What are Your Personal Keywords?

Did you know that many companies use automatic screening software to help filter CVs? To make the recruiter’s lives easier, this software filters out CVs that don’t contain job-specific keywords, and which therefore don’t clearly show the relevance of the application to the role. To make sure you get past this first hurdle, you need to think carefully about the words you’re using in your CV.

Once you know what type of role you want to apply for, do some research on various job adverts and identify 10-12 recurring keywords or phrases that are most important to the role. These will become your personal keywords. 

Make sure to include them in your CV, cover letters and other supporting documents where appropriate to highlight your relevance as a candidate. Use them sparingly in your content, and only use them where it makes sense to do so, otherwise, this will seem forced and even unreadable. Once you’ve identified them, use your personal keywords across your professional social media pages and/or online portfolio to help them become part of your personal brand. 

If you upload your CV to an online database, using keywords will also help recruiters find you, as your content will match what they’re searching for. You can upload your CV to PharmiWeb’s CV database by signing in or creating an account here.