Resume keywords guide
How to find the right keywords for your resume
The best keywords for your resume are already written in the job description. Here's how to pick them out, keep the ones that are true for you, and put them where recruiters and applicant tracking systems look.
How it works
Three steps you can do by hand
- 1
Mark up the posting
Underline every skill, tool, certification and responsibility in the requirements and the duties. Words that appear more than once usually matter most.
- 2
Keep what's true
Cross out anything you haven't done. For the rest, note where you did it and something concrete: a number, a team size or a result.
- 3
Use the posting's words
Write those skills the way the posting names them, in your summary, your skills list and the bullets of the job where you used them.
Where keywords go
Put each keyword where it has proof
- Summary: the two or three things this job wants most, in its own words.
- Skills: the tools and methods the posting names, spelled the way it spells them.
- Experience: each keyword inside a bullet that shows it, with the result ("Cut regression testing from 3 days to 6 hours with Playwright").
- Certifications: exactly as the posting lists them, only if you hold them.
What to avoid
Keyword mistakes that cost interviews
- Listing skills you don't have. A recruiter will ask about them.
- Pasting a block of keywords, or hiding text in white font. People read resumes too.
- Treating nice-to-haves as must-haves. Lead with what the posting requires.
- Using one resume for every job. Each posting asks for different things in different words.
Questions
Plainly answered
- What are resume keywords?
- They're the skills, tools, certifications and duties a job description asks for, in its own wording. Recruiters scan for them, and applicant tracking systems let recruiters search for them.
- How many keywords should a resume have?
- There's no magic number. Cover each key requirement of the job that you can honestly show, once in the right place with proof, rather than repeating words.
- Can a tool find the keywords for me?
- Yes. Our free match check reads the job description, lists its key requirements, and shows which ones your resume shows, partly shows or misses. Then it can tailor your resume to the job, using only your facts.
- Is it OK to copy wording from the job description?
- Yes, for skills and duties you really have: it helps both people and software see the match. Don't copy whole sentences, and never claim experience you don't have.
Related: the free ATS resume checker, tailor your resume to a job description and the AI resume builder.