The dangers of including the wrong keywords in your online resumes

Are you looking for a new job? If so, chances are you’re going online, as most job seekers do. While a good percentage of job seekers search for open positions online, a growing number of the unemployed are also adding their resumes to online resume databases. Recruitment companies search these databases to find qualified candidates. Unfortunately, there are some people who incorrectly stuff their resumes with keywords. The goal is to hope that your resume will show up in a wide range of searches (even if they aren’t qualified for the job). So why is it a bad idea?

First of all, it is important to focus on the keyword stuffing aspect. When you upload a resume to an online database, employers find that resume by using a keyword search. So let’s say an insurance company is looking to hire an office manager; will perform a search with the phrase “office manager” or “office management”. An online resume database searches through resumes and extracts resumes where that exact phrase or a slight variation of it was used.

Keyword stuffing is when you insert multiple keywords or phrases, like the office manager mentioned above, multiple times throughout your resume. Keyword stuffing incorrectly focuses on using keywords or phrases that are not relevant to your resume. For example, let’s say most of your work experience is in retail. You don’t have office management experience, but you want your resume to appear in the searches companies are looking for an office manager. So, along with his job duties as a teller, he writes “he handled thousands of dollars in cash daily until he left to become an office manager.”

So when that insurance company searches for “office manager” resumes, chances are your resume will show up on their list of qualified applicants, but you’re not actually qualified because you misused a search keyword or key phrase.

But are there dangers in taking this approach? In most cases, there are no real dangers; it will just take longer to find a job. When a company opens a resume and sees that you misrepresented yourself through the use of keywords or phrases, they will close your resume and keep looking. An HR manager doesn’t have time to review and blacklist you (but honestly, you never know).

Keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with using good, strong keywords in your resume. In fact, we encourage you to research some of the most searched phrases. However, it is vital that you keep them relevant to your work history and qualifications. He wants to use sentence management to associate it with his job as a cashier; try “money management” in an applicable sentence instead. While your resume won’t show up in every search an employer performs, it will show up for positions for which you’re truly qualified. This will improve your chances of getting a job.