12 The Power of Keywords

For your resume to be effective in clearly demonstrating that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential duties of the role, it must be targeted to each job by including keywords from the job posting.

Use Keywords

Keywords describe the type of person, skillset, education, and experience the employer seeks.

Omitting keywords from your resume and cover letter may result in your documents getting discarded before anyone reads them.

In addition to resumes targeted to specific jobs you desire, you will need a general resume for job fairs and other networking events. To find keywords to use in a general resume, follow the steps below.

1. Look up job postings you are interested in applying for and identify the keywords listed in the posting that match your skills, knowledge, and experience.
2. Use labour market information resources such as the Job Bank – Explore Careers website to review various career and occupational profiles and understand the required duties and responsibilities. You could also use the government’s National Occupation Classification Codes website, which provides Canadian occupational information and organizes occupational titles according to skill levels and skill types. This can be used as a guide to inform you of all the various tasks and duties associated with different jobs.
3. Refer to your program learning outcomes – For each program at Conestoga College, learning outcomes are identified so that you can understand what abilities you will reliably be able to demonstrate upon graduation. The learning outcomes were developed by employers and industry professionals prior to the creation of your course and offer industry-specific language that you can apply to your resume.