Every spend hours applying to jobs only to hear nothing from hiring managers or to get a generic rejection email months later? CV keywords can help make the difference between this all-to-common experience and landing that great new job.
But what exactly are CV keywords and how should you most effectively use them on your CV? This blog will answer those questions and more to help make CV keywords more accessible for jobseekers. Here’s what we’ll look at:
It’s been estimated that up to 75% of CVs get filtered out by automated CV scanners before ever being reviewed by a hiring manager. CV keywords are one of the best ways to prevent that from happening to you.
CV keywords are essential words or phrases on a CV that show the hiring manager a candidate is qualified for the position. There is no one exact set of CV keywords that should be on every CV, although there are certain ones that come up time and time again as they are skills that relate to multiple jobs.
CV keywords are used by hiring managers to evaluate a candidate’s abilities, but they’re also useful to Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that scan CVs as they are submitted and rank applicants against one another. That’s why it’s important to think of both a human reader and the CV-scanning robots when adding keywords to your CV.
According to a survey by Criteria, three out of four hiring managers say they are either currently using an ATS or plan to use one in the future. That means CV keywords are important in virtually every position.
The best place to find keywords for your CV is within the job description of the position you are applying to. This is because many hiring managers use the job description to tell the ATS what to look for when scanning CVs.
Keywords can vary from the name of a specific computer program to soft skills like conflict mediation or a certain number of years of experience. That’s why it's important to always use the employer’s exact language when adding keywords to your CV.
For example, if the job description asks for “5+ years of experience” the ATS may not find a candidate who has written “6 years of experience” on their CV.
The company name and the name of the position are often keywords programmed into the ATS so make sure to add those to the summary of your CV.
There are a few rules to follow when it comes to placing keywords onto your CV. The most important sections for CV keywords are generally considered to be the professional summary and the skills section.
The skills section is a great place to add in hard skills like the names of specialised programs while the summary is better suited to the soft skills or personality traits the hiring manager is looking for.
While adding keywords, make sure to avoid keyword stuffing which is the practice of overusing keywords or adding them randomly throughout your CV in an attempt to artificially increase your chances of beating the ATS. While this may work in some situations, you’ll almost certainly put off the human hiring manager and land yourself a swift rejection.
Never use keywords to lie about your experience. You don’t have to have all of the skills asked for the job description. Just focus on the ones you do have to create a compelling portrait of your qualifications.
In order to make the most of your CV keywords, it’s important to incorporate them correctly into your CV. While you should never bold or italicise your keywords, you should make them easy to read by choosing a professional font style and a size between 10-12 point. Here are a few more tips:
While the best keywords are always from the job description of the role you are applying to, these examples can give you an idea of what to look for as you begin to place keywords on your CV.
Medical:
Engineering:
Accounting & Finance:
Marketing:
Government:
Administrative:
Education:
Hospitality & Catering:
Information technology:
Human resources:
Sales:
Transport & Logistics:
Real Estate:
Business & Management:
Legal:
Retail:
Maintenance & Repair:
Of course, when deciding which CV keywords to use in your next application, research is everything. You can use the words we have highlighted here as inspiration. However, it’s important to also do your own research. Make sure that you delve into the job specification and find the most relevant keywords and phrases there too.