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While there are dozens of articles online that provide pointers on how to use keywords in a resume, there are very few that teach job seekers how to search using those keywords. In a recent article on CNN titled "Using the right keywords in your job search," the author makes the case that using the right keywords can help job seekers find better job matches.
In your résumé and interviews, you want to let your best qualities and unique point of view shine through. But to get to those stages you first have to find the right job. That means you have to do something that's unacceptable in every other circumstance: plagiarize.
Go to an online job board and search for jobs that you think you're a great match for. Then study the language they use to perform your own searches.
So many people don't know how search engines work, and they search for a word or phrase that would sound just fine to a human ear, but the computer's "ear" isn't tuned into the same lingo. The recruiters and advertisers that write the job ads know how to use keywords to show up in searches, and the article linked above invites job seekers to take advantage of the information that is already at their fingertips.
Using search engine techniques can narrow a large list of "unlikely" to a short list of "likely" jobs. For example (see slideshow below), using the LinkUp job search site, a preliminary search for a HR Director in Denver, Colorado turns up a daunting 38 results, but by simply adding quotes around the position title, the search narrows down to only 6 results (which are much easier to handle!).
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