Resume keywords - How to customize your resume to a particular job posting

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The Importance of Tailoring Your Resume Using Keywords

According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 63% of HR managers focus on a resume that is tailored to the open position.

Many job seekers are unaware of the importance of tweaking their resume with keywords tailored on a specific job posting.

Customizing your resume to each job posting has become more important now that employers are increasingly relying on an automated resume screening process.

ATS Automated Resume Screening

Employers are increasingly using a software application called an Applicant Tracking System or ATS to initially screen resumes automatically.

The ATS develops a shortlist of qualified candidates whose resumes are then reviewed by Human Resources.

Since your resume cen be eliminated from consideration by an ATS without it ever being viewed by an employer, it’s critical for you to understand how an ATS performs an automated resume screen.

To enable the ATS to perform an automated screening of resumes, employers provide the ATS with a list of resume keywords to use for scoring submitted resumes.

Only those resumes that receive a score about the minimum score criteria set by an employer make the ATS shortlist of resumes to then be reviewed by the employer.

Process to Follow to Customize Your Resume

Here’s how to customize your resume for a specific job posting to score well with an employer that uses an ATS automated resume screening process:

  • Review the job posting to determine the job requirements and associated resume keywords
  • Compare these job requirements to the content of your resume
  • Modify your resume to include any key requirements that you meet that weren’t already referenced in your resume
  • Order your resume bullets based on the priority given to them in the job posting
  • Use the wording of the job posting for resume keywords that can be worded in multiple ways, e.g. KPIs vs. metrics
  • If you notice that a particular resume keyword appears frequently in the job postings you’re interested in, add that keyword to the master version of your resume as a permanent change

Infographic of Resume Tweaking Process

    The following infographic provides you with the process to follow to customize your resume to the opportunities you seek using resume keywords you discover after reviewing job postings for your target position.

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