Many people are concerned whether their CV contains the correct keywords to pass through recruitment tracking systems and reach the recruiter, rather than being automatically declined before it reaches the recruiter. This blog post provides CV writing help if you choose to write your own CV rather than using a CV writing service.

This article outlines how to keyword optimise your CV to ensure it reaches the recruiter, as well as ensuring your CV and LinkedIn rank highly when recruiters are searching for candidates with your expertise, enabling recruiters to contact you about roles which may interest you.

What is keyword optimisation?

Keyword optimisation is a process of researching, analysing and selecting the right keywords to use in a document such as your CV or LinkedIn profile, or a website. Most recruitment systems, CV databases and LinkedIn order their results by relevance – how closely it matches the keywords. This ensures the recruiter reviews the most relevant results first and prevents them from wasting time by reviewing irrelevant results. Recruiters will only review most relevant results, which means your CV or LinkedIn profile is unlikely to be viewed if it only matches a few of these keywords.

Imagine searching on eBay for a pair of Men’s Nike Air Max trainers in a size 10. If someone lists Men’s Nike Trainers or Nike Trainers, size 10 this doesn’t match our search, meaning we are unlikely to see their listing, although it is exactly what we want to buy. Most people haven’t thought about the keywords they use in their listing, which limits the number of people who can see their listing. These sellers can dramatically increase their chances of selling the trainers by tweaking their listing to include all the relevant keywords (brand, model, size and gender). Similarly, if you do not consider the keywords used on your CV and LinkedIn profile, this is likely to limit the number of search results this appears in. Keyword optimising your CV and LinkedIn profile can significantly improve your visibility to recruiters.

Why is keyword optimisation important?

Most large companies use recruitment tracking software to scan applicants CVs for the chosen keywords which saves the recruiter time by automatically declining applicants who do not match the role requirements. Keyword optimising your CV ensures this will pass through the recruitment tracking software, so the recruiter can review this.

Most recruitment agencies and large companies search for candidates for their vacancies using online CV databases like Indeed, Monster, Total Jobs, Reed, CV Library, The Times and The Guardian, as well as LinkedIn. This is an important part of a recruitment campaign for senior or specialist roles where there is a relatively small pool of qualified candidates. If these candidates are not actively searching for a new role, they will not see a recruitment advert or apply for the role. Therefore, recruiters actively search for potential candidates and approach them to see whether they are interested in their role. Recruiters use keywords to search for candidates, most recruiters will only have time to review the most relevant results, so the higher your CV and LinkedIn profile rank in the search results, the more likely you are to be approached by a recruiter.

Which keywords should I use?

Usually, recruiters select keywords centred around the main technical skills required for the role. E.g for a Project Manager these may include Project Management, Agile, PRINCE2, Scrum and Kanban. Keywords for a software developer may include software development, DevOps, Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, C#, C++, coding, system design and testing. Your keyword research and analysis should focus on the main technical skills, although it is worth briefly mentioning the required soft skills e.g. communication skills, teamwork and organisational skills. Most systems recognise variations such as project management, managing projects and leading projects so you do not need to include every possible variation.

How to keyword optimise your CV and LinkedIn profile

As part of my CV Writing Service, I optimise the keywords on the CVs and LinkedIn profiles which I have written. If you have written your own CV it is important to optimise this before you start applying for roles, or uploading your CV to any of the online CV databases.

• Research the keywords: Review several job descriptions of roles which interest you to identify the main technical skills required. Identify whether there are any differences in how the recruiters refer to the same skills e.g. Scrum, CSM and Certified Scrum Master and note how regularly these are used.
• Analyse the keywords: Identify the keywords which are regularly used across the job descriptions, and use these as the main keywords on your CV or LinkedIn profile. Decide whether you wish to include keyword variations on the main copy of your CV. This is usually worth doing if the variations are used regularly, however if they are used infrequently it may be easier to tweak these when you tailor your CV for a particular role.
• Include the keywords in your CV and LinkedIn Profile: Your CV and LinkedIn profile need to be written in a natural way which engages the recruiter. There’s nothing worse than a CV or LinkedIn profile which has been over stuffed with every possible keyword. Start with your profile or summary, then work through the other sections, looking for opportunities to include the most important keywords.
  

Do you need professional assistance in writing a stand-out CV, or improving your interview skills? I offer CV writing help including a CV writing service, as well as interview skills coaching and career coaching sessions – please don’t hesitate to contact me.