Keywords

    How to Find and Add the Right Keywords to Your Resume

    By the HiResume Editorial Team 7 min read

    Recruiters find candidates in an Applicant Tracking System by searching for skills and job titles. If your resume does not contain the words they search for, you can be a perfect fit and still never show up. Keyword optimisation is simply making sure the true, relevant skills you have are written the way the employer writes them.

    Step 1: Collect two or three job descriptions

    Do not tailor to only one posting unless it is your dream job. Take two or three descriptions for the same kind of role (for example “Data Analyst – fresher”) from Naukri, LinkedIn or company career pages. Skills that appear in all of them are the ones that matter most.

    Step 2: Sort the keywords into four groups

    GroupWhat to look forExample (Data Analyst)
    Hard skills & toolsLanguages, software, platformsSQL, Excel, Power BI, Python, pandas
    Job titlesThe title and close variantsData Analyst, Business Analyst, MIS Executive
    Domain wordsIndustry and process termsreporting, KPIs, dashboards, data cleaning
    QualificationsDegrees, certifications, yearsB.Tech/B.Sc, Google Data Analytics certificate, 0–2 years

    Soft skills like “team player” and “good communication” appear in almost every post, and recruiters rarely search for them. Show them through your bullet points instead of listing them.

    Step 3: Mark what you genuinely have

    Go through your list and mark each keyword: have it and can prove it, have some exposure, or don’t have it. Only the first two belong on your resume — and exposure-level skills should be labelled honestly (for example “AWS — basic”). Anything on your resume is fair game in the interview.

    Step 4: Put keywords where they carry weight

    1. Skills section — the exact names, grouped (Languages, Tools, Databases…). This helps search matching.
    2. Bullet points — the same skills used in context, with results. This convinces the human reader.
    3. Summary — two or three of the most important skills plus the target job title.
    4. Project and job titles — when accurate, e.g. “Sales Dashboard in Power BI”.

    Weak

    Skills: Data analysis, visualisation, databases

    Strong

    Skills: SQL (joins, window functions), Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), Power BI, Python (pandas, matplotlib)

    Specific tool names are what recruiters type into the search box.

    Step 5: Match spelling and abbreviations

    Write both forms for common abbreviations the first time: “Machine Learning (ML)”, “Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)”. Match the employer’s spelling of tools — “Node.js”, “PostgreSQL”, “Microsoft Excel”. For job titles, if yours was unusual (“Associate – Tech Ops”), you can add the common equivalent in brackets: “Associate – Tech Ops (IT Support)”.

    How many keywords is too many?

    Keyword stuffing — long lists of every technology you have heard of, or repeating a word ten times — backfires. Recruiters read the parsed text, and interviewers will ask about each item. A good rule: every skill in your skills section should also appear in at least one bullet that shows you using it.

    Keyword examples by role

    RoleCommonly searched keywords
    Java Developer (fresher)Java, OOP, Spring Boot, REST API, MySQL, Hibernate, Git, Data Structures
    Frontend DeveloperJavaScript, TypeScript, React, HTML5, CSS3, Tailwind, REST API, responsive design
    Data AnalystSQL, Excel, Power BI or Tableau, Python, data cleaning, dashboards, reporting
    Software Testermanual testing, test cases, Selenium, JIRA, SDLC, STLC, API testing, Postman
    Digital MarketingSEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads, Google Analytics, content marketing, campaign reporting

    These are starting points; always check the specific job description.

    Check your keyword gap automatically

    Paste a job description into HiResume along with your resume and it lists the important keywords you are missing and where they would fit — free.

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    Frequently asked questions

    How do I find keywords for my resume?

    Take two or three job descriptions for the role you want, list the skills, tools, job titles and qualifications that repeat across them, and include the ones you genuinely have in your skills section and bullet points.

    Should I copy the job description into my resume?

    No. Use the same skill names and titles where they are true for you, but write your own bullet points that show how you used those skills. Copied text reads badly to recruiters.

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