Scannable Resume Design
Part Two: Keywords

Keywords are nouns or noun phrases indicating your skill set or qualifications. For some federal job openings, a resume must have a 95 percent or higher hit rate for a candidate to be given serious consideration.

The more keywords, or “hits,” that an OCR scanning program finds, the more likely it is that your resume will be read.

Examples of keywords for an administrative assistant might be:

• Typing 90 wpm
• Dictation
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Reception
• Phone Support

For an accountant, keywords might be:

• Tax Accounting
• Reconciliations
• General Ledger
• Profit-and-Loss Statements

A great place to start in the hunt for keywords is your current and previous job descriptions. Pull out nouns or phrases that show what you do on a daily basis, so long as those tasks are still relevant to your job search.

You may also cull data from the Experience and Skills sections of your current or old resumes. These will provide relevant and significant keywords for your scannable resume.

Finally, look at your job postings. These are perhaps the most significant resource you can use. By dovetailing past experience with required qualifications and skills, you effectively target the new job.

To work keywords into your scannable resume, you have two options. You can create a list at the beginning of your resume, or you can sprinkle them throughout. Remember, the more closely your background matches the qualifications of the new job, the more likely it is that you’ll be invited to interview.