Keyword
Strategies
for the Electronic Job Market
Most
job seekers know how
important keywords are... but
many people are confused
about which specific keywords
should be included in their
resumes...
One of the most common questions
job seekers ask is, "Which
keywords
do employers look for most?" | |
Determining
the right keywords is actually quite simple – and it only takes about half
an hour. In short, find 2-3 examples of your ideal job (in the form of online
job postings, job descriptions, or advertised positions), and make a list of the
qualifications, technical expertise, product knowledge, and personality traits
that employers are looking for in your field. Build these keywords into your summary
statement and job descriptions wherever you legitimately can.
Let's go through the process and see how this might work for a sales professional.
To do our research, we went to FlipDog.com and did a keyword search using international
sales representative as our keyword criteria. From the list of matches, we
selected the three opportunities we liked best, pulled the keywords out, and distilled
the list down to this:
| •
Sales | •
New business development |
| •
International trade | •
Global marketing |
| •
Relationship building | •
Marketing |
| •
Cold calling | •
New product introductions |
| •
Key account management | •
Customer support |
Next,
we'll take these keywords and weave them into a career summary. This summary will
not only "position" the candidate, but will qualify her for
the targeted jobs. Here's an example of a professional profile based on the keywords
above.
PROFESSIONAL
PROFILE
Achievement-oriented
sales professional with 15 years of success in international trade and global
marketing. Skilled in developing marketing programs, coordinating new product
introductions, and providing customer support. Proven track record in cold calling,
new business development, and key account management.
|
Some
recommend that the keyword summary simply provide a list of keywords. While this
is certainly easier to write, it won't impress a “real person” when
it comes time to do a final review of your qualifications. Here's a simple keyword
summary extracted from the professional profile above:
KEYWORDS
Sales,
15 years' experience, international trade, global marketing, marketing programs,
new product introductions, customer support, cold calling, new business development,
key account management
|
Unfortunately,
computers do not read resumes like people do! For example, if an applicant tracking
system has been instructed to look for cold calling it will not read
between the lines and assume that you have cold calling experience because you
worked in outside sales for 15 years!
In
short, you need to present your qualifications as if the reader is simply comparing
the words on the resume to a list of desired qualifications – since that
is precisely what happens when employers use computerized resume processing systems
that are designed to rank candidates on the basis of matching keywords.
How to Research Your Job Target
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development and content by
Pat Kendall and Susan Britton Whitcomb,
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...
Job Target
Research
If you know what you want to do, finding jobs that represent "ideal"
opportunities is relatively easy—especially on the Net. If you're not sure
what you want to do, researching the job market can give you a reality check
and help you define a realistic job target.
The
best place to research your job target is at FlipDog.com, since FlipDog indexes
all the jobs on the Net. Once you've determined your
"ideal" keywords, you can also set up a job
search agent that will automatically
send you job opportunities that match your keyword criteria.
Now that's an easy way
to conduct a job search!
