This morning I wrote about Kerry Sandberg Scott’s advice to NOT customize your resume to each job. Well she thoughtfully followed it up by disputing another urban legend: the need for buzzwords in your resume in order for it to get seen. Here’s why she says that’s not true:
- Most companies don’t use applicant tracking systems.
- You can put the keywords into your cover letter so they would be picked up in a search.
- Nobody ONLY looks at keywords. Yes, recruiters may search for people with a certain certification, but they’re also going to look at the rest of the resumes.
- Whoever told you that may have just been trying to make money off ‘coaching’ you.
So bottom line… Recruiters do search for keywords when looking for candidates, but that’s still no reason to spend 2 hours preparing your resume for submission to a position. That’s just unnecessary.
Filed under: Advice for the job seeker Tagged: | Cover Letters, Personal Brand, Resume
