The Importance of Resume Keywords

Creating a valuable resume is an art. This document is invariably scrutinized all the way up the employment chain, from recruiter to hiring manager. It is relatively easy to compile a list of previous jobs, dates, and skills and put them on paper. But what separates your resume from the dozens, if not the hundreds of others that arrive at the desks of decision makers?

There are many important elements to a good resume including a clear objective, a steady work history without noticeable gaps, and plenty of keywords relative to the position you are applying for. Simply listing your skill set in a summary is not enough anymore.

Let's look at two examples for a basic web job. We'll imagine the client is looking for an HTML coder with the usual compliment of skills (i.e. JavaScript, Flash, et al.)

Skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash
Most recent job description: Created and updated web pages for XYZ.com. Created an animated introduction page.

Skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash
Most recent job description: Created HTML pages for XYZ.com using CSS for text formatting linked to global style sheets facilitating easy cross-site changes. Browser detection and custom form validation was implemented using JavaScript functions. Proprietary code is protected with relative file paths to externally sourced code. Action scripting was used in an n_level movie architecture for the intro Flash animation. JavaScript cookies were used to suppress the animation after an initial visit.

We can immediately see a distinct difference in the job description even though these could belong to the same candidate at the same company. Example2 immediately takes the guesswork out of determining the candidates core skills and may possibly even enhance this individual's worth as a clear, concise communicator.

-Daniel Fosbery, Lead Developer.