The essentials in 30 seconds
- 0110 to 15 terms taken literally from the advert.
- 02Acronym and full form the first time each appears.
- 03Every keyword inside a sentence that states a result.
01
What counts as a keyword
The job title, the tools (SAP, advanced Excel, Figma), certifications, languages with levels, methodologies and the verbs of your trade. Adjectives don't count: nobody searches for “dynamic”.
02
Take them from the advert, not your head
Paste the advert into a document and highlight every technical noun that repeats. Anything appearing twice, or sitting in the essential requirements, is a priority. That list of 10 to 15 terms is your script.
03
Use the exact form and the variant
If the advert says “customer service”, don't write only “client care”. With acronyms, give both forms the first time: “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”, “Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)”.
04
Where to place them
Headline and summary (the top two or three), inside the achievements of each role, and in skills. Filters weight recent experience far more heavily than a list at the bottom.
05
What gets penalised
Dumping terms into a context-free block, writing them in white-on-white, or hiding them in images and footers. It gets detected and the whole application is dropped.
06
One CV per advert
Changing the headline and six keywords takes three minutes and multiplies your match rate. Keep a base version and duplicate it for each family of roles.
07
How to extract the list in ten minutes
Paste the full advert into a blank document and underline nouns only: the job title, tools, certifications, regulations, processes, languages with levels and sector metrics. Anything appearing twice, or sitting in the essential requirements, goes to the top. Ten to fifteen terms is plenty of material.
Then compare that list against your current CV, term by term. The ones already there in context stay; the missing ones split in two: those you can evidence with a fact from your history go in, the rest stay out. Listing a tool you can't use surfaces at the first technical test.
- The exact job title, as the employer words it.
- Tools by their commercial names: SAP, Sage, Xero, Figma, advanced Excel.
- Certifications, licences and regulations by their official names.
- Processes and methods: bank reconciliation, Scrum, HACCP, picking.
- Languages with CEFR levels, written as text.
08
Where they carry weight and where they do nothing
The system doesn't count loose appearances: it weights where each term sits. Headline, statement and the achievements of your most recent role are worth far more than a list at the bottom, because there the term comes with a date, an employer and a result. That's why “SAP” inside an achievement outperforms “SAP” repeated three times in a skills column.
Some parts of the file are invisible: inside an image, in a table the converter scrambles, in the PDF header or footer, and in any level graphic. If the fact can't be selected with a mouse, as far as the filter is concerned it isn't written.
- Headline: the advert's job title, literally.
- Statement: the top two or three terms in a sentence with a result.
- Recent experience: the rest, inside achievements.
- Skills: only to group the technical terms, never the sole location.
09
Synonyms, acronyms and market variants
Filters don't know that “customer service” and “client care” mean the same thing, so use the advert's wording and, where it reads naturally, the variant in another achievement. With acronyms, give both forms the first time: “Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)”, “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”.
In the UK market the vocabulary itself differs: “CV” rather than “resume”, “right to work”, “National Insurance number”. A CV written in the target market's vocabulary matches its adverts better and reads like a local candidate's.
Check this before you send it
- The list comes from the advert and holds ten to fifteen terms.
- The headline repeats the job title exactly as the employer words it.
- Every technical term sits inside a sentence with a result.
- Acronyms carry their full form the first time.
- No term lives in an image, table, header or footer.
- No tool is listed that you couldn't demonstrate in a test.
Mistakes that cost you the interview
Keyword lists pulled off the internet
Generic sector terms don't match the specific advert, which is the only thing your CV is compared against.
Piling up terms with no context
A twenty-word block at the bottom barely scores and wrecks the read for a human.
Hidden or white-on-white text
Extraction exposes it, and some systems drop the whole application for manipulation.
Using only your in-house vocabulary
Nobody outside searches for the name your employer gave a process: translate it into the standard industry term.
Frequently asked
Questions we get asked most
- How many keywords should a CV have?
- Ten to fifteen terms taken literally from the advert, spread across headline, statement, experience achievements and skills. Beyond that the text turns artificial and stops reading like a person wrote it.
- Does white text or footer keyword stuffing work?
- No, and it backfires: hidden text, images and footers are either detected or ignored, and several systems drop the whole application for manipulation.
- Where do keywords count most?
- In the headline, the statement and the achievements of your most recent role. A loose list at the bottom barely scores, because filters weight terms that sit in context with dates and results.