Including Search Keywords and Phrases in a Resume

Recruiters and employers use keywords to search and retrieve e-resumes in databases for available job positions. These search keywords are primarily nouns and short phrases, and sometimes adjectives and action verbs.

Keywords identify your experience and education in these categories:

Skills
Technical and professional areas of expertise
Achievements
Professional licenses and certifications
Other distinguishing features of your work history
Prestigious schools or former employers

Employers identify keywords, often including industry jargon, that they think represent essential qualifications necessary for high performance in a given position. They specify those keywords when they search a resume database. Rather than stopping with action verbs, connect your achievements. You managed what? You organized what? You developed what?

Keywords are arbitrary and specific to the employer and each employer search. So the keywords (qualifications) in each job ad are the place to start as you customize your resume for the position. But you need to make educated guesses on which keywords to use when you’re warehousing your resume online and not responding to a specific job ad.

The following lists provide a few examples of keywords for selected career fields and industries.

Keywords for administration/management

administrative processes	facilities management
bachelor’s degree	front office operations
back office operations	office manager
benchmarking	operations manager
budget administration	policy and procedure
change management	production schedule
crisis communications	project planning
data analysis	records management
document management	regulatory reporting

Keywords for banking

branch manager	loan management
branch operations	loan recovery
commercial banking	portfolio management
construction loans	retail lending
credit guidelines	ROE (Return On Equity)
debt financing	ROI (Return On Investment)
FILO (First In, Last Out)	trust services
financial management	turnaround management
investment management	Uniform Commercial Code Filing
investor relations	workout

Keywords for customer service

account representative	Help desk
call center	key account manager
customer communications	order fulfillment
customer focus groups	order processing
customer loyalty	product response clerk
customer needs assessment	records management
customer retention	sales administration
customer retention innovations	sales support administrator
customer service manager	service quality
customer surveys	telemarketing operations
field service operation	telemarketing representative

Keywords for information technology

automated voice response (AVR)	global systems support
chief information officer	help desk
client/server architecture	multimedia technology
cross-functional team	network development analyst
data center manager	project lifecycle
director of end user computing	systems configuration
disaster recovery	technology rightsizing
end user support	vendor partnerships

Keywords for manufacturing

asset management	logistics manager
assistant operations manager	manufacturing engineer
automated manufacturing	materials coordinator
capacity planning	on-time delivery
cell manufacturing	outsourcing
cost reductions	shipping and receiving operation
distribution management	spares and repairs management
environmental health and safety	union negotiations
inventory control	warehousing operations
just-in-time (JIT)	workflow optimization

Keywords for human resources

Bachelor of Science, Business Administration (BSBA)	organizational development (OD)
college recruitment	recruiter
compensation surveys	regulatory affairs
cross-cultural communications	sourcing
diversity training	staffing
grievance proceedings	succession planning
job task analysis	team leadership
labor contract negotiations	training specialist
leadership development	wage and salary administration