Are you in a sector that has more job seekers than job positions? This is the scenario with several sectors in the global job market. If you are looking at a job change there are a few changes in recruitment that you need to be aware of. What does this mean to you? How does it affect your resume?

Recruiters will be faced with more resumes for each job positions than they can possibly deal with. Imagine having to work with 500 resumes for one job position and sorting through to the best fitments within slated time lines. This same recruiter is used to working with 50 – 70 resumes for a given target position. It is possible that the market pressures have gotten to recruiting teams as well – their requests for additional hands and tools may not be well received. Everybody is looking to do more with less. What this means, is that your resume needs to survive a few filters before a human being would open it. Effectively, you need a two-part job search strategy. (1) Getting your resume to the recruiter and (2) getting your interview with the hiring manager or job order owner.

An overwhelming number of recruiters are headed for online recruitment. There are very few recruiters working in specialty areas who are still managing without online recruitment. Even these recruiters could be using offline recruitment tools that would pose similar tests to your resume – as online recruitment. Question is, will you resume show up? What should be done to have your resume show up right on top? If it does show up, will your recruiter feel like reading it and will it go to the hiring manager? Will your hiring manage find it motivating to get you to the interview? Will your resume bring your skills to the spot light in the interview?

1. Read several job orders for your skillsets and come up with phrases that are most commonly used – you need to infuse them into your resume
2. While it is easy to pick up buzzwords for your job position from the internet, it makes sense to use phrases that your prospective recruiter has already put into the job order
3. Do not use jargons that are known only inside your company or division – these are not going to be searched on
4. It is good to look up sample resumes on the internet or from your colleagues, so long as you do not lose the originality of your resume
5. If you are stating your objective in the resume – take the time and write something of your own, let it breathe your professional personality and be humane. Recruiters hate to read clichéd objective blurbs
6. Quantify your work experience so that your recruiter and your hiring manager get a hang of your ability to deliver results – an in a changing economy ability to deliver results is worth its weight in gold (or should we say oil, crude oil, oh so crude)

Here are some sample job positions and the important key phrases that go with them
Financial Analyst / Senior Accountant
* BS in finance or accounting with 4 years of experience or
* MBA in related field with 2 years of relevant experience
* accounting
* financial reporting
* financial statement
* Excel

* accounting
* financial
* trend analysis
* financial statement
* results analysis
* trends
* strategic planning
* develop trends
* financial modeling
* personal computer
* microcomputers
* DCF
* presentation skills
* team player

While it can be difficult to give definitive lists of keywords and concepts, it is possible to give you samples of actual keyword searches used by recruiters Be sure that you list only experience you actually have. Do not include these keywords in your résumé just because they are listed here.

Business Manager
* BS in engineering or computer science
* 10 years of related engineering and/or manufacturing experience
* strategic planning
* network
* product management
* program management
* business plan
* line management
* pricing
* team player
* CAM
* marketing
* product strategy
* vendor
* general management
* OEM
* profit and loss

Business Operations Specialist
* bachelor’s degree
* 4 years of related experience
* production schedule
* project planning
* ability to implement
* CList
* data analysis
* off-shift
* team player
* automation
* ability to plan
* customer interaction
* VM, CMS, JCL
* REXX, UNIX
* MVS
* analytical ability
* customer interface
* network
* skills analysis
* automatic tools

Senior Software Engineer
* BS/MS in engineering, computer science or closely related field
* 8 to 9 years of experience
* C++
* customer
* hiring/firing
* prototype
* structured design
* code development
* DASD
* methodology
* real time
* supervision
* communication skills
* experiment design
* problem solving
* software design
* testing
Secretary
* high school education or
equivalent
* 5 years of experience
* typing skill of 55–60 wpm
* interpersonal skills
* oral communication
* administrative assistance
* clerical
* data analysis
* file maintenance
* material repair
* PowerPoint
* project planning
* reports
* screen calls
* troubleshoot
* answer phones
* communication skills
* document distribution
* mail sorting
* Microsoft Word
* presentation
* publication
* schedule calendar
* secretarial
* appointments
* confidential
* edit
* material
* policies and procedures
* problem solving
* records management
* schedule conference
* telephone interview