Job-Seeker Tips - Keyword Density

Searching for a new job is one of the most stressful times in a person’s life. Although job-seekers have it tough, job-recruiters, some argue, have it worse. Charged with sorting through hundred of applications, pressured to find the perfect applicant, recruiters are accountable for the effectiveness of a company’s staff.

Many of you will disagree that job-recruiters have it rougher than the job-seeker. For instance, they have a job, benefits and a steady income – stresses in and of themselves for job-seekers. This article is not to dissuade your job-seeking efforts or destroy confidence in your chance of landing a new job; rather, we are here to look at the reality of the career arena and teach you how to grab the attention of a recruiter.

Job-recruiters look for efficiencies in their daily work. In efforts to minimize the task of sorting manually through hundreds of applications, recruiters will use keyword density tools to condense prospective employees.  In short, recruiters are looking on the Internet and in career databases for keyword-laden resumes. Here are two ways of gaining a strategic advantage over the competition:

1)      Look at the job posting. Are there words used more than once - Adjectives that are reoccurring? If so, make sure your resume and cover letter are littered with these same keywords.

2)      Go to the company’s website. Seek out corporate jargon, mission statements and look for patterns in language. Absorb the context of these keywords and apply them to your resume and cover letter.

The more keywords you use, the more likely your chances of getting past a résumé-screening database become.

To learn more about strategic tips to land your next job, register for FreeCareerSearch in the sign-up box at the top-right portion of the site. You’ll have full, free access to more career information than you’d ever knew existed.