Job Description Keywords · Free Guide

How to Find the Keywords in a Job Description

Job postings hide their priorities in plain sight. The keywords an applicant tracking system (ATS) screens for are exactly the words a hiring manager used to describe the role. Learning to extract them takes 5 minutes per posting, and directly improves your chances at interviews.

What keywords are (and why they matter)

Keywords are just the important words in a job posting. A 'Senior AWS DevOps Engineer' job has keywords at different levels: 'Senior' (the level), 'AWS' (the tool), 'DevOps' (the specialty), and 'Linux' or 'Kubernetes' (the specific skills they need).

There are different types: tools and software (SQL, Figma, AWS), people skills (leadership, communication, teamwork), and certifications or years of experience ('PMP certified', '5+ years in management').

Here's the key part: when a company posts a job, their recruiting system searches for the exact words they used. If the posting says 'SQL' and you say 'database querying' on your resume, the system may not match them. Use their words.

How to Find Keywords in a Job Description

Step 1: Start with the job title. The job title is the first keyword to look for. If a posting says 'Senior Data Analyst', both 'Senior' and 'Data Analyst' are keywords the recruiting system will use to filter resumes. Write them down.
Step 2: Check the requirements section. Most job postings list what skills they need: programming languages (Python, SQL), software platforms (AWS, Salesforce), or certifications (PMP, CISSP). Copy these exact words into your list—recruiters search for the words they used, not synonyms or different names for the same skill.
Step 3: Notice words that repeat. When a word appears multiple times in the posting—'communication' mentioned 3 times, or 'project management' in several places—that's a signal the company really cares about it. Mark those as high-priority.
Step 4: Find both technical and personal skills. Look for two types of skills: technical ones (SQL, Figma, budgeting software) and people skills (leadership, teamwork, communication). People skills often hide in the job duties—if the posting says 'led cross-functional teams', pull out 'leadership' and 'teamwork' as keywords.
Step 5: Spot experience and certification requirements. Postings often ask for '5+ years in product management' or 'MBA required'. These matter too—add them to your list. Same with any industry type mentioned: 'B2B SaaS experience', 'healthcare', 'fintech'.
Step 6: Rank your keywords by importance. Take all the keywords you found and pick the top 5-8 that came up most or seemed most important. Focus on only these when you update your resume—don't try to cram in every keyword, just the ones your real experience actually shows.

Real example: Data Analyst job posting

Here's how to pull keywords from an actual posting:

Posting requires:

SQL, Python, Tableau, stakeholder communication, 5+ years of experience in data analysis

Your resume currently has:

SQL mentioned once in skills; Python in a project bullet; dashboards built (but not "Tableau" by name); work with teams but no specific "stakeholder communication" language

Keywords extracted:

High priority: SQL (you have it, keep it visible), Python (you have it), Tableau (missing—add if you've done dashboard work), stakeholder communication (reword bullets to show this)
Medium priority: data analysis, reporting, metrics
Experience level: 5+ years (match if you have it)
Do NOT add: Skills you don't have (like R or SAS if they're not in your background)

Common keyword categories to look for

Hard skills & tools

Programming languages (Python, JavaScript, SQL), platforms (AWS, Salesforce, HubSpot), design tools (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite), data tools (Tableau, Power BI), and technical frameworks (React, Node.js, Django).

Certifications

Cloud certifications (AWS, GCP, Azure), project management (PMP, PRINCE2), security (CISSP, Security+), and industry-specific certifications (CPA, LEED). Copy the exact abbreviation the posting uses.

Soft skills

Communication, leadership, collaboration, project management, analytical thinking. These hide in the responsibilities section—reword your bullets to surface them.

Experience level

Years of experience ('5+ years'), career stage ('entry-level', 'senior'), or industry experience ('B2B SaaS', 'fintech', 'healthcare').

Required vs preferred: which job description keywords come first

Not every keyword in a posting carries the same weight. Sort what you found into three groups before you touch your resume.

Required. Words like "must have", "required", "minimum" or "you will need", plus anything in the first few bullets of the requirements list. A missing required keyword is the most likely reason a resume is screened out.
Preferred. Words like "nice to have", "preferred", "a plus" or "bonus". Add these only where your experience is real. Missing one or two rarely decides the outcome.
Repeated. A term that shows up in the title, the summary and the duties is a core skill, even if it never appears under "requirements". Treat it as required.

Hard skills (tools, languages, certifications) usually matter more than soft skills for matching, because they are specific and easy to check. Prove soft skills with a bullet that shows the result instead of listing the word.

Check your keyword list against your resume

With your list sorted, put each keyword next to the line in your resume that proves it. A keyword with no matching line is a gap. You can do that by hand, or compare your resume to the job description and get the match score and the missing keywords in one step. If your score is low, the guide on what a good resume match score is explains what to fix first.

Why matching keywords actually helps you get interviews

Here's how it works: the recruiting system reads resumes automatically and scores them based on keyword matches. If a job needs 'SQL' and you actually know SQL but your resume says 'relational database querying' instead, the system might miss the match. When you use their exact words, the system ranks you higher.

But it's not just about systems. Recruiters also search their database manually—they type 'Tableau' and want to see your name in the results. When your resume says 'Tableau' instead of 'dashboarding', you show up in those searches. This simple fix increases your chances of being seen.

Now update your resume with those keywords

Once you have your list of top 5-8 keywords, add them to your resume in a natural way:

Start with your summary. Lead with 2-3 of your top keywords and explain how you've used them.
Update your most recent job. Look at your bullet points and reword them to include the keywords you found. If the job needs 'stakeholder communication' and you managed client relationships, change that bullet to say 'coordinated with stakeholders' or 'managed stakeholder expectations'.
Rearrange your skills section. Put the job posting's keywords at the top, if you have them.
Only use keywords you actually have. If the posting asks for something you don't know, leave it off. Honesty always beats trying to fake it.

If you're applying to lots of jobs, doing this by hand for every one takes time. After you do it manually for 3-4 jobs to get the feel, you can use a job description keyword finder to pull out a posting's keywords automatically. It does the work in seconds and groups them as required, preferred, or also mentioned.

Frequently asked questions

Should I add keywords I don't have to my resume?

No. Never lie about skills. The recruiting system checks your resume, but a real person reads it later and will ask you about anything on it. If you claim a skill in an interview and don't have it, you'll get caught. Only include keywords that describe real work you've done.

What if I have the skill but it's named differently in my resume?

Change it to match the posting's language. If the job says 'Tableau' and your resume says 'dashboarding', update it to 'Tableau'. Recruiting systems search for the exact words they listed, not similar words or different names for the same skill.

How many keywords should I add to my resume?

Pick the top 5-8 keywords from your list—the ones mentioned most in the posting or that seem most important. Don't try to squeeze in every keyword; that makes your resume sound unnatural. Instead, use the top few naturally in your summary and job descriptions.

Does where I put keywords matter?

Yes. Put your top keywords near the top—in your summary and in your most recent job description. The recruiting system reads from the top down, so if you start strong with the right keywords, your resume gets scored higher.

Should I use a keyword scanner instead of finding them myself?

Both have value. Doing it yourself once or twice teaches you how to spot what matters. But if you're applying to many jobs, a keyword scanner does the work in seconds and shows you exactly what keywords you're missing. It's faster when you're applying to 10+ jobs.

Related tools

Job description keyword finder — paste a posting and see its required and preferred keywords in seconds.
Resume vs job description matcher — get a match score and see which keywords you're missing before you apply.
ATS resume keywords guide — learn which keywords ATS systems screen for, across all job types.

Last updated: November 5, 2026