On a conceptual basis, job keywords make sense to everyone. However, when you dig into the details of how computers identify keywords, many challenges arise. I am going to explain the logic to clear up the confusion and hopefully start an ongoing discussion in the comments section about keywords. I will use laymen terms to remove the complexity of understanding computational linguistics. For those looking for more info on the subject, a good introductory article from Microsoft is here.
Computers Look for Different Keywords than Humans
As for the job keywords, lots of advice suggest focusing on industry keywords and functional keywords. While this advice is still valid, a new era has emerged where computers are looking for keywords in a résumé before a hiring manager reviews a résumé.
Unlike humans, computers do not try to decipher meaning from individual words (e.g., does “manage” mean managing people or managing products). Instead, they apply complex mathematical formulas to determine the words and phrases that can precisely and compactly represent the content of the job description. Then, these phrases are searched for in the résumé. Based on the search, a complex ranking system is used to compare one candidate’s résumé to anothers’. Complex? Yes!
I think a good example of how a computer identifies keywords is to use a sample job description. Let’s focus on just three lines of the Requirements section:
Requirements:
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred
Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
Computers identify keywords by determining how often phrases are used among other job descriptions, then the computer looks for the phrases in a candidate’s résumé and ranks the candidate based on the findings. To understand the process, we can break it into 4 parts: 1. Computer must identify keyword phrases, 2. Computer must determine frequency of the phrases, or “significance”, 3. computer searches résumé for matching or partially matching keyword phrases, 4. computer assigns a rank based on the matches and partial matches.
1. Identifying the Keyword Phrases
The computers first begin by analyzing the job description to identify all the keyword phrases in the job description. What is a “phrase”. A “phrase” is one or more words in succession from the job description. Phrases can be single words like “CRA” from our example, or longer strings of words like “Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline.”
2. Determine Frequency of the phrases
With the phrases identified, next, the computer identifies how many times that phrase is found in all the other job descriptions. The more it is found, a higher score is assigned to the phrase. The less it is found, the lower the score. For instance, let’s look at the first two lines of our sample job description.
Requirements:
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
If we had 10 other job descriptions and counted the frequency of the phrases, we might end up with something like this:
| Phrase | Frequency |
| Bachelors |
10 |
| Bachelors degree | 10 |
| Bachelors degree in | 10 |
| Bachelors degree in a | 8 |
| relevant | 10 |
| relevant scientific | 7 |
| relevant scientific discipline | 5 |
| relevant scientific discipline or equivalent | 4 |
| At | 10 |
| At least | 8 |
| At least 2 | 3 |
| At least 2 years | 3 |
| At least 2 years of | 3 |
| At least 2 years of | 3 |
| relevant | 10 |
| relevant experience | 10 |
| relevant experience as | 10 |
| relevant experience as a | 10 |
| CRA | 2 |
| CRA in | 1 |
| CRA in the | 1 |
| CRA in the biotech | 1 |
| CRA in the biotech pharmaceutical | 1 |
What the computer does is start with a word and get a count for its frequency (i.e., how many times was it found in all job descriptions). Then, it will add on additional words and get a count.
Once the frequency is determined, then the computer decides what are the keywords for a job. With the information we have above, we could claim the words that show up less frequently are the most important phrases for this job, and the words that show up more frequently are too generic. For instance, if a phrase appears in 10 job descriptions, we may think this is not important (this is the case with “Bachelors degree”). However, the phrase “CRA in the biotech pharmaceutical” is very unique to this job. Therefore, we could assert “any phrase with a count of 3 or less is a keyword phrase”.
But these don’t look like Keywords
The reason it appears to be incomplete phrases or gibberish is due to the added words in the phrase that make it less frequent. The computer is not looking for grammatical or commonly used phrases. For example, you may believe “2 years of experience” is the keyword but a computer may say “At least 2 years of” is the keyword, because “2 years of experience” shows up in too many job descriptions.
3. Searching Résumés for Keyword Phrases
Once the computer has a set of keyword phrases, next is searches a résumé for the keywords. If it finds a match or partial match, it will give it a score. Let’s use “at least 2 years experience” as the keyword phrase. If the résumé had “I have more than 2 years experience in…”, we would get a partial match with “2 years experience” being the overlap. Changing tense of a word, and/or adding or removing plurality or possession will result in getting a partial match. Partial matches are not bad. It is unlikely any résumé will match the job description exactly without copying it word for word. Therefore, the goal is to eliminate any missing keywords and fill your résumé with matched and partially matched keywords.
4. Assigning a Résumé Rank (i.e., Job Fit Rating or Resumeter Rating)
Once the computer has a list of all the matched and partially matched keywords, the computer assigns a rank or value. The rank is weighted based on the matches and the frequency of the keyword phrase. A keyword phrase that is less frequently found will get a higher weight than a keyword phrase that is more frequently found. An exact match will get a higher weight than a partial match. Within the partial match, the closer to the exact phrase you can get, the higher the rank. The computer takes all of these into account and assigns a weighting.
For every résumé that comes in, a rating can be assigned.
Does it work?
Using our example, let’s do a simple test to see if the process works. Let’s assume we get hundreds of résumés. If 10 résumés have “CRA” or “CRA in the biotech” versus 100 résumés that have “bachelors degree”, a hiring manager could quickly narrow the applicant list to just 10. While the hiring manager may miss out on a strong candidate who does not have this term, they do avoid having to read through hundreds of résumés. There are plenty of arguments on why this may not result in the best hiring decisions, but in today’s economy where employees are required to do more with less, these systems are here to stay.
Resume keywords can fool your eye
Can you identify keywords better than a computer? Try it here.
Job seekers and experts in the field are familiar with résumé keywords. However, identifying keywords to make your résumé standout is not as easy as you think.
Let’s look at an example. If you are applying for a sales manager position, commonly held views are to include “sales” and “manage” in your résumé. However, to quote Brenda Bernstein, a professional résumé writer and owner of TheEssayExpert,
“Pardon me for saying so, but the above advice is 1) rudimentary, 2) a no-brainer and 3) limited in its value. The problem is that 99% of the people applying for a sales manager job are going to have the words “sales” and “manage” in their résumés! Therefore, you will not get higher on any list by including these keywords.”
Brenda’s statements are accurate. Over 80% of all hiring companies use computers to screen and rank résumés. These computers have created new hurdles for job seekers. Therefore, we wanted to evaluate the best ways to identify keywords.
So what is the best way to identify keywords?
The Résumé Keyword Test
We created a test to compare the effectiveness of a professional résumé writer and Preptel’s Resumeter to determine the best method for identifying résumé keywords.
We had each identify the keywords from a job description. We added the job keywords to a résumé and submitted the résumé. The judge of each résumé is the hiring system at a Fortune 500 company. The hiring system, known as an ATS, ranks candidates based on their résumé (learn more about ATS systems). To keep it fair, we used the same base résumé and only added the keywords.
The Job Description
Below is our test job description.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Professional Résumé Writer Keywords
We want to thank Norine Dagliano for participating in our test. Norine is a professional résumé writer, certified by the NRWA, and oversees certifications of other résumé writers.
Below are the keywords identified by Norine. We have marked them in yellow highlights.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Preptel Resumeter Keywords
Preptel’s Resumeter is a computer-based approach to identifying keywords. Resumeter uses the same approach hiring systems use to identify job keywords.
Below are the keywords identified by Resumeter.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Comparison
To compare the job keywords, we show both our Professional Résumé Writer’s and Resumeter’s keywords.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Results
As shown above, even though many words were marked as keywords by both approaches, our research shows significant differences in how hiring systems rate résumés based. To demonstrate this point, let’s see how they ranked.
We added the keywords from our Professional Résumé Writer to a base resume and named the person “Julie Wilson“.
Next, we added the keywords from Resumeter to the same base résumé and named the person “Peter Comp“.
We submitted both résumés for this job.
To see which one ranks higher, we then logged into the hiring system. For those not familiar with these hiring systems, when a hiring manager or recruiter logs into the hiring system and chooses the job, they see a stacked list of candidates based on Job Fit. Job Fit is the hiring system’s evaluation of how well the résumé fits the job.
Based on the results and screenshots below, Resumeter outscored our Professional Résumé Writer by 34 percentage points. Resumeter scored a 83% job fit rating, and our Professional Résumé Writer scored a 59% job fit rating.
Implications
This test does not diminish the value of a professional résumé writer. In fact, Professional Résumé Writers are the best way to create your résumé and are experts on industry best practices.
This test and results demonstrate the need for job seekers to 1) tailor their résumé to each and every job, 2) understand the different approaches to identifying keywords.
Most of the advice you may find on the web is outdated. This test demonstrates the difficulty in identifying keywords and how just a few keyword differences may significantly alter your success.
What works and what doesn’t work for electronic résumés
As job seekers, you have two types of résumés you need to create – an offline résumé and an online résumé. The offline résumé is for printing and handing out at job fairs, networking events, and interviews. Your online résumé is one used for any electronic communication, including emailing your résumé or any online job application submission. Most people like the look of an offline résumé, because of the fancy formatting and pretty presentation. However, most résumés are put through hiring software and read on a computer. Unfortunately, these hiring systems are error prone and pretty formatting and graphics cause the system to discard much of the résumé. Therefore, use your online résumé for any digital communication, and use your offline résumé for when you need to print out your résumé. To create both types of résumés, you will need to follow different rules and guidelines.
Here is a simple list of guidelines to help.
Here are award-winning offline résumés. These are considered the best in the industry and won TORI awards from Career Directors International.
Below are samples of online résumés. These are proven résumé formats that have been tested for errors and formatting.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal “Your Résumé vs. Oblivion” and an NPR segment (both links are here: WSJ and NPR) outlined the challenges facing job seekers when applying to companies. We are very happy to see Professional Résumé Writers and industry experts agree that these articles do not provide enough information to help job seekers improve their job search efforts. In a great article by Brenda Bernstein, TheEssayExpert, she outlines the basic gaps these articles fail to address. I am not a recommending her article because she mentions Preptel. Instead, I am recommending her article because she highlights, in a very simple example, the misconception that a few industry keywords are going to leap a candidate’s résumé from the bottom to the top of the applicant list. As she correctly points out, keywords are the key to getting your résumé noticed; however, reading a job description and identifying the keywords is not a successful approach. I have copied part of her article below, but please read the full version here.
WSJ and NPR Miss the Mark on Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
by Brenda Bernstein, TheEssayExpert
“Résumé Oblivion” has been a hot topic in the news. The Wall Street Journal published an article, Your Résumé vs. Oblivion, reporting that the percentage of large companies using computerized Applicant Tracking Systems to screen candidates is in the high 90%; almost all Fortune 500 companies rely on these programs.
The article offers advice, which I recommend reading, on “How to Beat the ‘Black Hole.’” However, the advice is not comprehensive. The first item, for instance, instructs job seekers to “mimic the keywords in the job description as closely as possible. If you’re applying to be a sales manager, make sure your résumé includes the words ‘sales’ and ‘manage’ (assuming you’ve done both!).”
Pardon me for saying so, but the above advice is 1) rudimentary, 2) a no-brainer and 3) limited in its value. The problem is that 99% of the people applying for a sales manager job are going to have the words “sales” and “manage” in their résumés! Therefore, you will not get higher on any list by including these keywords. The same goes for most of the keywords in the job description, since many job seekers are getting savvy about matching their résumés to the posting.
In my estimation, to beat a computer you need a computer. That’s why I make sure that every one of my clients who applies to a mid- to large-sized company puts his or her resume through a computerized system, Preptel’s Resumeter. I have written about this program before, and I keep becoming a bigger and bigger fan.
Read more here .
If asked who creates better résumés, an entry-level person, a manager, or an executive, the overriding assumption would be executives. The assumption would be based on the success of executives in their career and therefore they must also create better résumés. However, our research shows something different.
After analyzing thousands of résumés and jobs to see how well they fit the job, we found entry-level or staff positions and executives have similar job fit ratings. In fact, they scored 50% higher than all other groups. Our analysis showed applicants for Director, Vice President, COO, and other senior positions did not create better résumés than Customer Service Specialist, Development Associtate, or Receptionists. However, the group that outperformed all others was first-level managers.
Job Fit Importance
We chose job fit to be the best way to evaluate résumés. Job Fit is the numerical rating of a résumé to the job opening. Applicant Tracking Systems, the software used by hiring companies to screen candidates, use a job fit rating to determine which candidates to interview. Job boards, hiring companies, and recruiting firms use Job Fit ratings. With thousands of applicants per job, in most cases job fit rating is the first critical filter job seekers need to pass to even be reviewed by a recruiter, HR rep or hiring manager.
Why are managers so much better?
In our analysis, we found first level managers scored on average much higher than other groups. We believe this is because they have more job searching experience and insight into the process. They are switching jobs more frequently than executives and they have more work experience than entry-level positions. For these reasons, they demonstrate a higher job fit rating.
After analyzing thousands of job seeker résumés, we found the average job fit rating is 12%, while the average Preptel job fit rating is over 40%.
In our study, we analyzed all types of jobs at all levels of employment, including: executives, managers, directors, and entry-level positions. We found the average job seeker does not tailor their résumé and in most cases, does not know how to tailor their résumé effectively. With Preptel, users had a job fit rating of over 40% on average. This is a 30 percentage point increase. In addition, the top quartile of job fit ratings ranged from 30%-100% for job seekers where Preptel users ranged from 60%-100% match to the job.
What does this mean?
When applying for jobs, customizing your résumé is one of the most important opportunities a job seeker has. For those who are customizing their résumé, they are getting job interviews at a higher rate than those who think a single résumé will work. In our analysis, those who received a 70% job fit rating or higher, were interviewed 60% of the time. This means out of every two applications, they are getting at least one interview.
Why?
Hiring companies are looking for qualified people and each job description contains the skills and capabilities desired. The applicant who customizes their résumé to showcase those skills stands out in a heard of low or, as our data suggests, very low job fit rating candidates.
Preptel makes customizing your résumé to each job fast and easy. It identifies keywords required to showcase your qualities for the job. With an increase of 300%, Preptel candidates stand above the crowd.
Figure 1: Same résumé for 8 similar jobs
With almost every job seeker, there is a reluctance or frustration to tailor their résumé for each job. Even professional résumé writers, though not the best ones, try to explain why 1 résumé is the best approach. Unfortunately, to be successful in getting interviews, a custom résumé for each job is the most productive method.
Here is the hard truth: a single résumé will not position you properly for every job. We analyzed thousands of candidates and found a single résumé varies significantly from one job to another (see figure 1). As our data shows, some candidates range from a job fit rating of 9% to 73%. Since a résumé is one of your best assets, it is surprising so many candidates fail to tailor their résumé to each job. Regardless of how you get into a company, even networking, hiring companies will use your résumé to determine if you are qualified and a general résumé is a poor choice.
When we compared the average job seekers to Preptel users, the average job fit rating increased 30 percentage points. Review the comparison below. The chart compares résumé submissions for jobs from two groups of users – blue line are applicants who use a single résumé for each job and the red line are applicants who use Preptel. The average job fit for Preptel users increased from 12% to higher than 40%. The Preptel résumés are clearly stronger because Preptel shows exactly how to tailor a résumé to be a stronger fit to the job.
Figure 2: Customized Résumés vs. Non-Customized Résumés
Hiring companies avoid interviewing unqualified qualified candidates. If your résumé is not a strong job fit, then getting an interview is unlikely. As shown above, Preptel’s Candidate Optimization Services help candidates position themselves for each job and gain an advantage over other job seekers.
It’s worthy of a news flash: Today, most employers no longer share your résumé with hiring managers. Hiring managers receive a summary report generated by Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software that removes bias-causing problems, tracks EEOC compliance and performance, and supposedly levels the playing field across the applicant pool. Regardless of how your clients are getting into the company – friend, job board, recruiter, or online application – everyone goes through these ATS systems.
Job seekers, unaware, get acquainted with the ATS software in quite another way. It’s called the “résumé black hole.” You never hear anything back from the black hole; no status update, no rejection letter, nothing. Sound familiar?
According to Professional Resume Writers, there are significant differences between the “perfect resume” today and just five years ago.
“We all know the importance of customizing our clients’ resumes to each particular job, but knowing how to do this can be a bit tricky. Preptel takes the guess work out of resume optimization! After uploading each client’s resume and a targeted job posting, the Preptel system instantly alerts me to what keywords are missing and how my client stacks up against the competition. In a matter of minutes, I am able to modify the resume and give each client the competitive advantage they deserve! Preptel’s resume optimization tool is amazing; I suspect it will revolutionize the way we serve our clients!” Norine Dagliano, Nationally Certified Resume Writer
I’m always hot on the trail of the perfect résumé. Why, do I focus so heavily on résumés? Because my friends and professional colleagues at companies like Genentech, Bayer, Kaiser and Applied Biosystems tell me regularly; “ a résumé that will pass the applicant software screen (ATS)” is the most important requirement for a job seeker today, after company knowledge, confidence and appearance. Why aren’t skills and ability #1 on the employer list? Employers know when résumés pass the applicant software screen, skills and abilities are already reliably confirmed, so the focus is on other qualities and qualifications.
More than 90% of today’s employers trust résumé scanning software to select 1st tier candidates, and those 1st tier résumés have to match at least 75% of the keywords in the job description to get forwarded to HR. It’s even harder to get an interview, which typically requires a 90% match or more. It doesn’t really matter what else your résumé says at this point; if the matches aren’t present, your résumé gets routed to the archive file, and you get a letter (maybe) that says, “thanks for applying; we’ve found more suitable matches.”
Even though keywords are now vital in your résumé, there are very few job seekers who apparently realize it or know what to do. My own survey of more than 300 biotech and health care job seekers showed only 20% knew the importance of keywords and the correct way to use them strategically in a résumé. About 80% knew the importance of doing pre-interview company research, but none of them thought about using that research to devise and derive keywords to use in their résumé.
Figuring company HR managers as the most reliable source for “perfect résumé” tips, I had an opportunity at some recent networking events to ask HR managers from several key biotech companies, “If you were looking for a job today, how would you conduct your job search?” Here’s what they had to say:
• Understanding and writing your résumé with a company-targeted keyword strategy is absolutely required in a job search today. It’s almost impossible to get an interview without it. Preptel’s Resumeter shows you the exact keywords being evaluated for each job. Moreover, Resumeter shows which keywords are in your résumé, partially in your résumé, or completely missing.
• First and foremost, you have to target your job search. The old way was to find 5 or 10 job descriptions that fit what you’re looking for. Then, see if you can find matching keywords among them. Once you’ve found them, take a look at your experience and use the words from the job descriptions to describe your matching experiences and work history. Job titles aren’t usually as important as words like, “clinical trial,” “assay preparation,” “raise revenue,” or “develop new clients.” The new way, find the job you want and toss it into Resumeter. In a few seconds, you will see everything you need to do to be considered for the job. The best part, you will see your chances of getting an interview so you don’t waste time on poorly matched jobs.
• Most coaching and professional advice about interview techniques are great. Applicants need to get as savvy with the competition as they are with the techniques, because the interview is about deciding between you and someone else. You already made the qualification cut. Now, the hiring company is determining if you are the best of the bunch. Preptel’s Interview guides are the first to show how you compare to the competition. You get a detailed breakdown of your strengths and weaknesses so you know exactly where to focus.
The job search has changed and Preptel is the first solution to assist job seekers in gaining a competitive edge. Keywords, résumé formatting, and competitive comparisons are just some of the capabilities that Preptel provides and will get you your next job.
