What are some key words that really stick out to employers?

I would encourage you tailor your resume your intend field. As a very basic example, if you were applying for a finance or accounting position and perhaps worked as a server, emphasis the financial transaction piece of a customer paying you for their meal. Unlike many of the other responses I don't necessarily think you need to tailor it to each position you are applying but ensure it is applicable to the field in which these opportunities are in. That said, be sure you keep your resume to date as your progress in your career. Additionally action verbs are imperative as mentioned by another responder.

HI Melissa,

the key words you should choose on your resume should also reflect some of your experiences and skill sets that the employer is looking for. When employers are reviewing resumes, this is your first impression of you! Keep it simple, honest, and with correct spelling and grammar. Your resume should look clean and keep it neutral in color and font styles. If you have a silly email address, you should think about changing it to a more professional email address. You should also re-examine your social media accounts , pics, and comments, especially if you are going to apply for a security /law enforcement field.

I suggest that you write down your skills and experiences and your strengths and work improvement areas and do a first draft. I would also read and highlight key words in your job descriptions that you are interested in and / or applied and incorporate them into your resume.

I highly recommend that you go to career center and have them review and critique your resume. They can also help you with a mock interview, which is the most helpful of all!

Hi,
Good question, I started to do some research on keywords then I changed my mind and decided to answer a different way. I think the most important keywords depend on the job and the job description. I always advise customizing your resume to the individual job that you are applying for and using keywords from the job ad/description, I literally have dozens if not hundreds of resumes that I have written for myself and others over the years and every one is a little different in some way.
Good luck!

Hi Melissa!

Gary is correct. The important keywords are specific to your field. The best way to approach it is to look closely at the description of the job you are applying for. Use all of the keywords that are appropriate. What I mean by that is use them if and only if you have experience in and/or knowledge of that skill. Don't exaggerate because chances are you will be questioned on it.

Another huge bit of advice: when I was looking to hire someone, I would get a stack of resumes every Monday morning, literally hundreds of them. The very first thing I would do was to quickly scan them. I was looking to reduce the size of the stack. If there was a typo, I tossed the resume immediately. I actually had one where they misspelled the company name in two different ways. They never actually got the spelling correct! And another resume claimed to have worked on a development project that I was involved in, while I was in that department. He was never in that group...

So, sell yourself but be honest. Let others review your resume, preferably with industry experience and use spell-check!

Best of luck!

Jeff

The are about 200 or so action verbs that are good for a resume, search "resume action word......" and it shall give you the wording needed to move your resume to the next level, good luck.