Sign inAbout the job description keyword finder
A job posting tells you what the employer will look for in your resume, but it hides the priorities inside paragraphs of responsibilities, perks, and boilerplate. Reading it closely enough to tell must-haves from wish-list items takes time, and it is easy to fixate on the one skill you lack while missing the three the posting repeats.
This job description keyword finder reads the posting for you. It picks out known skills, tools and acronyms, repeated two-word phrases, years of experience, and degree requirements, then ranks them by how often they appear. It runs in your browser on the text you paste. The guide below shows how to rank what it finds and turn the list into specific resume edits.
How to use it
- 1
Paste the complete job posting
Copy everything from the job title down to the requirements and preferred qualifications. You can skip the company boilerplate and benefits, but keep every list of duties and skills.
- 2
Run the keyword finder
You get the most repeated skills with their counts, the stated requirements such as years of experience and degrees, and a full keyword list split into hard skills and soft skills.
- 3
Sort the results into three tiers
Mark each keyword as must-have, important, or optional using where it appears and how often. The section below gives a simple rule for doing this in a couple of minutes.
- 4
Map the keywords to your resume
For each must-have, find the bullet that proves it. Where a keyword is true but missing, add it to your summary, skills, or a bullet. Then check coverage with the resume keyword scanner.
What the keyword finder looks for
The finder uses transparent rules rather than guessing at what a particular employer's system does. It looks for known skill terms such as SQL, budgeting, or customer onboarding; acronyms and product names such as GAAP, HubSpot, or EHR; two-word phrases that repeat, such as "inventory planning" or "vendor management"; and qualifications, meaning years of experience and degree requirements.
Each term gets a count of how many times it appears. Repetition is a useful signal, because what a team cares about most tends to show up in the summary, the duties, and the requirements alike.
The finder cannot tell you how a specific company's applicant tracking system is configured or how a recruiter will search. It shows what the posting emphasizes, which is the part you can act on.
How to rank keywords: must-have, important, optional
Not every keyword deserves space on your resume. Sort them with two questions: where does the term appear, and how many times? A term in the job title or requirements list that also shows up in the duties is almost certainly a must-have.
- Must-have: appears in the title or requirements, or two or more times anywhere. Your resume should show each of these with evidence.
- Important: appears once in the responsibilities. Include it if it is true and you have room.
- Optional: listed under "preferred," "nice to have," or "bonus." Add only if it is true and easy to place.
- Ignore: words from the company description, benefits, and equal opportunity statement, plus generic adjectives like "fast-paced" or "dynamic."
Turning a keyword list into resume edits
Once you have your must-haves, put each one into one of three buckets. You have it and your resume shows it: check that you used the posting's exact wording at least once. You have it but your resume does not say so: this is the most common gap and the easiest win. Add the term to a bullet that shows it in use, plus your skills section if it is a tool. You do not have it: leave it off, and be ready to discuss a similar skill or how you would learn it.
For example, if the posting repeats "vendor management" and your resume says "worked with suppliers," rewrite the bullet: "Managed 12 vendor contracts and quarterly reviews, renegotiating two agreements to save $40K a year." Same experience, now in the employer's terms and backed by a number.
What a keyword list can't tell you
Keywords show what the employer wants to see named. They do not show the problem the hire is meant to solve, and that is often what wins the interview. Read the first three responsibilities again after you run the finder and ask what would be different at the company if the person in this role did well.
Also watch for level signals that rarely show up as keywords: verbs like "own," "set strategy," or "work independently" point to a senior role, while "support" and "assist" point to a junior one. Match your summary to that level. A long, unfocused list of 30 tools usually means the posting was assembled from several templates, so focus on the tools that repeat.
Examples
Most repeated: SQL ×5, Excel ×4, Tableau ×3, forecasting ×3, inventory planning ×2, supply chain ×2
Soft skills: stakeholder communication ×3, prioritization ×2, attention to detail ×1
Stated requirements: 3+ years of experience in an analyst role; Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field
Also found: Python ×1 (preferred), ERP ×1, vendor management ×2
Most repeated: employee relations ×4, onboarding ×3, Workday ×3, benefits administration ×2, FMLA ×2, HRIS ×2
Soft skills: conflict resolution ×2, confidentiality ×2, communication ×2
Stated requirements: 2+ years of HR generalist experience; Bachelor's degree in human resources
Also found: SHRM-CP ×1 (preferred), payroll ×1, performance management ×1
Tips for better results
- Run three to five postings for the same job title through the finder and note the keywords that appear in all of them, since those are the core of the role.
- Use the posting's exact form of each term at least once, including both the acronym and the full name when the posting uses both.
- Put tools in your skills section and again in a bullet that shows what you did with them.
- Skip keywords from the company's values statement unless you can back one up with a specific example.
- Save the posting text with your application so you can review the keywords again before the interview.