The Importance of Resume Keywords

Years ago, when résumés were still sent to employers by mail, job seekers hoped things like a high-quality paper stock and unique, professional formatting would catch the eye of an employer. These days, things are a little different.

First of all, it's rare that employers even accept paper résumés anymore -- the snail mail method of sending in a résumé is basically obsolete.

Second, and more importantly, it's not even the employer's eye that job seekers should hope to catch anymore -- more likely, they're trying to get noticed by an Applicant Tracking System (essentially a résumé search engine), now commonly used by employers to pre-screen résumés and separate the qualified candidates from unqualified ones.