What are keywords? If you’ve ever used a search engine on the Internet to find something, then you’ve used keywords. For example, Yahoo, has recently unveiled the top most popular search keywords for the Asia-pacific markets in the first half of 2010. They are “travel”, “gaming”, “retail” and “investment”.

In the context of job searching, keywords are those buzz words found in each and every profession. They identify the essential skills, knowledge and expertise that are found in a particular field. Any good job sites nowadays have a search function capability integrated and potential employer need only to type certain keywords to scour through the database. The idea is that the search tool would hit on the job seeker’s resume and identify him/her as a qualified candidate.

With more employers using technology to qualify candidates, job seekers should really take a good look at their resume. Are they “keyword search-friendly”? And what keywords are to be incorporated? One of the ways is to find out your industry-specific keywords. The easiest place to look for them is to observe the words or phrases used in job postings related to your industry or position.

The following are some popular keywords for the various professions:

Accounting, Banking and Finance

• Full set accounts

• Accounts payable and receivable

• Auditing

• Corporate treasury

• Cost accounting

• Risk management

• Financial analysis and reporting

Engineering

• Productivity improvement

• ISO

• Quality assurance and control

• Process automation

• Process improvement

• Supply chain management

General Administration and Human Resources

• Office management

• Document management

• Policy and procedure

• Manpower planning

• Change management

• Recruitment and selection

• Succession planning

• Union relations

• Employee relations

IT

• Applications development

• Network design

• Project management

• Technical writing

• User training and support

• Website design

• Systems administration

Legal

• Corporate law

• Legal research and analysis

• Litigation

• Regulatory affairs

• Intellectual property

• Legislative review and analysis

Sales, Marketing and Customer service

• Brand development

• Customer relationship management

• Key account management

• Sales presentation

• Solutions selling

• Advertising and promotion

• Targets achieved

If you do not have the experience in the career field that incorporates those keywords, you can still benefit by incorporating them in your career objective.

Whether the recruiter does this consciously or not, the fact remains when readers see the right keywords, it gives a good vibe that this is a well-qualified candidate.

Related readings:

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What Is A Good Resume? »

Simple Truths About Resume Writing »