Most job boards are designed to give recruiters the ability to search for broad categories of candidates with drop-down lists, and then give them the ability to "drill-down" and narrow their search with keywords. Therefore making sure keywords appropriate for your profession and experience are included in your resume is extremely helpful in making your online job search successful. Even if you e-mail your resume in response to a specific job ad, many recruiters have responses automatically directed to computer software called Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) which often categorize and rank resumes by the keywords they include.

We recommend thinking about your career background from a recruiter's perspective. If an employer were looking for someone with your unique talents, what words would come to mind to single you out from the crowd? For example, a college history professor who teaches undergraduate students would want to make sure the following keywords were included somewhere within their resume:

√ College
√ University
√ Professor
√ Teacher
√ Education
√ Undergraduate
√ History
√ Lectures
√ Students

√ The names of the specific schools they've taught at -- both spelled out and in abbreviated form. For example, NYU should be included as both "New York University" and "NYU" since a recruiter might be searching either way.

√ The names of the schools they've attended/earned degrees at -- again, both spelled out and in abbreviated form.

While keywords are important, it is also important to make sure that you don't overload your resume with profession-specific jargon that a layman wouldn't understand. Keep in mind that many hiring managers have assistants or human resource professionals who don't know as much about the job as they do screening resumes. Your resume should be written in a way that a layman can quickly understand in general terms what skills you have to offer. But at the same time, enough information should be included in your resume to give a more knowledgable reader an understanding of what makes your background and expertise unique from others in your field in the event that your resume makes it past the "gatekeeper" (human resource professional or assistant).