practice, and has become an invaluable tool in
crafting virtually every résumé or cover letter
produced.
First, let
us define keywords (also known as industry buzz words).
When a client calls, or sits down for a
consultation and starts asking about the need for
keywords, I explain it very simply. Keywords are nouns
and action verbs, whether singular words or phrases,
which describe your skills and qualifications in order
to convey a specific meaning. For instance, if your
client is applying for a position as administrative
assistant, some keywords or phrases might include office
management, payroll, client communications, data entry,
policies and procedures, document management, typing 60+
wpm, multi-line phone systems, general accounting,
inventory control, accounts specialist, executive
support, time management, etc.
Why is it important
to have keywords in your clients’ résumés and
cover letters? In today’s competitive job
market, potential employers, department managers, and
human resource personnel are looking for any reason to
dispose of a résumé they receive. Large companies
receive hundreds (perhaps thousands) of résumés a
week, and have a finite amount of time to look through
them. Even small companies can be inundated with
résumés for a particular position, and need to peruse
them quickly to ascertain the worthiness of potential
candidates. If the person in charge of reading or
scanning résumés and cover letters sees the industry
"buzz words" the job requires, your client has
a better chance of making it to the "second
look" pile, and therefore the likelihood of an
interview. Though not an exclusive factor, keywords are
without question, an integral part of the employer’s
decision process.
How best
do we go about using keywords to our clients’
advantage? First, it helps if you are familiar with the
occupation, or range of occupations the client is
pursuing. If you are unfamiliar with a particular
occupation there are a myriad of ways to obtain
information about it, and the keywords that apply
Internet research using specific job titles or range of
titles, classified ads (Internet job sites, newspapers,
local job boards), The Occupational Outlook Handbook and
website (www.bls.gov/oco/), O*Net, industry specific
publications (you will most likely need to make a trip
to your local library for this), professional
organizations, such as PRWRA and Career Masters
Institute, have e-lists/groups for such questions where
other résumé writers recommend resources (CMI
actually has a keyword reference section available to
members), books specifically about keywords (such as the
one mentioned towards the beginning of this article),
and so on.
Second,
the keywords must be used appropriately. This is easier
said than done. As I stated at the beginning of the
article, in my early days as a resume writer, keywords
were interspersed throughout my résumés and cover
letters, but without full understanding of their use. In
today’s competitive job market, a lack of keyword
knowledge and usage will hurt your clients’ job
search, and ultimately your business. It is essential
that keywords be specifically targeted to maximize your
clients’ employment opportunities, not just added here
and there to make the résumé look more
professional.
When
assessing a keyword’s appropriateness, there are
several factors to take into account. Does it accurately
describe your clients’ abilities? If your client, for
instance, is an executive with expertise in transition
management (meaning they can ensure smooth transitions
during times of upper level management or company
instability), and instead you state in the résumé they
have expertise in turnaround management (the ability to
take a company, department or product line from negative
numbers into positive/profitable territory), you have
given a totally different (and inaccurate) picture to
the person looking at the résumé, which very well may
preclude your client from further consideration.
Do the
keywords relate to the clients employment objective?
This may seem obvious, but for years I wrote résumés
part-time, and worked full time as an administrative
assistant/executive secretary, and part of my job was to
screen the résumés for the boss, and make
recommendations for interviews. Time after time I would
see résumés with information (including keywords)
totally unrelated to their objective stated or position
sought, demonstrating the candidate to be unsuitable for
the given position. I would often receive a follow-up
call from this person inquiring about an interview, and
would have to explain that their qualifications didn’t
match the position available. Many times, the candidate
could not understand why they were not being considered,
when they actually had the requisite experience and a
professionally written résumé.
Are
there related fields that have keywords that apply to my
client, and the position they seek? For example, sales
and marketing occupations often have a customer service
aspect to them, so considering keywords from both
occupations could be helpful to your client.
Did you place
keywords in both the cover letter and résumé? While
our main focus may be to write the résumé, we do our
clients a great disservice if keywords are not
incorporated in the cover letter. In my conversations
with human resources personnel, the need for keywords in
cover letters is constantly reiterated. Often, a
potential employer reads the cover letter as their
initial screening process for a position. Without
keywords in your clients’ cover letter, the résumé
could be tossed into the round file without a second
look.
A range of keywords
should be used in both the résumé and cover letter!
Much of my business consists of clients’ whose
résumés were written by a professional that is either
no longer in business, or somehow cannot be reached.
When I scan these old résumés in order to estimate
cost or make suggestions, I am struck by how many suffer
from the excessive repetition of only a few keywords. A
prime example is customer service, a phrase so broad in
its context that, by its definition, tends to be
overused. I have reworked an actual clients résumé in
which the aforementioned phrase was repeated 23 times in
the résumé/cover letter combination. That constitutes
overkill.
The
résumé and cover letter should contain varied
synonymous keywords highlighting aspects of your clients
experience directly related to the career objective,
thus providing maximum "keyword effect." This
is especially important for résumés and cover letters
that will be scanned, as the more keywords you can
utilize from the scanning database, the better your
clients prospects.
While just
scratching the surface on keywords and their use, I have
hopefully given some of you more detailed information on
the importance of utilizing them in a well-written
résumé. Whether taken as an introductory look at a new
concept, or a refresher for a seasoned pro, it is my
goal that these observations and experiences can help
you in assisting a client find the position of their
dreams.
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