#JobSearch : 30 Powerful Resume Keywords To Beat ATS (application tracking systems) In 2024. How Effective is Your Resume?

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More than 90% of employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to initially filter out or rank middle-skilled and highly-skilled candidates for job postings, according to a 2021 global study conducted by the Harvard Business Review.

This means that there is at least a 90% chance that your resume will not make it past the screening software.

Applicant tracking systems rely on keywords to assess candidate suitability—and these keywords are the ones that are located within your resume. The problem is, many candidates do not know how to make a resume effective because they fail to include the most appropriate keywords for their industry and role they are applying to. Consequently, they never (or hardly ever) make it past the screening stage to secure an interview.

While there are several factors that determine whether your resume makes it past the ATS or not (although a few are beyond your control), knowing what skills to put on your resume and which resume keywords to include a few of the most critical steps you can take to ensure your resume beats ATS.

 

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Why Use Resume Keywords?

“A recruiter will never see that candidate’s application, even though it might fill all of the employer’s requirements,” continued the HBR study. Therefore, being the perfect fit for a role is not good enough. You might tick every box and fulfil all the requirements listed on the job description, yet fall short of being shortlisted for the role, all because your resume did not effectively evidence the criteria and skills the employer is looking for.

Here is a simplified example of how an ATS works from a recruiter’s point of view:

  1. You send your resume through a job portal.
  2. When the recruiter is sifting out 1,000 applications, they’ll enter a skill such as “project management,” “Power BI,” or an education requirement such as “MBA,” from the job description.
  3. This filters available resumes to 300 candidates.
  4. If your resume is optimized to include the keyword they are looking for, it will show up; if not, it will never be seen and you’ve just lost the potential to land a career-boosting opportunity to an AI-powered gatekeeper—ATS.

Where To Find Keywords To Put On Your Resume

There are number of sources you can use to find keywords for your resume. The first and most obvious of them is the job advert itself. Taking a careful look at the job description, and the key requirements/person specification/ideal candidate section, carefully identify what are the core requirements that the employer is asking for.

You might find it useful to undertake a keyword highlighting exercise by copying and pasting the entire job description and person specification into a Word document, and highlighting the technical and soft skills that stand out to you the most, which are relevant to what you already have to offer.

For example, take a look at this sample job description from Workable for a cost analyst role:

“We are looking for a cost analyst to help us audit our expenses and find ways to make our operations more cost-efficient. You’ll be the go-to person for cost analysis and you’ll get to prepare reports to help management make better decisions. To do this job well, we’d like you to be well-versed in data and financial analysis, and have strong attention to detail. Ultimately, your job will be an integral part of our efforts to ensure profitability and business success.”

It then proceeds to list the following responsibilities for the cost analyst role:

  • Gather and analyze financial data
  • Determine standard costs and investigate variances with actual costs
  • Prepare detailed reports, both periodically and ad-hoc
  • Help management make important decisions based on costs and benefits (e.g. investments, market growth, pricing changes)
  • Create and manage budgets, and monitor spending
  • Conduct audits on financial processes and transactions
  • Monitor changes in processes or methods to calculate effects on overall costs
  • Estimate product costs for existing and new products
  • Forecast and analyze costs of processes, labor and inventory
  • Suggest cost-reducing or profitable solutions
  • Conduct market research to support future business planning

 

And then the advert proceeds to list requirements and skills for the role (pay close attention to this):

  • Proven experience as a cost analyst, cost specialist or similar role
  • Experience in data, operational and financial analysis
  • Knowledge of accounting processes and software
  • Strong analytical skills
  • A business acumen
  • Great attention to detail
  • Good communication aptitude
  • Degree in Finance, Accounting or similar field
  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA) preferred

 

 

With the above job advert, how many keywords can you easily identify?

Considering the above data, some of the likely resume keywords and skills used for the job posting above, which you would want to incorporate into your resume for a cost analyst role, include:

  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
  • Good communication
  • Attention to detail
  • Cost analyst
  • Accounting processes and software (and name a few)
  • Financial analysis/Analyzing financial data

 

You can incorporate these keywords into your professional summary, skills highlights, and work experience and education sections.

How To Use ChatGPT To Find Resume Keywords

One time saving method you could employ to find keywords from the job advert and interspersed them throughout your resume, is to solicit the help of ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI, that has millions of users around the world—with one of the fastest, unprecedented technology adoption rates in history.

It uses LLM (large language models) to engage with you as any other human being would,, providing you with timely information and shortening the length of time it takes to accomplish administrative and content writing tasks. While it is not wise to use ChatGPT to draft an entire resume for you on its own, it certainly can be helpful at key junctures in the resume writing process, for example, when analyzing and inputting keywords.

To use ChatGPT to find the best keywords to include in your resume, follow the below steps:

  1. Provide ChatGPT with a copy or excerpt of a job description for the role you want to apply for, and then prompt: “I am tailoring my resume to apply for this role. Please select and suggest keywords and phrases from this job advert that I can put into my resume. Include any technical skills, software tools, certifications, industry terminology, and soft skills listed in the advert.”
  2. Now that ChatGPT has provided you with a list you can then begin incorporating these words and phrases throughout your resume, ensuring you proofread with each edit so it reads naturally and doesn’t give the appearance of meaningless keyword stuffing.

 

Powerful Keywords To Include In Your Resume

Now that you have this background understanding, here is a sample list of some of the most common and essential keywords you should consider adding to your resume, for three specific industries—information technology, healthcare, and sales. These are categorized for ease of navigation and will provide you with an idea of what to look out for, as relates to your industry:

Resume Keywords For The Information Technology (IT) Industry

  1. Programming languages (e.g., Java, Python, C++)
  2. Cloud computing
  3. Network administration
  4. DevOps
  5. Agile methodologies
  6. ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)
  7. Artificial intelligence (AI)
  8. Machine learning
  9. Data analytics
  10. IT project management

Resume Keywords For The Healthcare Industry

  1. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
  2. Clinical research
  3. Medical billing and coding
  4. Telemedicine
  5. Healthcare compliance
  6. Health informatics
  7. Medical imaging
  8. Healthcare quality improvement
  9. Health insurance
  10. Healthcare technology

Resume Keywords For The Sales Industry

  1. Business development
  2. Account management
  3. Client relationship management (CRM)
  4. Lead generation
  5. Prospecting
  6. Sales cycle
  7. Pipeline management
  8. Value proposition
  9. Sales forecasting
  10. Competitive analysis

Using the right keywords can help you effectively sell yourself and shine as a star candidate to employers, ensuring your skills and experience do not go to waste or escape their notice. Through highlighting your expertise in this way, you increase your chances of securing an interview.

Forbes.com | March 26, 2024 | Rachel Wells