Solving the Keyword Conundrum

2012-07-03
From: MSN Careers
Ready to launch a new career, but no one seems interested in interviewing you? Your reacutesumeacute — and its lack of keywords — may be to blame.
Keywords are terms or phrases that are specific to a particular industry or profession, and they’re an essential element in the reacutesumeacute-scanning process. Today, employers and recruiters are increasingly searching reacutesumeacutes electronically for keywords to help them weed out candidates whose reacutesumeacutes do not reflect the skills, qualifications or credentials they’re seeking.
This stage of the job search can be problematic if you’re trying to break into a new industry or profession.
quotFor career changers, keywords are particularly relevant and require a great deal of thought because you don’t necessarily want to include keywords that are descriptive of your past experiences. Instead, you want to include keywords that reflect your current career goals so that those words are the ones that will get your reacutesumeacute noticed and not passed over,quot explain Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark in their book quotExpert Reacutesumeacutes for Career Changers.quot
According to Enelow and Kursmark, the following keyword strategies are especially helpful for career changers:

middot In sections throughout your reacutesumeacute, integrate keywords from your experiences that directly relate to your current career goals.Even though certain tasks or accomplishments may have been a minor part of your experience, they should be highlighted on your reacutesumeacute if they relate to your current career goals.

middot Include an quotobjectivequot section on your reacutesumeacute that states the type of position you are seeking and the associated responsibilities.For example, quotSeeking a position inpurchasingmanagement where I can utilize my strong skills inresearch,analysis,negotiationsandproduct management.quot This is the recommended strategy if you do not have the appropriate experience (keywords) in your background to include in the career summary and experience sections of your reacutesumeacute.

Not sure which keywords you should be using? Enelow and Kursmark offer some guidance:
quotJust by describing your work experience, achievements, educational credentials, qualifications, objective and the like, you might naturally include most of the terms that are important in your new career field. To cross-check what you’ve written, review online or newspaper job postings for positions that interest you. Look at the precise terms used in the ads and be sure you have included them in your reacutesumeacute.quot

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