How to find ATS resume keywords

What resume keywords are

Keywords are the words and phrases a recruiter is likely to search for: job titles, skills, tools, certifications and qualifications. Recruiters often search an applicant tracking system the way you search the web, by typing a few terms and looking at who comes up.

Many of those searches are close to literal. If the recruiter types "project management" and your resume says "running projects", the match may be missed. That is why using the wording of the job ad, where it is true, helps.

Step 1: read the job ad and mark the repeats

Copy the ad into a document and read it slowly, with a highlighter. You are looking for the things the employer clearly cares about.

• The job title, exactly as written.
• Hard skills and tools, such as Excel, Python, Salesforce or forklift licence.
• Qualifications and certifications, such as a nursing registration or a CPA.
• Any term that appears two or more times. Repetition shows importance.
• Terms in the "requirements" or "must have" section. These count for more than the "nice to have" list.

A worked example

Take this shortened job ad: "We are hiring a Backend Software Engineer to build payment services. You will design REST APIs in Go and Python, work with PostgreSQL and Redis, and deploy on Kubernetes. CI/CD experience is required. You will mentor junior engineers. Terraform is a plus."

The keyword list that comes out of it looks like this:

• Job title: Backend Software Engineer
• Required tools and languages: Go, Python, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, CI/CD, REST APIs
• Also mentioned: Redis, mentoring, payment services
• Nice to have: Terraform

Step 2: match the list to your real experience

Go through the list one term at a time and ask yourself whether you have done this work.

• Yes, I have done it: use the ad's wording in your resume, ideally in a bullet that shows the result.
• Partly: describe what you did honestly. "Used Kubernetes for local testing" is better than leaving it out or overstating it.
• No: leave it out. A skill you cannot talk about is a problem in the interview, even if it helps at the screening stage.

Where to put keywords

Keywords carry the most weight when they sit in context, not in a dumped list.

• Your summary or headline: include the target job title if it honestly describes you.
• A short skills section: tools and technologies, written the way the ad writes them.
• Your experience bullets: show the tool used and what it achieved, for example "Cut deployment time by 40 percent by moving builds to a CI/CD pipeline on Kubernetes".
• Spelled out forms and abbreviations: write "Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)" once so a search for either one can find you.

What to avoid

Keyword stuffing makes a resume worse. It reads badly to the person who sees it after the software, and some recruiters spot it straight away.

• Do not paste a block of keywords at the bottom, and never hide white text on the page. It can get an application rejected.
• Do not copy whole sentences from the ad.
• Do not list skills you do not have.
• Do not fill your resume with empty phrases such as "results driven team player".