ATS Resume Keywords: Examples and How to Use Them
ATS resume keywords are the job titles, skills, tools, certifications, and experience terms connected to a role. This guide shows you how to identify the right terms in a job description and use them naturally in your resume.
The short version
- Use the job description as your main keyword source.
- Prioritize the exact job title, required skills, tools, certifications, and repeated terms.
- Add relevant keywords to your summary, skills section, and experience bullets.
- Only include skills and experience you genuinely have.
What are ATS resume keywords?
ATS resume keywords are words and phrases that describe what an employer wants in a candidate. They commonly include the target job title, technical skills, software, certifications, methods, and industry terms. Recruiters may use these terms when searching or filtering applications, so your resume should clearly reflect the requirements you genuinely meet.
How to find the right keywords in a job description
Read the posting once for meaning, then review it again and mark the terms that describe the candidate's qualifications. Focus on requirements rather than general company language.
Five-step keyword check
Use for every applicationUse the employer's wording when it accurately matches the role you are targeting.
Look for software, systems, equipment, methods, and technical capabilities.
Include credentials only when you hold them or are accurately showing progress toward them.
Repeated requirements often signal what the employer considers most important.
Prioritize required qualifications first, then add relevant preferred qualifications.
Types of resume keywords to look for
| Keyword type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Job titles | Operations Coordinator, Registered Nurse, Project Manager |
| Hard skills | Inventory control, financial reporting, patient assessment |
| Software and tools | Excel, Salesforce, SAP, Jira, QuickBooks |
| Certifications | CPA, PMP, First Aid/CPR, WHMIS |
| Methods and standards | Agile, GAAP, Lean, HIPAA, quality assurance |
| Industry terms | Order fulfillment, stakeholder management, medication administration |
ATS resume keyword examples by role
These examples are starting points, not a replacement for the actual posting. Use only the terms that match your background and the employer's requirements.
Operations and warehouse
Inventory control, order fulfillment, shipping and receiving, warehouse management system (WMS), cycle counting, safety compliance, labor planning, key performance indicators (KPIs), process improvement.
Customer service
Customer relationship management (CRM), conflict resolution, case management, account support, call handling, service-level agreements (SLAs), data entry, escalation management, customer retention.
Software development
JavaScript, Python, React, Node.js, REST APIs, SQL, Git, cloud services, unit testing, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), Agile development.
Nursing
Patient assessment, medication administration, care planning, electronic health records (EHR), infection control, patient education, vital signs, clinical documentation, interdisciplinary collaboration.
Accounting
Financial reporting, account reconciliation, general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, budgeting, variance analysis, GAAP, Excel, QuickBooks.
Project management
Project planning, stakeholder management, risk management, budget management, resource allocation, change management, Agile, Scrum, Jira, project status reporting.
See focused guidance for nursing resumes, accounting resumes, and project manager resumes.
Where to place keywords on your resume
Use keywords where they help explain your qualifications. A keyword is more convincing when it appears with evidence rather than standing alone.
- Target title: use an accurate title near the top of the resume when appropriate.
- Professional summary: include two or three high-priority qualifications in natural sentences.
- Skills section: list relevant tools, technical skills, and certifications in plain text.
- Experience bullets: connect the keyword to an action, responsibility, or measurable result.
- Education and certifications: spell out credentials accurately and include standard abbreviations where useful.
Before-and-after keyword examples
| Stronger, specific wording | Weak or vague wording |
|---|---|
| Managed weekly inventory cycle counts in a WMS and investigated stock discrepancies. | Helped with inventory. |
| Resolved escalated customer cases in Salesforce while meeting service-level targets. | Provided good customer service. |
| Built REST APIs in Node.js and improved SQL query performance for a web application. | Worked on backend development. |
| Coordinated project risks, timelines, and stakeholder updates across four teams. | Helped manage projects. |
The stronger examples include relevant terms, but they also show how the skill was used. That makes the wording useful to both screening systems and human reviewers.
Exact matches, acronyms, and natural variations
When a posting uses a specific term that truthfully matches your experience, use that wording at least once. You can also include a natural variation or the full term with its acronym, such as “customer relationship management (CRM)” or “key performance indicators (KPIs).” Avoid changing your real job history just to copy the posting.
Keyword mistakes to avoid
- Copying the entire job description: your resume should describe your own experience.
- Listing skills you do not have: every claim should be accurate and supportable.
- Repeating the same phrase unnaturally: relevance matters more than repetition.
- Using only soft skills: include concrete tools and technical requirements where relevant.
- Hiding text: invisible or tiny keyword blocks create a poor and misleading document.
- Using one resume for every role: adjust the wording for each serious application.
Check your resume against a job description
Use ATS Perfect's free resume checker to compare your resume with a target role, then update the missing terms that genuinely match your experience.
Check my resume →Frequently asked questions
How do I find keywords for my resume?
Start with the job description. Mark the job title, required hard skills, tools, certifications, methods, and repeated industry terms. Prioritize requirements that truthfully match your background.
Where should I put ATS keywords?
Place them naturally in your target title, professional summary, skills section, experience bullets, and certification or education sections. Experience bullets are especially useful because they show how you used the skill.
How many keywords should I use?
There is no reliable universal number. Cover the important requirements you genuinely meet without forcing repetition. A focused, accurate match is better than a long list of unrelated terms.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job posting?
Use the employer's exact wording when it accurately describes your experience, especially for job titles, tools, certifications, and standard technical terms. You can also include natural variations and spelled-out acronyms.
Should keywords be repeated?
An important skill may naturally appear in both the skills section and an experience bullet. Avoid repeating the same phrase over and over only to increase frequency.
What is keyword stuffing?
Keyword stuffing is adding excessive or irrelevant terms in a way that makes the resume difficult to read or misleading. Every keyword should represent a real qualification and fit naturally into the document.
Can a resume checker identify missing keywords?
A checker can compare resume text with a job description and highlight possible gaps. You should still review every suggestion and add only terms that accurately reflect your experience.
Related: ATS-friendly resume guide · How to test a resume for ATS · ATS-friendly resume templates