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A while back, Jim Stroud, an excellent recruiter and person in general despite the fact that he’s working for Microsoft, how to add keywords to your resume (and be slick about it) over on CollegeRecruiter.

The general concept is right on: increase the number of terms relevant to your work that an HR person / recruiter might be searching on. That way, you’ll come up more often (and earlier in the list) for employers looking for people just like you.

I had never thought about using the meta data in a Word document to add keywords, but it’s a viable option and something to add to your arsenal. Unfortunately, this trick won’t work for you in many circumstances.

However, there is something to be learned from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that can help you appear more often in every system.



WHEN WORD METADATA KEYWORDS WON’T WORK

While there are a number of places where this strategy will work well (Monster, your own website / blog), there are a lot more where it won’t work. Here’s the two biggest examples:

1. If the Company / Job Board doesn’t support Word files - In other words, if the system your putting your resume into doesn’t support the .doc format.
The recruiting agency you’re talking to is using the most common ATS software - All recruiters use some version or another of an ATS (Applicant Tracking System). This makes it easy for them to do searches for specific skillsets.

However, most ATSs turn resumes into text files for easier searching. In other words, all of your Word formatting goes away.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t put your keywords in Word metadata. Just that it isn’t all you should do with keywords.


SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TO THE RESCUE

As a response to Jim Stroud’s article, HR Guy (who writes anonymously because he’s a scaredy cat) wrote a post about including those keywords in your resume content.

That got me thinking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Anyone who owns a popular website knows about SEO. Basically, all that means is doing specific things so that your website is more likely to come up when someone does a search for anything related to your topic.

So, for FRACAT, ideally I’d like us to come up first whenever someone does a search for “job seeker advice” or “career advancement advice”. That will probably not happen any time soon, but it’s the goal.

You can do this same thing for your resume and resume databases.


DOING YOUR OWN RESUME SEARCH OPTIMIZATION (RSO) WORK

Similar to a website wanting to be found, you want your resume to come up anytime a recruiter is searching some database for “Houston Armadillo Wrangler” or “Phoenix C# Developer” or “Detroit Guy Who Can Make An American Car Company Successful in 2007″ or whatever it is that you do.

And the great thing is that, since resume database search tools are based on website search engines, you can use SEO strategies in your RSO work.

Here are the steps to your RSO:

1. Decide On Your Keywords - Pick a handful of keywords that describe what you do (and where, too). Think of words that recruiters would be using to separate you out from the rest of the field.

   So, instead of “Developer”, think “Java Developer” or, even better, “Enterprise Javabeans Developer”.

   Instead of “Salesperson”, think “Technology Salesperson” or, even better, “Technology Services Salesperson” (which, just coincidentally, I have an opening for one of these Technology Salespeople in Houston?).

   The idea is to get as specific as possible about what you do and pick a few keywords based on that.

2. Sprinkle The Keywords Around Your Resume - Take the keywords that you want to be identified with and put them into your job descriptions. For instance, for that “Technology Services Salesperson” job, you might want to start one bullet for several jobs with something like, “Technology Services Salesperson responsible for identifying potential clients, setting appointments, finding technology services needs, proposing solutions, and closing business.”

   Notice that I included part of the phrase (”Technology Services”) twice in one bullet. That’s because…

3. Frequency Matters - Without making your resume sound terrible, you want to include your keywords many times throughout your resume. This is because the more that phrase appears, the more the search engine thinks that your resume is applicable to that keyword.

   So, if my resume has “Houston Recruiter” in it 5 times and yours has it 1 time and Jim Stroud’s has “Recruiter”, but not “Houston”, I’m going to come up first in a search for “Houston Recruiter”. You’ll be second. And Jim will come in last (sorry, Jim!)

4. Keyword Order Is Important - If I’m searching for “Houston Technology Services Salesperson” and your resume has those words, but out of order (”I have worked in the Technology Services industry for 12 years in Houston, primarily as a Salesperson”), you’re going to hurt your ranking.

   For the best ranking, put your keywords together in the right order (while still making sure that your resume is readable).

5. Closer Together is Better, but Extra Points for Spaced Out Keywords - In other words, you’ll want to have several instances of “Houston Technology Services Salesperson” together enough so you’ll be noticed, but not enough so that it sounds like a 4-year-old with a phrase stuck in her head.

   However, you can get extra ranking points if you also throw the keyword in there in the right order, but spaced out. For instance, “I’ve been working in the Houston Technology Services industry for the past 10 years, primarily as a salesperson.”



So, if you’re looking for a quick boost to the number of times your resume is found, start doing your RSO work now. Upload that optimized resume and watch your calls multiply.


Enjoy the Search!

Dan
—–
Daniel R. Sweet
Owner / Author / Chief Cook-And-Bottle-Washer / Sr. Recruiter
FRACAT.com - Free Resume and Career Toolbox
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielrsweet
Call Me On Jaxter: http://www.jaxtr.com/fracat


Photo by: Elle Rigby

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 7:15 am and is filed under Resume Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.