- 1). Study the job listing and the company's website. Look specifically for the wording that surrounds text about their employees or potential hires and take some notes. As an example, are they looking for people comfortable working in a "high stress environment?" If so, list the term "high-stress environment" in your notebook. Once you have at least ten words or phrases that consistently come up in the job listing or company information, move on to the next step.
- 2). Craft a Resume Objective with the keywords in mind. State your desired job and list your experience using the keywords. For instance, "Sales Professional with proven experience in a high-stress sales environment seeks managerial position."
- 3). Write a Competency section. This will be the second section of your resume directly below the objective. Here you need to list as many of the keywords and phrases that you located in Step 1 as possible. Ideally you possess these skills and this is just a matter of writing them in the correct terms. Create a bulleted list that will be easy to scan.
- 4). Add key terms into the rest of the resume. Spread the same words throughout the job history and educational sections as needed. You don't need to force this as the keyword competency section should be enough to get through an applicant tracking system.
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